Sanctuary

by E. Edgar Price

  *****

  Jessie and Adam’s tour began inside the house, since that was where the pair found Tyler and Benji, still dawdling over a cold breakfast. Jessie had fetched Adam earlier and together, they went over to the workshop first to get Sarah, who looked very different smiling and laughing with Aunt Rachel instead of the rather too serious girl she’d been yesterday upon her arrival. She greeted Adam and Jessie cheerfully and Aunt Rachel waved them off to begin their explorations with a reminder to stay inside the tree line.

  The tree line, Sarah discovered, was the edge of a forest that surrounded the farm. It was technically where the wildlife sanctuary began. There were no paths and it was easy to get lost, so none of the kids were allowed to go beyond it, although Jessie said there were some blueberry bushes just inside to the south they could pick from. The main drive was also “safe” as long you stayed on the gravel, but it was a three mile walk, which Sylvie, Adam’s mom, made every afternoon right after lunch to collect the mail at the gate. There was a bin disguised by the rock wall, Jessie informed her cousin, which was where the postman deposited the mail. Since they were so far out of town, they tended to get their mail a day late. “Which is why,” Jessie said, “you’ll always find yesterday’s newspaper and not today’s.”

  Sarah was amused by this assertion, which is why she was laughing when she entered the kitchen to find her brothers still at the table. This is also why both Tyler and Benji stared at her in shock and meekly put their dishes away before following Adam out into the main hall.

  Tyler couldn’t believe that was his sister and he shared a look with Benji; his little brother was obviously thinking the same thing. It was like invasion of the body snatchers in reverse, Tyler thought. Yesterday his sister had been the über-responsible robot they had come to depend on and today . . . . well, . . . today, she laughed.

  Tyler had actually been dreading this little sight-seeing trip. Adam and Jessie were okay, but he wasn’t ready to fully accept that he now lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere. More than likely, he thought, this “tour” would consist of instructions on how to feed the pigs or navigate animal droppings. It was not something to look forward to.

  But his laughing sister surprised Tyler so much; he quickly fell into step next to Adam with Benji, Jessie, and Sarah right behind. Jessie and Adam began pointing out rooms and doors on the first floor and Tyler found himself actually curious about the house and grounds.

  The South side of the first floor consisted of the parlor, the dining room and the kitchen, which they had all seen last night. Jessie showed them another room, which was more of an informal living room that Jessie referred to as the ‘den’ that opened onto the roman terrace with the swimming pool. It looked comfortable, with a big television at one end and a big sectional sofa. There was also a cellar accessible from this floor.

  The North side consisted of a small bathroom and a windowless library with built-in book shelves covering the walls and a huge oaken mantelpiece above the fireplace. There were comfy chairs scattered about and tall lamps with green shades. Across the hall from the library were double doors that Jessie said led into the private study.

  Curiuosly, Jessie and Adam veered away from that door insisting they move on. According to them, the room was where grandpa did the accounting, a delicate and sometimes frustrating task. Nobody but Grandpa and Aunt Rachel usually ventured inside. Tyler passed the door with some hesitation, before following his guides into the bottom part of the tower at the far end of the house.

  The room’s dimensions were the same as Jessie and Sarah’s bedrooms. It had the same floor to ceiling type window, but the walls and floor were stone and there were potted plants and lounging chairs scattered about. Jessie called it the conservatory like in the game of Clue. It opened out into the garden, but Adam suggested they go out front first and save the garden for later. The three already knew what was on the second and third floors and that the top of the stairwell led to an attic, so Adam led the way back to the foyer and out the front door.

  The front consisted of nothing but the circular driveway which had a little hedge garden and a bird bath in the middle. Adam said he sometimes ran the length of the drive to gate and back in the mornings, but usually only when he was in training. He explained that he played basketball and ran track for the local high school. “If you run the circle and lane all the way to the gate and back, that’s seven miles,” he said. Tyler had to agree that was a pretty good workout, but he wasn’t anxious to join Adam any time soon.

  Around the south corner of the house was what Tyler wanted to see since his arrival: the Roman pool. It was bigger than expected and ran along the side of the house. The columns gave it an air of impressiveness. Jessie said there were pipes beneath it that heated the water in winter, so they could swim year-round if they wanted.

  To the left was a cabana-like structure that Jessie and Adam said was the pool house. They showed off a room with showers and wooden closets for changing and a giant storage unit filled with pool toys and filters and other maintenance odds and ends.

  Moving on, they went around to the side of the pool house. The area was made up of a neatly mowed field with a shed. “For playing croquet,” Jesse told them.

  “Or football,” Adam chimed in and Tyler and Benji both agreed it was just the right size for a game of touch football.

  Next to the croquet field was the life-size chess board Dad had spoken of. The king and queen were as tall as Benji, but surprisingly easy to move. Tyler wondered aloud what they were made of.

  “Plaster, I think,” Jesse answered him. “They have to be put up during winter, but even then my dad has to touch them up a little every year.”

  Continuing westward, diagonal from the chess board, Adam led the way to the caretaker’s cottage, where he and his family lived. It was a squat, square building with a wide front porch and large windows. As they approached the two story structure, an excited squeal came from the interior and suddenly the little girl from the night before was jumping up and down tugging at Adam’s hand. She was talking so fast Tyler hardly understood her.

  “We’re going to make blackberry pies today!” she exclaimed happily, “but Mama said I could come with you guys since I know exactly where everything is and I’ve got enough energy to take you around the house twice at least!”

  Tyler figured the kid must be driving her mom nuts and didn’t really mind the addition. After the girl introduced herself to everyone (“I’m Kimberly Elizabeth Landy, but you can call me Kimmy because it’s shorter!”) the group set off towards the middle of the farm.

  Adam pointed out the fish pond with its little dock and row boat on the other side of his cottage before leading everyone to the barn. He pushed a big gray door open and ushered everyone inside. The barn was longer than it was wide and not very tall. There was a group of milking cows in a pen towards the back and a hay loft above them.

  Outside, Jessie and Adam led them around two small ponds that had ducks and geese roaming around, which Kimmy chased gleefully. They passed a chicken coop, a rabbit hutch, pens of pigs, goats and a few more cows before reaching the stables.

  The low, red building housed five horses, each with their name above the stall door. Jessie said they were mainly used for going out and checking the sanctuary fences. Across from the horse stalls was a big, smelly workshop, which Sarah had already been to. She said Aunt Rachel made soaps and stuff there and sold them. Tyler shrugged at that, holding his nose at the overwhelming smell, and followed Adam and Kimmy through another door that led outside to a little garden.

  Beyond the garden, was a huge tilled field growing profusely with rows of vegetables. Sarah was asking about the kinds of produce the farm harvested, but Tyler and Benji rounded the back of the stables with Adam before they heard an answer. Back here, there was a big glass structure partially concealed in the center of a small orchard.

  “That’s the greenhouse,” Kimmy said, popping up by Tyler’s side. S
he grabbed his hand began naming off the trees in front of them. “These ones are apple, and those are pears,” she informed him solemnly. “We grow oranges, too, but they have to stay in the greenhouse because of the weather.”

  Strange kid, Tyler thought, but he let her lead him to a big shed farther back along the side of the field. “Daddy!!” she squealed and ran off ahead. David Landy was working on a big tractor-like contraption with Grandpa and Uncle Matt. The building behind him was a large equipment shed housing a multitude of farm-type machinery that Tyler fervently hoped no one expected him to use.

  “I expect you’ve seen most everything by now, if you’re back here,” Grandpa greeted them.

  Jessie came up beside Tyler saying, “Everything but the gardens. Adam said we should save the maze for last.”

  “Sounds reasonable to me,” Grandpa said. Looking at his watch he reminded them that lunch wasn’t too far away and told them not to get lost in the maze.

  “I never get lost!” Kimmy declared, running from her father’s arms back the way they’d come.

  “She sure doesn’t,” Uncle Matt commented and David laughed.

  “That’s my girl; uncanny sense of direction and enough energy to go places,” David agreed.

  Grandpa waved them off with another reminder to keep track of the time. Tyler looked at his watch and realized they’d been wandering the grounds for over two hours! This place was larger than he thought. They had an hour and a half until lunch, which Jesse said was always precisely at noon.

  The gardens were, Tyler admitted, beautiful. A gravel path led them into hollow spaces between flower beds with fountains or benches and then curved back out and around to more shrubs, bushes, and beds of flowers, most of which Tyler couldn’t name. Jessie, Sarah, and Kimmy took turns classifying some of them. Tyler spotted some roses and recognized a big stone urn of violets before they finally reached a giant arch in the eight foot tall hedge that surrounded the main garden.

  “After you,” Kimmy said exaggerated politeness, waving the rest of them forward.

  “We’re not really going to get lost in here are we?” Sarah asked a little nervously.

  “No,” Adam assured her, “the maze isn’t that big and there’s not that much to it, even you actually got lost, you’d end up at the exit sooner or later.”

  “Isn’t there some Greek myth where someone always turned left to get through a maze with some monster in it?” Tyler recalled.

  “A minotaur,” Jessie spoke up. “It’s true that if you always turn left, or right for that matter, you’ll eventually find the exit.” She shrugged, “Luckily our maze is so small it only takes about half an hour or so to navigate.”

  “Then I suppose we should get to navigating,” Benji interjected with attitude. Tyler thought he wasn’t near as bored as he was pretending to be. He suspected his little brother was truly anxious to see the inside of the maze.

  “Lead on, good sir,” Sarah said with a smile, mimicking Kimmy’s embellished manners and gestured for Benji to take the lead. Tyler vaguely wondered at Sarah’s good mood again before following them into the maze.

  The maze actually took them an hour to get through, mostly because Kimmy kept running off and no one wanted to leave her in the maze by herself. Benji grudgingly admitted the maze was one of the cooler things he’d ever seen, even thought it was small. There were shallow recesses cut into the hedge were statues stood and they found two round “rooms.” One with a small wicker table and chairs that Kimmy declared was for tea parties, and one with a stagnant fountain and a stone bench. All in all, Tyler couldn’t help being impressed with the ornate garden and the surrounding grounds. This wasn’t an ordinary “farm” by anyone’s standards.