Their moving van is a hearse

When I was a kid, I don't remember how, but I knocked over one of my mother's plants. I was alone, but I knew my mother was going to be back soon and I needed to clean up the mess. I righted the pot, and stuffed as much of the dark moist earth as I could back into it. From the closet I got the vacuum cleaner and ran it over what was left. Which is when I smelt the burning smell, the one you smell when you first turn on the heaters every year, followed by flames leaping out of the vacuum cleaner.

I didn't pull the plug, or turn off the machine, I ran to my neighbour's house. In tears I told her that the vacuum cleaner was on fire. She came over, looked at it, no flames. I can't remember what she said or did, but I do remember that by the time she left I had stopped crying.

She and her husband are moving. The FOR SALE sign on their front lawn has a SOLD sticker plastered against the front of it. Over the years, our relationship has mostly consisted of saying hi and when I had forgotten my key, they'd often get a knock on their door to lend me the spare. So, once they move, I know I'll never see them again.