Introduction

“A house is not a home” is a story that shows how important love, care, and affection are in a person’s life. The author is a high school student who is new to his school and feels out of place. When his house caught on fire and his cat ran away, things got worse. Then, it was the love and care of his school friends that helped him. Slowly, his feelings of being alone and loss went away, and the author went back to living a normal life.

Summary

After leaving middle school, the author went to a different high school. When he was with the new teachers and students, he felt alone. The size of his new school was twice as big as his old one. His old high school friends were sent to a new school. He missed his old teachers, so he went to see them as often as he could. They tried to get him to try out new things at school. The author’s old teachers also told him he could come to class whenever he wanted.

On a Sunday afternoon, the author was doing his homework at the dining room table while his favourite red cat slept on top of all his papers. It was cold, and the fire in the fireplace was going. The author’s mother kept the house warm by adding more wood to the fire.
The author suddenly noticed that the room was full of smoke because the roof was on fire. The author and his mother ran out into the front garden as the smoke got worse. Soon, the fire got to every room in the house.

When the author ran to a neighbor’s house to call the fire department, he saw his mother run back into the house. She was trying to keep some important papers. Soon, she came out carrying a small metal box with important papers inside.

The author’s mother ran back into the house to get some pictures and letters from her husband. Since her husband had died, she didn’t want his photos and letters to go up in flames. The author was about to run after his mother, too, but a fireman stopped him. When the firemen got to the burning house, one of them went inside and saved the author’s mother. He took the author’s mother to the truck and put an oxygen mask on her mouth. The author was also in the car, wrapped in a blanket, and sitting down.
The fire was put out after five hours, but the author’s house was completely destroyed. The author suddenly thought of his cat. It was nowhere to be found. When the author thought that his cat was also burned in the fire, he started to cry. The author and his mother spent the night at the home of the author’s grandparents.

The author went to school the next day. He had on a worn-out dress. He didn’t have any shoes, books, or a bag. His aunt let him borrow some tennis shoes. In this state, he didn’t want to grow up and wanted to die. He felt weird and embarrassed at school. When the author got home from school one day, he saw that his house had been burned down. When he saw the damage, he was shocked. He also cried because his cat had run away.

The author and his mother were forced to start over. They took money from the grandparents of the author. After a week, the house’s ruins were taken away. The author used to think about how his cat would sleep in his pocket by climbing up his robe.
When people at the author’s new school heard about his situation the next day, they all became friendlier. They took the author to the gym and gave him things he would need every day, like notebooks, school supplies, jeans, tops, sweatsuits, etc.

People who had never talked to the author before came up to him to say hello and invite him to their home. When his classmate told him she was worried, he realised that things would get back to normal.
When he went back to his house a month later, it was being fixed up. Two of his new friends also came to see him. The fire had a big impact on the author’s life. He stopped thinking about how scared he felt and started getting to know the people around him.

A woman came in with a cat while the author was talking to his friends. The writer knew right away that it was his cat. The author picked up the cat and is very happy about it.
During the fire, the author realised that his cat had gotten away. Their phone number was written on the cat’s collar, but no one could call them because their phones burned up. The woman who bought the cat looked for the book’s author and found him in the end. Now that he was happy again, the author was getting his life back to normal.