Orphans of Stone: HomeComing: A Curious Middle Grade Fantasy

by Rae Craig

  Ella said. “Here’s the one of their house! I bet the old man sitting is Captain Daddy and the man mowing the grass is Dr. Don.”

  Harriet added. “And the woman sitting is Carrie with Heart standing behind her. Except for no Aunt Lottie, this could be from the diary.”

  The second photo was of the Donnellson parlor. After serious study, Dana asked. “Harriet, do you have a magnifying glass?”

  “Why do you need it?” She and Ella looked at the photo. “That’s Dr. Don sitting in their parlor. I’ve tried to figure out how this room fits into their house, but never can. They sure did like lots of decorations.”

  Ella said. “Look! I bet those are the blue dishes Captain Daddy gave them!” She pointed to the table set for an important meal.

  Dana held his finger close to the picture. “Look right there.” He pointed to shelves filled with books and belongings.

  On the top shelf sat a clock that Harriet knew rested on their living room mantel right now. Clarence had wound it up every morning, but no one had the heart to keep it running now. Next to it light reflected off something she could not quite see and her heart sped up. She went to get the magnifying glass from Mom’s secretary.

  On the way back out she shared the doorway with Mom and Dad carrying the grilled cheese. Once the adults left, Harriet held the magnifying glass over the photo, raising and lowering it until the image was crystal clear. She saw what the object was and without a word handed the glass to Dana, who took a good look and handed the glass to Ella. She bent over the photo and immediately popped back up.

  “I’m so happy! Carrie had Aunt Lottie’s bottle out where they could see it. I was so afraid they’d kept it hidden away in a dark cupboard.”

  Dana moved the photo safely to the side and pulled out his squished pocket sandwich. Ella and Harriet crunched into their grilled cheese with melted goodness oozing out.

  Dana asked. “What will you do with Aunt Lottie’s gift?

  Harriet chewed for a moment. “We all found it, so it belongs to all of us, but I’m not sure what to do with it.”

  Ella said. “Would your parents let us set up an Aunt Lottie’s gift display? Sort of like my nature displays.”

  They carried their dirty dishes into the kitchen where Dad and Mom sat finishing their lunch. Mom loved Ella’s idea and gave them a wood tray to hold the display. Dad supplied a small linen handkerchief with the initials CFD embroidered in the corner. They set the lily of the valley bottle on the opened handkerchief, with the diary and journal arranged in front. The photo of the Donnellson parlor fit propped up behind the bottle. They arranged it all in the middle of the dining room table like a bouquet.

  When they stood back to admire their work, Ella ran out on the porch. Back inside she marched right up to the table and placed the trowels to either side of the scent bottle. “Now our part of the story is included too.”

  Chapter Seven

  The Grotto

  Dana picked up his shovel. “I’ll show you a special place after we stop at Deffers.”

  Harriet told Mom and Dad they were going with Dana and would meet them at Matta’s by four. Mom said. “Reen says her front porch needs a freshening up. Here’s a Twisted Twig price list to drop off.”

  They kept their old shoes on in case Dana’s special place was muddy. Ella carried her good shoes in her collecting bag. She skipped backward in front of Dana, the bag swinging against her leg. “Is your special place by the creek?”

  Ella sure had a one-track mind, but Harriet knew the creek was still too high and muddy.

  Nestled into the valley, the Deffers’ farm perched next to the flooded creek. The white farmhouse sat in front of a red barn with a stone silo. The gravel lane shot right past the buildings into the swollen creek. Stone supports stuck up through the water, but the expected bridge was missing. The lane continued on the other side as a rough trackway climbing up out of the creek valley.

  Reen greeted them from the wrap around porch. “Hi kids. Dana, do you have a receipt for Joe?”

  He dug the folded paper out of his pocket and she put it in her apron.

  Ella jumped in. “Reen, why does your lane go into the creek and where is the bridge?”

  Reen said, “My, you’re nosey.” But her expression was more pleased than annoyed. “The old mill was torn down when the new double mill was built, so now all that’s left are the stone supports. Hetric can tell you more about that; he connects best to those memories.”

  She said to Harriet. “You must be Heart Donnellson’s granddaughter.”

  “I’m Harriet Jameson, Mrs. Deffers. We live in the house at the end of Pew Street.”

  Reen narrowed her eyes. “My name is Reen, use that. Your grandmother was my best friend growing up. I’m glad you’ve rejoined the valley.”

  Harriet pulled out Mom’s list, at the same time wondering if Reen could tell them more about Carrie and Dr. Don. “Mom asked me to give you this.”

  Reen took the list and went into the house. “You kids wait right here.”

  Harriet figured she would have an errand for them, but when Reen came out balancing slices of fresh baked bread soft with melted butter, she was glad to be wrong.

  They said their thanks and walked back up the gravel lane, munching on the chewy, speckled bread. At the top of the slope perched a low-slung cottage with a front porch absolutely crammed with rocking chairs. The garden surrounding it tumbled over with greenery.

  Ella ran up to the garden wall and leaned over, brushing aside the blue flowers vining up and over the stones. “I see bee balm and oregano and rosemary and hundreds of other herbs.” She turned to Dana. “Who lives here? Can I go in?”

  “The Toish’s make medicine for sick people.” Dana pointed to the weathered wood sign nailed to the gate:

  Resonation Herbs

  Don’t bother us

  when the flag is flying

  A faded green cloth flapped from the porch. “They’re making medicine so we can’t go in. Tee Toish always lets you know exactly what she wants you to do.”

  Ella leaned over the wall. “Dana, is your dad the Hetric that Reen mentioned?”

  He nodded. “Be careful what you ask him though. Sometimes he doesn’t hear you and sometimes he’s grumpy.”

  Ella said. “He’s been kind to me.”

  “He’s gentle when you and Harriet are around.”

  Harriet said. “Maybe that’s because our families have lived here before.” She thought about Hetic Rethic’s forced friendliness. He was making an effort to be nice, but it certainly didn’t feel natural.

  Walking while talking, they had reached Center Road. Across the street a white building had:

  GIFFIN’S GENERAL STORE

  painted on the display windows to either side of the front door. Harriet became quiet and thoughtful.

  “I’m trying to imagine when that was Grandma Carrie’s house.” She motioned across the road. “I know that’s the building, but the old photo didn’t have the store added to the front or the low building in the back.”

  Dana said. “That back part has the freezer lockers.”

  Ella said. “Why did Carrie and Dr. Don move? This seems like a good spot for a doctor’s office.”

  Harriet said. “Grandma Jameson said Dr. Don wanted an orchard and Carrie wanted more flowers and vegetables. They moved to the house down by New River Road, but Dr. Don kept his office here.”

  Dana studied the general store. “Is this where they lived when Aunt Lottie visited?”

  Harriet nodded. “That happened before Grandma Jameson was born and they didn’t move out of here until she was a little girl.”

  Ella stared at the building on the other corner. She was puzzled. “Does that store over there have trees inside of it?”

  “That’s Debski’s.” Dana smiled. “Deb treats those lemon trees like babies; she even washes the leaves.”

  Beyond the tavern, grassy fields scattered with giant pine trees surrounded a blue-gre
en lake. Two large white barns nestled together on the far side. Ella said. “What a beautiful farm!”

  Harriet knew what those barns were. “That’s Shi-octon Commons and there’s valley farm equipment stored in those barns.” When they were little Clarence liked to sit up on the harvesters during Grandma Jameson’s walks with them.

  Dana said, “HomeComing is on the Commons, but I’ve never been here for that.”

  Harriet said. “Mom and Dad expect to sell a lot of furniture during HomeComing.”

  “I hear talk at the sawmill.” Dana said. “HomeComing lasts two days and there are rides like the Ferris wheel and lots of food. Shi-octon farmers show their animals.”

  Ella said. “Mom likes the bonfire on the last night.” She fussed impatiently with the cord on her bag. “Dana, where is your special place?”

  Without answering, Dana took off down Center Road toward the creek bridge, the girls stretching their legs to keep up. They passed the mill, stone bridge and half flooded creek. Harriet wondered again about the Three Sisters, but still couldn’t remember the story connected to them. Grandma Jameson had told them many Shi-octon stories, even writing some into a homemade book, but Clarence enjoyed those make-believe stories more than she did.

  As they crossed the bridge, Ella stopped and hung over the edge. “Where does all this granite come from?”

  Dana said. “There’s a quarry. That’s where Seth Scyld gets his….”

  Ella swung her head up. “He was at our house a couple of days ago! We’re putting a stone wall around the new herb garden and he’s bringing the stones and I think he’s going to build it too.” She hung back over the side. “That quarry must be huge. Can we go there to collect rose crystals?”

  Harriet laughed. This girl’s collecting would get them into every corner of the valley.

  At the far end of the bridge a tangle of brush and small trees reared up, a tower of rocks looming over the top. Ella said. “Whoever owns this place sure doesn’t take care of it.”

  Dana said. “It’s my mom’s and she doesn’t. My Great, Great Grandma Rose did though.”

  Ella was excited. “This is the Rose garden! I wonder what’s still alive in there.”

  Harriet asked. “Dana, how much farther is your special place?” She glanced at Ella. “We have to be at the farm by four.”

  Dana turned off the road along a rutted track that disappeared into a grove of small trees.

  Ella glanced at the sun. “It seems awful late.” She looked around as if to find a handy clock and stared down at her feet.

  Dana reassured Ella. “You have time.”

  Ella’s arms stiffened against her sides and her voice went dead and lifeless. “We have to be home by four.”

  Harriet recognized that flat tone and watched the blue-eyed girl carefully. Would she stagger away like she had before?”

  Dana went on as if there had been no change in Ella. “That’s Seth Scyld’s place over there.” He pointed down the road where piles of stone were arranged around a small barn. “Harriet, Seth says his great grandfather carved the foundation stones under your porch.”

  Like a sleep walker, Ella droned, “He came to the farm.” as if she hadn’t just told them all about it.

  Harriet stepped in front of Ella. The girl had that vacant but at the same time terrified expression she remembered from two days ago. The crystal blue eyes, usually filled with life, had drained to empty. Harriet grabbed Ella’s rigid hand and pulled her along.

  Dana ducked into the path, pushing aside the hanging branches. He pointed down at the creek in the gorge below. “The path that goes to Harriet’s is down there.”

  Dana halted before a solid granite wall, slid along it and disappeared. Harriet turned to Ella in amazement, but got back only frantic, darting eyes. A lanky arm emerged out of the rock wall urging them to follow. Harriet found the hidden passage, narrow at their knees and becoming wider as it went up, creating a granite shelf at waist height. She slid in sideways, pulling a stiff unresponsive Ella who would only move a few inches at a time. Dana beckoned from the far end of the passage, but Harriet took her time, comforted by the enveloping rock. This must be how small animals feel in their snug burrows…safe. Afternoon sun streamed into the passage. Ella was getting an up-close view of the rose crystals she was so curious about. The girl gently slipped her hand from Harriet’s to rest her palm against an unusually large rose crystal poking up from the granite shelf.

  They felt warm and cared for, like a baby snuggled by its mother.

  Harriet reached again for Ella’s hand, planning to encourage the girl to follow her, but Ella’s calm blue eyes connected directly into Harriet’s brown with perfect awareness. No need for hand holding now.

  They emerged into a basin of tumbled boulders and encircling cliffs tucked back into the creek gorge wall. High above them hung the cliff rim with a spout of water shooting straight out of the granite halfway up. At their level a flat area surrounded a pool fed by the waterfall. A channel flowed out of the pool, dividing the area in two and feeding a second waterfall that cascaded into the creek below.

  Dana knelt next to the water. With cupped hands he made a mini waterfall of his own.

  The girls knelt and reached forward to test the water. They pulled back with a jerk. “It’s hot!”

  “Like a bathtub.” Dana moved his hands around in the water.

  They lay on their bellies, six arms floating in the water. Warmth bathed their skin, with a definite current from upper to lower falls. Calm flowed through them with the water.

  Harriet closed her eyes and let her mind drift. Floating in the warmth, she relived a memory of Clarence laughing when she had insisted on gluing their toy horse’s butt to its nose. The two pieces did look alike, but his laughter had irritated her. Now she realized he was right, it was funny.

  In the warm current swirling around her arms she felt a familiar touch and a cool hand slid into hers. Here was her missing half; here were the connections she had felt during those unconscious moments on the stairs—welcoming her back. She assumed Ella was holding her hand as she had held hers, but when she opened her eyes Ella was not close enough and the hand faded away.

  Ella got up on her knees, breaking the mood. “It’s time to get home.” Her voice was calmer than usual.

  They shook water from their arms. Ella looked up at the cliff. “Do we have to go back out to the road?”

  Dana leapt over the outlet channel and the girls followed, hoping their legs were long enough.

  On the far side of the pool, granite blocks formed giant steps. Dana, using his knees, and Harriet and Ella, using their knees and bellies, climbed toward the rim, getting an up close look at the water shooting out of the cliff.

  Dana stopped and watched their progress. “We’ll come out in Ella’s orchard.”

  The girls held expressions of concentrated pleasure as they approached each block and figured out how to tackle it. At the top, they sat on the rim.

  Ella said. “It’s a secret grotto. Does anyone come here?”

  Dana said. “Vani Stratt bottles the water for Market,” He looked over at Harriet. “and it’s a shortcut to the cemetery.”

  Harriet stared into his strangely off-balanced eyes. “Do you go there much?” She wanted him to know she had seen him on that first day.

  He gazed back at her with no special reaction and nodded. “I do rubbings of the headstones.”

  They sat for a moment. The silence was interrupted by a bell. Ella stood up. “Mom rings the bell a half hour before supper.”

  Dana said. “See you later. Dad’s making breakfast for supper.” He slid down a gigantic angled boulder, leapt over the channel and disappeared through the passage in the granite wall.

  Harriet said. “That looked like fun.”

  Ella tugged her toward the farm.

  Chapter Eight

  Farm Supper

  Rosy white petals floated into their hair as they hurried through the orchard. Sig
hting between the apple trees, Harriet watched Grandma hang a dish towel on the clothes line next to the farmhouse. She remembered a sunny winter morning after a storm when she and Clarence had been little. Drifts of firm snow had reached as high as the clothes lines, allowing them to march right over them. She could not figure out where her normal world had gone and what rules to follow in this snow-covered replacement. Clarence, of course, had enjoyed every minute in the disturbing white world.

  Ella pointed to Grandma. “That’s where we’re building the stone walls for the herb garden. At our old house we wove a stick fence around the herbs, but I had to replace broken sticks all the time.” She took a few more steps and added. “I hope the stones have lots of crystals.”

  When they reached the barn Harriet could see the front porch. Dad and Mom glided on a swing as Herm and Nori backed through the screen door with cold drinks. Nori caught sight of the girls.

  “I hoped you heard the bell.” She said as they got closer. “Would you like a glass of Aunt Helen’s cider?” She smiled a thank you at Grandma as she joined them from around the corner of the house. “Our cellar shelves came pre-stocked with jars of cider and applesauce.”

  The girls sat on the porch steps and drank so fast that the cold cider made their teeth ache. Ella popped up, waving the empty glass in front of her. “Mom! Is Norman Mac part of our family? Did he marry Heart?” As she talked, she rose onto her toes, hanging there for an answer.

  Nori said. “How did you find out about Norman Mac?”

  “Oh Mom. You don’t know about the diaries and the old brewery.” She and Harriet explained Aunt Lottie’s scent bottle mystery and how that connected to Norman Mac.