Intriguing mansions | A house for monsters

This is the twelfth time that I have introduced myself to strangers simply because their home impresses me. Now, this is the first time I’ve knocked on the door hoping to be able to interview a child…

Although the house is cute and next to the one that long belonged to Leonard Cohen, it was a sheet placed against a window that caught my attention: “Home for monsters and magical animals who have lost their homes. »

It’s signed “Tristan”.

Like me, passers-by regularly stop to read the poster and even photograph it. I believe it is the mixture of purity and audacity that touches us; you have to be brave to invite monsters into your home.

“The nice monsters,” says Tristan, 7 years old, welcoming me into his home.

And what a home! If the facade suggests something flirtatious, the interior is nothing less than spectacular.

The house was built in 1885. At the time, there were two buildings on this land in the Portuguese quarter of Montreal. Previous owners brought them together with a glass hallway. In 2015, Émilie Heckmann and Michel-Alex Lessard fell in love when they visited the place.

The couple lived in the home for five years before undertaking extensive renovations. Émilie Heckmann and Michel-Alex Lessard then discovered that the walls were insulated with flattened tin cans, that they were walking on five different floors stacked over the years, then that the foundations of their house were in fact two unhewn trunks .

“Two trees hold up the house!” says Émilie with wonder. That’s wonderful. »

In short, “there is soul here,” believes Michel-Alex.

Moreover, passers-by often knock on their door to say they have experienced this or that thing here… A photographer even left a letter because according to his research, the house would have been linked to the Quebec Liberation Front! Without forgetting Cohen. The residence belonged to the poet Michel Garneau, friend and translator of the famous artist. Neighbors like to remind homeowners that Leonard once hung out where they live.

But stories are not just about the past. In fact, the wall that runs across the ground floor from the living room to the kitchen, called “Tristan’s Wall,” is covered in it. The child draws around fifteen series of around five pages every day and they “tell a lot of things”, he explains to me.

I smile when I discover the story of a traveling circus. A train leaves the artists at their destination, men make a pyramid on an elephant, wild animals jump in hoops in front of stunned spectators, trapeze artists jump over zebras and, finally, the troupe leaves on their train (the giraffes protrude from a train car because their necks are too long for our modest means of human transportation).

My favorite, however, goes to the series called “The Amazon Food Web”: a parrot eats fruit, a snake eats the parrot, a crocodile swallows the snake, a leopard devours the crocodile, the leopard defecates and its droppings feeds insects. “It also nourishes the plants,” explains Tristan.

I turn to his mother, impressed.

“He doesn’t watch TV. He listens to a lot of podcasts and he loves them! Prehistory fascinates him. In fact, everything relating to origins interests him: how did it start and where did it come from? He began reading everything he could about animals. They are also very disturbed if their natural habitat is distorted. »

An ant that ventures into the house should not be chased away, according to Tristan.

He would like to tell me his side of the story now. I follow him up the stairs which reveal a second floor full of hiding places and a huge window. Sitting down on his bed, Tristan asks me if I have any questions for him.

– Of course ! Let’s start with the poster about magical creatures… Why are they welcome?

– I read a book which explained that a little girl invited monsters into her house [Julia et les monstres perdus, par Ben Hatke]. I had the idea to do that too! We made this poster early last year and put it in the window for the monsters to see.

– And who are the “monsters and magical creatures”?

– Dragons, unicorns, fairies, mermaids… Everything!

– And how do they lose their house?

– If they live in a tree, maybe people have cut down the tree!

This child is indeed sensitive to the loss of other people’s habitat. In addition to being very welcoming. We should take inspiration from it.

– Have there been monsters knocking on your door until now, Tristan?

– Only one. My sister’s godfather had one and he lives here now. Although I don’t feel it very often…

– Is he still there?

– I don’t know because he is invisible.

– Ah, well yes! And do you know what type of creature it is?

– I believe he is from the kingdom of the night. Most invisible animals live in the night realm.

Tristan gets up, turns off the lights, turns on a flashlight and points it at a wall in his room. He uses his arms to create a dragon – his favorite monster – out of shadow puppets. For my part, I make a dog. He’s not impressed: “Everyone knows how to do that.” » Then, his dragon suddenly eats my dog.

We go back down to the kitchen, where Émilie and Michel-Alex are waiting for us. I ask them if they believe in monsters, too.

Absolutely.

“He’s a little magical creature,” Émilie slips, looking tenderly at her son.