Chapter 1
Lightning in the Night
Lightning split the sky, and thunder shook the house. It was the beginning of a horrible storm. The three young girls, Rose, Heather and Laurel woke up, wide eyed and frightened. They ran into their parent’s room but no one was there. The lights were on in the bedroom and the curtains were pulled closed. With the next loud clap of thunder, all three girls started running for their parent’s bed. They were giggling and scared at the same time. They crawled deep down inside the covers and huddled close together. They couldn’t see the lightning anymore because the quilt, on their parent’s bed, was so big and thick that it blocked out the light. It was hot under there and Laurel, who was the most afraid and was grateful for the security, wondered why their parents had such a heavy blanket on their bed in June.
“Everyone ok in here? “ The girls heard their father’s muffled voice ask from the bedroom door.
Trying to be brave the girls all answered, “Yes” in unison.
“OK, then. If you get scared, you can come out with us. We’re going to be on the porch.
“OK” they all said together.
“No way, am I going out there! “ Heather whispered.
The other two thought the same way.
The girl’s father walked back down the hall smiling to himself. He had been talking to a giant lump in the middle of the bed.
The thunder was still so loud; it made them cover their ears. The storm seemed to go on forever. One big thunderclap, then another, then another. The “booms” were so close together that Rose couldn’t tell where one stopped and the next one started, and Laurel’s giggles turned into silent tears. Finally the thunder seemed to fade away into the distance, but it was still raining very hard. First Heather, then Rose and Laurel stuck their heads out from under the quilt. It was a relief to breath cooler air.
A new sound joined the rain. Wind. Huge gusts of wind. On the porch, the swing started banging hard against the house and one of their mother’s hanging plants fell. The pot it was in, shattered. A tree not far from the house fell to the ground with a crash. Howls of wind worked their way through the cracks in the bedroom windows. Laurel curled up into a ball and pulled the quilt back over her head. Rose went to see if the windows were still closed and Heather wondered if their parents were still outside. After she was sure everything was okay, Rose laid back down beside the lump in the quilt that was Laurel. They could hear the rain again pounding on the roof. It was surreal being there in their parent’s room in this ancient house so far away from the place they use to call home.
After what seemed like forever, the rain finally stopped. Laurel poked her head out from under the quilt. Her face was red and puffy from crying and from being so hot. They sat their quietly listening to the thunder move farther and farther away. Their fear and tension was leaving too. They sat there in silence, just listening. The drops falling from the roof had a very soothing and calming effect. Heather closed her eyes and let out a very relieved sigh. There seemed to be a rhythm as the drops of water fell to the ground.
“Drop, Drop, Drop, Drip.
Drop, Drop, Drop, Drip.
Drip, Drip, Drip, Drop.
Drip, Drip, Drip, Drop.”
Rose thought it sounded like voices.
“Drop, Drip, Drip, Drop.
Drop, Drip, Drip, Drop.
Drop, Drop, Drip, Drop.
Rain, Rain, please don’t stop. “
Then she knew she heard voices. But where were the voices coming from? Maybe they were just her imagination. Rose was glad the rain had stopped. The storm had frightened her and now she was exhausted. Why would she imagine voices asking the rain to stay? She huddled a little closer to her two sisters in her parent’s big safe bed. Every sound seemed to echo in her ears. Drops dripping off the roof. Her sisters breathing. Her mom in the kitchen. The back door creaking as her dad opened the screen door. And voices, she was sure she heard voices. She must be asleep, she must be dreaming.
“Drop, Drop, Drip, Drop.
Rain, Rain, please don’t stop.
We dance in the rain.
We glow in the light.
We play in the sun.
We sing in the night.
Was that a small whimper?
Is someone afraid?
A cry from the Mountain,
from Garden and Glade.
Oh, please don’t be frightened.
Oh no, please don’t cry.
Let sleep comfort you.
Little Rose, close your eyes.”
Rose was up and out of bed and looking out of the window to see who was talking to her. Heather and Laurel followed slowly behind her. It was dark outside except for the light from the window shining in the raindrops that clung to the glass. The girls went to look out the other window but still they saw nothing. Wait, what was that? The voices, they all could hear them.
“Come dance in the rain.
Come glow in the light.
Come play in the sun.
Come sing in the night.
With three little girls,
it would be so much fun,
To splash in the puddles,
to laugh and to run.
Now close your eyes tight
and we’ll show you the way.
Come play with the fairies
‘till night turns to day.
Laurel from the Mountain,
Heather from the Dale,
Rose from the Garden
with your petals so pale.
Come take our hands,
and hold on real tight.
A journey we’ll make,
to the woods on this night.
You’ll dance in the rain.
You’ll glow in the light.
You’ll play in the sun.
You’ll sing in the night.
See that tree in the woods,
with the brook by its side.
That tree is our home,
with four trunks spread out wide.
We want you to play,
and learn a new song.
Like your mother before you,
for her company we long.
We show you our home,
in the woods by the brook.
So tomorrow you’ll bring her,
to the woods for a look.
She used to dance in the rain.
She used to glow in the light.
She used to play in the sun.
She used to sing in the night.
But now she is older.
She doesn’t recall.
She can not remember.
No, nothing at all.
It will take your young eyes,
to help her to see.
All the times she would play,
with us under our tree.
So you must be brave,
and cleaver and strong.
With some help from we fairies,
what could go wrong? “
In a wink of an eye, Rose, Heather and Laurel found themselves standing in a clearing looking up at a giant of a tree. The rain had stopped and the stars were starting to peek out from behind the clouds. Everything around them seemed to sparkle and the wind that gently blew through the trees somehow sounded like music. The frogs and crickets that lived in the woods joined the wind in song. The tree that stood before them was so much bigger than the other trees, in the woods. Instead of one trunk like the others it had four. Each of the trunks seemed to glow with a different color. One of the trunks was red, one was green, one was gold and the other one was blue. The girls walked a little closer to the tree to get a better look. They came closest to the gold part of the tree first. It was so pretty that Heather wanted to touch it. All over the trunk were hundreds of little fat honeybees sound asleep. The blue came from Morning glories, which were all closed up, and sleeping too. The red came from little ladybugs sleeping in clusters in the hollow places in the bark and the green came from a covering of velvety thick moss.
Out from each of the branches came a little flutter of light. The four lights came closer to the girls and hovered in the air right in front of them. At first Rose thought they were humming birds or maybe dragonflies. Then Rose, Heather and Laurel got a better look. What a surprise! They were little people and they had wings. Fairies! They must be Fairies! Just like the ones in their storybooks. But they were different somehow. They weren’t people with wings. They were somehow more a part of the woods.
Each fairy seemed to be the color of the trunk she flew from. The little blue fairy flew closer. She had two sets of crystal blue wings. On her neck was a delicate little seashell almost like a birth mark. Her outfit, which was more like down feathers was deep blue and when she paused in front of them she lowered her two lower wings to form a skirt which made it look like crystal blue silk. Her arms and legs were long and slender. Her face seemed to shine from an inner light and she looked at the girls with eyes of crystal blue.
“My name is Dew Drop of the West,
I hope you like our home.
Don’t be afraid my little ones.
From here you needn’t roam.
We are the folk of the Fairy Wood.
This land we long have shared,
with the women in your family.
And they have always cared.
They’ve cared for the birds, the flowers and the trees.
For the deer and the dragonfly.
But the only one to forget is your mom,
and we just can’t figure out why.
So we need your help in a few little things,
in helping her to remember.
The way she use to play in the woods,
From March until December.
We’ll help you with this little task.
We’ll whisper in your ear.
And give you hints to help you along.
Of us, you needn’t fear.”
She was gone a very long time
and so very far away,
that remembering might take a while
so we must not delay.
Do not worry and do not frown
we will be very careful
Your mother is very dear to us
we will not make her tearful.
Then Dew Drop came over and kissed each of them. It felt like a downy feather brushing against their cheeks. Then in a blink of an eye she flew back to her home in the giant tree.
The girls stood there surprised and a little frightened at the sight of these strange and beautiful creatures. The next fairy to fly closer was the one dressed in red. She looked at them with eyes of deep sea blue that seemed to have a red glow when she faced towards the moon.
“I’m day, I’m night,
I’m from the South.
Snap Dragon is my name.
Come here and sit,
upon this log.
I’m very glad you came.
The stars are out,
the moon is bright.
Oh, what a lovely night.
To make new friends,
and share our songs.
With you, upon this night.
My sister Dew,
speaks words so true.
She’s the serious one, you know.
We do need your help,
no need to pout.
With you we will always go.
Now here we are,
the storm is past.
The stream is flowing strong.
The frogs and crickets,
sing with joy.
Just listen to their song.”
Snap Dragon paused for a minute and listened. Then music drifted quietly from the tree. It was the sound of a hundred harps all playing the harmony of the different woodland animals. Then Snap Dragon began again with the sound of harps in the background.
“They are the creatures,
of the night.
Like the rabbit and the wise old owl.
Raccoons and mice,
and bats and moths.
In the night they love to prowl.”
Flutes joined the harps, and took on the melody, mocking the sounds of the owl, accompanied by a group of piccolos high-pitched sounds, mimicking that of the mice and bat.
“We hope you like,
our woods at night.
It’s an enchanting place to be.
But you must come,
when the sun is high.
To see the birds nest in our tree.”
Birdcalls joined the cacophony of sound growing in the tree. High, beautiful voices took on the counter point of this spontaneous aria. For a long time the girls sat, enchanted, listening. The harmony, melody and counter point, undulating in intensity. Like waves, crashing on the rocks in a storm, the sound was chaotic, then it would calm and move together, then it would slowly start to build and become chaotic again. In the end, like the storm, it slowed itself down and ended with one single harp making the rhythmic slow sound of dripping water.
“You see the moon,
it goes to rest,
And soon you must go too.
So I will say,
good-bye for now.
And I’ll follow my sister Dew.”
Snap Dragon also kissed them on the cheek on her way back to her home.
“They’re so beautiful.” Rose said.
“Where did they come from?” Asked Heather.
“What are their homes like?” asked Laurel.
The three of them watched Snap Dragon fly over to her home in the giant tree and then disappear.
Slowly and quietly, the green fairy flew up to them. She didn’t say anything to them for a very long time. She looked each of the girls in the eye one at a time. When she looked into Laurels eyes it made Laurel smile. She felt like she was being tickled from the inside out. Or like she was standing on the top of a very high mountain with little snowflakes falling gently on her face and melting on her cheeks. Heather felt sleepy and warm all over. Like the sun shining bright on a field of wildflowers. And Rose cried. The feeling she got from the green fairy was full of love and kindness. A quiet feeling that she knew she would never loose as long as she lived.
“Ever Green is the name I chose.
I’m so glad to meet you, little Rose.
I came from the North to see you better.
Kind little Laurel and sweet little Heather.
In the night, you’ve come so far.
Are you wondering, where you are?
You are with us, in your dream.
We know how odd, this all must seem.
We will care, for you tonight.
And when you see, the morning light.
You will remember, all our songs.
Know, that with us, you belong.
Tomorrow you will come to our home.
All day together, we will roam.
But now I need, to say goodbye.
Back to my home, I must fly.”
The green fairy waved goodbye and flew so gracefully back to the tree. As she flew back to the tree the music started up again and seemed to take on a new and whispery kind of sound. The music lingered in the air long after the green fairy was out of sight. When the music finally faded the last fairy fly over to them. She was dressed in gold. Her hair was long and hung loose about her shoulders. As she came closer the girls noticed the air was filled with the fragrance of apple blossoms. Again the music began to play but the melody had changed. It was bright and bubbly. Like the sound of wind chimes and a soft summer rain, mixed together.
“My name is Honey Comb.
The East is my home.
The bees are my friends
To the flowers I roam.
I’m glad you are here.
You have lost all your fear.
Come and walk with me now,
on this night, crystal clear.
We’ll walk to your home.
Through the fields we will roam.
We will spy on wild flowers,
and the bees in their comb.
There’s a tree by the brook.
Over there. Take a look.
When the lightning was near,
the trees branches, it took.
At dawn, it will seem,
that this, was a dream.
That tree by the brook,
our home by the stream.
But with the sunrise,
when sleep leaves eyes.
You will know you were here,
but silence, I advise.
With words, you must spare,
with deeds, please take care.
For to keep us, a secret,
requires strengths, so rare.
But in you, we believe,
and together will conceive.
A plan that will not fail,
Your mom’s memories, we’ll retrieve.
It is so very late,
and the storm, so very great.
It is time for you to slumber,
By the pond, we’ll wait.
Let sleep comfort you,
and when day starts a new.
The storm will be past,
and skies will be blue.”
They seemed to be gliding through the woods. There was a mist growing in the clearings and the sky was getting lighter. It seemed like Honey Comb stayed with them a long time. As they journeyed through the woods the music followed them. They began to feel like they knew every blade of grass, every stone in the stream and the nests of all the birds that lived in these woods.
They didn’t remember saying goodbye to Honey Comb but the next thing the girls saw was the sun shining in the window of their parent’s bedroom. They jumped out of their parents’ bed and wanted to run down the hall to find their mom and dad and tell them about their night in the woods, with the four fairies. A night they would never forget. But Heather stopped them. She grabbed her sister’s arms and they all just stared at each other with their mouths open. The reality of the night before was sinking in.
“We can’t say anything! Remember?” Heather said.
They stood by the bedroom door, each deep in their own thoughts. They looked at each other in awe and wonder.
“It was real.” Rose whispered.
Laurel looked back at the bed, then down at her feet, then back at her sisters. Following Laurel’s train of thought they all knew they had never left their parents bed. Silently they went back and sat on the edge of the bed to gather their thoughts.
Chapter 2
Coming Home
Not wanting to disturb the girls, Ellie and Jeff, each slept in one of the girl’s rooms. Now they were up early, assessing the damage from last night’s storm. Ellie had a cup of coffee in her hand as she headed for the barn. Jeff was climbing a ladder to see if any of the shingles had come off the roof. The barn wasn’t very close to the house and to get there Ellie had to walk over a footbridge that crossed a little stream. Today the stream was swollen and a tree had crashed down and shattered the bridge. As she looked at what was left of the bridge she was asking herself why she wanted to move back here. It had been eighteen years since she moved away and she was eighteen at the time. She had forgotten about these storms. She shouldn’t have, though.
Her Aunt Claire lives about four miles north of here on an island in the St. Lawrence Seaway. Six years ago her aunt sent Ellie photos of the damage the winds had caused to her little island cabin. The letter that came with the photos told about a beautiful, but hot and humid summer day. The morning was clear with a forecast of scattered thundershowers developing in the afternoon. Aunt Clair could see the billowing white clouds in the distance. Summer rains were so lovely and she was looking forward to a refreshing drench. The letter could have been written about the storm that hit yesterday. Beautiful blue skies, a light breeze, then big, splashy, rain drops changing into a curtain of rain, lightning, thunder, then the wind. The gusts of wind that comes down off the backside of a summer storm can be intense. The one that damaged Aunt Clair’s cottage was clocked at 70 mph. She described it as her house being hit by a semi. Aunt Clair’s cottage was also plummeted with hail. The down draft from last night’s storm was strong but not 70 mph strong. And, thank goodness, no hail.
Aunt Claire has since reinforced her dwelling and built a cordwood fence around it. She was the only relative Ellie really kept in touch with after she moved away. They wrote back and forth, about the little things in life, hand made wrapping paper and the price of oranges. As Ellie stood there staring at that bridge all she wanted to do was pack up their stuff and move back to Seattle. You just don’t hear much about down drafts in the Pacific Northwest. They had only been here six weeks but it felt like an eternity. In that whole time she had only seen Aunt Claire once. Her aunt had stopped in for a short visit a few days after Ellie arrived. Maybe she wouldn’t feel so gloomy if she went to visit her favorite relative. Not standing there looking at that broken bridge, would be a start.
Ellie walked up stream to the bigger bridge. Uncle Ed had built it so he could drive from the house to the barn without having to go out to the road. Aunt May didn’t like it so she hung flower boxes along both handrails. Ellie noticed that none of the flower boxes were damaged from the wind, but she would have to tend to the flowers. Maybe tomorrow. As she got closer to the barn, she heard a clicking sound. Some small branches from a nearby willow had fallen on the electric fence and were shorting it out. She pushed open the barn door, switched off the fence and looked around to see if all the animals were ok. When she was growing up here, they didn’t have animals. Her dad owned a fueling station for pleasure boats, on Black Lake south of here. They had a dog and a couple of cats, but that was it. Ellie sat down on a pile of hay bales and sipped her coffee. She needed to shake this angst. She didn’t want the girls to see her this shook up. They were upset enough after last night. It would only make them more afraid of storms if they saw her so flustered. She was glad they found refuge in her bedroom. But instead of calming down, all she could think was “Why did we move back here?” “How did it happen so fast?” “Am I strong enough?”
Tears welled up in her eyes as a flood of long forgotten sorrows found their way back. The loss of her mother when she was only eleven. Her dad’s loneliness. Her insecurities in taking her mom’s place in running a house. Last night’s storm. The barn cat jumped up on her lap and she hugged him and cried into his fur. Barn Cat just let her.
Eighteen years ago she had chosen a college that was as far away from here as she could get and still get there on a Greyhound. Her dad didn’t want her to go, but Aunt Claire thought it would be good for her to get away from here. Aunt Claire thought Ellie had spent too much time alone already and if Ellie didn’t go away to college she would just end up helping her dad, selling snow cones to the camper kids, in the summer, and thermoses of hot coffee to ice fisherman, in the winter, at the store, on his dock.
Ellie thought she wanted to be an elementary school teacher but after the first semester at Washington State she switched her major to Art History. She didn’t know what she would do with a degree in Art History but it was a lot more enjoyable to study Art than Education and enjoying herself was all she wanted to think about. She met Jeff in the beginning of her junior year. He was a senior, majoring in photography. She met him at an exhibit that had some of his work in it. She had asked if she could buy a print of one of his photographs and he asked her out to dinner.
Jeff was with Ellie the night she got the call from Aunt Claire saying her dad was in the hospital. He had had a heart attack. Jeff made the arrangements for Ellie to fly back to New York. Jeff was the first person Ellie called when her dad died. Even though he was 3,000 miles away, Jeff was the one that got her through those next few days. It was Jeff who suggested that Ellie ask one of her relatives to stay at the house until she could figure out what she wanted to do with it. Her father’s brother, Uncle Ed and his wife ended up moving in. They had just signed their farm over to Uncle Ed’s oldest boy and thought this would work out just fine, for now. That was fifteen years ago!
Three months ago Uncle Ed called and said he and Aunt May were thinking about moving to Florida. Two of their three children lived down there and Uncle Ed thought Aunt May ought to be around the grandkids more. He also hinted that he wasn’t in that great of health and that he would feel better if Aunt May was a little closer to her daughters.
Ellie told Jeff about Uncle Ed and Aunt May’s plans. She still didn’t know what to do with the house. The land had been in her family for 175 years. The house was 150 years old. When the house was built, they brought a portable sawmill onto the land and built the house using the trees that were there. It wasn’t a very big house to begin with but over the years it had been added onto. It sat on 100 acres of some of the most beautiful woods in the area. No trees had been cut since the house was built and many had been planted. It upset her to think about selling the place but she hadn’t been back for 15 years. She was hoping Jeff would think of something.
Three days later, he did. Jeff wanted to move to New York. She thought he was kidding. He didn’t think it was right to sell her family history. He and Ellie owned their own business. Jeff had taken his photography background and computer knowledge and started a photo retouching and digital archive company. He started out doing a lot of work for Washington State, and then he got a few museums as clients and a few well-funded, private libraries too. Books or artwork were mailed to Jeff he would scan them, send the originals back and work with the digital files until the final product was to the clients liking. He had even published a coffee table book with before, during and after images of art he had collected over the years.
This could do it anywhere in the country. He had already talked to their clients and they didn’t see a problem with it. They hardly saw Jeff or Ellie face to face anyway. They could sell their house and get rid of that huge payment and live in a house that was paid for. They would be better off. If he had to fly to the west coast a few times a year it would still be a lot less expensive than living in Seatle. And, maybe he could pick up a few east coast clients. Ellie was home-schooling the girls and she could do that in New York, as easily as in Seattle. The girls could grow up in the country instead of the city. He said all the right things. Within 6 weeks they were in a U-haul heading east. Well, Jeff and Rose were in the U-haul. Ellie and the other girls flew. They sold one of their cars and put their house on the market.
She whipped her tears away. She was feeling a little foolish for her insecurities. Barn Cat sat up on her lap and pushed her nose on Ellie’s chin and purred contentedly at the attention she was getting. Ellie’s coffee was still warm in it’s thermal cup and she focused on it for a few minutes until she had drained the last drop. She sat on that hay bale contemplating the events of the past 6 weeks. They were a blur. They couldn’t unpack, until Uncle Ed and Aunt May moved out. They couldn’t set up their office properly, until Uncle Ed and Aunt May moved out. Their girls didn’t have a place to sleep, until Uncle Ed and Aunt May moved out. That finally happened a week ago. Now Jeff’s office was just the way he wanted it and work was going smoothly. Almost everything was unpacked and they were well on their way to finding normality again.
“Maaa Maaa” One of the goats started bawling at her. Goats! A whole other aspect she wasn’t prepared for. Now taking care of these animals was her responsibility. So far, it had all gone well but those first couple of milkings was a disaster. Milk being spilt. The goat stepping in the milk bucket. Ellie didn’t cover the milk in time once and the chickens decided to help themselves.
Ellie looked around. What a menagerie. Aunt May took in the unwanted. Three dairy goats, two of them had to be milked once a day. (The other dairy goat was a neutered male that was meant to be a cart goat but ended up being a hiking companion for Aunt May. He would carry her stuff for her in a ‘backpack for big dogs’ tied around his middle.) Two angora goats that had to be sheared twice a year. Two Jacob sheep that had to be sheared once a year. Three angora rabbits, which had to be brushed at least once a week and a dozen chickens. All but the chickens had to have their toe nails clipped on a regular basis. ‘Toe nails!’ Who would have thought of that. (Aunt May, left one of her spinning wheels for Ellie, just in case she thought she might like to try it.) Ellie sighed and petted Barn Cat. Oh yes, and one old scruffy barn cat with no name.
Ellie wasn’t sure she would like goats milk but found she apprehension was unwarented. Aunt May used to milk twice a day but she was throwing so much milk away. Aunt Clair told her about a lady that only milked once a day so she tried it. That was two years ago and these goats are still giving milk. A little less in the winter but they bounce right back in the spring. She found over the last 6 weeks, a calm in the barn, that she didn’t have in the house. It was quiet, and the goats and chickens always made her laugh. The chickens loved eating their own eggs! The first time Ellie saw them do that, she gagged. Then it became something like a parlor trick. The girls got involved in it and they would get half a dozen chickens chasing them around the yard, trying to snatch an egg out of their hand. There was an old Rhode Island Red that they loved to carry around. Laurel would always make it a scrambled raw egg and cracked corn soup. If Red was really lucky, Laurel would find a fresh worm to garnish the concoction with. Ellie smiled just thinking about it.
“Everything ok over here?” Jeff said. He and the girls were standing in the barn door.
“Ya, I think so. The fence was shorting out so I turned it off. The animals seem ok.” Ellie said.
“Is Ellie ok?”
“The jury is still deliberating.”
“Well, maybe this will cheer you up. The girls want to have a picnic back in the woods this afternoon. That’s all they’ve been talking about since they got out of bed. So, after we take care of the barn animals and get the fence working, the girls and I are going to go shopping. I looked around and except for a lot of branches there doesn’t seem to be any damage. The branches can wait for a day or two.”
Ellie only heard one thing that Jeff said. With an ashen face, Ellie looked at the girls and uttered, “The Woods.”
~-~-~-~
Ellie stood on the landing at the top of the stairs, gazing blankly at the woods. She had spent a lot of time back there after her mother had died. As she stood at the window, she could not recall what she did among those trees. She hadn’t gone in there since she moved back. Uncle Ed had taken Jeff on an outing around the pond and back into the far corners of the property. Jeff thought it was beautiful, “enchanting” was the word he used. But Ellie could not remember. Not one tree. Not one rock. She realized now, she had been avoiding going back there. But she didn’t know why.
This was also the first time she had been alone in her old house since she left there more than 18 years ago. After Jeff and the girls headed out to the store, Ellie found herself wandering around from room to room. She sat on the stepping stool in the corner of the kitchen for a while.
That red and white stool, with its pull out ladder, had been in the same corner ever since she could remember. The porcelain and metal sink looked the same and the metal cupboards on either side of the window looked like they did 18 years ago. The bottom shelf, on the cupboards, was angled back with sliding corrugated glass doors on the front. The colored cups and glasses that sat on these shelves reflected in the glass and made it look hand painted. The chrome and Formica table and matching chairs were in the same place and even though it was a fairly new refrigerator it looked almost like the old one. Aunt May had re-wallpapered the kitchen but it was still a floral and the flowers were still pale yellow. Ellie wasn’t sure how Aunt May did it, but the tired old dark green and pale yellow checkered linoleum had been replaced with new flooring that looked exactly the same as the old. The one really big change that pleased Ellie was the gas range. She grew up with an electric stove and after cleaning up many boiled over messes, hoped she would never have to cook on electric again. In college she used a hot plate, but somehow it didn’t do as much damage as that old electric stove she grew up with.
Aunt May had improved the look of the fake window over the sink. It had been covered up from the outside ever since Ellie’s mother was a little girl. It used to have wooden shelves in the old window frame with a bunch of nick knacks on them. The shelves also had this plastic ruffle stuff thumb tacked into the front. The thumb tacks had rusted from all the steam drifting up from the sink, and left streaks on the ruffles. But now there was a hand stenciled wooden valance added over the kitchen window with little curtains attached to the inside front. A small florescent light was built into it and glass shelves replaced the little wooden ones. Aunt May had taken away the little knic knacks and turned the fake window into an indoor herb garden. Ellie was sure, if she looked around the dark damp basement she would find a Button Mushroom garden. Aunt May was plant happy! Keeping all these plants alive was going to be a challenge. Aunt May never once gave Ellie any instructions on the care and feeding of any of the plants, inside or out.
The reason the kitchen window was boarded up was because the original house only had two bedrooms and Ellie’s mother was the youngest of 6 children, all girls. (Aunt Claire, being the oldest.) Four bedrooms were added, out the kitchen side of the house. The addition was pretty simple. The house was twenty-six foot square. The addition ran the full twenty-six feet and went out twenty-four feet. There were four bedrooms, each ten-foot wide by twelve foot deep. The hall was six foot wide with bookshelves running along each wall reducing the area to only four foot wide. Just past the two back bedroom doors was a six-foot by nine-foot closet. There were two sisters per room and one room was just for clothes. Aunt Claire was 12 when Ellie’s mother Martha was born. The bedroom closet had clothes arranged around the room in all different sizes and each girl had her own area for her clothes. The closet at the end of the hall was where they stored their summer clothes in the winter and winter clothes in the summer. One of the bedrooms upstairs was turned into a sewing room. Aunt Claire would joke about taking old dresses apart to make new ones for the younger girls. Aunt Claire said her mother would not stand for her girls wearing hand-me-downs. The Aunts all called them side-ways dresses. Not quite new but definitely not a hand-me-down. They would always buy new ribbon or lace to make them look fresh. When Ellie was little, one of her favorite things to do was to play with the giant jar of buttons, salvaged from many of those dresses. The quilt on her bed, was one of many her great-grandmother had made out of those dresses when they were torn apart for the last time. Ellie pictured her grandmother doing nothing but sewing. Maybe it was her grandmother’s hiding place, where she find sanity. Three girls were a handful; six would be an altered state of consciousness.
The other room the addition was attached to, was the parlor. It had a stone fireplace and tall windows on either side of it. The window on the left was very nicely made into a doorway, which led into the addition hall. The window on the right was, with equal craftsmanship, made into a bookshelf. The baseboards and trim were not very ornate but all were original. This room also received new wallpaper but it was a little too Victorian for Ellie’s taste. Especially since the house was more a Colonial style than Victorian. Uncle Ed and Aunt May had taken their furniture with them and Ellie didn’t think her contemporary Seattle furniture fit this house very well. Maybe she could put slip covers over everything?
From the inside you could walk all the way around the central stairway. From the kitchen, through a door into the parlor. Walking through the parlor, to another door, into the front hall. Turn right into the front hall, pass the stairwell on the right and front door on the left. Straight on to yet another door that leads into the living room. Taking another right into the living room, walking through the living room into the dining room. The living room and dining room are divided by an arched doorway. Following the dining room to the back hall. Turning right into the back hall and walking a little ways puts the basement door on the right and the back door on the left. A few more steps through the back hall and back into the kitchen.
The living room, like the parlor, had a fireplace with windows on either side. Ellie sat in this room for quite a while. Uncle Ed and Aunt May must not have spent much time in this room because nothing seemed to have been moved. It was also more than a little dusty. Her mother’s picture was still sitting on the mantle and the same old lace doilies were on the back of the burgundy captain’s chairs in the front window. The windows were somewhat cloudy and the sunlight that came into this room seemed as old as the house itself. And the room smelled like lilacs. Ellie poked around to see where the scent was coming from. What she found was really odd. Aunt May had pinned pressed lilacs all over the linings of the living room drapes. There were hundreds of them, all very neatly and meticulously pinned, in perfect rows. Aunt May was a puzzle! Ellie decided to ask Aunt Claire how much she got to know Aunt May over these last fifteen years. Why would she leave this room untouched? And why the lilac obsession?
The dining room had the same problem as the parlor. Ellie’s contemporary table and chairs in a vintage room. At least Aunt May didn’t do floral on the wall in here. It was a very tasteful pale gold parchment. Maybe a tablecloth would help?
The upstairs was just as evenly divided. The house was built with a very generous landing at the top of the stairs. To the left of the top of the stairs and set back a ways lies an equally generous closet with a ladder that goes to the attic. Following the banister around to the left, leads to one of the two bedrooms. To the right of the top of the stairs and set back a ways lies a bathroom. (Even though they are the same size the closet always felt large and the bathroom small.) And following the banister around to the right leads to the other bedroom.
The bedroom to the left was Ellie’s when she was a girl and the one to the right was her parents’. They didn’t use the bedrooms in the addition then, except for storage. Now Ellie’s old bedroom was her office and where she home-schools the girls, the other bedroom was Jeff’s office.
Uncle Ed and Aunt May didn’t want to walk up the stairs so they used one of the bedrooms in the addition. The only major remodeling Uncle Ed did was to convert the large closet at the end of the hall, in the addition, into a 1/2 bath, accessible from the hall and a 3/4 bath, attached to one of the bedrooms. Because they didn’t use the upstairs bedrooms, Aunt May had not re-wallpapered these rooms either. But they had taken everything out of them and stored the stuff up into the attic. They used these rooms as guestrooms since there was a full bathroom nearby. Aunt May said she didn’t want her grandkids snooping around where they ought not be snooping so she also put a lock on the attic door. Where did she say she put the key? Probably, on the inside basement door.
The basement was still as creepy as ever. She was going to have to do something about that. That was where the washer and dryer lived and if Ellie was going to have to go down there on a daily basis it was not going to be dark and dirty. When they lived in Seattle, Jeff was teaching the girls to do their own laundry. The girls hadn’t been in the dungeon yet. Fixing it up would be a challenge because the basement was made of stone. A cement floor was poured some years ago and where the floor met the wall the cement formed a trench. On rainy days it looked like a moat. But it wasn’t raining today. It was gorgeous! The woods looked inviting from her vantage point.
She used to be able to see a little corner of the pond from here but the trees had grown taller over the years and Aunt May had planted that huge ring of lilac bushes near the pond. When will they be in bloom? End of April, first part of May. Lilacs in May. There is something about that and the woods. Ellie was considering therapy at this point. Why couldn’t she remember that time in her childhood? She decided she would go up into the attic and look through her old belongings. She went down to the basement door where the key rack was, but there wasn’t any master lock keys there. Where did Aunt May say she put it? Aunt May chattered a lot and Ellie would sometimes tune her out. Unfortunately this had been one of those times. She sat down on the kitchen stool to think about it when she heard Jeff and the girls pull in. In a few minutes the house was filled with excited kids and bags of groceries.
“We had a blast.” Jeff said as he sorted the groceries. What went on the picnic, what went into the refrigerator for later. He pulled out a bottle of wine. “Guess where I got this?” he was having a hard time holding back the answer.
Ellie was stumped. “I’m guessing a store, but I think you want more of an answer than that.”
“Your dad’s old store! It is such an experience. The floor is made of these old wood planks and it creaks when you walk across it. They sell everything there, from live bait to banana splits. Was it like that when you were young? It’s like a little hangout. A kid’s meeting place and where all of the fishermen hangout to tell tall fish tails. A lady runs the place. Is she one of your Aunts? We’ll have to make a trip back there.” Jeff kept asking questions and didn’t stop to get an answer. “And look at these.” Jeff pulled out a box of Goat Milk Fudge and some home made soap. “The sticker on it says ‘Claire’s Island Creation’ is that your Aunt Claire?
“So, you like the place?” Ellie teased. “As to your questions. Yes, it was like that when I was growing up and I don’t know who runs it. I don’t even know if I still own it. And yes, that is Aunt Claire’s label. She makes a lot of other things too.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know if you still own it?”
“I was the sole beneficiary when my dad died and I don’t remember selling it. I know this sounds really odd but I haven’t thought about that place until just now.”
Jeff took a long look at Ellie. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
“Ya, but I can’t quite articulate it. I am having a hard time remembering my childhood.”
“You are always telling me stuff you used to do. Fishing for smelt in the moonlight. Or cooking on your old electric stove. That cat you use to dress up. Riding your bike all over the place.”
“I said, it’s hard to articulate.” She said as she turned to put the groceries into the refrigerator.
Jeff knew Ellie. He had been so excited about this change in his life and Ellie seemed happy about the decision too. But now he knew, coming home for her was coming back to a lot of heartache. He came up behind her and put his arms around her shoulders and said. “Well, lets go for a walk in the woods and have some wine. It’s a gorgeous day out and with a little luck we’ll find a dry place to sit.”
Chapter 3
The Woods.
It took them about 45 minutes to get everything together but finally they were out the door. They were going to start off the outing by checking out Aunt May’s lilac ring. It was an open meadow between the house and the entrance to the lilac ring and on the way, the girls were chasing each other all over the place.
The girls wanted to get away from their parents for a little bit. They had tried to have whispered conversations about their joint dream of the night before but they really wanted to hash out all the details that each one remembered. Some things Heather remembered better than the other two and vic verca.
“I don’t think it was a dream. I was there. My body might have been in bed but I was at that tree.” Rose stated.
“How is that possable? That just sounds crazy.” said Heather.
“It does sound crazy but somehow I feel the same way. I remember the smell of the woods and the feel of the moss. When I dream it’s just in my head. Last night, it was all of me. All of my senses were working just fine, not just my imagination.” added Laurel.
Do you remember all their names? I was so caught up in being there and trying to figure out if they wanted to hurt us or not that I really missed a lot of what they said. And the music was so intense.” said Rose.
“Oh, the music. I couldn’t see where it was coming from. It made everything more alive. It made the air itself come to life.” added Laurel.
“I remember their names and what they said. They all said they would be here. They said mom use to play with them when she was little. They want mom back. Back for what? questioned Heather.
“You sound like you don’t trust them.” said Rose.
“I think the idea of them is incredable but I’m afraid of them. I was excited about moving back here, just like dad, but after last night I’m not sure it was such a good move. That storm was awful and then right after it we’re possessed somehow and told to hand our mother over to a bunch of bug people.” Heather was sounding down right cranky. “I love fairy tails. You guys know that. But a lot of them have some underlying threat. I want to believe they are friends from mom’s past, but snatching our thoughts and taking us away like that wasn’t right.”
They walked the rest of the way to the lilac bushes in silence. Heather’s doubts put a different angle on their experience and now each of them had to rethink the sequence of events from the night before.
“What an incredible day,” Ellie said taking in a deep breath. “It feels good to be outside”.
“You haven’t been out much since we moved here.”
“Doesn’t seem like it. I feel like all I’ve been doing in the last six weeks is looking for stuff. Socks, shorts, my purse. It’s getting a lot better now that we’re all the way moved in. I’ve put things in their places, now all I have to do is keep track of all those new places.”
“What I think is amazing is how big this house is but still how cramped everything is. I can’t quite figure that one out. Like my office. It’s a big room but my equipment barely fits in it.” Jeff mused.
“I think it’s all the windows and doors. The windows go almost to the floor in every room so you can’t put anything in front of them. Your office in Seattle had high windows and the room was bigger. But I was noticing that our furniture doesn’t fit this house either. It takes up a lot of space. I don’t think our bedroom was designed for a king size bed. There’s something else very wierd that I realized today. Aunt May fixed up all the rooms downstairs except the livingroom. I was wondering if she even dusted it in the past 15 years. And there are dried lilacs pinned inside the curtins.”
They thought about this for a minute then Ellie added. “Why don’t I move my office down into the living room and you can use both the upstairs room.”
“More moving.” Jeff groned but Ellie could tell he was liking the idea.
“I was thinking about checking out the attic but it has a pad lock on the door and I have no idea where to find the key.”
Jeff pulled out a huge wad of keys from his pocket. “Bet it’s one of these!”
“What’s all that?”
“A present from Uncle Ed. See this one?” Jeff held up a set of old car keys. “This belongs to a beige 1963 Chevy station wagon.”
“Uncle Ed was so proud of that car. He bought it brand-new. He babied it.” Ellie said shaking her head.
“It’s ours now.” Jeff stated.
“The car or the keys?” Ellie asked.
“Both.”
“Where is it?”
“In the garage, well, behind the garage. Your Uncle built a little shed with a wooden floor just for the Chevy. It is in mint condition!”
“He gave it to us?” Ellie re-asked.
“No, he gave it to me! He gave it to me for bringing you back.”
Ellie didn’t say anything. She swallowed hard then reached out for Jeff’s hand.
When they walk through the wooden arch into the ring of lilacs they were struck by the smell. The scent of lilacs was heavy. It had an almost intoxicating effect, but there wasn’t a bloom in sight. The blossoms would have been spent over a month ago. The air was still, inside the ring. The sun was not yet directly over head and the ground was still pretty wet. Ellie thought any leftover perfume would have surely been washed away in last nights storm.
“Where is the smell coming from?” Jeff asked to no one in particular.
“From over here.” Rose said pointing to what look like an orange crate with a dark green top. “There’s one over there and there too. And two over there.”
There were five crates with solid dark green tops and open sides. They were organized in a half circle on the north side of the ring. Jeff lifted the lid on one. The dark green lid was pretty hot. Attached to the lid were row upon row of tightly packed pressed lilacs. The heating of the crates was releasing the perfume of the little bouquets.
“Look.” Rose said. She was standing on a rather large rock in the middle of the ring. Ellie and Jeff both looked at Rose.
“No, look at my shadow.” Rose pointed. “It’s a sundial!” Rose explained.
After a long pause Ellie said. “I don’t think I knew Aunt May very well! I have been more surprised by her today than an all the time I was growing up.”
They all took turns standing on the rock, comparing the length of their shadows which at this time of day wasn’t very long. Heather checked the time on the sundial with her watch. They all enjoyed the ring. Then Ellie and Jeff sat on the rock and shared the bota bag filled with the Napa Valley Pinot Noir Jeff bought earlier. Ellie felt a little decident drink red wine at this hour of the morning. The girls ran around the ring jumping over the crates of dried lilacs and chasing eachother around the outside of the ring. Ellie was finally beginning to feel a sense of calm, but she was fighting it. Three months of tension is very hard to shake. She stood up with the intention of moving everyone along but Jeff didn’t want that to happen. He had found his calm and he was going to help Ellie find hers. He didn’t stand up, instead he handed her the bag. She sighed, took a deep breath, sat down and took another drink. She made up her mind to be a follower today and endulge in total decidents. “What are the rest of those keys for?” she asked.
Jeff had to stand up to pull the keys out of his pocket, and he still had to fight with them. He sat back down and handed her the heavy mass.
She held them out in one hand and mimicked be a scale.
“Don’t know if I would have brought such a heavy load for a walk in the woods.” Ellie teased.
Jeff took the keys back, rummaged through them, found the one he wanted and held it up. “This one is to the Out House.”
“That could be handy. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t an Out House here when I was growing up. Is this another Uncle Ed surprise?” Ellie asked.
“When he was showing it to me he was very proud of his ingenuity.”
“Ingenuity? An Out House, which required ingenuity? Where is it?’
“Around the other side of the pond, by the big willow. I don’t want to tell you about it. You really have to see it to believe it. I asked him why he put so much effort into it and he said it was because he didn’t really want to do anything to the house. He just felt the need to build something. He built the little shed to store the Chevy. He really enjoyed that. Then he worked on those bathrooms. He said Aunt May stood over his shoulder for every hammer stroke. He hired someone to do the fake kitchen window, after that. He said he built the Out House for when his daughters brought his grand daughters up. ‘Them young girls would spend their whole summer vacation drinking ice tea by the pond and running all the way back to the house. They sure like their little Out House.’ “
“He, also built the bridge to the barn, didn’t he?” Asked Ellie.
“Yes and no. They re-built the dock at the store your dad used to own. The bridge is the old dock. Uncle Ed hired a guy to move it here. I guess it was a real job. They attached a set of wheels to the back and a tongue to the front and hauled it with the farm tractor. Aunt May put the flower boxes on the rails because that’s where the fishermen used to cut off the heads of their catch. Every time it rained the bridge smelled like dead fish. Uncle Ed said, hauling that Out House around was a breeze, after that.”
Ellie was smiling at Jeff. “He really took a liking to you, didn’t he?”
“Ya, I brought you back!”
“That seems to be a big thing.” Ellie took another pull on the bag.
“For some reason, which he didn’t share, it is.”
“He just wanted to go to Florida.” Ellie said rather flatly.
“There wasn’t anything stopping him from going to Florida. He said that. He said there was something stopping you from coming home.”
“Chatty guy!” That was all Ellie said but that wasn’t all that she was thinking. At least twenty arguments about ‘something stopping you from coming home’ flashed through her mind. ‘I had a life in Seattle! Jeff had family is in Seattle! We have friends in Seattle!’ She refrained from speaking these thoughts because it would change the tone of the rest of the day. This topic also required a little more research. Was this just Uncle Ed’s opinion or did all the Aunts think this way?
Jeff could see that this idea of being ‘brought back’ was irritating her and decided not to bring it up again. It had been a playful tease on his part but he didn’t want to be the one to dig up old ghosts.
“Lets walk around the outside of the ring. The girls are having fun. What do you say, just you and me.” Jeff said as he held her close and kissed her on the forehead, then added. “Wow, smell those lilacs!”
Ellie put her head on Jeff’s shoulder. She wanted to shake this tension but was really having a hard time of it. The idea of being ‘brought back’ didn’t help. Also, she felt she should be doing something, (like unpacking more boxes). They had been sitting there for so long that the fragrance of the lilacs had become common to her sense of smell. There was a slight breeze and then, in an instant, lilacs. It not only filled her olfactory but it filled her mind. She inhailed deeply. Lilacs had always been one of her favorite flowers. She remembered when she was a little girl, the house filled with the smell of them in May. There was a bush, by the pond, where her mother used to get her clippings. Ellie and her mom would walk out to the bush every morning, when the lilacs were in bloom, with a pair of clippers and a peck basket. They would put a bouquet in a big vase, on the dining room table. They would pick out some smaller bunches that hadn’t opened all the way yet and sandwich them between wax paper. They took these down into the basement and lined them between two big boards and placed some bricks on top. Ellie’s mother used to make saches and give them away at Christmas. Ellie pulled away from Jeff and looked around the ring. There, at the North end of the circle, in the center of the sundial, was the original lilac bush. It was larger than the rest and the leaves were darker. Leaving her seat on the rock she walked up closer to it. She didn’t know what she expected the bush to have for her, but the memory of her mother clipping blossoms from it were very strong. She almost expected to see her mom standing there. She reached out and touched one of the leaves. When she did, a perfect little white feather floated down and landed on her sleeve. “A gift.” She thought. When she turned around Rose, Heather, Laurel and Jeff were staring at her. Rose, Heather and Laurel were smiling. Jeff just looked content.
“Do you see them?” Rose whispered to her sisters. Heather and Laurel didn’t answer, they just stared at the bush and nodded.
Ellie, shyly smiled at the girls. “I just remembered, there was a bush here when I was little. Aunt May must have started the new bushes, for the circle, from clippings from this one.” She looked down at the feather, then took a long moment and re-examined the ring of bushes. “Yet again, I am amazed by Aunt May. Let’s go check out that Out House.”
The thing the girls were staring at, took off from the lilac bush and fluttered around Ellie’s head. Then it started fluttering backwards in front of Jeff’s face. Jeff absentmindedly batted at what he thought was a bug. The girls laughed. The little thing beckoned the girls to follow as it fluttered out through the arched opening in the circle of lilacs. And they did, for they knew this wee thing. It was Evergreen.
The girls ran ahead, following the small creature they met the night before. They were headed for a little earthen overpass that was at the base of the stone dam. When the pond was full to overflowing, like today, the water spilled over a low spot in the dam, flowed for a few yards along a majestic brook, skirted on both banks by a tangle of peppermint. Then the water went through a conduit that was covered with dirt and planted with ground pine. The girls, following Evergreen’s lead, stopped and waited by the fragrant plants. Laurel, looking back at her parents, began to giggle. There were two fairies traveling with their parents. A youngish looking fairy, dressed in white and silver was sitting, cross legged on their mother’s shoulder and a very young looking male fairy was tormenting their dad. They watched their father bat at some invisible annoyance. Jeff swatted his own nose then waved near his right ear then his left. He did this in an absent minded way. All the girls started laughing. The little boy fairy noticing he had their attention, left Jeff and flew towards them. He buzzed all around each one and then landing on Laurel’s shoulder made himself right at home. Laurel, whispering, asked him his name. Giggling, he said. “Tad Pole is the name for me, and water is the game I like - see - game for me.”
“What did he say?” Rose and Heather asked together.
“His name is Tad Pole.”
At this, Tad Pole flew off Laurel’s shoulder, buzzed around Heathers nose, flew down to the little stream and scooped up some water in an acorn shell then tossed the water at Rose’s cheek and landed back on Laurels shoulder. The girls were now laughing so hard they didn’t notice their parents standing behind them wandering what could be so funny. Like conspirators, caught in the act, they all stopped laughing at the same time.
“They look guilty of something.” Ellie said to Jeff.
“But what.”
“Better keep an eye on them.”
“I’ll use my right eye, you use your left.”
“Got it.” Ellie said with her right eye closed and her left eye glaring at them and Jeff with his left eye closed. This was from a game Jeff and Ellie would play on the girls when the girls were little. They would put their heads together, noses almost touching, arms and legs acting as one, as if attached to one creature and stalk the girls around the house, yelling things like, ‘Time for bed.’ or ‘Brush your teath.’
“To the Out House.” Jeff stated, and they all headed across the little earthen bridge, up the slope to their right and straight on, well, more like in an arch around the pond, to a giant willow that resided on it’s own peninsula.
“How did it get so big?” Heather asked. She was really just thinking this to herself and wasn’t really expecting an answer.
“It’s not just one tree. It’s four trees that grew together.” Ellie said.” My dad was afraid the willows would rot at the point where they all joined. He used to climb up there with a ladder and paint them with a special tree paint.”
“Your Uncle left some in the basement.” Jeff added.
Evergreen, Tad Pole and the white fairy flew up into the tree and disappeared. Jeff and the girls walked around it exploring every crack and crevice. Ellie touched the tree. She was remembering evening picnics with her mom and aunts and lightning bugs dancing on the island. They would drink spiced ice tea and the Aunts would talk about when they were little girls and how they sat here with their mother. Ellie learned to crochet under this tree when she was eight years old. Spiced ice tea. She would have to get the recipe. The girls would really like it. The white fairy floated down out of the tree, brushed Ellie’s cheek and landed back on her shoulder. Ellie touched her cheek then looked up into the tree. She wondered if something had fallen from it’s branches. Then she looks down on the ground. There at her feet was a perfect little blue robin’s egg. She picked it up very gently. She was afraid it might still have an occupant inside. When she turned it over she saw the shell had an opening and the former resident had already moved out. The special thing about this egg was the piece that had been pecked open was still attached by a small piece of shell. Ellie rummaged through her backpack and found a plastic container full of raisins. She dumped the raisins in with a bag of peanuts. Put some grass and leaves in the plastic container and gently placed the egg and the white feather into the box. She looked at the two items before securing the lid and one thing kept rolling around in the back of her mind. ‘Two gifts.’
“Is that the Out House?” Rose pointing asked Jeff.
“Yep, lets check it out.” He answered.
“And maybe use it.” Ellie added.
From the outside, the Out House looked like a children’s play house or maybe a circus trailer, but on closer inspection, Ellie discovered it was so much more. With the little white fairy perched comfortably on her left shoulder, she proceeded to explore. Uncle Ed had built the Out House on an old trailer frame, so the little building had wheels on one end and a trailer hitch at the other. On the end with the wheels, Ellie stepped up onto a little 2-foot deep porch, slid open the little pocked door and stepped into an incredibly charming Victorian bathroom. To her right was a small corner camper sink on an Ivory colored base. Over the sink was a matching mirror and sconce set all decorated with dried flowers. Next to the sink in the corner opposite the door was a small shower. Small and short. On the little shower floor was a step stool and half way up the shower wall was the shower head and faucet. There was a double shower curtain with the plastic part made out of a really light mint green and on the outside, lace curtains in a beautiful cobalt blue. Straight in front of the door was a camper toilet which had three cobalt blue shelves above it with mint green lace runners draped over the shelves. The shelves held little baskets full of traveler packets of soap, along with matches, extra candles and a can of bug spray.
The toilet seat cover and rug were mint green trimmed in the dark blue. On the wall to Ellie’s left, was a blue towel rack with mint green towels. The walls were covered in a very delicate wall paper, which had an ivory background with thin sparsely decorated vines with small fuchsia colored flowers on it. There were no windows in the Out House but there was a sky-light that opened.
Ellie stepped outside and Jeff took her around to the back of the little structure on wheels.
Ellie watched Jeff step up onto the trailer hitch and opened up the back of the Out House. There were two horizontal doors that were secured in place with a large pad lock. Jeff unlocked the lock and pulled up on the upper door just enough to allow the lower door to drop down. Standing on the lower panel, Jeff lifted up the upper panel to reveal another set of vertical doors inside. These doors were slightly angled at the top to hold up the upper panel to form a slighted slanted roof. The side doors were held in place using sliding locks that easily slippend into holes in both the upper and lower panels. Ellie stepped up onto the platform to discover a complete camper kitchen. A small blue/green stove, with oven, on the left, sink with sink base on the right with cabinet drawers separating the two. The counter top and back splash was Formica with blue and pink chevrons. Under the sink was an ice box refrigerator. Above the sink and stove was a set of cupboards. Ellie opened the cupboards and found them stacked with dishes, cups, pots and pans and in the left hand cupboard a metal box with a sticker that said ‘water heater’.
“Hot water!?” Ellie declared. “Or should I say ‘And, hot water?’”
“Your Uncle stood back and let me inspect the whole place by myself and when I saw that sticker, that’s what I said too.”
Ellie just shook her head in disbelief. Between the bathroom and the kitchen was a two-foot wide storage room with access doors on both sides. Jeff showed Ellie a large sealed water tank that sat on a shelf at the top of the storage room. The water ran into the sinks, shower and hot water heater with gravity. The hot water heater came on when water started to flow through it. Under the water tank on one side was the propane tanks for the stove and hot water. There was also a tackle box, several telescoping fishing poles and a screened in pavilion neatly stored in its canvas carrying bag. On the other side was a folding table, folding chairs and picnic umbrella.
“I am so very disappointed.” Ellie jeered with sarcasm. “Where’s the feather bed!”
“I bet if we looked real hard we might find some hammocks. Would that do?” Jeff played along in a very serious tone.
Then he added. “Anywhere Aunt May and your aunts wanted to spend the day, your Uncle would just pull the Out House to that spot. He took me to all the level ground on the property and told me how to park it. He pulls it to the house, fills the water tank, puts ice in the refrigerator and what ever the aunts want to take gets placed on the bathroom floor. The granddaughters still get to use it when they come up, but Aunt May didn’t see any reason for it to just sit there and rot. It was a bone of contention between your Uncle and Aunt for a while. Guess who won?”
“She has her way of getting what she wants. I’m here aren’t I?”
Then she added. “Doesn’t everything fall off of the shelves and out of the cupboards?”
“That’s what I asked too. All those little baskets in the bathroom are nailed to those shelves. The votive cups in the sconces are held in with rubber washers and the door knobs on the kitchen cupboards are tied together. He said he had to fix a few things over the years but on the whole everything pretty much stays put. He also added the fact that pulling it with the tractor he only drove about three miles per hour.”
“This thing is amazing.” Ellie said, walking back into the bathroom. Then Ellie stuck her head back outside, gave Jeff a look of total bewilderment and asked “Aunts?’
“Yep, all five of your mother’s sisters.”
“I didn’t know Uncle Ed and Aunt May knew my mother’s family that well.”
“Uncle Ed made sure he had somewhere else to be.”
“Um, I was going to really check out this out house. What happens when I flush?”
“There is a black water tank underneath the trailer. It hooks up to the septic tank back at the house.”
“That means you have to pull it back to the house to empty it!”
“Your Uncle warned me that your Aunts have been coming here, and spending the night in the woods, every six weeks since the day he moved in and he didn’t think they would stop now. Aunt May didn’t use to go with them, then about ten years ago, Aunt Claire invited her to a picnic, in June and Aunt May had gone with them ever since. It’s the one thing Aunt May didn’t want to leave. Your Uncle said she spent a lot of time preparing for those picnics.”
“I wonder when they were here last?” Ellie said this not really expecting Jeff to know.
“The night before you arrived.”
“How do you know that?”
“Your Uncle was complaining about having enough to do without having to deal with those hens the night before you were expected.”
“Hens! I used to think he was so quiet.” Ellie chuckled as she closed the Out House door
All this time the girls had been hanging out by the willow. They had given the Out House the once over then went back to the tree. Ever Green was waiting for them there and Heather especially wanted to find out more about what these creatures wanted. Tad Pole had been funny to watch and that had softened her opinion of them a little but the white fairy hadn’t left her mothers sholder and Heather found that a little disterbing.
“I’m glad you made the choice to come.
I know we’ll have a lot of fun.
There’s time to learn about each other
We’ll walk behind your father and mother.
They can enjoy their time together
Drinking from their bag of leather
Questions, you can ask us plenty
I’m sure you have come up with many.
Tad Pole is a playful lad
Sometimes he can be very bad
He will tease, but please don’t mind
A better friend you will not find”
As Ever Green was saying this about Tad Pole he was very busy diving into morning glory blossoms, scooping up the polin and blowing into the girls faces. It made Rose sneeze, which was what Tad Pole seemed to be aiming for. He did it again to Laurel and when she sneezed he toumbled and rolled through the air like he was cought in a hurricane. The girls started laughing and that seemed to egg him on. Rose didn’t wait to be hit with another dose of pollin. She caught Tad Pole off guard by blowing a big gust of wind at him when he wasn’t looking. To Tad Pole this was a decloration of war. He flew up into the tree and found some chipmunks hord of nuts and from on high started bombing the girls with them. Rose got the first one on the nose, then Heather received a bunch of chock cherry seeds in her hair. Her scepticism of the fairies gave way to revenge. Heather, who is quiet, meek and always thoughtful of others, now put all her methodical energy towards getting even. She had thought of super glueing his feet to a pine cone, pouring honey on his wings or just squishing him like a bug. When he flew back down with a handfull of bird feathers intended for Laurel, Heather reached down and grabbed a handful of loose dirt and threw it at him. Heather’s aim was good and Tad Pole received most of the dirt on his wings. He dropped into the flowers like a lead sinker. Heather instantely felt bad and stooped down to make sure he was all right. She found him sitting on the ground with his arms around his knees, pouting.
“I’m sorry.” she said.
Tad Pole stuck his toung out at her.
“I’ll help you clean up.”
He shook his head and turned his back to her. She reached down to pick him up and he walked away with his dirty wings draging on the ground behind him.
“That was really mean! What did you do that for?” Rose scolded Heather.
But before Heather could reply, Tad Pole flew out from behind the tree with his arms full of feathers and dropped them onto Heathers head. Heather whorled around and started chasing Tad Pole around the tree. He was flying backwards just out of her reach, making faces and at her and boxing the air like a prize fighter. When Heather was out of breath and standing back beside her sisters, Tad Pole, who seemed to only be increasing his energy level, started buzzing around all three girls heads like an annoying fly. This made the girls laugh histarically.
“Do you want to go over to the island?” Jeff asked.
Totally startled, the girls wheeled around to find their parents standing behind them stareing at them. To Ellie and Jeff the girls were laughing at a tree trunk. As for the girls, the full impace of the fairies only being visible to them really hit home. They stood for a moment it total silence and bewilderment while their faces turned beet red with imbarisment.
“o k” Rose finally squeeked.
“O K” Ellie mocked.
They walked over to the water’s edge. Jeff started to take off his shoes. Then Ellie, smiling did the same.
“Take off your shoes.” Jeff told the girls. The girls looked a little nervous about this but did as they were asked. Then all holding hands walked in ankle deep water over to the island. The water was cool but not cold and the bottom was surprizing firm and not slimy which was the thought that ran through Laurel’s mind. Ellie warned the girls that this was the only place where the water was this shallow. The little pool of water that reached around the willow was knee deep but the pond was really deep in the middle. The girls promised they would never come up here on their own.
The island wasn’t very big. There was a nice size oak tree in the middle with a bench beside it. A few wild rose bushes, some black berry bushes and a boat dock on the side nearest the stone dam. The bench was a fairly good size one and very inviting looking. The frame of the bench was made out of small diameter maple logs and the back and seat was made out of smoothly planed oak planks. There was a lacework of willow and grape vines up the arms and along the front and across the whole back that made the bench look like it grew up out of the ground right where it sat. Ellie sat down with a sigh of pleasure and her and Jeff started to unpack some of the food they had brought. They shared some more wine and gave the girls their drinks.
Ellie spread out her wind breaker on the ground and spread out their lunch. There weren’t any sandwiches, just a lot of finger food. When they had this type of fare at the house they called it a board. It was usually served on the cutting board and set in the middle of the table. Everyone would just snack. At home the board usually was served with olives, bread and spreads, and a pot of tea. Their lunch on the island was much simpler. Mostly cheeze, nuts, pretzles and fruit. To drink they had water and lemonade. Jeff and Ellie sat on the bench, talking and eating and the girls took a little bag full for themselves and found some rocks to sit on around a berry bush on the other side of the oak tree.
Evergreen went with them and sat on a branch between Rose and Heather. Laurel was on a rock that faced them.
She spoke in an almost musical tone.
“I would like to share, in your little walk.
To smell the flowers, and to the trees we’ll talk.
I could teach you, a song to sing.
I think you’ll enjoy it, it has a nice ring.”
But first do you have any questions to ask
About our tree, about the past?
I know little Heather here has some doubts
No, don’t be imbarised, please don’t pout.
We are strange little creatures, if you don’t know us
When people first see us they cause such a fuss
That’s why we decided to sculpture your dream
It’s a nice way to meet us and you didn’t scream.
Now come ask away
It’s a beautiful day
A soft breaze in the air
We haven’t a care.”
There was only a short pose the Laurel said “What’s the little white fairies name?”
“She’s so pretty and mysterious.” Heather added.
“Snow Crystal, is the name she chose.
And with your mother, she always goes.
They were friends, when your mother was young.
I will teach you, the song they sung.”
Evergreen giggled when she said this last part.
“Does mom know that Snow Crystal is with her?” Rose asked.
“Your mother, does not know she’s there.
You must not tell her, please take care.
Snow Crystal will help, your mother recall,
Her time with the fairies, when she was small.”
“What does that mean, her time with the fairies?” This was the question Heather most wanted answered.
Evergreen gazed a long time at each of the girls before she began. Her story started a long time before Ellie was born. She talked about how Ellies family and the lives of the fairies were intertwined for hundreds of years and how the family protected the fairies from waring people who wanted to see the fairies destoied. Evergreen talked about Ireland and the valley where the family lived. She said most fairies lived in fairy mounds and that made it easy for their enemies to find them, but in the valley there was a hidden cave. It had a very small entrence and was easily hidden by a pile of rocks. Once you entered the cave it opened up into a large galery with a soft dirt floor. The fairies lived in there when their enemies were near and the family would use many human tricks to keep these evel persuers away. Drink and food usually worked the best and the persuers would leave the valley light headed and full to bursting. This went on for many years. Then one evening the waring people showed up without warning and in such great number that the family knew they could not protect the fairies. One of the woman, Eliza was her name, gathered all their money, packed a hurried bag and put on a her long hooded cape and snuck quietly to the fiaries hiding place. Like leaves, adhearing to logs after a rain, the fairies, clung to the inside of Eliza’s cape and she fled for their lives. Her only thought was to save the fairies and as she ran she realized she had to take them away from Ireland. The valley was in County Donigal, and Donigal Town being a sea port, her realization led her to the docks. Their she booked a passage to America. The journey was hard but not as hard for her as for others on the ship. She spent most of the journey in a corner below deck or standing on deck, never leaving her cape. She hadn’t had time to buy food for the journey nor did she have the money. On the ship the fairies were safe from their enemys and gathered up the courage to fly about the ship at twilight when they were least likely to be seen. They would steal food from the other passangers at first but Eliza didn’t like taking anything from them, so the fairies started stealing from the crew then eventually the captin. He was a mean old cus and Eliza and the fairies thought it great fun to snatch food from his larder. It was also the best food on the ship. It took six weeks to reach America and when they did it was the fairies who saved Eliza. She was scared and alone in a busy and hostile city. They fed her and guided her to the outskirts of town away from the kayos and filth. She worked as a house keeper for a while but always felt the fairies weren’t safe. She was always look west and away from peering eyes. It was then that she met Luke. He was lean and handsum with a chizled face. His family was from Ireland and had come to America long before Eliza. His grandmother was Blackfoot Indian. He worked in town at the grain mill and Eliza looked forward to the days when she had to drive the team to pick up the feed. Well they fell in love, married and over time moved farther west. Eliza loved Luke’s family and found a great friend in Luke’s indian grandmother. Elizas was struck by the simelarities between the old Irish ways and the ways of the Blackfoot. But she missed her own family very much and wrote them often. Over the years Luke and Eliza had many children and many of Elizas family from Ireland came to America to live with them. They bought this land and farmed it. And for the first time in many years the fairies had a home. Eliza and Luke tried to hang onto their old ways. Each of them bringing their own triditions and joining them into one of harmony with nature. From the very beginning Luke could see the fairies and after a time he became as protective of them as Eliza. Times change and children loose interest in the old ways. But the fairies have long memories and even though some treditions waxed and wained, always the fairies have been a part of this family. But the family is dwindeling now. None of your Great Aunts had children. Your mother is the only decendent, and of course the three of you. But there are treditions and history that needs to be passed on for without them the fairies will vanish and become recluse once more. She has lost so much and her hurt is deep. But she is here now and you are here. And tonight we shall celebrate as we have not celebrated in a hundred years. When Ever Green had finished her long poetic story, they all sat there in their own thoughts for quite a while. Then Ever Green said.
“Tad Pole, is a playful tyke.
It is your dad, he seems to like.
Now come, the island, lets explore.
From the little boat dock, to the north shore.”
Evergreen showed the girls all around the little island. There were shells and milky white quartz, flowers, birds nests, wild strawberries, baby fish and so much more. Jeff was trying to untie the little boat from the dock and Ellie was laying down on the little bench enjoying the sun. She could hear the girls talking and having a nice time. The wine had not gone to her head but it was definately assisting in her relaxisation.
There was a light breeze blowing, and the smell of the earth after the rain of the night before, smelled so good. A scent she remembered from her childhood. She was lying there thinking about how different smells stirred up different feelings. The smell of sparklers on a warm summer night, of pumpkin pie over the holidays, pancakes on Sunday morning. Flowers at a funeral. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, it smells like home. She was jolted out of this pleasant feeling when something landed in her hair. It was a seed pod from a maple tree. “Another gift.” Ellie said this to herself with mocked annoyance, while rubbing her head.
Looking at the pond, she saw Jeff rowing around on the little boat. The boat seemed to have a mind of it’s own. Ellie smiled watching him try to work the oars, then splash, one of the oar posts broke off and the oar floated away. Floated isn’t quite the right word for it seemed to be traveling at great speed away from boat. While trying to reach for that oar, Jeff let go of the other oar and it too slipped into the water. This turn of events shocked Jeff for the second oar was held in its place with a pin. His frustration over the loss of the oars was very visable. Now Ellie was sitting up laughing. Jeff tried to use his hands as oars to move the boat but the harder he paddled the further away the oars moved and the boat didn’t. Hearing Ellie laughing on the island, Jeff, reached for the bota bag and offered her some. Then he started dangling it back and forth like bait. The expression on his face was not playful but one of frustration.
Ellie got up and ‘acting very huffy’ went back to the Out House. It took her a while to snoop around and figure out what she could use to rescue Jeff. Finally she reappeared back on the island. In her hand was a fishing pole with a candle attached to the end of the line. The little boat was still in the same place as when she left and Jeff was wet from trying to paddle with his hands. It took a couple of tries casting the line, but Ellie finally got the candle close enough to Jeff so he could grab it.
“Move to the front of the boat and hold the line out in front of you.” Ellie yelled.
It took a few minutes for Jeff to work his way over the benches while holding onto the candle. With the line now at the bow, Ellie slowly reeled the boat towards her. She was towing the boat towards the island and the boat was moving from side to side instead of forward. It finally move a couple of feet then stopped,drifted to the right then in a few more feet then stopped again. In the end, Jeff had to get into the water to make it the last couple of feet to shore. Jeff pulled the boat up onto the island and turned it over. He turned around and saw the oars, heading slowly towards the stone dam.
“I thought since you used to have a sailboat, you would know how to row.” Ellie teased.
“That thing is possessed.” Jeff said pointing at the boat as if it were going to stand up and bite him.
“Didn’t your mother teach you not to point. You might upset it.”
“I’m serious! It had a mind of it’s own.” Jeff said, stone faced.
“Here, I think you need this more than me.” Ellie said, pointing to the bota bag.
While Ellie went to the bench to get all their stuff and add the new gift to the box, Jeff went to find the girls.
They helped the girls wade back to the big willow and with dry feet and their shoes back on, they headed out.
The girls had watched the incident with the boat unfold. But they, unlike Jeff and Ellie, could see Tad Pole making the oars float away and Tad Pole pushing the boat around. At first the girls thought it was funny, but once they saw how frustrated their dad was and that Tad Pole had no intention of stopping, they too started to get irritated, at Tad Pole. As the girls followed behind Jeff and Ellie, Tad Pole, pleased with himself, started fluttering around the girls. Rose, angry with him for tormenting her dad, wouldn’t even look at him. The more she ignored him the more he fluttered. Then, in a wink, he was hovering in front of Heather’s face. Heather stock her tongue out at him and Tad Pole stuck his out, back at her. He tried Laurel next. In an angry voice Laurel said. “Since you like water so much!” Then she spit at him. Tad Pole, shocked, and hurt to the core, flew off to sulk.
They walked along in silence for a while, then Rose said to Laurel.
“If Mom cought you spitting, you would be in trouble.”
“If Mom knew what Tad Pole did to dad, she would swat him, like a fly.” Defied Laurel. Then she added. “Why don’t you tell her. Tell her I spit at a little boy fairy.”
Rose just turned and walked away from Laurel. Evergreen pondered this for a few minutes then she flew off. Heather had stopped to pick flowers through all this and when Evergreen left, she ran to catch up with Mom and Dad. When Rose and Laurel caught up with Heather they saw her face red with anger.
“What’s the matter?” Rose asked.
“She flew off cause of you two!” Heather snapped.
“I thought you didn’t really like them.” Retorted Rose.
“I wanted to know what they wanted mom for and now I know. I never said I didn’t like them?” Heather hissed under her breath so her parents couldn’t hear.
“Is something wrong?” Ellie asked.
The three of them just there not knowing what to say. Being secretive about the fairies was a lot harder than they thought it would be.
“You seem to be fighting! Can any of you tell me why.” Ellie implored.
Then the girls saw Evergreen along with Snap Dragon, Dew Drop and Honey Comb, flying towards them.
“Rose stepped on my heal, twice.” Heather lied.
Ellie reached out for Heather’s hand and at the same time Honey Comb flew towards her and sat on her shoulder, Dew Drop sat on Rose and Snapped Dragon on Laurel. Evergreen waved goodbye and flew off into the woods. Each one now had a fairy on their shoulder. Tad Pole looked even more dejected. He had been sitting on Jeff’s shoulder, but now he was lying on his belly, on the brim of Jeff’s hat, with his arms, legs and wings dangling down. He looked deflated, like a beanbag that had lost all of its beans.
They came upon a large boulder, bigger than their house, that was surrounded by smaller boulders. It was cool in its shade and moss and fern grew all around it.
They played on the rocks for a while jumping from one to another. Snap Dragon and Honey Cone flew of to a near-by tree to wait for this activity to cease. After being josled of Jeff’s hat, Tad Pole treated it like an amusement park ride. He would stand on the very edge of Jeff’s hat and try to keep his balance.
Jeff showed them the flat spot for the Out House, then he climbed up onto the top of the big rock. He helped Rose and Laurel up and they kept pointing out things for each other to look at. Ellie and Heather went for a walk around the big rock. They found a little undercut on the back side of the rock. They went in and sat on a flat log that looked like it had just been moved there recently.
“One time, when I was little, I sat out a storm in here.” Ellie told Heather.
“Did you get wet?”
“No, the wind was coming from the other side of the rock.”
“Did you do anything else in here?” Heather asked. (Dew Drop and Snow Crystal sat up in anticipation.)
Ellie thought about the question for a moment, then said. “I had very long conversations with myself. I must have had a lot to say to me, because I think I spent a lot of time under this rock. It’s funny, the things you do, when you’re alone and young.”
It was peaceful there. Heather and Ellie felt a happy quiet well up inside them.
“It feels like Christmas morning, here.” Heather whispered.
Ellie put her arm around Heather and kissed her on the forehead saying “This can be our special place, just yours and mine.”
As they were sitting there Heather noticed a pile of rocks stacked neatly in a corner of the alcove. It was odvious they had been brought there. Some of the rocks were quite beautiful some were just oddly shaped. There was even a small collection of arrow heads.
“Did you bring these here?” Heather asked her mom.
“Yes, they were in my house and I didn’t want my dad to throw them away. After my mom died, he started doing crazy things like that, so I brought them out here.”
Ellie noticed a perfect little white milky quartz that was near the opening and not near the other rocks. It looked like a polished pearl. She got her box out of her pack and placed this new treasure in with the others.
“What’s all that?” Heather asked.
“Things to remind me of our hike.”
“How is a feather going to do that?”
“I got the feather at the ring of lilacs, the egg at the big willow, this is a seed pods from a maple. I got it on the island. Now I’ll add this pretty stone.”
“You two ready to go? Jeff said pearing into the alcove.
“Yep.” Ellie said crawling out on hands and knees.
A little ways away from the rock, Ellie instructed everyone to turn around and look at it again more closely. She was waiting for one of them to see something there. Then Laurel shouted. “It’s a Dragon!”
Then they all saw it. The rocks were in such a way as to look like a curled up dragon, halfway submerged into the ground. The large bolder was it’s head and body and the smaller rocks were the spines of it’s tail. All, except Ellie, went back and took another walk around the rocks to get a better look. Jeff came back and stood beside her. It really looks like a sleeping dragon.
“It was one of my mother’s favorite places on this property.” Ellie mused. “She said it fuled the fires of her imagination. And that the pond was man made but the rock was sculped by time and by the elements.” Ellie looked up at Jeff smiling. “She liked rocks.”
Jeff and Ellie had another drink of wine and then they left ‘Dragon Rock’.
Ahead was an old split log fence. They had reached the back of their property line. The land on the other side of the fence looked sad and neglected. There weren’t any big trees, only thin scrawny ones, all grown really close together.
“Why are the trees so small?” Rose asked.
Dew Drop leaned up against Rose’s neck and pulled her knees in real close to her chest.
“Uncle Ed said the neighbors sold the timber about eight years ago. The loggers came in and clear cut the whole thing.”
Rose felt Dew Drop turn around to face away from the sad sight. They stared at it for a few more minutes then in silence turned left and followed the path along the fence. Everyone was silent. It seemed like the whole woods went silent. Finally they came to a stream that flowed out of the neighbors property and into their woods.
“The path doesn’t go across the stream.”
“Is this the end of our property? Does someone else own that land?” Asked Rose.
“We own it.” Replied Ellie.
“Uncle Ed didn’t take me over there.” Said Jeff.
“Maybe we can go there some other time.” Ellie said this with a ‘faraway and long ago’ expression on her face.
The stream seemed cheerier the further away from the fence they went and so did their mood. The woods on the other side of the little stream was dark and had an ancient feeling about it. The trees were bigger and thicker. The underbrush was a tangle of fallen logs and bushes. They could see no path throught it. As they walked along the stream all of them were drawn towards the misterious woods.
“That part of the proterty has never been logged.” Jeff stated. “When the house was built, the wood was taken from this side of the stream. Wood for fires was also gathered from over here. Your Uncle said his past time was cleaning up the underbrush all over the property but he never went over there.” This left them all pondering the misteries of that corner of the property. All except Ellie who, of course had spent a lot of time there. But she didn’t say anything to them about the woods. She thought that maybe she would come back here sometime and walk those woods by herself.
“Why are you stopping?” Jeff asked the girls.
They had come out of the woods to a clearing and right in front of them was the tree they had seen the night before. It looked much bigger in the daylight. Jeff answered his own question.
“Yeah, its huge, isn’t it. I think it’s bigger than the one by the pond.”
Ellie had a contented smile on her face.
“I spent a lot of time here when I was young.”
“What did you do, here?” Asked Heather.
Snow Crystal was standing up now wanting to know what Ellie remembered about the tree. She and Dew Drop were pleased with the jog of memory the rock had brought about.
“Well, there is a little island with a nice size rock on it, in the stream, over there.” Ellie pointed downstream past the Willow. “I would lean against that rock and read. Over there is a tangle of grapevines that climb up some oak trees. I used to swing on the vines, like Tarzan. And if you work your way around, in through the vines, back to the stream, I had built a little playhouse.
Ellie stared at the tree for a few minutes. The long trailing branches were gently blowing in the breeze. Heather stoops down to look at something, then silently handed a willow leaf to her mom. They smiled at each other knowing they were sharing in a secret. Ellie took a closer look at the leaf and was amazed by its delicacy. It was a leaf that had spent the winter here. All of the leaf tissue was gone and what Ellie held in her hand was a stem and the intricate lacework of veins. Ellie carefully and slyly put in her box. She knew Heather wanted this to be between the two of them.
The girls wanted to see the playhouse so they walked past the little island and went into the grapevine jungle. It was dark in there and they all had fun swinging on the vines. The fairies, all except Tad Pole, sat on a branch and waited for this activity to be over. Tad Pole was trying to stand on Jeff’s shoulder while Jeff swung around. It’s a good thing he could fly, because he fell off a lot. Ellie was surprised to find her playhouse still standing. Not intact. Just standing.
It looked kind of like a Tee Pee. There was a fairly large dead pole tree in the middle with 8-foot long boards leaning against it. Old roofing shingles were strung together like beads, on plastic covered electrical wire. Everywhere the wire crossed one of these 8 foot long boards it was attached with a small nail. Upside down, on the top of the Tee Pee, sat a round galvanized washtub that had been painted red. There had been weights tied to the handles to hold it down, but the red paint and the weights were both long gone. A few shreds of canvas were all that was left of the door. All the elements of the play house were there but everything was droopy. Some of the nails had rusted so the wires and shingles had slipped. A few of the shingles had fallen of and laid on the ground, covered with years of decaying leaves. It wasn’t as dark inside as it once was, do to the missing shingles but it was still pretty creepy looking. Spider webs were strung around the inside and reminants of mud wasps summer dwelings were bonded to the shingles. Laurel wouldn’t go all the way in but Rose took a stick and knocked down the webs and her and Heather crawled in.
They pulled out a tea cup and chipped saucer. A thimble, a broken string of beads and an empty Band-Aid box. Inside the box was a few bandades a very short pencil and some brittle, yellowed, folded up paper.
“Did you build this yourself?” Jeff asked
“Yeah.” Said Ellie. “Had to.”
“Why did you have to do it yourself?” Heather asked.
Ellie’s face was turning red. “Because I stole all the stuff to make it.” She shyly admitted.
It was quiet for a few minutes then Jeff burst out laughing. “I have to hear this one.” He said.
“I have to eat!” Ellie added.
They went back to the Willow and made themselves comfortable on the logs surrounding the fire ring and while eating, listened to Ellie’s tale.
“Come on, spill the beans!” Jeff said.
After finishing a handful of trail mix, Ellie started. “Well, I built it the summer after my mom died. My dad spent most of his time at the store and I stayed home.”
“Alone?” Rose asked in an astonished voice.
“Yes, fishermen get up really early, so my dad would leave for work at around 4 AM. When my mom was alive, they took turns at the store. Dad worked from 4 AM to 10 AM. Mom worked from 10 AM to 4 PM, then dad worked from 4 PM to 8 PM. We had supper at the store between 4 and 5. After mom died, dad stayed there the whole time, for about six months, then Aunt Francis came to help him.”
“Is she the one at the store now?” Jeff asked.
“I guess. It would make sense. If the store is still in my name, I should put it into hers but maybe my dad willed it to her.”
“Mom, the playhouse!” Rose impatiently interrupted.
“OK, well, the long boards I got out of our basement. They were the ones my mom and I used to press lilacs. The wire that I strung the shingles with, was in our garage. The roofing tiles were used, but they were very neatly stacked in a huge pile, at the picnic area, near my dad’s store. All of the residents had donated them to be used for a bike trail that was to go through the park. Every day I would ride my bike there, pretend I was reading a book, while sitting on top of the pile and slip about 10 of the better shingles into my book bag.”
“You took them 10 at a time?” Jeff asked.
“Yes, sometimes I did this twice a day.”
All of the fairies were sitting up listening very carefully to Ellie’s story. As the girls looked around they saw a lot more fairies sitting in the Giant Willow. To the girls, it looked like the Willow was blooming right before their eyes. Tad Pole pulled out a very little wooden flute and started playing a melody and somewhere in the trees came the sound of other wind and string instruments. Jeff started grabbing his ear, trying to stop the ringing. This made Tad Pole bounce around but he never missed a note.
“Anyway, I would ride my bike straight back to the Grapevine jungle and start stringing the tiles I had brought home. I strung them like beads for a necklace. I kept one for a template to show where to put the holes. I set the template on top of the one I wanted to string and put two holes into the bottom one with a 16 penny nail. The wash bucket was a little tricky. It was for sale in my dad store. One day he had the station wagon full of stuff to bring home, so I buried the tub under all the stuff then volunteered to unload the car for him. I also took a couple of cans of red rust resistant paint. The door was an old sail, I found in a campground, over on the St. Laurence. So, now I’ve confessed all. I feel better. Or maybe it’s just because I’m full.
Honey Comb whispered something into Heather’s ear then Heather asked. “What did you do in the playhouse once you finished it?”
The music stopped and all wee ears were on Ellie. She sat there thinking for a little while then said. “I wrote in my diary. I collected fruits and nuts, I made tea out of leaves I picked...” Then Ellie went silent. The whole woods seem to be holding its breath. A faint little secret smile formed on Ellie’s face, then she shook her head and stood up to go. The girls were disappointed, but the fairies saw hope in the small smile, they saw a twinkle in Ellie’s eyes. There was something there, but what Ellie remembered, remained a secret.
“I think it’s time we headed back.” Ellie said, so they all packed up their food and headed for Ellie’s old bike path.
The girls waved good bye to the fairies in the Willow. From the tree, the girls heard the voices of many fairies singing together.
“We’ll see you again before day turns to night.
We will sing by the fire, we will glow in it’s light.”
“What does that mean?” Laura asked.
“Wow, it’s a road now.” Ellie noticed.
“For the Out House!” Jeff stated.
“Right, the Aunts!” Ellie was quiet on the walk back to the house. Tad Pole moved from Jeff’s shoulder to the front of his baseball cap, to play his flute. He kept getting tossed every time Jeff tried to stop the ringing in his ear. Snow Crystal stayed on Ellie’s shoulder and hummed the tune Tad Pole was playing. Honey Comb, Snap Dragon, and Dew Drop, joined by Evergreen, fluttered around the band of hikers. Soon the girls were humming the tune also.
“Do you know that song their humming?” Ellie asked Jeff.
“No, but it’s pretty.”
“I know that song. Where did you girls here it?” Ellie asked.
The girls hummed and hawed the Heather, who was the worst at lying said. “Well, we just, kind of, you know, made it up.”
The girls all looked at Ever Green for guidence but Ever Green just shrugged and smiled.
They walked through the woods and came upon the backside of the barnyard fence. They followed the fence till it came to the barn. The girls followed the fairies into the barn and Jeff and Ellie followed the girls. Jeff put a flake of hay into each of the stall’s hay cribs and Ellie gave all the animals fresh water while the girls played with the rabbits.
They headed back to the house, remembering that the little bridge was broken, they continued on to the little road that went over the stream. They stopped in the middle of the bridge to make their outing last just a little longer. Jeff and Ellie leaned on the rail. looking at the little stream and finishing the last of the wine in the bota bag. The blossoms in the flower boxes smelled so pretty. Then Rose asked. “Why are all those cars in our driveway?”
Ellie and Jeff walked down the other side of the bridge, stared at their driveway and counted three cars.
Together they said “The Aunts!”
Chapter 4
The Aunts
They stood frozen like statues. Time seemed to stand still. A thousand things went through Ellie’s mind all at the same time. ‘I know they are my aunts but I don’t know these people. Six weeks, of course it’s been six weeks. Why are they here? Why do they want me here? I wished I hadn’t had any wine. I wish I would have had more wine.’
The fairies saw the cars and all flew off towards the kitchen, all except Tad Poll. He started buzzing around Jeff’s head, then went to the middle of Jeff’s back and tried with all his might to push Jeff towards the house. Jeff swatted at his back with the empty Bota Bag. Tad Poll got out of the way just in time. The girls were laughing uncontrollably.
And then all of a sudden all thought ceased. Aunt Claire was coming out to meet them and ahead of her came a cloud of fairies. There were fairies everywhere. The air was filled with color and movement. Heather was drop jawed in amazement. Honey Comb came and sat on her shoulder and whispered in her ear. Heather smiled and started to head for the house. Then in unison all the fairies, Rose and Laurel followed. When this procession passed Aunt Clair, she just winked and the girls and smiled. The girls where almost inside before their parents had even left the bridge.
‘Come on Ellie, put one foot in front of the other, you can do it.’ But before she had to move one inch, Aunt Claire had her arms around Ellie, telling her how glad she was to see her, and at the same time physically moving her towards the house. Aunt Claire was talking a mile a minute, not giving Ellie a chance to answer or object. Aunt Claire talk and they walked. They were getting closer to the door, Jeff was following behind. Ellie craned her neck around to look at Jeff for moral support. He just smiled and shrugged.
When they entered into Ellie’s kitchen, it was not like she had left it. There was food preparation of every kind, going on in every corner of that room. Aunt Francis and Aunt Kate where greating the girls and the girls were in a hyper animated state. The girls were surprised to see Aunt Francis again. Aunt Francis, of course had known who Jeff and the girls were, when they were in the store that morning, from picture she had seen over the years, but Jeff and the girls didn’t know who she was. When Ellie, Jeff and Aunt Claire finally arrived the greatings and conversations gained in volume. The next 15 minutes were a chaotic blur to Ellie. Sentences only half finished and thoughts only half completed. In the end she sat down on the little stool in the corner and let the aunts run the kitchen.
There were fresh baked scones on the counter still steaming, cheese, nuts and dried fruit divided up into meal size portions and ready to be bagged. Fresh berries, bananas and apples in a basket. Containers full of different bar type cookies. And a bag full of small whole wheat rolls. On the floor by the door was a large picnic basket full of more bags and boxes and beside it sat a large cooler. The kettle was whistling on the stove, which added to the cacophony of sound.
It was a wonderland to the girls. Along with themselves and all of the aunts there were at least a dozen new fairies. They were everywhere, fluttering from Aunt Francis, to Aunt Claire, to their mom, onto the windowsill, then backed to Aunt Francis. For the first few minutes the girls just stood with their mouths open, not knowing what to think. The fairies were doing the same thing that the aunts and their mom were doing. Getting reacquainted. The girls found themselves being ushered into the living room by several fairies. Snap Dragon, Honey Comb and Dew Drop went along too. In the living room, the girls just watched and listened. These new fairies, it seemed, came here every time the Aunts did. They had six weeks of ‘this and that’ to tell each other and it was all in rhyme.
The girls sat themselves down on the floor in front of the fireplace and listened and watched all the fairies. They also nibbled on fresh scones that Aunt Kate had handed them on there way out of the kitchen. Heather was sure she saw Aunt Kate whisper something to one of the fairies before it flew into the livingroom. Rose, Heather and Laurel ended up eavesdropping on different conversations. Later they would tell each other what they heard. Most of the fairies seemed to be very excited about the company that was coming. It was odvious to the girls, listening in, that some of these fairies didn’t usually come and that they were here to visit the company that was expected. It seemed, two more aunts were bringing two little girls and their grandmother, to stay here for the summer. There was also a long list of fairie names being weaved in and out of the conversations. This was big news to Snap Dragon, Honey Comb and Dew Drop. Dew flew out to the kitchen to get Ever Green and Snow Crystal to hear the news. The two little girls and their grandmother coming was exciting to them, but even more exciting was the fact that the girls would be bring a lot of fairy friends with them. Fairies from Ireland! Friends from the past. Laurel heard Even Green say it had been hundreds of years, would they have changed? Have I changed? Tonight was going to be magic. Rose sat in silence in a state of bewilderment. Sitting here in the living room with all these fairies was even more enchanting than last nights visit to the Fairy Tree. She know tonight was going to be even better.
A rather rustic looking fairy flew over to the girls. She had a Tom Boy quality about her. Her hair was short and a bit disheveled and she had the very distinct odor of fish. Not a totally unpleasant smell. Not like the smell of dead fish, decaying on the beach on a hot summer day. More like the smell of a seafood restaurant or chouder simmering on the stove. Heather actually caught herself sniffing the air. She was very embarrassed when she realized the odor was coming from the fairy hovering in front of them. Then the fairy spoke.
** REWRITE THIS **
Way back to the pond we’ll have to go (Aunt Francises fairie)
Today is a special day, you know
Go to a great feast and more family you’ll meet
Know of two cousins you’re sure to greet
Meet two more aunts in an hour or so
Greet the children with kindness, they’re afraid, you know.
So you must get ready we’ll be on our way
Know you will learn a lot today
Then another fairy flew over to where they were sitting. She was a very mysterious and beautiful fairy.
Tra lee tra laa The day is waning (Aunt Kates fairie)
We must tarry not.
Tra laa Tra lee. I hear our friend going
Off we all must trot.
With that the mysterious fairy fluttered in the direction of the kitchen. Jeff arrived at the living room door at almost the same time to tell the girls they had to find some things to take back to the pond. The girls were a little bewildered. As soon as Jeff entered all the new fairies left the room. They just stood there some what numb for a minute until Jeff repeated his need for them to gather their stuff.
In the kitchen, the chaos seemed to be calming down. Tea had been poured out and all the food bundled up. Aunt Francis and Aunt Kate had employed Jeff to help with load up the wagon with all the food. Jeff dutifully did his task, almost happy to leave the kitchen. On his way past Ellie he silently mouthed the word ‘hens’. Ellie whacked him with a tea towel she was holding in her hand. She pointed at him and silently mouthed, ‘ Uncle Ed’. Jeff stowed away everything in the wagon all snug and tight, then came back into the kitchen. When all was cleaned up, Aunt Francis and Aunt Kate said their temporary farewells, and headed for the Out House with the wagon. Aunt Claire instructed Jeff in all the things he needed to get together to take with them and off he went to find the girls. This left Ellie alone in the kitchen with Aunt Claire. Ellie was afraid there would be an awkward silence, but before that could happen, Aunt Claire came over to the stool in the corner and gave Ellie a warm and loving hug.
Then Aunt Claire took a long look at Ellie.
“You looked tired child.” Aunt Claire said softly.
“It’s been a little chaotic around here. But things are settling down.”
“Do Jeff and the girls like it here?”
“They love it.”
“Is Jeff’s work going well?” Aunt Claire was asking these questions while still watching Ellie closely.
“Yes, he had some trouble with the phones when we first got here but that’s all taken care of.”
“Money’s OK?”
“Never been better. We sold the house in Seattle and don’t have a house payment here.”
“Well, I’m going to draw you a bath. We’ll get everything taking care of and then, when you’re done with your soak, you can walk up and meet us.”
“I can just jump in the shower.”
“No, I think a bath will be better.”
Ellie was a little uneasy. She was a grown, collage educated woman, wife, and mother of three. Yet her Aunt made her feel like a teenager.
“OK” she mumbled. Then she added. “Where are Aunt Sophia and Aunt Dot? Are they coming?”
“Oh yes, they’ll be here. They had to go pick up your cousins at the airport.”
“Uncle Ed’s kids?” Ellie asked. These were the only cousins she knew of.
“Oh no, dear. Shannon and Bridget are from Ireland.”
Ellie had a very confused look on her face so Aunt Claire elaborated.
“My mother’s sisters great-granddaughters.”
“You’ve kept in touch with family in Ireland?”
“Oh yes, dear. Even been there a few times. We’ll have to take a trip together, won’t we?”
“Where in Ireland, not that I know Ireland very well?”
“County Donegal, dear, that’s on the West Coast. The family farm is in a lovely little valley.”
“Great-grandchildren, how old are they?”
“Let me see, well, I think Shannon and Bridget are 10. Yes, that’s right.”
“Ten year old twins? Are they staying with Aunt Sophia and Aunt Dot?”
“Oh no, dear. That wouldn’t do at all. They’re staying with you of course.”
Ellie’s mouth opened, nothing came out, then closed again.
“When…”
“In about an hour.”
“But…”
“Now dear. It would be great fun. Go get something to change into and I’ll get your bath ready. That’s a good girl.”
Aunt Claire stroked Ellie’s hair, kissed her on the forehead and physically urged her to get off the stool.
Numb, Ellie walk to her room to get a change of cloths and Aunt Claire headed for the upstairs bathroom.
The girls piled all their stuff they were going to take into the middle of the parlor. Jeff was just finishing up in their bathroom when Ellie came in and flopped on the bed.
“My Aunt Sophia and Aunt Dot are on their way here.”
“This is going to be a very enlightening evening. I’m looking forward to getting to know more of your family.” Jeff was saying this while putting on his socks and shoes. “There, I’m ready and I think the girls are too.”
“I have to take a BATH!”
“Well, that won’t take long. Do you need me to get you anything?”
“Not a shower, ‘a bath’. Aunt Claire is upstairs drawing me ‘a bath’.”
Jeff had a puzzled look on his face that turned into a big grin. “How sweet, a bath.”
“There’s more.”
“She wants to do your hair?” He teased.
“Aunt Sophia and Aunt Dot are on their way here, from the airport. They went to pick up two little girls from Ireland. Ten-year-old twins. I was told, they will be staying with us.”
Jeff stopped smiling and sat down on the bed. If Jeff and Ellie could have seen them, Tad Pole and Snow Crystal were slumped down to. Tad Pole liked picking on Jeff and playing with the girls. The cousins would change everything. Snow Crystal wanted Ellie to remember the past and was afraid she couldn’t do that with so many distractions.
“Told? How long will they be staying? And how many sets of twins are in your family?” Jeff asked.
“Yes, I was told, right before I was told I was going to take ‘a bath’! And I didn’t ask how long they would be here. I thought just Aunt Sophie and Aunt Dot plus our girls but I don’t know anything about this new branch of the family.”
“Well, maybe it’s only for a week or two.”
“Or maybe a month or two!”
“The girls will have fun playing with their cousins, don’t you think?”
“I think I just wanted some quiet time as a family. The girls will enjoy their cousins and I’m sure we will too. I’m just feeling sorry for myself. Today was really wonderful and I want more todays not more kayos. It’s only been a week since Uncle Ed and Aunt May left. All of a sudden I feel really tired. Bone tired.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Jeff said in a tone that was not as cheery as before. “You better go take your bath. Maybe it will wake you up?”
“Mmmm, I doubt it.” Ellie grunted then got up and fumbled through her dresser for something to wear.
“Should I wait for you?” He asked quietly.
“No, the girls won’t want to wait.”
He came over to her and hugged her tight for a long moment then said. “Will sort things out tomorrow. Look at the bright side, your aunts did all the cooking and we get to spend an evening out by the pond. It will be nice. I’ll tell you a little secret. I saw several bottles of wine in one of those boxes.”
“There ya go. I can get ripped.”
“That’s the spirit.”
A few minutes later, Jeff and the girls were on their way to the pond and Ellie was climbing the stairs to the bathroom. Aunt Claire met her at the landing. They stood at the window watching Jeff and the girls horsing around as they walked towards the pond.
“You picked a good one.” Aunt Claire said.
“Yeah, I like him.”
“He seems like he’s pretty open-minded.”
“Yeah, he must be, he’s actually looking forward to tonight.”
Ellie didn’t mean to say that, but it was too late. Now Aunt Claire knew Ellie wasn’t thrilled about this evening’s uncertainties. She was expecting Aunt Claire to be hurt or angry and was very surprised by her Aunt’s understanding.
“He doesn’t have any emotions invested in it. Now does he dear. This is all an adventure to him. He will get a laugh out of your old eccentric Aunts. My dear, that’s as it should be. But you now, that’s a can of emotional worms, now isn’t it. You don’t want to let the worms out of the can for fear of not being able to gather them all back up and put those emotions back in the can. Then there’s the part where your head is telling you that you’ve come home and your head doesn’t know why your heart won’t follow. Well, my dear, your heart was broken in this old house and a big part of you hates it here.”
Tears were flowing freely down Ellie’s cheeks as she listened. “Your mother loved this place. Her soul is here. You can’t turn your back on it cause you would be turning your back on her. She was my little sister and I miss her, my dear. I miss her! But I don’t want to forget her; I want to remember her. Now dear, I know your head wants to remember, but your heart. Well, my dear, that’s a can of worms.”
Aunt Claire had her arms around Ellie and Ellie cried. She cried so hard there wasn’t anything else in the entire world except those tears. When she finally cried herself out, Aunt Claire ushered her into the little bathroom, kissed her on the forehead and left Ellie alone.
Aunt Claire descended the stairs, holding what seemed to be a one-sided conversation, with her shoulder.
“Well, that went well.” Said Aunt Claire.
“No it didn’t.”
“Yes, it did!”
“You made her cry.”
“I know I made her cry.”
“That wasn’t nice of you.”
“She needed to cry.”
“No she didn’t!”
“Yes, she did!”
“She needs to laugh.”
“I don’t know why I put up with you. You always choose the other side of the coin.”
“I do not!”
“Yes you do!”
“I love you anyway.”
“I love you too.”
“You’re just getting old and dotty.”
“No, I’m not getting old and dotty.”
“Dotty, Dotty. Just getting old and Dotty.”
Then, down in the kitchen, she threw a tea towel over her shoulder and smiled to herself.
Ellie absentmindedly took her cloths off and got into the tub. The water was still hot. She sat there, physically and emotionally numb. She had run herself out of tears. Tears she had no intentions of spilling. But they had come so easily. Two easily. It was the second time today. She pulled water up from the tub and splashed her face. It felt tingly and good. It smelt good too. She did it again. Her senses were returning. She took in her surroundings. In the tub was a large muslin bag, she guessed full of herbs. There were candles lit and light from the window, but the bathroom light didn’t need to be on. The window was opened just a little to let in the fresh June air. There was a stool beside the tub and Aunt Claire had set some things on it. There was a little note card also. Ellie dried her hands and read the note.
“Tea in the pot, my dear. Light the incense! Have a bite or two of cake and by all means enjoy your bath.”
Ellie smiled. And did, just exactly that.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff and the girls were playing a game they made up. They called it, walk like I walk. It was Jeff’s turn to make up a walk. Sitting down his duffel bag, he took two steps, did a handstand, counted to 5, and stood back up. Took three steps did another handstand, counted to five backwards then stood up. Laurel tried it and did it great. Rose tried it and counted to five really fast, didn’t get her feet up all the way, but they all decided that she had succeeded. Heather tried a few times and in the end they all helped her hold her feet up.
“I quit!” laughter Jeff.
“One more.” Rose pleaded.
“You three can do it, I’ll watch.”
The girls goofed around some more on their way around the pond. When they got to the out house, the place looked totally different. The pavilion had been taken out of its storage place in the middle section of the out house and set up by the pond on the other side of the structure. In a little ring of trees, a short distance from the bathroom end of the out house was a giant orange and white striped tent, made out of an old army parachute. The area between the kitchen end of the out house, the pond and the willow was where Aunt Francis and Aunt Kate were busy setting up the campfire area. Jeff watched as Aunt Kate moved a rock to reveal a 2-1/2” plastic pipe in the ground. Into the pipe, she stuck a 6’ long, pole-branch that was forked at the end. An old glass insulator, used on electrical poles, was nested into the Y and was held in place with wire. Looking around the campfire ring, Jeff saw that three other pole-branches were already set up. The other three were decorated with dried flowers, hanging herbs and delicate ribbon. Aunt Kate noticed Jeff watching her and explained. “Homemade tike lamps. The (name of plant) _______mullien Indians Tobacco__ helps keep the mosquitoes away.”
Jeff could tell by the look on her face that there was more to the poles and decorations, but she just wanted to humor him.
“The ribbons look like they’ve been there a while?” Jeff ventured.
“Ellie tied them on there when she was a little girl. They were from her grandmothers sewing basket.”
“Ellie tied them on?”
Kate stopped what she was doing. Jeff and Ellie had been together a long time and Jeff didn’t know anything about these gatherings. The full extent of what Ellie had forgotten was sinking in. Kate didn’t quite know what to say. The fairy sitting on Kate’s shoulder took off in the direction of Aunt Claire. Kate took a deep breath and decided to just tell her story and bring Ellie’s part into it at the right time.
“We’ve been getting together like this ever since I could remember. Only when I was little it was my mother and my Aunts that got everything together. Now they are all gone and we are the old Aunts. Someday it will be your girls carrying on the tradition.” Kate studied Jeff’s face as she said this. She saw he wasn’t displeased with this thought. Her respect for him went up a notch.
“Did your family have any such traditions? Kate ventured.
Jeff thought about it for a few minutes then said. “Just the usual ones. Fourth of July picnics, Christmas Eve at my Aunts house. New Years Eve at another Aunts.”
“Do you think this is unusual?”
Embarrassed Jeff fumbled for words. “Well no, it just isn’t a holiday?”
“Are you sure.” Kate was having fun.
“Is it?”
“Today is a lot of ‘holidays’.”
Jeff looked puzzled so Kate gave in and decided to be a little less vague.
“Our family brought a lot of their traditions with them from the old country, ‘Ireland and Wales’. They were very much, the salt of the earth, our ancestors. Very superstitious. Hexes for this, charms for that. My grandmother was caught between these two worlds. Her mother spoke only Welsh, but grandma was a modern young girl, striving to fit in with all the other girls her age. Grandma wanted to forget the old ways. She wanted to dress modern and live modern. That was when she was young and single. When she became a wife and mother, grandma found herself depending heavily on her mother’s wisdom of herbs and folk remedies. Since she tried to abandon her mother’s ways, when she needed them she had to seek them out. When her mother told her something new, grandma wrote it down. Then she started writing everything down. At some point she started keeping a journal. It had everything in it, finances, recipes, holidays, remedies, everything she wanted to remember. As her knowledge of herbs became known, her neighbors started coming to her for everything from hair loss to ingrown toenails. She assisted in a lot of births of both babies and farm animals. There was a lot of information in that journal.
My mother, in her youth, loved looking through that journal. She wanted to make one of her own. She was very young and didn’t have any knowledge to put into a new one, so she decided to organize her mothers instead. The first journal was full of dates and one or two line entrees. 7th of April, 1892 - Mary Colter - 42 / Complaining of chronic headache / ________ tea.
18th of August, 1893 - Joseph Kent - 8 / Stung by bees while gathering elderberries / ________ Salve and Jar of Elderberry preserves. There were entrees about every phase of the moon and what she planted and harvested during those moons. Also, sprinkled throughout the journal were little stories and little words of wisdom. The back was filled with all the recipes of the teas and salves. Even the elderberry preserves.”
My mother pulled out and categorize all the entrees. She organized them by seasons. This way she figured out that a lot of the special feasts coincided with the phases of the moon and the changing of seasons. This new journal was secretly kept. She would spy on her mother during these different occasions and took notes of the things her mother did. She wrote these down in the second journal. You see, she had the basic information in that first journal and then added her mothers day to day rituals to the new one.” Kate shook her head just thinking about the time and effort put into that second journal. Jeff could tell by Kate’s expression that this second journal and it’s author commanded a lot of respect. Kate continued. “Anyway, when Clare was young, about Rose’s age, she found both journals packed away in an old cedar trunk. Claire was fascinated at what she read.
While she was talking to Jeff, Kate was filling little muslin bags with different herbs and placing the little bags into small wicker baskets. Fairies were starting to gather round to listen. Fairies love stories, especially about themselves. They were hoping Kate would bring up their part in the journals.
Kate continued. “You have to remember, the second journal was written by a young and imaginative girl so the entries which were written with much seriousness ended up sounding very humorous. Claire and mum spent that whole day just looking at those entrees and the second journal that mum wrote when she was young. Mum laughed a lot at herself.” Kate paused for a few minutes to put the little baskets down and picked up a larger picnic basket and started rearranging the contents in it.
“It was just before Groundhog Day.” Claire interjected, she had followed the fairies to the fire ring. “We thought it would be great fun to try to recreate the meal that our grandmother had made for that occasion. There were recipes in the journals and some projects for the garden. And dears, you must remember, the garden was covered with a pretty good amount of snow. Mum was determined! Our dad joined in the festivities and baked seed cake and braided bread, I made hot spiced cider and a tray of dried fruit and nuts and Francis decorated.”
“And I did a splendid job of it too!” Francis added, her and the girls also followed the fairies.
“Yes dear, it was truly lovely.” Praised Claire.
The girls and all the fairies were listening intently to the story unfolding. The surrounding trees were filled with fairies and the very air seemed to be alive. Even though Jeff didn’t see the fairies he could feel a change. The story took on new meaning.
“Dear, you must remember we were all so young, then. None of us were older that the three of you.” Aunt Claire was talking to the girls now. “It was magic. Candles and lace, dried flowers and sprigs of evergreen. The fair was simple but it felt like a feast. While we got everything ready, our mother was busy outside. She was planting lettuce seeds. I remember how silly she thought it was, but she was determined. Lettuce in February. I still get a kick out of the idea. But my dear, I still plant lettuce on Ground Hog day and I truly enjoy it with my dandelion greens on the first day of May.” Claire was chuckling while telling this because she could see the surprise in Jeff’s face at the thought of planting lettuce in the snow. “Now dears, the sun was setting when she came in and the surprise in her eyes was worth all the work. We drank our cider and ate our bread and it felt like a grand Christmas feast. Now dear, do you know what Groundhog Day is?’ Claire asked Jeff. He shook his head no.
“Why dear it’s the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Well dear, that first celebration from those old journals had us hooked. The next big feast was the first day on spring. Mum put Francis and I in charge of the preparations, and the rest dear is as they say history.”
Kate added to the story she had started telling. “Mum shared our Groundhog Day experience with her sisters. They were fascinated by the journals and marveled at the amount of effort our mother had put into the one she created. To make the next celebration even more special, Claire and Francis sent them written invitation to join in on the Spring Feast.”
“You must keep in mind, dearies.” Aunt Claire was saying to the girls. “ We were as young as your are now and some of us were even younger.”
“I was only 2 and don’t remember those first celebrations.” Kate added.
“I remember it all, so very well.” Francis joined in. “I made a real quill pen out of a goose feather and used rose hips and dried raspberries mixed with rose water for the ink. It was very dramatic. Looked like it was written in blood.” She giggled. “Claire made homemade paper to write them on and we sealed the invitations with ribbon and sealing wax. Dad dressed up in his best suite and we found some white gloves and we polished up an old silver tray. He then hand delivered the invitations to all the Aunts. Knocking on their doors, bowing almost to his toes, then without a word, presented the invitation on the tray, then tipping his stove pipe hat in farewell, left without a word. He was a lot of fun back in those days. Anyway, the first day of spring was even more fun than Groundhog Day. As the years went by we studied the journals more and added to our ‘Holidays’. Mum and dad took a trip to Ireland to visit mum’s family and came home with even more ideas. Mum wrote often to her family and added to her journal.
“Would any of you like a little bite of scone?” Aunt Claire offered. The girls all jumped at the offer. Jeff took two. He ate his scone in quiet contemplation.
“Ellie never told me about any of this.” He finally said.
“Yes dear, after her mother died her father couldn’t bear the sorrow. Dear, loosing Martha was very hard on him. He stayed at the dock most of the time. To many memories dear, to many memories. He stopped us from coming here and kept us away from Ellie and himself as much as possible. We reminded him of Martha. Ah, but look, here comes Ellie now, just in time for tea.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Ellie lit the stick of incense. There were some rather ugly looking whole wheat biscuits, with white raisins, piled high in a small basket and a little tea pot snugly wrapped in a little knitted green tea cozy.
Ellie took a small bite of the biscuit and was pleasantly surprised at the wonderful shortbread taste. She proceeded to eat two of them. The tea was a pleasant mix of black tea and several different herbs with just a little honey to sweeten the brew. Ellie sipped her tea and sunk down into the old claw foot and let the scented water envelope her. Snow crystal sat on the side of the biscuit basket and had a feast of her own.
Ellie finished her tea, closed her eyes and let her senses take over. There was a gentle breeze that caressed her face. The air was filled with the scents of spring. Wild rose blossoms mixed with the aroma of sun-heated grass and the distant waters of the St. Lawrence. Her mind was giving up the tension it had been holding onto for so very long. Her body was succumbing to the feeling of total comfort. The tears she had shed washed away so many sorrows while the warmth of the tub and the soft summer breeze was awakening her soul. She took slow deliberate breaths. She wanted to empty her mind of all its troubles. To wholly loose the tension that had become so much a part of her life. She wanted to find peace with herself. A feeling of oneness with the world around her.
Her senses were awakened. Ellie felt a slight tingling in her head and a humming in her ears. She felt herself being lifted out of the tub but there was no disturbance of water. She knew if she looked back into the tub that she would see herself lying there. She didn’t want to look back she wanted to soar. This was not an unfamiliar feeling. She had done this before!
Snow Crystal saw what was happening. It was her task to help Ellie. She left her feast and silently guided Ellie. She would not scar her awake, but glide with her. Like cookies baking in the oven brings children to the kitchen, Snow Crystal lead Ellie out of the bathroom and down the stairs. In a blink they were out the front door. Ellie felt free of all worries and burdens. There was nothing else in her thoughts except the feeling of rising and falling through the air. She couldn’t see Snow Crystal nor did she know Snow was there but she knew to just let herself be guided without question. Guided, just like when she was young.
She was following the stream that ran between the house and the barn. She was having the experience of a long leisurely walk. She knew every rock in the stream, every flower on the bank. She was a part of them.
In an instant she was at the fairy tree. Her soul passed there to feel the power of that place. Then up she soared, over the trees. The feeling was exhilarating. She looked around from her high vantage point. She could see the top of the bank, the house, the ring of lilacs, the pond, a strange orange and white structure, dragon rock, the long expanse of clear-cut woods... Then something caught her attention. It was on the corner of the property that they hadn’t gone to, on the other side of the stream. The woods were very dense over there, but there was a clearing, a perfect circle. She was drawn to it. Like a delicate butterfly, she hovered over the center of the ring of trees. There was a beautiful inviting green lawn. In the center of the lawn was a round patch that looked like bare earth. Ellie gently descended to get a better look. Instead of it being a round patch of dirt it was a dark soft looking ground cover. Where the ground cover met the grass, it was bordered with hundreds of cabbage size rocks. She knew this place. She had lain on that soft dark patch. She had floated up from there often when she was young. Remembering! She was aware now; there was so much to remember. Aware also that this memory would have to be hers and hers alone. Alone! In this state of suspended animation she was experiencing a stream of consciousness in regards to her youth. There were things like this she couldn’t share with anyone. When she left home she didn’t want to be alone anymore. She wanted all those years of solitude to be behind her. If she told her new friends about her spirit leaving her body, she would risk loosing their companionship. “Best to try to forget. In making that little decision that first year away from home had allowed her to achieve a happiness and piece of mind she hadn’t known since before her mom died. But how much did she forget? She knew there was more to this ring of trees than this one memory.
She started to feel a little pensive. The pleasant stream of thought turned dark. Should she try to remember more? Could she talk to Jeff about it? Would she have to experience this all alone again? Could she talk to Aunt Claire about it?
Aunt Claire! The family at the Out House. The two little girls coming from Ireland!
Snow Crystal saw the change in Ellie’s spirit. In a blink she pulled Ellie back to consciousness. Back to her body in the warm comfortable tub. Safe from the fear of self-doubt and loneliness.
Ellie sat up quickly in the tub causing water to splash out onto the floor. A flood of emotions welled up inside her as her awareness of the experience sunk in. She was smiling while tears ran freely down her cheeks. (More tears!) She would share this with Jeff. She could share this with him! He would listen.
Snow Crystal was sitting on Ellie’s left shoulder. She whispered into Ellie’s ear.
“Talk to Claire”
Ellie said out loud to herself. “I’ll find a way to ask Aunt Claire about the ring of trees, about my mom and about this place.”
With a feeling of contented resolve, Ellie quickly finished her bath and readied herself for the evening’s festivities. She was no longer dreading the experience. She was looking forward to it.
~~~~~~~~~~
At Aunt Claire’s statement that Ellie was coming, Jeff turned towards the house expecting to see her strolling around the pond. But she wasn’t there. He looked back at Aunt Claire but she had quietly slipped away back to the kitchen. Jeff looked at Kate. She shrugged, smiled and went back to her task with the lamp poles.
Aunt Francis gathered the girls and their belongings and took them to the pavilion to help them get their beds set up.
Jeff was beginning to feel like a fish out of water. He sat down on a log under the willow to take a minute to gather his thoughts. He had learned more about Ellie’s childhood in the last 10 minutes then he had in their entire marriage. He was beginning to understand how deep the loss of her mother really was. Ellie lost her Aunts as well. ‘All except Aunt Francis who worked at the dock.’
“You look a little puzzled Jeff.” Kate said. Her sudden presence startled him. He looked up at her with the half-eaten scone in his hand.
“How did it come about that Aunt Francis ended up working at the store? He had asked her the question that was on his mind but had the sudden regret that maybe he had overstepped his bounds.
Kate smiled. She was pleased with his stream of thought. She didn’t know to many people who would have put the banning of the Aunts together with one of those very Aunts working with Ellie’s father.
“Francis lives on a houseboat on Black Lake. Her houseboat is near the dock. She was always in the store. One day she just started to sweep the floors. The next day she came in and stocked a few shelves while chatting nonchalantly with one of the fishermen. Before he knew it, Ellie’s dad had become very dependent on Franchises help. They never talked about Martha or Ellie, just bate, work schedules, and the price of gas.”
Jeff nodded in understanding.
“How can I help?” he asked.
“We need some kindling.”
“Alright.” He quietly got up and headed for the woods.
Kate went back to her task. She was working on the forked pole branch on the north side of the circle. It was larger and more elaborately decorated than the other three pole branches. Besides the jar nestled in the crook of the fork, and the ribbons and dried flowers hanging underneath it, there was also carvings in the branch. The top carving was what looked like a tic tac toe board painted green. Under that was a carving that looked like a very exaggerated cursive C that was painted yellow, then a carving that looked like three closely set lazy S’s. This was painted red. The bottom carving looked like the three lazy S’s had been stretched out and laid sideways. This carving was painted blue. To the right of each carving a peg had been drilled into the pole branch to create a hook. Kate was hanging the little wicker baskets from the hooks that she had filled with the small cloth bags. She also hung a leather bota bag and a little wooden cup. When this was done she placed a green candle into the insulator jar. Going around the circle to her right she placed a yellow candle atop the next pole branch then a red candle then in the last one a blue candle.
With, what looked like a bundle of weeds tied together Kate then proceeded to sweep the whole area clean. She stepped back to observe her work. Pleased with the way it looked, she then went to the out house to get some folding canvas chairs. These she placed around the inside of the entire circle leaving only one space open to enter into the fire ring. She had only 8 chairs and there would be 12 of them when they all showed up. The four youngest girls would have to sit on a blanket in the opening.
Also from the out house she brought a small folding table which she placed near the pole branch at the north end. On the table she placed a basket full of small cakes, a bowl full of wild strawberries that had been tossed together with a handful of fresh baby mint leaves. There was also an empty flower vase sitting on the table and underneath it she put the larger wicker basket full of roughly hone wooden bowls, cups and spoons. The fire ring was ready, now she sat down on the folding chair at the north end of the circle. She began to review her notes. These she kept in a black leather bound book that was tied with a black leather strap. Dragon Fly, the fairy which had been sitting on her shoulder, decided to leave Kate to her book and flew off over the pond and disappeared.
At the little kitchen, Claire was busy putting the final touches on this evening’s feast. Most of the cooking had already been done. Her task was to set up the food so it required as little fuss as possible. The kettle was on for tea and wine battles had been opened to allow them to breathe. (Wine that Claire had made herself). This was a very important event for Claire. Even though she was outwardly showing no sighs of it, inward she was very nervous and worried about the planned activities of the evening. She kept mumbling to herself. Or at least that’s what it looked like. If things went badly, Jeff and Ellie could stop them from celebrating like this in the future. Ellie’s father had done that once and she didn’t want that to happen again.
Francis had taken the girls to the pavilion and was helping them lay out their and their dad’s blankets and pillows. They allowed room for two more blankets, Shannon & Bridget. (They never thought to ask where their mom was going to sleep.) Aunt Francis had told the girls about their cousins coming to stay for the summer. They were very excited. Unlike Tad Pole and Snow Crystal, Snap Dragon, Honey Comb and Dew Drop were also very excited.
“Well, I think it’s time we put you girls to work.” Francis said while still sitting on the newly made beds. “Let me think on this a minute.” Which she really did. She seemed to be studying each one of them very carefully. The girls sat very still, mainly because the fairies were sitting very still. With a decision she obviously considered well made, Francis told them her plan.
“Heather.” This startled Heather tremendously.
“I want you to help your Aunt Claire with the cooking.” To her surprise, Heather was excited by this idea.
“Rose.” Rose sat up a little taller. “I want you to help Aunt Kate. You must be patient and wait for her instructions. Pay close attention to what she asks you to do and don’t very from what she says. Can you do that?” Rose very earnestly nodded yes.
“And Laurel, you will come with me.” This pleased Laurel also. She didn’t like the description of what Rose was to do.
“Of we go.” Francis said leading them out of the pavilion.
They stopped at the kitchen where Aunt Claire was setting out some of the biscuits like the ones she had given to Ellie.
“Well, I see your ready to get your hands dirty. Well dears you must have a Rock Cake first.” Claire said while passing around the basket.
“And dear, I understand you will be helping me.” Claire said to Heather. Heather would have been surprised at Aunt Claire knowing this but she had seen Honey Comb and the fairy on Aunt Claire’s shoulder fluttering around together then Aunt Claire’s fairy had gone back and whispered into Aunt Claire’s ear.
To their great surprise, Aunt Claire said very directly to all three of them. “No need to keep your secret from us dears. That would be a great waste of time and too much of a burden for your little shoulders. Your mum and dad can’t see our little companions yet. Some day they will. Until you can share your secret with them dears know it is no longer a secret you need to keep from us. But now it’s time to get your hands dirty.”
“It takes a lot of work to have a lot of fun.
The fairy from Aunt Claire’s shoulder flew over to the girls. She was a very old looking fairy but more beautiful and more delicate looking then any of the other ones they had met.
“Come, come don’t be shy,
Kate will teach you how to fly.
Hasten, hasten little feet.
Claire has something good to eat.
Listen; listen, to the breeze
Hear the fairies in the trees
Ready Ready all must be
For it’s now mid summer’s eve.
Magic Magic on this night
The sacred candles we will light
dancing dancing until dawn
merry voices join in song.
Come come follow me
There’s so very much to see
hasten, hasten all of you
There’s so very much to do
She showed Aunt Francis Rose and Laurel on their way then very quickly returned to Aunt Claire.
“Deary Deary take a look
Heather’s here to help you cook
Mustn’t Mustn’t hesitate
The sun is setting time won’t wait.
“She’s a pest, isn’t she?” Aunt Claire said to Heather while pointing to the shoulder where her fairy had landed.
“What’s her name?” Heather asked.
“You didn’t tell them your name? Shame on you!” Aunt Claire said to the fairy. The little fairy just smiled and gave a little shrug.
“Her name is Fire Fly. Fire Fly then took off from Claire’s shoulder and headed over the pond in the same direction as Dragon Fly.
“I wonder what she’s up to? Well dear, we have lots of things to do.” Heather kept watching Fire Fly as she soared over the pond. “Don’t worry, she’ll be back.” Just then, Honey Comb whispered something into Heather’s ear, the she too flew over the pond. When Heather watched Honey Comb on her journey she saw that the exodus over the pond was immense.
“Now let me take a close look at you.” Heather was startled back to reality.
Aunt Claire seemed to look right to the insides of Heather, then she said. “Well I think Fire Fly was right, you can help me.”
Aunt Claire pulled a little apron out of her bag and helped Heather put it on. Without being told, Heather went to the little sink and washer her hands. Claire watched her with a smile on her face. “All will be here for tea soon. Where would you think would be a nice place to have it? Claire asked Heather.
“On the island.” Heather answered without hesitation.
“That would be a lot of work.”
“We can use the wagon and just sit on a blanket.”
“All right dear, if that’s what you want.”
Heather got the wagon, while Claire sorted the food meant for the tea. To Claire’s great surprise and relief. Loading the wagon and getting the picnic set up over on the island went a lot quicker then she thought it would. They carried the wagon over the water so as not to get it wet and Claire was surprised at how strong and coordinated Heather was. She was going to have to stop thinking of Heather as a little girl and start thinking of her as a young lady. They used a large canvas cloth to through on the ground, took the sides off the wagon and parked it in the center of the canvas. It made a great serving table. They put a beach towel over the food to keep the pest out until all had arrived and headed back to the little kitchen.
“You have just added a new tradition to this holiday my dear.” Aunt Claire said to Heather. “What great surprises this night will bring my dear, great surprises.”
Rose was to help Aunt Kate, but when Aunt Francis and Laurel left her by the fire ring and headed off into the woods. Rose didn’t quite know what to do. Aunt Kate was sitting in one of the chairs reading very intently in a notebook on her lap and was mumbling to herself. During a pause in her mumbling the fairy sitting on her shoulder whispered into her ear. Kate looked up very quickly and somewhat crossly at Rose. Rose just stood very still without saying a word. Then Kate relaxed her gaze and smiled. Patting the chair next to her Kate said. “Come join me.”
“I won’t be in the way?”
“No, no. I was just doing a little studying. It’s really a good thing you came over here. Sometimes when I get to do things I loose myself in it. I should, or should I say, we should get on with our tasks. The Sun is telling me I have dottled to long.”
Rose came and sat down, remembering Aunt Francis’s instructions; she would just wait until Aunt Kate gave her something to do.
Aunt Kate took a long and studied look at Rose. Dew Drop, sitting on Rose’s shoulder stood up put her hands on her hips and without saying anything was visibly scolding Aunt Kate. Dew Drop could feel Rose getting very nervous and Dew didn’t like it. Kate relaxed her gaze, then said. “It’s time to prepare the fire ring. Would you like to help?”
“Alright.”
“Your dad will be here shortly with the kindling but there are other things to get ready for the fire.”
“What kind of things?”
“Tonight is the shortest night of the year. The sun is in her full glory. When the sun sets tonight we will light the fire and in that fire we will send gifts to the setting sun. The hot air from the fire will take our gifts skyward and in a few hours she will return to us and give us her gift of light and life and warmth. Tonight we will feast on the bounty she has given us this spring.” When Kate spoke of the Sun it was like she was speaking of a loved one that she was very close to. Rose had been afraid to be the one to help Kate but now she wanted to know this loved one of Kate’s. She wanted to help.
Dew Drop and Dragon Fly take off over the pond. Kate decides to tell Rose about the evening and how Rose will help Kate in the rituals.
Jeff comes back with the firewood.
Notes:
Aunt Francis and Laurel go to the Marigold patch on the far side of the pond after stopping at a wild strawberry patch. They gather and suck on clover. Gather and eat mint. Gather and taste (ahhhh) ________ pepper seeds?-in mother earth news. Check out other plants.
Elder
In Denmark we come across the old belief that he who stood under an Elder tree on Midsummer Eve would see the King of Fairyland ride by, artended by all his retinue. Folkard, in Plant-Lore, Legends and Lyrics, relates:
‘in order to prevent witches from entering their houses, the common people used to gather Elder leaves on the last day of April and affix them to their doors and windows,’
‘The pith of the branches when cut in round, fiat shapes, is dipped in oil, lighted, and then put to float in a glass of water; its light on Christmas Eve is thought to reveal to the owner all the witches and sorcerers in the neighbourhood’;
‘On Bertha Night (6th January), the devil goes about with special virulence. As a safeguard, persons are recommended to make a magic circle, in the centre of which they should stand, with Eiderberries gathered on St. John’s night. By doing this, the mystic Fern-seed may be obtained, which possesses the strength of thirty or forty men.’
Mugwort
In the Middle Ages, the plant was known as Cingulum Sancti Johannis, it being believed that John the Baptist wore a girdle of it in the wilderness. There were many superstitions connected with it: it was believed to preserve the wayfarer from fatigue, sunstroke, wild beasts and evil spirits generally: a crown made from its sprays was worn on St. John’s Eve to gain security from evil possession, and in Holland and Germany one of its names is St. John’s Plant, because of the belief, that if gathered on St. John’s Eve it gave protection against diseases and misfortunes.
