Idea Garage Sale: Starting, Anywhere

Some days, you just start writing and see if it goes anywhere. Like this:

Once upon a time, a critter lived in a house beyond the edge of town.

The owner had abandoned it because it was too hard to heat, so the critter moved in and made himself comfortable. The area had plenty of things for a critter to eat, and he had plenty of fur to keep him warm when the northers came down, so he did fairly well. When something went wrong with the house - a rotting floorboard, a lose brick in the chimney - he fixed it. The fact that the water was turned off made no difference to him, for he knew where the old well was. He woke when the sun rose and went to bed when it got dark, so the lack of electricity didn't bother him. He saw no reason why anything should ever change.

The owner had the house up for sale, and once in awhile people came to look at it. This provided a change for the critter, following them unseen about the house and eavesdropping. When they said things like: "It's awfully far from the main road" and "You call this a heating system?" and "The plumbing is how old?" he did nothing. But if they started talking about where to put the microwave or what room to put the boys in the critter acted. He could make ratlike noises in the walls, create wonderfully realistic drafts by blowing through the right crack, and he maintained a loose board on the porch steps which, when twisted just right, was guaranteed to throw a person down and scare the daylights out of him.

But of course, someone will buy the house anyway; and everything depends on who.