An excerpt from the Stone Harp

Chapter One: Hartsfield

"The whole month of June -- wasted!" Alexandra muttered under her breath. “We've been looking around this crummy town and we haven’t found anything!"

"Zan, Dad’s trying!” Her brother growled back, “He’s trying to find just the right kind of place for us." Alan glanced up to the front of the van at their father then over to his sister.

Sixteen year old, Alexandra Paige Marsh glowered out the van window, shoulders hunched miserably. The Marsh family had been searching for over three months for a house to live in, and so far in all their searching they had found nothing that fitted their special needs as a family.

A year and a half ago, Alexandra’s mother had died and making the difficult transition of living without her was hard on everyone, especially Alexandra. She was having a hard time understanding why such a terrible illness had taken her mother away and now, why they had to leave their home and start over in a new town. It had been three months ago that Alexandra's father had accepted a position as assistant professor of His¬tory at a new university. The job would be good for the whole family but Alexandra still resented having to leave her friends behind.

Alexandra sat in the back of the van and stared out the back window. They had seen five houses this morning and she was tired and irritable. Her fourteen year old brother was excited at the prospect of moving, but she was still angry with her father for forcing her to leave her friends and her school. Unlike Alan, Alexandra found it more difficult to make friends and she was cer¬tain it would be hard to establish new friends wherever they finally moved.

Mrs. Hines, the realtor, was chattering endlessly about the next house they were going to see. She seemed to be excited about the house and talked animatedly about the acreage and the "wonderful" additions. Alex¬andra's father was getting excited too and was firing questions at Mrs. Hines about the owner and why he would want to sell a house with so many obvious improvements.

Mrs. Hines' van turned off the country lane and rolled past a large farmstead. Alan pointed to the trees, "Look it! Malus domestica, those are some really old trees!"

" So what," she muttered giving the grove a cursory glance.

“ Apple trees, my ignorant older sibling!” Alan replied pointing to the orchard.

" Great, we’re gonna live in a house in Hicksville and grow apples!" Zan grumbled.

Alan pushed his round frame glasses further down his nose and peered at his sister. “Hmm, in your case you’d be growing crab-apples!”

“Oh shut up!” Zan snapped back and received a disapproving look from her father as he glanced over his shoulder at them. The van rolled slowly past the farm and down a gentle sloping street and pulled over to the shoulder of the road. Pointing ahead of her, Mrs. Hines introduced Alexandra's father to the magnificence of Hartsfield house. Alexandra turned and followed Mrs. Hines' pointing finger.

" There it is!" she cooed, "Hartsfield."

The house was a wonderful old Victorian farm house. It sat back away from the road shaded by giant oak, ash, and pine trees. "It was built section by section entirely by Trevor Mills," Mrs. Hines said. "He was really quite creative!" Mrs. Hines turned down the drive progressing very slowly to allow the splendor to wash over her clients. When they finally rolled to a stop she waved her hands around with flourish at the colorful splashes golden yellows, rich jewel greens and radiant hues of pink, purple, red, and peach that filled all their view. The occupants of the van were awestruck by the cascades of color and the careful attention that had been paid to the landscaping. Mrs. Hines leaped out of the van with the Marsh family following suit. Albert Marsh turned in a slow circle. "My wife would have loved this place." he said softly.

Alexandra cocked her head at Mrs. Hines, it looked apparent from the glimmer in the realtor's eyes she had finally made a sale. With everyone's attention focused on the land surrounding the house Alexandra turned to study the front door of the house. It was a heavy blond oak door with an oval window. All around the edge of the window was etched an ivy curlicue design. As Alexandra stood on the cobblestone walk looking up at the door, it opened and a gray haired man in a navy blue suit slowly walked out. He stopped on the porch and rested a hand on one of the house columns. Mrs. Hines spotted him and yodeled her greetings. She swept past Alexandra to scoop up the man's hand in hers. "Oh Mr. Mills, this is the Marsh family!"

Alexandra's father followed Mrs. Hines onto the front porch to Mr. Mills and shook his hand. "It must have taken years to landscape this place. You did an excellent job."

Mr. Mills shook his head, his dark brown eyes sliding over the landscape, "Not me, Mr. Marsh. It took my uncle and aunt a lifetime to accomplish what you see here."

" Oh then you're not the owner?" Mr. Marsh inquired.

Mr. Mills smiled. "Not exactly, I was named executor of Uncle Trevor's estate. I'm only here in town until I can find a buyer. Uncle Trevor went to a lot of trouble fixing up his will in regards to how he wanted this property taken care of. He wanted to sell the house as soon after his death as possible. I’m not sure I under¬stand what the rush was all about."

" How long ago was that?" Albert asked.

" Hmm, I would guess three months or so. Uncle Trevor sort of became a recluse after Aunt Sophia passed away. I didn’t see much of him after my family and I moved to East Bridge."

Mrs. Hines cleared her throat loudly, "Well! I'm sure you all will want to see the inside!"

" Sure take a look around, you'll find the house as interesting as the grounds." Mr. Mills replied softly.

One by one the Marsh family filed in behind Mrs. Hines. Mills stayed on the porch gazing out towards the road, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Alexandra was last in line and she met Mr. Mills' eyes as she joined him on the porch. He nodded pleasantly at her and she returned a wan smile. It seemed to her that he wanted to be as far away from Hartsfield as possible.

“ Inside is even more wonderful than the outside!” Mrs. Hines told them. “Feel free to wander around.”

Alexandra quickly looked at the living room and din¬ning room then took to the stairs and went up to the second floor. Her brother was also drawn to the second floor and was looking at the bedrooms. Together they investigated the large room Mrs. Hines had called the "rumpas" room. Alongside one wall was another flight of wide stairs that led up to the attic. For some reason Alexandra felt drawn up to those rooms. To the left was a large cedar lined storage room. She peered inside then turned away as she saw another door across the hall. Alexandra shut the storage room door and went to the other door. She turned the knob and pushed the door open and stepped inside. Suddenly she was hit with the oddest feeling that she had been there before. "Hey, what a cool room!"

Alexandra turned and spotted Alan standing in the doorway with Mr. Mills behind him. She moved to the window seat and sat down, "It feels strange in this room like I've been here before."

Alan walked in and went to the French doors that led out onto the balcony. "Wow, you can see for miles out here!"
Mr. Mills stayed where he was at the door, "Uncle Trevor spent most of his time up here. This used to be his workshop. He made all the stained glass windows in the house, including that window behind you there. He used to tell me as a kid that the house was built on some kind of magical spot. He was funny that way, always talking about magic spots and magical doors into other places." Mills glanced up at the ceiling and laughed softly in recollection, "I suppose Uncle Trevor was a bit strange now that I think of it."

Alexandra examined the stained glass window behind her. The scene was an alien landscape she had never seen before. She guessed it was an imaginary place Trevor Mills had dreamed up, "It's very pretty."

Mr. Mills shrugged lightly. "He used to say, “There’s magical places out there Charlie, all you gotta do is go out there and find them." He shook his head sadly, “I honestly don't think that kind of magic is around these parts. But Uncle Trevor sure thought so."

Alan turned from the French doors pushing his glasses further up on his nose, "There are those things we can't scientifically explain. Lots of people consider the unexplainable to be 'magical’."

Mills nodded. “I don’t think Uncle Trevor was talking about that kind of magic.” He joined Alan at the double French doors and peered out through the panes of glass onto the side yard.

Alan glanced at Alexandra, "I bet Dad'll buy this place".

Alexandra rose and went to look out the French windows; and opened the door to let the summer breeze in. “It’s sure close to the university. I’ll bet he’ll want to buy it too."

“ Well if your father is really interested in buying this house, I'll sure sell. Uncle Trevor wanted the house to go quick."
As Alexandra stood gazing out the doors a gray dove landed on the balcony. It cooed softly as it moved about on the railing. “Oh isn’t she pretty!”

Mills angled a look out at the dove and turned quickly away from the balcony and strolled out of the room then stopped once again in the doorway and looked back at Alexandra. "Uncle Trevor was looking for some¬one to believe in his tales. Maybe you're the ones he was waiting for. Toward the end of his life he was always waiting for someone who would believe his tall tales."

Alexandra turned away from the doors as the dove flew off into the trees. "Didn’t you believe your uncle?"

He smiled sadly, "I wanted to and I guess I really tried, but no matter how hard I may have wanted to believe I just couldn't."
" We're perfect for this place." Alan replied softly. "This feels like home."

" Then why don’t I go down stairs and see how your father feels?" Mills left them alone in the attic room. Alan turned to Alexandra. “Sounds like Uncle Trevor was some kind of screwball."

I don't know maybe he was, but I like the house don't you?"

" So you're figuring on taking to Hicksville?"

Alexandra threw her hands up in defeat, “Yeah okay maybe I’ll even try growing crab apples!”

Alan laughed. "I’ll believe that when I see it! I do like this place, Zan. Loads of stuff to explore."

" You mean flora and fauna, right?" Alexandra asked smiling at her brainy brother. Alan grinned back push¬ing up his round glasses up on his nose. "Come on then; let's go see what Dad thinks."