A shady street on a quiet block,
He got up early, punched a clock.
Got a wife, two kids and a scrawny little cat,
Went out on the town in a trilby hat.
Worked his way up, he'd been there for years,
His wife sold jewelry 'cross town at Sears.
Babysitter played kickball with the kids in the park,
'Til Mom and Dad got home, well past dark.
They had a sign on the porch sayin' "Welcome Friend--
You've stayed away too long, it's good to see you again."
Sometimes on Sundays they'd fire up the grill,
Burgers and beer and they'd pick up the bill.
But things went south fast down at the job,
Profits disappeared just like they'd been robbed.
Selling baubles from a kiosk in an empty mall,
It was gettin' hard to afford much of anything at all.
The paper had a report, said his company was goin' broke,
Retirement money gone, a pig in a poke.
Then she got laid off and times, they got tougher,
Bills kept comin', payin' 'em got rougher.
The bottom fell out, it was a few months I suppose,
No sign left on the porch; on the lawn it said, "Foreclosed."
It felt like their house, but it was nothin' 'cept a loan,
And it's just an empty shell when nobody's home.
