CHAPTER TWO

It was true that Mary had been back a few times to visit Sara, but because of all her sad childhood memories, she never could stay long. It was nothing to do with Sara or her house, because these times were the happiest memories, but she never knew when Matilda might drop in, and she would not be able to handle that. As had happened so many times when she was young, here happy thoughts was ruined by the sound of Matilda’s voice.

“Why did Charles bring so much luggage, I thought you would only be here one night! Matilda called out from down the hall.

“And you should already be on your way home, so don’t worry about it.” Mary shouted back.

Matilda was now at the door to the room where Mary staying.

“But Sara is so sick, and she begged me to stay a few more days.” Matilda said in a pitiful tone that she knew would upset Mary. She then gracefully turned and looked back over her shoulder. “Do send Charles back down straight away, he is behind in making my lunch.” With that she proudly went back down the hall and headed down the stairs.

Mary stomped down the hall to the children room. Will was in one corner with his head phones on and playing on his game machine, and Em. Was in the other with her book. Charles had just finished up packing when she walked in. Charles had just brought Em a large stack of books. Mary again drifted back to times when Sara would do the same for her. Mary saw the same excitement in Em’s eyes, that she knew she must have had in hers at that age. Mary soaked up the scene for a bit but then looked at Charles.

“Um Charles, her Majesty Matilda wanted me to mention to you that you had lunch duties to attend to.”

“That old battle wagon…Sorry Ms. Mary” Charles said embarrassingly.

“No apologies necessary. By the way did she mention when she was leaving?”

“No, she did not, but I do not believe it will be anytime soon. I heard her ordering more clothes over the phone yesterday and had them to ship them here.” Charles said and left the room.

Mary walked over to where Will was sitting and stood in front of him long enough before he finally noticed she was standing there. He slowly removed his head phones and looked up at her.

“We are all here to visit your Great Grandmother. I only allowed you to bring that game system with you on the promise that you would not bury yourself in it.”

Will looked over at his sister buried under books.

“I will speak to her also, but right now I am talking to you.” Mary said firmly.

“Okay, I remember my promise, but between you and your Mom’s shouting at each other, and looking around this old castle, I do not see many netter options than to escape to my games.” Will stated, then realized he had said to much.

“Okay, let’s make a deal. I will try to make my conversations as pleasant as I can, you make an effort to not live on your machine. Believe me my task will be harder than yours.” Mary said with a chuckle. “Besides When I lived here, there were adventures to be had that your game designers are now only beginning to create. Now put your system up for now.”

Will was not happy, but he obeyed. Mary then walked over to Em. “You need to put your book down, it is time we went and said hello to your Great Grandma Sara.”

“Can I please finish this chapter?”

“Hey, I was not able to finish my level.” Will complained.

Mary looked at Will then back at Em. “He is right this time. You have a book mark. We will not visit long, Sara is only up to short visits. I just want her to get a good look at the two of you.”

“Mom, I do not ever remember seeing Great Grandma Sara before. Em said as she shut her book.

“No both of you were still infants the last time I brought you here. I made a quick trip to see here because I know my Mom was out of town. Anyway. Here we are, now please both of you, no fighting please.”

Mary carefully opened the door and the three of them quietly stepped inside. Em took one look around and quietly let out a “Whoo!”. Sara’s room was exactly the way Mary remembered it when she was young.

Um…No Mr. human author, it was not exactly…”

Radcliff will you stop this. I will explain the differences when the proper time comes! Now where was I? Oh yes, Mary would come into Sara’s room at night. She would climb up into bed with her, and Sara would let her stay as long as she would sleep. The room still had that magical feel to it. It was like something she had read about in one of her stories when she was a little girl. As she approached the bed, she did notice that a large bookcase now covered a spot where there used to be a small door.

Yes, that Wombat…

Radcliff!! That is enough! As I was saying, Mary was confused on why Sara would cover up that door. She always told Mary that the door was the way that all her special friends would come in and tell her stories at night. She said they would visit her day and night but only tell her stories at night.

“Grandma…Grandma Sara, are you awake? Mary asked softly.

“Mary? Is that you my sweet child?”

“Yes ma’am, but I am not a little girl anymore.” Sara turned her head and opened her eyes. A warm smile came over Sara’s face as she focused in on Mary.

“I told you before my sunflower, you will always be my little girl.”

“Oh brother,” Will mumbled. Em flashed him a be-quiet look.

“I will only stay a minute, but I brought with me two young ones that you might not remember. “

Sara motioned for the two young ones to come closer. “It has been a little while, but this…” Mary started out.

“Little Emily?” Sara asked.

Will snickered because he knew how much Em hated someone using her full name.

However, when Sara said it, somehow it did not bother Em so much. “Hi Great Grandma Sara, Mom has told me a lot about you and all your books.”

Sara’s eyes now lit up. “You like books?”

“Oh yes Ma’am, I love books.” Em stated brightly.

Sara reached out and took Mary’s hand. “You have done well child.”

Mary reached back and grabbed Will who had slowly backing up.

“And this is Will,” she said with a slight grunt as she had to struggle a bit to get him close enough to where Sara could see him.

Sara stared at him for a moment. “My Willam, you are quite a handsome lad… Yet you are not a reader. Let’s see, sports, no, not really. Maybe movies and T.V.? Well maybe some…Tell me young William, what is it the you really like? Sara asked. Will was surprised at Sara’s words. As far as he knew, his Mom had never told this old woman much about him. Yet she seemed to know him well.

He cleared his throat. “Well, actually, I am really into video games.”

“Video games? I am not sure I know what that is.” Sara admitted.

“Well, they are played on a computer, I am not sure you know what that is either.” Will stated.

“Mary, child, please help me to sit up.” Sara asked.

Mary and Em helped sara to sit up. They adjusted her pillows so she could be comfortable.

“Children, my body may be ninety-two, but my mind is a lot younger that you might think. Yes, young will, I do know what a computer is, I own three of them, top of the line, if I say so myself. However, I still prefer to get all my information the old fashion way, through books. I will tell you something young master Will, without books, and the imagination needed to write books, there never would have been any video, board, or any other type of game out there.”

Will rolled his eyes, and his Mom wacked his butt.

“It is okay Mary. Your young William here is no different than most of the young ones I have met over the last two generations.”

Sara looked over at the wall where the bookcase was. “Do you remember what is over there?”

Mary looked at the wall,  “Oh yes, there was a very special small door.”

“Oh. It is still there, but just like Matilda blocked it off with the bookcase, the younger generations have been blocked off from using their imaginations.” Sara stated.

Suddenly, Matilda appeared at the door to Sara’s room.

“Mary! How dare you!  Poor Sara needs her rest!” Matilda said scoldingly. “And then you have the nerve to bring those…children in here!” She added.

“I am fine dear, I asked them to help me sit up, and that really helped.” Sara told her.

“Now Sara, you remember what the doctor said.” Matilda reminded her.

“It is that quack that needs to be in a bed somewhere.” Sara mumbled. Em and Will both snickered.

“Get them out of here!” Matilda commanded.

Mary looked at Sara. “Go ahead for now dear, we will talk again later.” Mary gave Sara a kiss on the forehead, then took Will and Em by the hand and took them to their room. She went down the hall to her  room and five minutes later there was a pounding on the door. “Right on time,” Mary mumbled. She opened the door and Matilda started in on her. “It is a good thing I am not leaving. Sara is a very sick women! You and those vagabonds of yours are going to do nothing but hasten on her death.” Matilda said in such a loud tone she knew the children could hear her. She carried on for another five minutes hurling insult after insult at Mary. Then she went into again rehashing old arguments that the two of them had before. Surprisingly, this time Mary refused to say anything in reply. After so long, however, she had to speak up. “Matilda! You do not have the final say in this house, Sara does.” That statement did not surprise Matilda, but before she could start on Mary again, Mary continued. “Your attempts to get power of attorney over Sara’s affairs have all been denied. So, if I were you, I would be very careful on how you treat Sara, as well as my family.”

Matilda did her best to hide her shock. She had known idea how Mary could have learned that information. When she recovered a bit she got up in Mary’s face and pointed her finger at her. “No, my dear, it is you who needs to be careful…very, very careful.”

Mary shoved Matilda’s finger out of her face. “You no longer scare me, and you need to be aware that I have learned a lot more than you know. So, if it is a cat fight you want, it is a cat fight you will get.” Mary said in a low tone.

Matilda turned on her heels and stormed back down the hall, when she was a short distance away, she mumbled, “I should have gotten rid of you first..”

As she stomped down the stairs, Charles was coming up with a tray full of medicine.

“Is my driver here yet?” Matilda demanded.

“He just pulled up.” Charles replied.

“I told you to…Oh, never mind.” She shouted and continued down the stairs using a variety of colorful metaphors. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she turned around and shouted, “Make sure Sara takes every one of those, it is the only way she will get better. Now I will be back in time for dinner. Make sure my meal is ready at five o’clock…sharp!” She slammed the door as she left.

“Yes ma’am…you old witch. Charles reached the top of the stairs when Mary came out to see what all the shouting was about.

“What is all this? Mary asked. Ms. I know best, has hired a new doctor for Ms. Sara. This is now what he has prescribed she take three times a day.” Charles told her.

“Hang on a second please.” Mary took out her phone and took a picture of each bottle. “This seems like an awful lot to be taken that often. Three times a day, you said?”

“Oh yes, and there is more in the cabinet that she takes at other times.” Charles added.

“Please show me.” Charles took her to where all of Sara’s medicines were kept. She took pictures of all of them. It was a good thing she did, because the next day Matilda put a lock on the cabinet, claiming it was for the children’s protection. She gave Charles a key but turned one of the security cameras to where it was pointed directly at the cabinet.

Mary went into the children’s room. “Will, I will need to use your laptop for a bit.”

“But Mom…”

“Look this is very important.”

Will shut down his game and handed her the lap top. “Great, Matilda has the internet pass coded.” Mary mumbled.

“Can I see?” Will asked.

“Okay…” Mary said suspiciously.

Will pulled up something off his notes file. “One of my favorite games has a section where you have to break your enemies codes. Rumor has it that one of the programmer worked in a special branch of the military at one time.” It took him about five minutes, but he looked at her and said, “We are in.”

“Okay, um thank you, A little later we are going to need to have a talk.” Mary said as she gave him a sideways glance.

While Mary was doing research on Sara’s medications, Em talked Will into going for a walk outside. When they reached to bottom of the stairs they heard a pounding sound. They followed the sound through the grand dining room and into the kitchen. There they found Charles busily chopping up vegetables.

“Well, well, it has been a long time since I have had visitors to my kitchen.”

“We were on our way out for a walk.” Em told him.

“Oh. I am sorry that I disrupted your plans with my chopping. I tend to take out may frustrations on these poor defenseless vegetables. Charles said as he held up a quite mangled carrot.” Charles said as he looked at the mees he had made.

“Can you recommend I nice spot to walk?” Em asked.

Charles thought for a moment and glanced at his watch, A big smile came across his face. “As I recall young lady, you like to read?”

“Yes sir I do.”

“Hum, then I believe you would like the story book lane.”

“The story book lane?” Em asked.

“Well at least that was what your Mom used to call it when she was your age.” Charles said with a wink.

“That sounds wonderful” Em replied.

“It sounds ghastly,”  Will mumbled.

“Anyway, that is what I recommend. Go out the kitchen door here and make a left. Then passed the three big storage bins and take the trail that goes to the left.” Charles told them and went back to his chopping.

“Come on let’s go!” Em said as she dragged Will out the door. The followed Charles directions Until they reached the trail head.

“Look Em, the only reason I said I would go with you was because Mom is using my computer. I do not want some hour long walk to nowhere.” Will complained.

“I told you I could go by myself.” Em stated.

“Sure, you know what Mom would say about that if she found out.” Will paused. “Look ,I am going to set my alarm for twenty minutes, when it goes off, we head back, agreed?”

Em let out a sigh, “Okay,” she lamented.

“Great, now you lead the way and remember the meter is running.” Will stated with a smile.

Em stuck her tongue out at him and started down the path. It was strange, but something about this path seemed very familiar to Em, but she was not sure why,