Sunday, January 01, 2006
Alevai -- Chapter One
2005 --
Elizabeth sighed as only a young girl can. She had been placed in charge of her two younger sisters while her mother unpacked the kitchen. Her mother had not come right out and said that Elizabeth needed to watch over them. She had merely told the girls to run along and play. Elizabeth took it upon herself to become her sisters’ guardian. She did not want to watch over Madison, age 9, and Becca, age 5. She felt that she should be downstairs with their mom, helping unpack. That would be a job worthy of a mature 11 year old, which she was. Instead, Elizabeth – who never wanted to be called neither Liz nor Beth – was exploring their new home with her two younger siblings.
All three girls were in the upstairs hall of the old home. There were three doors on the left side of the hall, one door at the end and a single door in the middle of the right wall. Maddie, as Madison was called, had begun to busy herself opening the three doors on the left and inspecting each bedroom carefully. Her mother had promised that each girl could choose her own bedroom and Maddie wanted to scrutinize each room before she made her decision.
Becca, being quite the Mama’s girl, had chosen the bedroom closest to their mother’s, although, their mother had not yet decided which room would be hers. Becca was frantic with the thought that Maddie would choose a room that would end up being the closest. This thought was very unsettling to her.
Elizabeth, following Maddie, was unconcerned as to which room she would fill with her prized belongings. Being the oldest carried with it the responsibility of watching over her two younger siblings. Therefore, she was going to pick the room in between their choices. She would be able to hear Becca if she had a nightmare and she would be close to Maddie for one of their late night gab sessions. Since her parents’ divorce, Elizabeth had taken it upon herself to reign supreme over her sisters. She hoped that this would take a huge weight off her mother’s shoulders.
Maddie walked out of the bedroom at the end of the hall. “I don’t like that one,” she announced.
“Well, which one do you like?” Elizabeth asked her.
“I’m not sure. I need to think about it.” Maddie stood with her arms crossed. “Which one do you like?”
“I have not thought about it.” Elizabeth answered, choosing her words carefully.
Becca sat down on the top step at the opposite end of the hall. “I don’t like any of them,” she said. “I don’t like this place.” Becca placed her arms upon her knees and her head on top of her arms. Quietly, she began to cry.
Elizabeth shot Maddie a knowing look. Becca had not been happy to leave their father behind. She, as youngest daughters often do, had her father twisted around her little finger. Both Elizabeth and Maddie sighed. Maddie went to comfort their youngest sibling. Elizabeth stood behind the two of them and was about to place her hand on Becca’s shoulder to comfort her when the front doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” she exclaimed and ran down the steps into the foyer. She yanked opened the front door and in bounded Sky, the girls’ seven year old American Eskimo. He leaped up at her to give her kisses. “Sky!” Elizabeth yelled, as the two of them crashed to the floor.
Sky stood over her and wagged his tail, which in turn wagged his whole body. He licked her face and barked a tremendous greeting. He had missed the girls.
Hearing their sister yelled out Sky’s name, both Maddie and Becca bounded down the stairs, calling to him. This sent Sky into a tizzy, as he didn’t know which girl he should kiss next. He jumped on all of them, licking and barking. They had only been separated a couple of days, but to Sky, it had seemed like a year.
“This is just great! I’m overshadowed by a dog.”
Elizabeth pulled herself away from Sky and moved to hug her Aunt Cheryl. “Thanks for bringing Sky home,” she said.
“I really had no choice,” Cheryl said. “He’s been bugging me to come home. Keeping me up nights, staring out the window. He’s been a pathetic sight!”
Vicy came up the basement steps and looked out of the doorway. “I see the fur ball is home,” she said. She closed the door behind her before wiping her hands on her jeans. “Thanks for bringing him home.”
“You’re welcome. Are you unpacked yet?”
“No and the movers have been delayed. We won’t even get our furniture here until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? That’s unacceptable.”
A shriek from the excited children stopped the grownup conversation. Both Vicy and Cheryl smiled at them.
“Hey, girls, why don’t you give Sky a tour of the house?” Vicy said to them.
“Okay, Mom,” Elizabeth answered. “Come on, Sky. Let’s show you around.”
The three girls and one furry white dog ran up the ornate staircase. Cheryl and Vicy watched them.
“Let’s go in the kitchen. I’ve unpacked the coffee, the coffee maker and some cups,” Vicy said.
“You’ve unpacked the most important things,” Cheryl said. “What are you going to do without beds?”
“Oh, we’ve got sleeping bags. I’ll light a fire and the four of us can campout on the living room floor.”
“I’m sure the girls will enjoy that.”
Vicy and Cheryl strolled off to the kitchen, their voices echoing thru the big downstairs.
Upstairs, the girls gathered in the hallway with Sky jumping up and down between them. Sky, a standard size American Eskimo Dog, had fur white as freshly fallen snow, except for a cream colored stripe in the center of his forehead. His face usually had a smile and his pink ears stood at attention. He had a habit of moving his ears to best hear every little sound. At 19 inches tall and a weight of 35 pounds, he was quite formidable when he wished to jump up on the girls.
“What room will Sky want?” Becca asked her sisters.
“This house is so big, he can have any room he wants, I guess,” Elizabeth answered.
“I think he should sleep in all our rooms,” Maddie said after a moment.
Becca kneeled in front of Sky and took his face into her hands. She was feeling much better now that her best friend had arrived. “Do you want to sleep in all our rooms?” she asked him. Sky licked her face and wagged his tail.
“I think that’s a yes,” Elizabeth said.
Maddie turned away. “I still don’t know which room I want,” she said. She opened the single door on the right side of the hallway. To her surprise there was a set of steps leading upward. “Hey, I wonder where this goes.”
Maddie bounded up the dark steps. Becca and Sky followed her. Elizabeth stood alone in the hall for a moment. She wasn’t so sure they should explore another floor of the house without their mother knowing.
Maddie stuck her head back out the door. “Elizabeth! Come on!”
At this prodding, Elizabeth shook away her doubts and followed her sisters up the stairs, closing the door behind her.
The upstairs was a large attic, filled with old furniture, dusty boxes and beat up trunks. The girls ran through the large room, opening trunks and boxes. Each of them found various old style hats, gloves and dresses.
Sky, too, got into the act by pawing and sniffing at the dust. He sneezed.
“Where did all this stuff come from?” Maddie asked, as she tried on a black glittery hat.
“The people who lived here must have left it behind,” Elizabeth answered her. She placed a feathery, purple boa around her neck. “We could wear this stuff as Halloween costumes.”
“That would be cool,” Maddie said.
“Yeah, cool,” Becca echoed. She had found a large blue hat with an Ostrich feather sticking out of it. She placed it on her head and added a pink boa around her neck. Long black gloves completed her ensemble.
Becca looked around for a mirror. She spotted a one standing next to a large wardrobe on the far side of the attic. She pushed her way past boxes and trucks to the mirror, with Sky following behind her. She stood in front of the mirror, posing as only a little girl could, but the mirror was dusty and she couldn’t see herself very well. She took one end of the boa and reached for it. Once she touched the mirror’s surface, she vanished.
Sky, who had been standing behind Becca, could not believe his dog eyes. One second, Becca had been there and the next, she was gone. He walked around the mirror and sniffed the floor. The dust made him sneeze. He came back around the front and looked toward Elizabeth and Maddie. They were oblivious to the disappearance of their youngest sibling. ‘This isn’t good,’ Sky thought. He barked to get their attention.
Elizabeth barely glanced in his direction. “Shh, Sky,” she said, “you’ll get Mom up here and she might make us stop going through these boxes.”
“Yeah, Sky,” Maddie agreed. “Be quiet.”
Sky rolled his eyes and barked again. The two sisters glared at him, before going back to their opened trunks. ‘This is really not good,’ Sky thought again.
Becca glanced around her. She could see a huge castle in the distance. Between her and the castle were fields of green grass. She didn’t know where she was. The view was beautiful. The sun was setting behind the castle and the sky was all shades of pinks, yellows and reds.
Becca took a step toward the castle, but then, she heard Sky bark behind. She turned back around and saw a hole. Through the hole, she could see Sky, pacing back and forth. Beyond him, she saw her sisters. They hadn’t noticed that she was gone. She turned back to the castle. She really wanted to explore this land, but what if she couldn’t find her way back home. That would not be good.
Sky barked again and Becca turned back to the hole. She took a step forward and placed her hand out in front of her. She felt a whoosh and found herself back in the attic. “Cool,” she whispered.
Sky blinked. Here was Becca, no worse the wear, standing in front of him. How did that happen? He sniffed at her. She smelled almost the same, but he could smell a fresh grass smell. He barked at her to ask her where she went, but she merely smiled at him and patted his head. He supposed he wouldn’t get an answer – such was the life of a dog in charge of three girls.
“Elizabeth, Maddie, Becca!” they could hear their mother calling them. “Where are you girls?”
“Uh oh, we better get back downstairs,” Elizabeth said. She took off the clothing she had been playing with and dropped it on top of a trunk.
“Do you think she’s mad?” Maddie asked.
“She doesn’t sound mad.” She looked at Becca. “Come on, Becca, put that stuff down.”
Becca started to tell them about the castle, but decided not to. She took off the gloves, hat and boa, dropping them in front of the mirror. “Come on, Sky,” she said, as she ran back to her sisters.
The trio of girls and Sky walked down the attic steps.
Vicy and Cheryl were waiting in the foyer when the girls came down the stairs. “Hey, where were you guys?”
“We were in the attic,” Becca said.
Elizabeth and Maddie looked at each other before watching for their mother’s reaction. They were worried that she, in one of her overprotective moods, would ban them from the attic.
“Really? And, just what were you doing in the attic?”
“I saw a castle,” Becca answered truthfully.
“A castle? There’s a castle in the attic?” Vicy asked.
Elizabeth looked over at Maddie and mouthed, A Castle. Maddie shrugged. Who knew what Becca could possibly be taking about?
“No, silly, it’s out in the field,” Becca answered. “But, I saw it when I touched the mirror.”
“Really, well, you’ll have to tell us all about it at dinner,” Cheryl said, squatting down to Becca’s level. “I’m betting you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving,” Becca said, with a giggle.
“What about you two,” Vicy said. “You girls hungry?”
Both Elizabeth and Maddie nodded in agreement. They were happy that their mother hadn’t banned more trips to the attic.
“Can we get Chinese,” Elizabeth asked.
“Not Chinese,” Maddie countered. “Let’s get pizza.”
“I don’t want pizza,” Elizabeth said, turning toward her sister. “We had pizza last night.”
“Well, I do want pizza,” Maddie said, raising her voice ever so slightly. The girls continued trying to outdo the other one in voicing their dinner preferences.
Sky had had about enough of listening to the girls. He walked in between them and pushed Maddie back away from Elizabeth. Then, he sat in between the two girls and barked until they both quieted down.
“Gee, Vic, I didn’t know you guys had your own referee,” Cheryl said.
“That’s my boy. He keeps the girls in line.”
Elizabeth sighed as only a young girl can. She had been placed in charge of her two younger sisters while her mother unpacked the kitchen. Her mother had not come right out and said that Elizabeth needed to watch over them. She had merely told the girls to run along and play. Elizabeth took it upon herself to become her sisters’ guardian. She did not want to watch over Madison, age 9, and Becca, age 5. She felt that she should be downstairs with their mom, helping unpack. That would be a job worthy of a mature 11 year old, which she was. Instead, Elizabeth – who never wanted to be called neither Liz nor Beth – was exploring their new home with her two younger siblings.
All three girls were in the upstairs hall of the old home. There were three doors on the left side of the hall, one door at the end and a single door in the middle of the right wall. Maddie, as Madison was called, had begun to busy herself opening the three doors on the left and inspecting each bedroom carefully. Her mother had promised that each girl could choose her own bedroom and Maddie wanted to scrutinize each room before she made her decision.
Becca, being quite the Mama’s girl, had chosen the bedroom closest to their mother’s, although, their mother had not yet decided which room would be hers. Becca was frantic with the thought that Maddie would choose a room that would end up being the closest. This thought was very unsettling to her.
Elizabeth, following Maddie, was unconcerned as to which room she would fill with her prized belongings. Being the oldest carried with it the responsibility of watching over her two younger siblings. Therefore, she was going to pick the room in between their choices. She would be able to hear Becca if she had a nightmare and she would be close to Maddie for one of their late night gab sessions. Since her parents’ divorce, Elizabeth had taken it upon herself to reign supreme over her sisters. She hoped that this would take a huge weight off her mother’s shoulders.
Maddie walked out of the bedroom at the end of the hall. “I don’t like that one,” she announced.
“Well, which one do you like?” Elizabeth asked her.
“I’m not sure. I need to think about it.” Maddie stood with her arms crossed. “Which one do you like?”
“I have not thought about it.” Elizabeth answered, choosing her words carefully.
Becca sat down on the top step at the opposite end of the hall. “I don’t like any of them,” she said. “I don’t like this place.” Becca placed her arms upon her knees and her head on top of her arms. Quietly, she began to cry.
Elizabeth shot Maddie a knowing look. Becca had not been happy to leave their father behind. She, as youngest daughters often do, had her father twisted around her little finger. Both Elizabeth and Maddie sighed. Maddie went to comfort their youngest sibling. Elizabeth stood behind the two of them and was about to place her hand on Becca’s shoulder to comfort her when the front doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” she exclaimed and ran down the steps into the foyer. She yanked opened the front door and in bounded Sky, the girls’ seven year old American Eskimo. He leaped up at her to give her kisses. “Sky!” Elizabeth yelled, as the two of them crashed to the floor.
Sky stood over her and wagged his tail, which in turn wagged his whole body. He licked her face and barked a tremendous greeting. He had missed the girls.
Hearing their sister yelled out Sky’s name, both Maddie and Becca bounded down the stairs, calling to him. This sent Sky into a tizzy, as he didn’t know which girl he should kiss next. He jumped on all of them, licking and barking. They had only been separated a couple of days, but to Sky, it had seemed like a year.
“This is just great! I’m overshadowed by a dog.”
Elizabeth pulled herself away from Sky and moved to hug her Aunt Cheryl. “Thanks for bringing Sky home,” she said.
“I really had no choice,” Cheryl said. “He’s been bugging me to come home. Keeping me up nights, staring out the window. He’s been a pathetic sight!”
Vicy came up the basement steps and looked out of the doorway. “I see the fur ball is home,” she said. She closed the door behind her before wiping her hands on her jeans. “Thanks for bringing him home.”
“You’re welcome. Are you unpacked yet?”
“No and the movers have been delayed. We won’t even get our furniture here until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? That’s unacceptable.”
A shriek from the excited children stopped the grownup conversation. Both Vicy and Cheryl smiled at them.
“Hey, girls, why don’t you give Sky a tour of the house?” Vicy said to them.
“Okay, Mom,” Elizabeth answered. “Come on, Sky. Let’s show you around.”
The three girls and one furry white dog ran up the ornate staircase. Cheryl and Vicy watched them.
“Let’s go in the kitchen. I’ve unpacked the coffee, the coffee maker and some cups,” Vicy said.
“You’ve unpacked the most important things,” Cheryl said. “What are you going to do without beds?”
“Oh, we’ve got sleeping bags. I’ll light a fire and the four of us can campout on the living room floor.”
“I’m sure the girls will enjoy that.”
Vicy and Cheryl strolled off to the kitchen, their voices echoing thru the big downstairs.
Upstairs, the girls gathered in the hallway with Sky jumping up and down between them. Sky, a standard size American Eskimo Dog, had fur white as freshly fallen snow, except for a cream colored stripe in the center of his forehead. His face usually had a smile and his pink ears stood at attention. He had a habit of moving his ears to best hear every little sound. At 19 inches tall and a weight of 35 pounds, he was quite formidable when he wished to jump up on the girls.
“What room will Sky want?” Becca asked her sisters.
“This house is so big, he can have any room he wants, I guess,” Elizabeth answered.
“I think he should sleep in all our rooms,” Maddie said after a moment.
Becca kneeled in front of Sky and took his face into her hands. She was feeling much better now that her best friend had arrived. “Do you want to sleep in all our rooms?” she asked him. Sky licked her face and wagged his tail.
“I think that’s a yes,” Elizabeth said.
Maddie turned away. “I still don’t know which room I want,” she said. She opened the single door on the right side of the hallway. To her surprise there was a set of steps leading upward. “Hey, I wonder where this goes.”
Maddie bounded up the dark steps. Becca and Sky followed her. Elizabeth stood alone in the hall for a moment. She wasn’t so sure they should explore another floor of the house without their mother knowing.
Maddie stuck her head back out the door. “Elizabeth! Come on!”
At this prodding, Elizabeth shook away her doubts and followed her sisters up the stairs, closing the door behind her.
The upstairs was a large attic, filled with old furniture, dusty boxes and beat up trunks. The girls ran through the large room, opening trunks and boxes. Each of them found various old style hats, gloves and dresses.
Sky, too, got into the act by pawing and sniffing at the dust. He sneezed.
“Where did all this stuff come from?” Maddie asked, as she tried on a black glittery hat.
“The people who lived here must have left it behind,” Elizabeth answered her. She placed a feathery, purple boa around her neck. “We could wear this stuff as Halloween costumes.”
“That would be cool,” Maddie said.
“Yeah, cool,” Becca echoed. She had found a large blue hat with an Ostrich feather sticking out of it. She placed it on her head and added a pink boa around her neck. Long black gloves completed her ensemble.
Becca looked around for a mirror. She spotted a one standing next to a large wardrobe on the far side of the attic. She pushed her way past boxes and trucks to the mirror, with Sky following behind her. She stood in front of the mirror, posing as only a little girl could, but the mirror was dusty and she couldn’t see herself very well. She took one end of the boa and reached for it. Once she touched the mirror’s surface, she vanished.
Sky, who had been standing behind Becca, could not believe his dog eyes. One second, Becca had been there and the next, she was gone. He walked around the mirror and sniffed the floor. The dust made him sneeze. He came back around the front and looked toward Elizabeth and Maddie. They were oblivious to the disappearance of their youngest sibling. ‘This isn’t good,’ Sky thought. He barked to get their attention.
Elizabeth barely glanced in his direction. “Shh, Sky,” she said, “you’ll get Mom up here and she might make us stop going through these boxes.”
“Yeah, Sky,” Maddie agreed. “Be quiet.”
Sky rolled his eyes and barked again. The two sisters glared at him, before going back to their opened trunks. ‘This is really not good,’ Sky thought again.
***
Becca glanced around her. She could see a huge castle in the distance. Between her and the castle were fields of green grass. She didn’t know where she was. The view was beautiful. The sun was setting behind the castle and the sky was all shades of pinks, yellows and reds.
Becca took a step toward the castle, but then, she heard Sky bark behind. She turned back around and saw a hole. Through the hole, she could see Sky, pacing back and forth. Beyond him, she saw her sisters. They hadn’t noticed that she was gone. She turned back to the castle. She really wanted to explore this land, but what if she couldn’t find her way back home. That would not be good.
Sky barked again and Becca turned back to the hole. She took a step forward and placed her hand out in front of her. She felt a whoosh and found herself back in the attic. “Cool,” she whispered.
Sky blinked. Here was Becca, no worse the wear, standing in front of him. How did that happen? He sniffed at her. She smelled almost the same, but he could smell a fresh grass smell. He barked at her to ask her where she went, but she merely smiled at him and patted his head. He supposed he wouldn’t get an answer – such was the life of a dog in charge of three girls.
“Elizabeth, Maddie, Becca!” they could hear their mother calling them. “Where are you girls?”
“Uh oh, we better get back downstairs,” Elizabeth said. She took off the clothing she had been playing with and dropped it on top of a trunk.
“Do you think she’s mad?” Maddie asked.
“She doesn’t sound mad.” She looked at Becca. “Come on, Becca, put that stuff down.”
Becca started to tell them about the castle, but decided not to. She took off the gloves, hat and boa, dropping them in front of the mirror. “Come on, Sky,” she said, as she ran back to her sisters.
The trio of girls and Sky walked down the attic steps.
Vicy and Cheryl were waiting in the foyer when the girls came down the stairs. “Hey, where were you guys?”
“We were in the attic,” Becca said.
Elizabeth and Maddie looked at each other before watching for their mother’s reaction. They were worried that she, in one of her overprotective moods, would ban them from the attic.
“Really? And, just what were you doing in the attic?”
“I saw a castle,” Becca answered truthfully.
“A castle? There’s a castle in the attic?” Vicy asked.
Elizabeth looked over at Maddie and mouthed, A Castle. Maddie shrugged. Who knew what Becca could possibly be taking about?
“No, silly, it’s out in the field,” Becca answered. “But, I saw it when I touched the mirror.”
“Really, well, you’ll have to tell us all about it at dinner,” Cheryl said, squatting down to Becca’s level. “I’m betting you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving,” Becca said, with a giggle.
“What about you two,” Vicy said. “You girls hungry?”
Both Elizabeth and Maddie nodded in agreement. They were happy that their mother hadn’t banned more trips to the attic.
“Can we get Chinese,” Elizabeth asked.
“Not Chinese,” Maddie countered. “Let’s get pizza.”
“I don’t want pizza,” Elizabeth said, turning toward her sister. “We had pizza last night.”
“Well, I do want pizza,” Maddie said, raising her voice ever so slightly. The girls continued trying to outdo the other one in voicing their dinner preferences.
Sky had had about enough of listening to the girls. He walked in between them and pushed Maddie back away from Elizabeth. Then, he sat in between the two girls and barked until they both quieted down.
“Gee, Vic, I didn’t know you guys had your own referee,” Cheryl said.
“That’s my boy. He keeps the girls in line.”
***
¶ 10:02 PM
