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That Time When All the Sad People Came and Stayed at My House

By Adam Rapp.
Ambition slips away slowly. Your band never quite takes off, your wife leaves, your favorite brother is killed in Iraq. And suddenly you find you haven't left the house in 14 months. Read the full story.

Part One

I haven't left my house in fourteen months. It is January 25th and three days ago a foot of snow fell on Pollard, Illinois and its surrounding farmlands and I have been spending the last few hours counting the number...   Read More >>

Part Two

James Ingalls hasn't left his home in Pollard, Illinois in 14 months. It's his father's house; dad's long since retired to Florida with wife number three. James, meanwhile, has lost his ambition and his wife. Sheila Anne left him just days after his brother was killed in Iraq. He hasn't taken off his robe in more than a week. And more importantly, he hasn't restrung his guitar for a year.   Read More >>

Part Three

The Third Policemen should have been college radio royalty. But it never really happened for James Ingalls and his band; even if obsessives now covet their vinyl albums and EPs, it doesn't change the fact that his 20s slipped away, and then, so did his wife. She's now off in New York with another man while James took the family house in Illinois when his dad retired to Florida.   Read More >>

Part Four

The band never panned out, and with his ambition drained and his wife long gone, James Ingalls moved into his boyhood home in Pollard, Illinois. Even his dad had managed some success, retiring to Florida with a new wife. Just to remind him of his failings, he rents an apartment in the house out to his ex-wife's brother, Bradley, a slacker who nevertheless has no trouble with the ladies.   Read More >>

Part Five

James Ingalls is still in love with Sheila Anne, even though his ex-wife has long since left him to marry another man and move to New York City. James is back in Pollard, Illinois, remembering his college radio glory days and living in the house where he grew up, and renting part of it out. Sheila's brother lives in one apartment, which makes it even harder to forget the past. And a couple whose daughter recently disappeared, the Bunch's, live in the other.   Read More >>