The Other Resident

A novel by Thomas W. RaymondEvelyn Harlan still keeps her kitchen. The cream steel cabinets are new. The canary Frigidaire hums. The dinette chair by the window is never left pulled out. She died in that room in June 1957, eleven days after she paid for it in full. She does not accept that date.Travis buys the house at auction: estate of, sold as-is, contents to be removed, family items unclaimed by noon Saturday. He wanted a door he could shut. He gets a door that will not stay only his. A hairpin appears on the Formica. His mug is washed and inverted. The hall light comes on without him. A voice in the machine says the sentence he has already begun to fear: You don't live here.They share the landing, the pass-through, and a kitchen that has already voted. He brings a binder, a quiet title, and a cousin in Florida. She brings perfume, a record she never liked, and a housewife's full temper. Neither will leave for manners.A ghost story about occupancy, paper, and the rooms that refuse to become someone else's file.