SURFING THE TIMEFRAMES



WE HAVE LIFT-OFF......by Terri

Rosamond was scrambling eggs and putting toast in the toaster when John came down to breakfast. She looked up from the stove and said, "Look! I can scramble eggs without burning them now!"
Will held up his strip of bacon. "Hey, Mommy--what is this? Part of a tire?"
Rose said, "OK, I'll work on the bacon...John, you look like death warmed over! Didn't you get any sleep last night?"
John ran his hands over his face and said, "Yeah. About two hours. I fell asleep about 5:00 AM."
She scraped the eggs onto plates. John poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down next to Julie. She patted him on the shoulder. Rose picked Jenna up and put her over her shoulder and sat down with her tea. John looked at Jenna Rose. "I can't get over how much she looks like Cecily. Enough to actually be her." He absentmindedly stirred his coffee.
Rose laid her hand on his arm. "Hey, darling. It happens."
"What?"
"Death. A young woman's death. John, don't obsess about it. I mean, it could have been any of us. Look at you. According to the local legends, you were presumed dead by the hand of the Indians. But here you are in the 21st century. If you had stayed in Southhold, you could have cut your arm off with an ax. Or drank some bad water."
John said, "I know. I just wish I knew the real story, Rose. But I guess it's a closed chapter. We will never know."
He kissed her and the kids and headed off to work.

Marilyn pulled up in front of the fitness center and Moose came out.
She asked, "Ready to roll?"
Moose said, "I'm all packed, just have to swing by and pick up my luggage."
Marilyn asked, "Does John know where we are going?"
Moose shook his head. "I don't want to until we have something to tell him. He's been pretty quiet and kind of holed himself up in the office. I poked my head in to ask him a question and he seemed a million miles away."
Marilyn sighed. "Maybe we shouldn't have involved him. I called Bethia and told her where we are going. It is always one of William's rules we tell someone when we are on a time travel."
Moose said, "Oh. Like filing a flight plan."
"Yes. I need her to feed Misty while the others are off teaching John Plantangenet a lesson."
They pulled up in front of Moose's house. He ran inside and got his luggage. They drove to the house on Winding Willow and Marilyn put her car in the garage and took her luggage out of the trunk.
"I was thinking, Moose. Why should we touch down in London and take a train? Let's just go right to Northumberland. I pulled up a Northumberland map up on the internet and there are some woods on the road leading to Mitford. We can touch down there and it's only a fifteen minute walk into Morpeth. We can rent a car and then go to the Bonniebrae area. Just on the other side of Chillingham."
Moose looked at her in wonder. "You sure know what to do! I say let's go for it!"
Marilyn unlocked the door of the kitchen and said, "No sense in going to the gazebo, too. It's cold outside. So we may as well have lift-off in the kitchen."
She took a deep breath. "You ready, Moose? After all, it's my first time travel on my own."
Moose took her hand and said, "I trust you. Let's do it!"
Marilyn took her coin out of her pocket and said, "The woods at Mitford. Present time."
Misty the cat approached Marilyn to rub her body against Marilyn's leg. The air swirled and glowed. Misty let out a hiss and a screech. Then they were gone. She batted the spot they'd stood on and then resumed licking herself. So much for a cat's concern.


BAD JOHN FREAKS OUT, part 1.....by Coralynn

Early morning sunlight shines through the one window in the homeless shed in which John P. is awakening, his train now chugging slowly around the track and the train whistle all but silent. He wonders why it's lost it's verve and drags himself over to it, a blanket over his shoulders to keep from freezing. The others are beginning to stir as well, and he asks everyone in general, "Why is my train now moving so slowly?"
"Because you wore down the batteries!" Eleanor replies, standing up and stretching, wondering how many nights she's going to endure sleeping in this place before every bone in her body goes stiff with cold.
"Batteries?" John has no idea what those are.
"Yes, batteries," William grumbles as he snuggles under the covers, not willing to get out of bed and be smacked with a room temperature of about 30 degrees.
Celeste quickly gets out of bed and starts looking around for a way to make a cup of morning coffee, but with no electricity in the shed it may be out of reach. She looks through the one cupboard and sees it empty. "We'll have to go over to the soup kitchen for our coffee," she states.
"I'm not getting out of bed," William grumbles.
"Suit yourself!" Eleanor tells him as she tries to awaken Bess, who is lying on her back, snoring in a very unladylike way.
Bess wakes with a start and looks around, the reality of where she is then coming to her, "I dreamed I was living on a huge hunk of ice," she says, "I want to go h...."
"Well! What a nice morning!" Celeste cuts her off before she admits in front of John that they have another home to go to. "Hurry, Bess, we're going over for our morning coffee!"
"Do I have to go?" John looks up at Eleanor from his position on the floor next to the train set.
"You most certainly do! And while we're out, we may be able to find new batteries for your toy!" Eleanor says crisply.
John manages to stand up and follows the women outside. The temperature of the air is frigid but the sun is shining. He looks around at his environment. The street in front of the homeless shelter has odd things moving on it, not being pulled by horses, but somehow moving just the same. These things have people sitting in them, and there are so many of them that he concludes this must be how folks get around.
"I want one of those!" he tells Eleanor, pointing to a car going by.
"Oh my dear, we don't have the money to buy a car! We'll be fortunate if we have enough money to buy you new batteries for your toy!"
"Why do you keep calling it a toy?" he glowers, suspecting he's being held up to ridicule.
No answer, as they've already entered the soup kitchen. John sees the same worker behind the counter who was unkind to him during yesterday's meal. He hopes he gets someone else, but, as he slides his tray along, sure enough, the man asks what he wants, then looks closer at John and scowls, "No bacon and eggs for you!" and slides another bowl of gruel across the top of the counter.
"Now just a minute!" John objects, as the others have plates with bacon, toast and eggs steaming and succulent, "I want what they have!"
"No bacon and eggs for you!" the man repeats, then goes on to ask the next person, in a very civil tone, what she wants.
John takes the bowl and upends it so that gruel is pouring down the outside of the food case. The cafeteria worker slides another bowl of gruel at him, which John also dumps out and soon the floor is awash in this unpleasant looking gunk.
The worker simply nods to someone John cannot see, standing behind him, then finds himself being hustled out of the building by two very strong men, who say nothing, but deposit him on his backside on the pavement and return to the soup kitchen.
Eleanor, Celeste and Bess are laughing and wiping their eyes, "This is perfect!" Elearnor says, "Perfect! He is being treated even worse than I expected. Seems he's made an emeny of the guy who serves the food. I should buy that man a gift, what say you?"
"Oh yes!" Bess' eyes light up, "Or give him a bonus! A huge tip! How about a hundred dollars for every time he refuses to serve John?"
"That sounds reasonable," Celeste agrees, "but, Eleanor, other than the fact that he can't get served in here, what else can we do to make his stay in the 21st century miserable?"
"We'd better brainstorm a few more ways, because right now he's so fixated on that toy train that he may stick around just for that."
"And you told him you'd buy new batteries!" Bess reminds her.
"Oh yeah, well, I lied!" Eleanor sets them off on another round of laughter.


OH TO BE IN ENGLAND....by Terri

Marilyn and Moose opened their eyes. Trees surrounded them. The winter wind blew through the limbs. No leaves. It was December, after all. Moose looked around and affected an English accent.
"I do say, Miss Marilyn, I do believe this is Northumbrrrrrrrland!"
Marilyn drew her coat around her and put her gloves on. She took a road map out of her pocket.
"See, Moose? We follow this road and it takes us right into Morpeth. There is a train station there and here is a car rental place, right next to the station."
Moose said, "Why don't we leave the luggage hidden here so we don't have to carry it into town. On our way out, we can stop and pick it up. Right by this broken tree stump. It is across from that red barn with the white door. No one can see it from the road."
She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "You are so smart!"
Moose reddened with pleasure. "So let's go!"
Within a half hour, they arrived at the car rental place and another half hour later, they were seated in a MiniCooper. Moose turned the heat on full blast and they tooled down the road. They reached the place where they had stored their luggage, picked it up and threw it into the trunk. Or the boot. After all, this was Britain.
"Are you hungry, Marilyn? Because I know I could sure use sustenance."
Marilyn laughed. "You mean you want a pint of whatever they drink up here." "You know me too well!"
They pulled into a pub called The Black Bull. Marilyn said, "Did you know there are 703 pubs in Northumberland alone?"
Moose laughed and said, "Well, we have 702 to go now, don't we?"

They took seats at the bar. Moose ordered a pint of the local ale and Marilyn ordered a beer. They looked around. Quite a few of the locals seemed to be there. At least they assumed so, as they all knew each other.
The bartender leaned over to them and said, "Welcome to the Black Bull. Ye be Merkins no doubt."
"Merkins?" Moose said.
"Sorry. A-mer-kins. You know. Yanks."
Marilyn said, "OH! Yes. We are from the United States. I am researching my family and found out they were from Northumberland."
"That be so, Missy? Lots of old-timers here. Ye may be rellies with 'em." Marilyn and Moose had concocted the story of an ancestor search to make their fact-finding quest a little more reasonable and to look less like a snoop-search. The barkeep extended his hand. "Name's Dickie Armstrong. Any Armstrongs in yer family, lassie?"
Marilyn and Moose shook his hand and made their introductions. "Not that I know of, Mr. Armstrong."
"Please. Call me Dickie. Who be yer rellies, lass?"
Marilyn assumed an innocent air and said, "I came across the name of Cecily Gwinnett in my search."
Dickie scratched his head. "Cecily Gwinnett? Don't ring a bell, it don't."
Moose said, "Maybe you knew her by another name. She was married to Sir Byron Fitzhugh around the 1630's."
A hush fell over the pub. Moose looked around and said, "Did I say something wrong?"
Dickie Armstrong said brusquely, "We don't speak of it. Now drink yer pint. It be better ye be on yer way."

Marilyn and Moose finished their drinks under the baleful eyes of the pub patrons. Moose paid the bill and said to Dickie Armstrong, "I surely hope we didn't offend you. None was intended."
Dickie took his money and said, "I know. It's just...well, it's a local legend. Folks here protect their own."
Marilyn asked, "I wanted to research my family house. It is over in Chillingham. A small place. Where should I start?"
Dickie said, "That be the clerk's office. On Walsingham Road. Brick building. Can't miss it."
Marilyn put her coat on. She managed a smile. "Thank you, Mr. Armstrong."
As they went out, Moose said, "What was that all about?"
Marilyn said, "Can you imagine how he would have clammed up if he had known we were looking into Bonniebrae aka Morley Hall?"
Moose said, "Smart girl! OK-do we head over there?"
Marilyn said, "It is getting to be nightfall. I suggest we stay at an inn and start early at the clerk's office. But first..let's do a drive-by of Morley Hall. Kind of get the 'lay of the land' as it were."
They stepped out in the cold and headed for the car. A figure came out of the darkness and whispered, "Ye want to be knowin' about Morley Hall?"
Moose turned around. The voice hissed, "Don't be turnin' around. Pretend ye dinna hear me. Me name is MacDonald. Angus MacDonald. Me ancestors be the groundskeepers during the uh, trouble. Family stories handed down. Folks be jumpy around here. They dinna want Yanks overrunning the place with their high-falutin' cameras and making a touristy place of yon estate."
Marilyn slid in the passenger side and said, looking straight ahead and not at the person behind her. "Is there a place we can meet?"
Angus said, "Aye. I be at the Blade and Bone t'morrow night. Ye be me Merkin rellies come to call. Ye buy me pints and I be tellin' ye stories not to be believed. Deal?"
Moose opened his door and said, like he was talking to Marilyn but to Angus in actuality, "What be a good time for you?"
Angus said, "Nine PM. Be there sharp. One thing." "Don't tell anyone?"
Angus cackled, "NO! Be bringing plenty o' shillings. I can drink a lot!"
And in a flash he was gone.


BAD JOHN at WALMART.......by Coralynn

When Eleanor, Celeste and Bess return to the shed, they're surprised that John isn't there, as the last time they saw him he was being thrown out of the soup kitchen. "Where's John?" Eleanor asks William, who is finally out of bed, wearing many layers of clothing to keep from freezing in the unheated shed.
"He left with you," William answers, "did you lose him somewhere along the way? Not that I'd blame you!"
"He got thrown out of the soup kitchen because he spilled his bowl of gruel all over the food case."
"They serve that stuff for breakfast?" William thinks this highly unusual.
"No, but I think the guy who runs the place keeps some just for people he dislikes.....like John. The rest of us got bacon, eggs and toast. You'd better get over there before it's gone, William."
"So he was thrown out of the soup kitchen and that's the last you saw of him..." William concludes.
"Right. If he's not here, which he obviously is not, then God knows where he went," El shakes her head, "and John, loose cannon that he is, is bound to get into more trouble."
Celeste grins, "That's the idea, isn't it? He is the first of our time travelers we don't want to advise.... 'blend in!'"
William goes into anecdote mode, "Ahh, yes, Eleanor here kept thinking America had a King or Queen, and when we visited the Clintons, she curtsied almost to the floor, because she thought they were royalty."
Eleanor decides to laugh at this, too, be a good sport and all, after all, William is doing them a huge favor living in this freezing shed in December when he could be home in his den in his recliner, a fire blazing in the fireplace, and hot coffee on the end table, magazines scattered around the floor, all the pleasures of domesticity, but here he is, helping her convince Bad John that the 21st century and himself are not cut out for each other.

"Hi honey, want a ride?" a car slows almost to a stop as several cute teenaged girls beckon John to approach their car, "You're cute!"
John is leery of getting into one of these 'cars' as Eleanor called them, but they do seem to go faster than he can on foot, so he cautiously slids into the back seat and finds himself sitting among two very cheerful young women.
"Ya wanna party?" one of them asks.
"You on your way to the store?" the driver asks.
"Yes, the.....the store," John thinks that sounds safe enough.
"On to the Walmart!" all three girls yell as the car suddenly lurches forward, slamming John's head back. He doubts he's ever ridden a horse this fast, and it's frightening, but he sits with a smile pasted on his face to show bravery.
The car makes a sudden right hand turn into a huge parking lot, which whips John up against one of the girls, who gives him a meaningful look and smiles. He can't wait to get out of this 'car'......but it is now moving slowly around other cars that are stationary, round and round and round......up one row, down the next, up the next.....he figures out that they're looking for a blank space in which to leave their 'car' and there doesn't seem to be one......anywhere.
"Damned last minute Christmas shoppers!" the driver yells as she continues to drive up one row, down the next. John can't take it any longer and starts to open the back door but the ground is going by just a bit too quickly for him to feel safe stepping out.
"You wanna get out here?" one of the girls he's plastered up against asks.
"Yes. Please."
She yells as loud as she can to the driver, "He want to get out here!" which makes John's ears ring. The driver turns around and gives him a strange look, "but we're too far from the store."
"Please," he begs.
She slams on the brakes and he exits the back seat, smiling like nothing is wrong as the car with the three girls in it proceeds onward, looking for a parking space.
He looks toward this place they call Walmart and sees that it is a ways off, but he knows he can get there if he just keeps walking in the right direction. He has no gloves and his fingers are stiff, even after he jams them into his coat pocket. His toes are going numb now, too.

When John finally steps into the Walmart, he looks to the back of the place, then to the sides, and declares it the largest space he has ever seen, even with people jammed in it so tightly one can hardly move forward or back. He tries to get far enough into the store so that he can warm up, which is slow going, as he has to slide past so many people who all seem to be very angry and most carrying stuff in the direction of the counter-things they have near the front of the store where somebody is sliding their stuff around and tossing it into bags.
He remembers what that one girl said and repeats it, "Damned last minute Christmas shoppers!" not realizing others can hear him, and is soon being beaten upon by an irate woman with a foxfur collar on her coat who is smacking him over the head with a box containing a manger scene. Sounds of breaking plaster of paris add to the experience. "Heathen!" she yells at him, which attracts a few other fanatics who set upon him calling him "the anti-Christ" and "a Communist," and "Tool of Satan!"
John somehow breaks away from them and runs out of the store back into the parking lot, wondering what direction will take him back toward the homeless shelter. It's colder now, too. A pleasant looking woman is loading her car with packages and turns when he approaches her asking, "Would it be possible for you to take me to the uhhhh, shelter, the one down the street?"
She slams the trunk lid shut and scrambles into her car, immediately pressing the 'lock' button and backs out of the parking space so rapidly she all but runs him down. He begins to walk in the direction he thinks he came from, putting his experiences into perspective. "I seem to be very unpopular in this century.........is it because Mother and her friends lost all their money.....or is it simply that this is the most hostile century the world has ever known?" he keeps thinking thoughts like that for the next 45 mintues, until he at last sees the homeless shelter in the distance and picks up speed.
"Blast!" he thinks, "all the sheds look the same! which one is ours? What shall I do, open them all up?" he stands and looks at each shed, then goes for it, whipping open a door, behind which a very grimy, overweight man sits on a cot glowering at him. He slams the door shut again and runs to another shed that looks like the right one. He almost has his hand on the doorknob when he sees William coming out of the shed two doors down. "William!"
"Oh there you are, John, I'm on my way to the soup kitchen, care to join me?"


POKING AROUND, pt. 2.....by Terri

Marilyn and Moose got in the car and started down the road. Moose turned to her and asked, "What the heck was THAT all about?"
Marilyn looked pensively out the window. "I don't know. But some are very determined to protect the secrets of Morley Hall. Tomorrow should be very interesting."
She got out the map and then consulted her watch. "It's nine o'clock. Are you up for some sleuthing, Watson?"
Moose grinned and said, "I am up for anything, Holmes!"
Marilyn looked at the map and said, "OK--this road right here goes to Chllingham. Morley Hall is just to the northwest of it. On this road here."
Moose looked up. "A full moon. The moon kills, you know. It feeds off the earth."
She smacked him with the map she just folded up. "Nonsense! Save it for the campfire, Moose!"
Moose said, "I guess I couldn't scare you."
Marilyn said, "You forget. I'm from Hollywood. I've seen it all."

An hour later, they pulled up to a small copse of trees. Moose cut the headlights. The moonlight shone through the trees and showed them the outline of a huge brick house. It looked menacing in the dark.
They looked at each other and smiled. "Reconnaisance mission," Moose said. Marilyn shivered slightly but not from the cold. "I hate to think of Cecily Gwinnett in this house. It looks---almost evil!"
Moose said, "You seem to be emotionally attached to Cecily, honey."
Marilyn said, "Well, she's John's sister."
"And you think the world of John, don't you."
"I most surely do. If he wasn't smitten with Rosamond.."
Moose looked crestfallen. She squeezed his arm. "Until I met you!"
Moose grinned and gave her a hug.
Marilyn looked up at the mullioned windows. "It almost looks like a prison. Moose, do you think houses have souls?"
Moose scratched his chin and adjusted his wool ski cap. "Well, from what I have researched, I think it absorbs events that happen in it or surround it. Like unhappiness. My house was a cheerful house when I grew up. Then my parents moved us to way upstate New York and the house fell into disrepair. Dad always kept it because it had been in the family for over 200 years. But when they died, the house was in such disrepair. Well, you saw it. It reflected all that neglect. But now it is a place of cheer. You did that, Marilyn."
Marilyn blushed. "It was fun."
Moose looked up at the house. "Wow, those trees look like they belong in a haunted forest. They haven't been trimmed in ages."
Marilyn looked behind her. There was a wrought iron fence with the gate hanging off. White monuments and stones shone in the moonlight.
"I'll bet that is the family cemetery over there."
Moose said, "Want to check it out?"
"No. No way. No how. Not tonight."
Moose started towards it. "I wonder if Cecily Gwinnett is buried there."
Marilyn grabbed his arm and said, "Oh no you don't! You don't know what kind of person lives there. You could be shot!"
Moose said, "You're right. Let's go to the clerk's office tomorrow and see if it can shed any light on the ownership."
They headed back to the car. Moose turned the heat on. Marilyn held her hands over the vent, trying to warm up. He said, "Where to now?"
Marilyn took out the map once more. "Head south on this road. I saw a small inn. It looked clean and not very many cars so there is probably some vacancies."
Marilyn directed him to it. They pulled in and went inside. Within ten minutes, each of them had their keys from a kindly old gentleman. Moose tried to stem the disappointment he felt because he was ready to kick their relationship up a notch but he knew what Marilyn had gone through and he respected the person she felt she had to become. She gave him a kiss at the bedroom door.
"At least we share a bath, Moose! I'll see you in the morning."
He gave her a hug and said, "My room is down the hall in case you get the frights during the night!"
She laughed and put her hand on the doorknob. "I'll see you at 7:30 for a hearty English breakfast."
Moose kissed his fingers and waved them at her. "See you then!"
He went down the hall and she closed the door.
Tomorrow was another day. To try to find what happened to Cecily Gwinnett.


BAD JOHN FREAKS...pt. 2....by Coralynn

William enters the soup kitchen and after a few minutes realizes that John isn't with him. He turns to look through the glass part of the door and sees John out there looking in longingly.
Opening the door, he asks, "Get in here! You must be starving!"
John keeps his voice low, "that guy who serves the food won't give my anything but that gruel stuff. Would you go through the line and get extras and then share with me?"
"Of course! No problem at all!" William takes a tray and when asked what he'd like, gets two entrees, two salads, two desserts, two coffees. This is being placed on his try until the serving guy looks outside and sees John out there. Quickly he removes the seconds of everything and scowls at William, "Are you trying to play a trick on me?"
"I know John is annoying, but he hasn't had food in about 24 hours, what would be the harm in giving him something?"
"We are allowed to refuse service to anyone," the worker gestures toward a sign on the wall. "If someone comes in here brandishing a gun.....no food for him!"
"John wasn't brandishing a gun!" William is really getting annoyed. He's glad John is being given a hard time, but this cafeteria worker is irrational.
"You are being rude!" the worker says vindictively, "no food for you, either!" and snatches back the tray that William was about to carry to a table.
William goes back outside and tells John that he is also on this guy's black list, and that if they want to eat anything they are going to have to pay for it with money at a real restaurant.
"You have any of this 'real money'?"
"No, but I know how to get some quickly," William begins to walk down the sidewalk with John now walking at his side, looking at him for more of an answer than that.
"We're going to the blood bank!" William says happily, "Twenty dollars a pint and we can buy our own lunches, maybe such a big lunch we have to carry part of it back home with us to enjoy later...."
"Blood? Pint? What are you talking about?"
"It's quite painless, just the prick of a needle and in about ten minutes you're done..."
"Done with what?"
"Giving blood, of course!" William feels like laughing but has to play it straight.
"ME?!" John stops dead in his tracks.
"Yes, of course, you. I give and get twenty, and you give and get twenty. We can buy good lunches with that kind of money!"
"Count me out!!" John begins walking back toward the homeless shelter, and now William is following him. "But John," he reasons, "you have to eat or you'll fall down in a faint!"
When they arrive back at the shed, John opens the door, goes inside, followed by William, and states, "Take me back! I know I can get food at Court! Do it now! Get me out of this hellhole!"
"If it's just the food...."
"It's everything! Sleeping in a freezing room with three other people, definitely worse than my own bed chamber back at court.....hostile people hitting you with boxes in the stores......calling you names......one woman almost ran me down with her car.....not having any way to get new batteries for my t...."
"Oh! Well! I might be able to find a few more batteries for you, John. Would you like to take your train back to court with you?"
"Yeah."
William looks inside the battery case to see which size battery the contraption takes, zaps himself back to the big house on Winding Willow, pockets about 30 of the batteries and zaps back again.
"Where'd you go?" John is suspicious.
"Just out to the free battery place," William lies, and then quickly asks once more, "You're sure you want to go back to court?"
"Yes!"
"Totally sure?"
"Absolutely!"
"You won't be complaining anymore about not being able to come to the 21st century?"
"Hell no! I've been here and find it highly over-rated!"
"OK, then, if you're sure..." William and John pick up the train set, William touches the coin and they disapper.


CHAIN OF TITLE.....by Terri

Moose knocked on Marilyn's bedroom door. "Are you up?"
She answered and opened her door. "Not only up but just about ready. I saw a charming little restaurant across from the clerk's office when we pulled into town. Let's eat there."
Within a half hour, they were seated in a small, homey restaurant eating scones with clotted cream and hot tea steeped with lemon.
Moose smiled. "This is so cool, Marilyn! I've never traveled with anyone like this before! I could get used to this!"
Marilyn took a sip of her tea. "Moose, I'm not ready to dive into any relationships."
Moose hurriedly said, "Oh, I know that, sweet. What I meant is that I am having the time of my life!"
Marilyn squeezed his hand. "Me too. Remember the story we concocted. Just follow my lead."
They finished eating and then headed over to the clerk's court. A pleasant-faced apple dumpling of a woman greeted them.
" 'Allo, might I help you?"
Marilyn grabbed Moose's hand and said, "Yes, hello. My name is Sally Reynolds and this is my husband Matthew. I'm researching my family's genealogy. My grandmother about 400 years ago was a domestic in a place called Morley Hall and I was wondering about it. Could I see the records to see who owned it so I would know who she worked for?"
The woman, whose name tag said Agnes Cottrell, said, "Well, let's go over to the microfiche machines."
Agnes worked her magic and pulled up records of property.
"Do you have a specific year, Mrs. Reynolds?"
Marilyn said, "I think she was a maid between the years 1635 and 1655."
She glanced at Moose who stood silently.
Agnes looked and said, "Hmmm...I seem to remember something...let's see. The estate was owned by the Fitzhugh family from 1346 to 1641. Then it was known as Bonniebrae. In 1641 it changed hands and became the property of Jacob Morley from 1641 to 1769. Then the Hilliard family obtained it."
Marilyn said "Really? Does it give any information of the Fitzhughs?"
Agnes said, "What were you looking for?"
Moose said, "We were wondering why the Fitzhughs sold it. Was there no one to inherit?"
Agnes said, "You'd have to look and see if there were no heirs. If a man died without issue, and there were no brothers, then it would be available. Unless it was sold for debts. You'd have to check and see if the last owner died without issue."
Marilyn said, "This Jacob Morley obtained it. He must have had someone to leave it to. Children, perhaps?"
Agnes said, "Yes. Unless he had brothers."
Marilyn shook her hand and said, "Thank you. This has been helpful. Is there a way to find out why it was sold?"
Agnes shook her head. "Not unless you know some sort of story."
Marilyn said, "Can you tell what it sold for in 1641?"
Agnes said, "No, back then it didn't seem important."

They left the clerk's office and buttoned up their coats. Moose said, "Well, we still have Angus MacDonald to meet at the Blade and Bone at 9:00. Shall we do some sightseeing?"
Marilyn nodded. "Yes, by all means! I've always wanted to see Hadrian's Wall!" Moose grinned and said, "Well, Marilyn, it's been said you are built like a brick you-know-what. Let's see if you can rival the wall!"
She laughed and they spent a very pleasant but cold day exploring all that Northumberland had to offer.

YARN SPINNING....by Terri

"Are you ready to meet with Angus MacDonald?" Moose said.
Marilyn put on a black turtleneck and her tartan skirt. She shoved her legs into her boots and said, "Ready as I'll ever be. You know, the more we find out, the more questions pop up. Like what happened to Byron Fitzhugh? Did he and Cecily have children? If they did, why didn't the estate revert to them? What killed Cecily? Was she in love with either man? And if so, did she.."
"Hush, Marilyn!" He silenced her with a kiss. "The answers just may be forthcoming!" They got in the car and drove to the Blade and Bone. They went inside and sat at the bar, ordering pints.
Marilyn said, "You know, we don't know what he looks like. We just heard his voice."
Moose said, "I think he was small."
"Moose, you are 6'3". Everyone is small to you."
Within five minutes, a small, wizened man who looked like the comic strip Andy Capp came over and said in a loud, jovial voice, "Well, if it ain't me Merkin cousins come to see me! This be me cuzzies Randolph and Susan!"
In a low voice, he said, "It be better this way. Play along."
Moose said, "Angus! So glad we could meet up! Let us buy you a pint! Can we sit in the corner and visit? I bring you news from Aunt Maudie from Connecticut!"
Angus said, "Wonderful! A pint of Guinness, Andrew! We be sitting in the corner talking about rellies!"
Angus led them over to the corner table where no one was. Angus smiled and said, "Aye, I now feel you are my rellies! Now--why ye be huntin' down legends that best be left where they are?"
Marilyn said, "I am a professional genealogist. I have been hired by a man in the States to research his distant grandmother. Cecily Gwinnett. Married to Sir Byron Fitzhugh and Jacob Morley."
Angus grinned, "Ye be lyin' Missy."
Marilyn grew indignant and said, "I beg your pardon..."
Angus said, "Let me rephrase. Ye be misled. Not Cecily Gwinnett's progeny. She died without bairn."
Moose said, "Then we were misled. You said your kin was the groundskeepers then. What can you tell us? Please?"
Angus said, "Fer another pint I could."
Moose signaled the barkeep. Another Guinness was sent over. Angus took a deep drink and beckoned them forward. They leaned in.
"Sir Byron Fitzhugh. He be a gambler. He lost the estate for gambling debts. He were married to a fine bonny lass, a mere young girl it were. She be Cecily Gwinnett. She did not know the estate be put on the poker table. Fitzhugh lay the title on a wager. He lost the bet. He caught pneumonia a week later and died. At the reading of the last will and testament, young Missie Fitzhugh found herself destitute. Jacob Morley be the holder of the title. He be an old man, cold and a streak o' cruelty. Poor lass! She were totally in shock."
Marilyn asked, "Why didn't she go home to her parents?"
Angus said, "Dunno. Anyways, Jacob Morley found her quite lovely and desired to possess the lady. Morley or go out on the streets. So she married the old man."
Marilyn shivered. "How awful! My client's research showed that she died at the age of twenty-five. What happened?"
Angus grinned. "Ah! That be where the townspeople be guarding their secrets. And for another pint, I be revealing them! Ye still be game?"
At that point, Moose and Marilyn would have promised him a distillery.

Angus continued. "Jacob Morley be a bastard, beggin' the pardon o' the lady. He were a nasty piece o' work. Miss Cecily knew she made a mistake when she married a man with vinegar in his veins and hands as cold as ice. So she took a lover."
"WHAT???" Marilyn and Moose said in unison.
Angus grinned. "Thought ye'd like that one. She took a lover from the Cavaliers."
"YOU LIE!" Marilyn said.
Angus said indignantly, "There be one thing ye dinna be calling Angus MacDonald. Ye can call me a bastard, but ne'er a liar!"
Marilyn apologized. "I'm sorry. I just meant the story must be a fabrication."
Angus was molllified. "OK then. Shall I continue?"
Moose and Marilyn both nodded.
"OK. He be a Cavalier by the name of Sir James Musgrave. They be carrying on while Morley would be in London on business. One day he came home and found the two of them..how shall I say in mixed company? In a compromising position."
To Moose he winked and said, "He found them abed."
Angus continued, "He took a sword and ran Musgrave through. Now mind ye, there be no proof, I have stories from the family. But there be nowt a word from Musgrave. It like he be removed from this life. Me great grandfather swore that if the floor of the fireplace be removed, ye'll be findin' the bones of Sir James Musgrave."
He beckoned them closer and whispered, "It be rumoured that old Morley couldn't'----pardon me, lassie--'cut the mustard.' That be why she took a lover. She be a young and vibrant woman. She couldn'a put up with that. And dinna put up with it."
Marilyn said, "Did he forgive her?"
Angus shook his head. "Nay. Story goes he beat her. She died eight months later. In childbirth."
Moose and Marilyn looked at each other, their faces registering astonishment.
Marilyn finally found her voice. "The child. It died too?"
Angus said seriously, "Aye. It died too. Sad state of affairs at Morley Hall. Old Jacob Morley, he had a son by his first marriage. He inherited the estate."
Moose said quietly, "The child. Who was the father?"
Angus said soberly, "It not be Jacob Morley's, I can tell you that. No doubt about it. It be the babe of Sir James Musgrave."
Marilyn had tears running down her face. Moose took out a kleenex and blew his nose. Angus signaled for another pint.
"That not be the end of it."
Marilyn sniffled and wiped the tears off her face. "What else can there be?"
Angus stated, "Morley Hall be haunted. With the ghost of Sir Jacob Morley, the ghost of Sir James Musgrave....and the ghost of Cecily Fitzhugh Morley."


MISSION ACCOMPLISHED......by Coralynn

"Where's William?" Celeste asks the others as they get ready to go to lunch.
"Last time I saw him he and John were outside walking toward the soup kitchen," Eleanor reponds.
"How much longer do we have to stay here?" Bess groans, "I got a rotten night of sleep last night and if we have to stay tonight I may..."
William's sudden appearance in the room cuts her off, "Done!" he announces happily, "Now let's get back to our real house!"
"You made quick work of it, William, I must commend you. What finally put him over the brink?" Celeste asks.
"The idea that if he wanted to eat any food, we'd have to sell our blood to get up the money to buy lunch in a real restaurant," William explains, "That freaked him out and within no time at all I was whisking him back to Court."
"I see he took his train with him," Eleanor is amused, "but he's going to throw it against a wall of the castle when he finds out his batteries are dead."
"I took care of that, too. I zapped back to the house, got about 30 fresh batteries and he now has them as well."
"Good job!" Eleanor compliments him, "now let's get our fannies back to a place with central heating!"
"The regular way or the quick way?" Celeste raises one eyebrow.
"The quick way!" William takes their hands, touches his time travel coin, and they are back in the big house on Winding Willow in the blink of an eye.
"Heat! Food!" Bess marvels as she rushes into the kitchen, "I'll never take those things for granted ever again."
William goes outside to bring in the mail, which is bulging out of the mailbox and lays it on the kitchen table. Right on the top is a card sized envelope with an official return address. William rips it open and reads aloud, "You are cordially invited to attend the Inagural Ball for the new Mayor, to be held December 23, 2004."
"That's today!" Eleanor remarks.
"Tonight anyway," William adds, "I suppose we'll have to show up."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Celeste laughs, "I want to go just to see what outfit she wears. Can't imagine that being mayor is going to change her taste in 'tacky.'"
"Who is this addressed to and how many people are invited?" Eleanor takes the invitation out of William's hand and examines it, then laughs, "It says here, in pen, 'bring everyone you know.'"
"Ahhhh, let's see, who would be 'everyone you know'? How about we take her arch enemies, Sally Jennings and Penelope Patterson?" Celeste suggests.
"Yes! I'll phone them up right now!" Eleanor reaches for the phone and sets about gathering together as many people that WandaSue is on the outs with as she can think of.
William unbundles his five morning newspapers and settles down in his recliner, satisfied with a job well done.


THE HAUNTING OF MORLEY HALL....by Terri

Moose and Marilyn exchanged incredulous glances. Angus cackled, "A-ha! I see ye be intrigued! Yea, Morley Hall be haunted! Been that way for over four hundred years!" Marilyn whispered, "Are you sure?"
Angus rubbed his chin. "I never seed it meself, Missy. But me great grand-da, he seed it. He heard it too."
Moose was fascinated. It was a story that was more than he could ever hope for. "What happens? When? Where? What...?"
Angus cut him off with a wave. "Another pint if ye please! All this talkin' and tellin' o' tales draw a man's thirst up."
Marilyn laughed, "You are driving us broke, Angus!"
Angus winked and said, "Aye, but ain't it worth it to ye?"
Andrew the barkeep brought over a Guinness and refilled the other two's pints with ale. Angus said in a loud voice, "So that be a right funny story on Aunt Maudie! She really done that over in 'Merica?" When he left, Angus continued.
"Local legend has it--and I get this from me great grand-da too. 'e said 'e would whip me if I ever went near there, 'specially the graveyard--every December during the full moon, in one o' the bedrooms, ye can hear the sounds of swords clashing and a woman screaming and weeping. That be the time that Sir Hilliard and staff leave for the week. No one stays there. No one at all."
Moose and Marilyn had eyes as big as saucers. "You mean the place actually becomes deserted?" Moose said.
"Aye. In fact---" Angus looked out the window. "It be full moon tonight. That mean only one thing. Sir Hilliard be in town at the inn. The staff take a holiday and visit their families. Yep. Morley Hall be shet up tighter than--well, I don't rightly know what. But no one be there. Ye'd best stay away. Ye be warned. And now..I have to get home to me missus. She be right mad I s'pose. I just throwed me cap through the door. If it stay on the floor, I know she be abed. And if she toss it back out, I be beddin' down in the stables with the cattle!"
Angus stood up and shook Moose's hand. To Marilyn he gave a tip of his cap. In a booming voice, so the entire pub could hear, he said, "Ah, Randolph! Susan! Do give me best to Aunt Maudie! Someday I hope to get to 'Merica and visit the old woman!"
As he walked out, someone yelled out, ''Aye, that be the day, Angus! Ye never set foot out of the shire! EVER!"
The entire pub burst into laughter.
Marilyn sat there pensively. Moose gave her a steady look. To paraphrase Angus, 'I dinna be likin' the look on your face, Missy'! Marilyn? You aren't doing what I think you are planning on doing, are you?"
Marilyn gave him an innocent look. "What do you think I am thinking?"
Moose said, "The same thing I am. Shame on you, Miss Monroe!"
Marilyn said, "Moose? We are about to commit a felony."
Moose said, "Right. Breaking and entering. Here's your coat, Miss Cat-burgler."
Marilyn shivered. "I'm a bit scared. But sooooo excited!"
They left the pub, with a B&E on their agenda.

Moose cut the lights off as he parked in the same copse of trees they were in before. They both looked at the moon with the fast-traveling clouds dancing in and out of it. The moon shone directly on the mansion, showing its desolation.
Marilyn said, "I'll bet this scene couldn't be scripted any better in Hollywood. Is this eerie or what?"
Moose said, "Are you sure you want to do this, Marilyn? I mean, we now know what happened to Cecily Gwinnett. John will be saddened by it but not alot that can be done. These events were over four hundred years ago."
Marilyn bit her lip. "I think we have come this far, Moose, we need to finish it."
Moose put his wool ski cap on and pulled Marilyn's fur hat down over her ears. He took his wool scarf and wrapped it around her neck.
"How shall we do this?" he asked.
Marilyn asked, "Are you up for a nice stroll by moonlight?"
"With you? Anywhere!"
Marilyn smiled. "Then we start with the cemetery!" she said as she exited the car.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Moose said. But Marilyn was already creaking back the wrought iron gate on the fence. It was hanging by one hinge and made an ungodly sound as it scraped across the bricks.
Moose caught up to her. "I don't know..."
"Are you superstitious, Moose?"
Moose said, "Of course not! But I don't know about prowling around in a cemetery! In the dark! By moonlight, no less!"
Marilyn turned on the flashlight she pulled out from under the seat. She shone it on the stones and the monuments.
"You'd be surprised by the volumes that a cemetery can speak to you. Look here...the Fitzhugh section. Very unkempt! I'll bet this hasn't been weeded since Morley bought it for a song. If that. Just goes to show how much contempt he had for the Fitzhughs. I'll bet he was a store-keeper's son and parleyed his fortune by gambling and collecting on other people's debts."
"Kind of a seventeenth century loan-shark, huh?" Moose said.
Marilyn shone her flashlight around. "Here. Look here. It just says 'Byron Fitzhugh. The dates are barely legible. But it looks like 1607-1641."
Moose said, "Scan the flashlight around. Is Cecily here?"
Marilyn said, "Doubt it. She became a possession of Morley, remember? So when she died, he wouldn't bury her with her first husband. Maybe not even in the Morley section, if she was carrying another man's child."
They wandered over to the Morley section. "Ah! Look at the size of the monument here! A list of Morley names. And look who is at the top!" Marilyn exclaimed. Moose said, "He certainly thought alot of himself, didn't he?"
Marilyn sniffed, "Huh! We call that 'poor white trash'." She scanned the names. No Cecily. At least not with the Morleys."
Moose headed over to a solitary stone in the far corner of the plot. "Shine it here, Marilyn."
Marilyn hurried over. Illuminated with the flashlight, a small headstone was found with lichen covering it.
Marilyn ran the beam over it.
It had only one word engraved on it.
CECILY.

Marilyn knelt down on the ground and ran her hand over the stone, tracing each letter. She tried not to let the tears that filled her eyes slide down her face.
She whispered mostly to herself, "Oh, Cecily! What have they done to you?"
Moose stood quietly by and let Marilyn get herself together. She pulled a crumpled piece of kleenex from her pocket and blew her nose.
Quietly she said, "How are we going to tell John about this?"
Moose said soberly, "I don't know, Marilyn. Do we have to?"
Marilyn tried to rub some of the lichen from Cecily's tomb. She said, "Look at this! The bastard couldn't even put her last name on it. Not even the dates."
The moonlight shone over the stone, creating shadows the earth dare not make. Moose extended his hand to her. She took it and he helped her to her feet.
"Marilyn, it has been over four hundred years. Everyone who has been affected by it is dead."
Marilyn's eyes flashed. "Are they? What about John? And even Daniel? Dammit, Moose, this was their beloved baby sister! Can you honestly tell me you will be able to look at little Jenna Rose and not think of Cecily? Not picture Cecily when you see Jenna take her first step? Look for blackberries? Ride a horse? And God willing if we be there, not see Cecily when we watch Jenna Rose fall in love for the first time?"
Moose reached out and held Marilyn in his arms. She sobbed in a way she hadn't before. Not in this present life and not in her former life. He let Marilyn cry it out.
"I feel so foolish!" she said. "I'm sorry, Matthew. I don't know what came over me."
Moose said, "I think you got caught up in the story, Marilyn."
Marilyn wiped her tears on the wool scarf Moose had given her earlier. "I'm OK. Really. It just...touches me, that's all."
Moose said, "I think maybe we should get a good night's sleep, maybe do some shopping and then go back home. We can talk about this tomorrow and decide what we will tell John."
Marilyn looked at him incredulously. "You think I came out to Morley Hall just to look around the tombstone?"
"Well, sure..what else?" Marilyn said, "I'm going in."
"WHAT?"
"Moose, what did you think iI meant by breaking and entering?"
"I thought you meant snooping around the graveyard."
She said, "That is TRESPASSING! Breaking and entering is just that. You break something and then you enter."
She started up the slope to the house. Moose caught up to her and said, "What if there is a burgler alarm?"
Marilyn said, "Don't be ridiculous, Moose. Old houses in the country don't have burgler alarms. I'm going in. You can come or you can stay out here and freeze your patootie off. Now what is it going to be?"
Moose stood there as Marilyn continued up the slope. He hesitated for about thirty seconds, gave a big sigh, and ran after her.

Moose caught up to her as she was jiggling the doorknob to the old house.
"Hadn't you better see if it is occupied?"
Marilyn was growing testy. "Moose, do I have stupid written on my forehead?"
Moose looked crestfallen. She softened and said, "I'm sorry. I guess I am just a little drained. I feel so sorry for Cecily. I know what it is like to be used as a pawn."
Moose was mollified. "Oh, that's alright. You are a tender-hearted woman, dear. Let me try the door."
Moose rammed his body into the door and flew back and down the stairs. He sat there and rubbed his shoulder.
"Damn English Oak! Like a fortress!"
Marilyn went over to the casement window. She took out a nailfile and did some finagling. She ran it along the grooves. It creaked open.
"How did you do that?" Moose asked in surprise.
"The hardware was old and the wood around it is dry-rotted. I also saw the sashes were painted so I loosened it up where it was painted shut. And voila!"
Moose said, "This is against my better judgment..." but he hoisted her up anyways. Then he groaned and hoisted himself up and over the sill. Marilyn took the flashlight out of her pocket and ran it over the room. A massive fireplace dominated the room. A coat of armor stood in the corner.
"Would you look at this?" she breathed.
Moose said, "Do we try the lights?"
She said, "Not on your nelly! All we need is a constable to come by. Then we are cooked! If Angus knows that Sir Hilliard is in town at the Inn, everyone knows it."
She shuddered when she saw the floor of the fireplace. "You think he is under....there?"
Moose shook his head. "I don't think so. I'll bet he took the bricks out of the fireplace in Cecily's fireplace and buried him in there. A man like Jacob Morley would want her to look at the spot and remember that she is the one responsible for that Cavalier being there."
"That's sick! No wonder she died in childbirth! I'll bet the creep never let her forget that she was carrying a murdered man's child."
Moose said, "This must be the library. Look at all those books! Bet they are valuable first editions. Wonder if he read them all or if it came with the house."
Marilyn started up the stairs. "Where are you going?" Moose asked.
"Upstairs. As long as we came this far, we are going all the way!"

Marilyn shone the flashlight up the stairs as she and Moose wended their way up.
"Whoa, would you look at this? It looks like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyworld," Moose exclaimed.
Marilyn shone the light on the staircase. It splitin two at the landing, one side to the left, one to the right.
"Eenie, meenie, miney, mo..." Moose said.
Marilyn said, "Let's go to the left."
They opened several doors. "Drat! Too modern! Looks like they updated them and are using them." she said.
Moose said, "You know, if a room was haunted, wouldn't you be afraid to use it? I mean, if you had kids, would you stick them in a room that was subject to clashing and moaning?"
Marilyn exclaimed, "Certainly not!"
They looked at each other and said at the same time, "To the right, then!"
At the far end of the hall, they came to a heavy oak door. Marilyn took a deep breath. "Want to do the honors, Matthew my man?"
Moose grinned, "I kinda like it when you call me 'Matthew'. Makes me feel a little more special!"
"You ARE special, Matthew, my moose! Now....open the damn door!"
Moose leaned on it and it creaked open. There was an old canopy bed, heavily carved. The bed curtains hung heavy, laden with dust. The bed was covered with heavy red brocade and velvet. It was very threadbare, where moths had dined sumptuously on it over the last four centuries.
"Wow, would you look at that?" Marilyn could scarcely breathe.
On the dresser was an old candlestick with one solitary candle, burnt down to the end of the wick. A puddle of wax lay on the top of it. An ivory hairbrush and mirror lay there, having been left there by the last inhabitant.
Moose said quietly, "I think we found what we were looking for. The room of Cecily Gwinnett, untouched after all these years."


YOU'VE BEEN INVITED.......by Coralynn

Penny hangs up the phone and yells out, "Hey, Sal! Guess what?"
Sally Jennings emerges from the bathroom wearing a bathrobe with a towel around her head, "What?"
"The snooty rich people over on Winding Willow invited us to be their guests at WandaSue's inaugural ball tonight!"
"No S#$% !"
"Yep, I was just talking with Eleanor, she phoned me, by the way, and she definitely asked us to attend."
"I wonder why..."
"Probably because she wants to stick it to Wandasue, that has to be it, because those people over in that big house have no special regard for either of us!"
Sally muses, "This could be our chance...."
"You mean to send WandaSue back to the desert?
"We could, you know..."
"Maybe, maybe not, but it's my bet that when she sees us she stays clear on the other side of the room!"
They go into their bedrooms to pick out appropriate formal wear, nice gowns, nothing garish.

MEANWHILE:

WandaSue is at the high end department store over in Pleasantville because she doesn't want anyone in her town to see her shopping for a gown for the festivities.
"Miss, the size 10 fits you through the bodice, but it's too tight below the waist," the saleslady tells her as WandaSue tries to move in the skintight red dress. I wonder if you'd be interested in a two piecer...."
"Two piecer, you mean like a two-piece bathing suit?" WandaSue is skeptical.
"Except this will cover you completely," the saleslady brings out a plain velvet black top, then a size 16 long skirt, also black.
"Those are too dingy! This is a happy party...."
"This is Christmas eve, is it a holiday party?"
"Sorta. How about that top over there?" WandaSue walks over to a rack and pulls off a polyester top with large purple pansies painted thereon. The saleslady blanches, then goes even paler when WandaSue finds a grass green long skirt with a kazillion pleats.
"Pleats have a widening effect," the saleslady tries to be tactful, and after WandaSue puts on this whole getup her hips look twice as wide as they already are. But WandaSue is admiring her reflection in the mirror and announces, "I'll take these!"

MEANWHILE, at Camelot Condos:

"Please come with us!" Tiffany pleads over the phone, "This is our chance to meet a lot of people. Being new in town we don't know very many, and showing up with you would be the piece de resistance!"
Billy Bob wants to go because it would mean spending time with Tiffany, and if Holly went she could keep Bobby Joe occupied, which would give BB time to put the moves on Tiffany. The woman has kept the pace of the relationship frustratingly slow, and he's wondering how long.....
"OK, I'm game!" he capitulates, "I'll pick you up at 8."
"It's a date!" Tiffany hangs up in triumph.

MEANWHILE, at the Big House:

William can hear the excited chatter as the women prepare the outfits they're wearing to the Ball. Bess had just purchased a lovely sweeping sky blue gown, and is modeling it to the applause of Celeste and Eleanor. "What gown are you wearing, Celeste?" she asks, turning away from the mirror.
"That pale green number with the small diamonds around the top of the bodice."
"I love that one," Eleanor exclaims, "and it'll go so well with your diamond ring. I assume Bruce is taking you."
"Yes, he is, dear boy, he says he missed me while we were 'out of town' that day and a half."
"Good thing we came back from our being 'out of town,' because one more night and I would be frozen solid!" Eleanor remarks, noticing the door open just enough so that their conversation is probably being heard in the living room, where, she's pretty sure, William is sitting listening, "Have you and Bruce set a date?" her voice rises a bit to make sure anyone in the living room can hear.
"Not yet, but soon," Celeste catches on and replies more loudly than she otherwise would.
They pause to listen, and sure enough, they hear him straightening his recliner, tossing his newpapers on the floor, and pounding up the stairs.
Eleanor whispers, "How much longer are you going to torture him with this?"
"I'd planned on telling him it was a ruse about the time we went to the homeless shelter, but now I think one more evening of him having to see Bruce fawning all over me oughta be enough."
"He may not appreciate the joke!" Bess interjects.
"Ohhh I think he'll be alright with it. An improvement over having Celeste get married and move away," Eleanor speculates.
Celeste pats her hair, turning this way and that, grinning, "I'd say that however he takes it, this now makes us *even*."


DUELING SPECTRALS.....by Terri

There was a layer of dust everywhere. Marilyn sneezed. Moose walked over to the mullioned window with the heavy lead seams. He rubbed a spot and looked out. "For Pete's sake..look at the view she had."
Marilyn walked over and looked out the spot that Moose had cleared.
"Wonderful. Can you imagine looking out at the family cemetery every morning? What a way to start the day."
The moonlight reflected off the headstones shining in the light. Moose said, "This is downright creepy. Let's get out of here, Marilyn."
"Not just yet."
She began looking in the armoire. Inside were dresses fit for royalty. Marilyn touched them carefully. There were velvets and satins.
"It looks like Jacob Vinegar Veins liked to show her off. Unless these were left over from her days as mistress of the house when Fitzhugh was her husband. Look at this gorgeous gown in dark red velvet! I'll just bet she was a beauty!"
Moose said, "See for yourself."
He shone the beam on the wall. There was a portrait of a young woman, her dark eyes intense. Her hair was caught up in a loose knot at the back of her neck. Tendrils fell around her heart-shaped face. She wore a ruby necklace and a gown of red with a decollete neckline.
Moose whistled. "What a looker! Jenna Rose will be a beauty! I think John will have his work cut out for him when she gets older."
Marilyn gazed at it. "She certainly resembles Megaera. Poor John indeed! A daughter who looks like Rose and one who looks like Cecily!"
She turned to Moose who was still staring at the portrait. "Falling in love with it, Moose? Like that movie 'Laura'?"
Moose drew himself back into the real world. "Certainly not!"
She walked over to the dresser and opened up the drawer.
"Just what do you think you are doing, Miss Marilyn?"
She rummaged around. "I don't know. Looking."
"For what?"
"Not sure. But when I find it, I'll know what it is."

Marilyn carefully lifted up light linen garments that looked like chemises and petticoats.
She said to herself, "I wonder if she kept one and if it would still be here."
Moose said, "What?"
"Nothing."
Her hand hit something solid buried down in the drawer under garments long ago worn and now forgotten. She took an inward breath.
"Moose? I think I found it!"
"Found what?"
"What I was looking for. A diary."
Moose said, "You can't read that, Marilyn. It's personal."
Marilyn said, "Moose, are you flipping out? The woman's been dead for the past four hundred years. Who cares?"
She lifted the diary out. It was bound in leather and had a lock. The leather around the lock had disintegrated. Marilyn opened it and the parchment pages fell out. Moose looked over her shoulder.
"Looks like the binding has rotted away. Look how brown the ink is," he said.
Marilyn started to read when the room became inexplicably cold. She shivered. "Moose? Is there a draft?"
Moose looked around. "No..."
Just then the bedroom door slammed. The two of them jumped. Moose said, "Marilyn, I don't like what's going on here."
A low moan was heard from the hallway. It got closer and closer. Marilyn stood frozen, afraid to move. Moose looked at her and said, "It's the full moon and it's December. Remember what Angus said?"
The door flew open as if a strong gust of wind flung it back. A clash of swords could be heard. Moose ran over to Marilyn. Suddenly as if on cue, a thud was heard over the corner by the fireplace.
Moose stammered, "Marilyn? I think that is our cue to leave..."
At that moment, an other-worldly shriek was heard in the room. It was deafening. It turned into a scream and wailing. Moose grabbed Marilyn's hand and yelled, "WE HAVE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE, MARILYN!"
Marilyn stood there like she was in a trance. She was mesmerized. Moose pulled on her. Finally Marilyn snapped out of it. She shook herself out of Moose's grip and yelled, "NOT WITHOUT THIS!"
She ran to the wall and started pulling the portrait off the wall.
"YOU CAN'T TAKE THAT! IT'S NOT OUR PROPERTY!"
Marilyn fairly screamed at him, "LIKE HELL I CAN'T! YOU THINK THESE PEOPLE GIVE ONE WHIT ABOUT CECILY?"
The shrieking and moaning and wailing grew louder still. The clouds drew dastardly fingers across the full moon, creating ominous shadows on the threadbare rug. Moose continued to pull on Marilyn as she countered his grasp with yanking on the portrait. It broke free of the plaster and she fell back on the floor. The spectral sounds continued. Moose pulled her to her feet and grabbed her hand. They fairly flew down the stairs. They ran out the door and into the cold December night.
Marilyn threw the portrait in the back seat and jumped into the passenger seat, quickly locking the door. Moose did the same but with the passenger side. Their breaths came in collective gasps.
Marilyn laid her head on the dashboard and groaned. "I forgot the diary."
Moose reached in his pocket and pulled out the leather-bound journal. "This what you were looking for?"
She threw her arms around him and kissed him soundly on the lips. "YES, YES, YES!"
Moose started the car and looked back at the house. "Honey? If I wasn't there, I never would have believed it!"

They drove along in silence. Finally Moose said quietly, "Marilyn? You do realize that you stole that portrait, don't you?"
Marilyn said defiantly, "What the heck do I care? They didn't care about Cecily. For crying out loud, Moose! Her tombstone was in back of the cemetery, unkempt. No last name! No dates! Her room was untouched. You think they are going to miss that portrait? Helloo...? I don't THINK so!"
After a bit, Marilyn said, "You stole the diary so don't be throwing stones at me!"
Moose laughed a bit uneasily. "Touche ole, mia cara."
Silence again. Then Moose asked, "What do you intend to do with the portrait and the diary, Marilyn?"
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "I am going to give the portrait to John. It is his sister. He has the right to it."
"And the diary?"
She opened her eyes and looked at Moose. "I think we should read it. Together. Then give it to John."
Moose nodded slowly. "You think it could reveal what happened?"
Marilyn shrugged. "Couldn't hurt, can only help."
Moose pulled into the inn courtyard. She took a blanket that was lying in the back and threw it over the portrait.
"I don't want anyone to see it until we get safe and sound home."
Moose said, "When do you want to leave?"
She said, "I am so tired and exhausted I can't think straight. Let's get a good night's sleep and if we decide to, we can stay another day. Or we can go home in the morning. We will make our choice then."
Marilyn took out the key to her room. "I am so bushed."
Moose kissed her on top of the head and said, "My brave Marilyn. You just went ten rounds with a ghost! Goodnight, my noble ghostbuster!"


The next morning Marilyn woke up to the familiar knock on her door.
"Marilyn? You up?"
Marilyn grabbed the alarm clock and said, "Holy smokes! Is it really 10:00 AM?"
She slid out of bed and put her robe on. "Come on in, Moose."
Moose came in with a tray laden with hot coffee and buttered scones.
"Oh, you are so wonderful, Matthew!" He led her back to her bed and fluffed up her pillow.
"I went downstairs and checked the car. There is about a foot of snow out there. And yes, the portrait is still there. I laid it down on the seat and adjusted the blanket."
"Matthew, instead of sight-seeing, let's go home. The snow is a hindrance, and we can always come back in the summer. I want to get home and tell John all what we have found."
"Did you sleep well?"
"As well as can be expected since we were party to a spectral extravaganza. By the way, these scones are fabulous."
Moose poured himself a cup of coffee and sat on the edge of the bed. He pushed the hair back from her face and said, "Marilyn? I think I am in love with you. I need to know--do you feel the same way about me?"
She touched his arm tenderly and said, "I don't know, Matthew. I think I may be. But I need to take it slowly. Real slowly."
"Well, I can accept that. For now."
She smiled at him over her coffee cup. "But I have to tell you, Matthew. I would not have shared this wild, wild adventure with anyone but you."

After they had packed and checked out, Moose asked her, "How are you going to manage the portrait? We can't very well walk to the car return with a portrait that size. Especially when we used my credit card to secure the car. And I am sure once Sir Hilliard sees that door we left open, he will know he's been robbed."
Marilyn said, "Piece of cake. We just take it to the same spot we dumped our luggage the other day. I took a plastic bag out of the closet and I will wrap it really well. Besides, there is a big log that I can stuff it under to keep it out of the snow."
Moose said, "I sure hope there are no raccoons in Northumberland. Is there?"
"I don't know. Badgers, perhaps?"
"Think we should go back to Morley Hall and close the door."
"No. They deserve what they get."

They drove to a small woods in Mitford where they had touched down. Marilyn had wrapped the portrait carefully in plastic and put it behind a big tree.
"You have the diary, right?"
Moose patted his pocket."Right next to my heart."
"Did you read any of it yet, Moose?"
He shook his head. "No. I reserve that right to read it with you. What fun is it to read it alone? I need a woman's perspective."
They took their luggage out and hid it in the woods.
"OK, Moose. We remember the spot because there is a church right across the lane called St Mary Magdalene. Let's go return the car."
Within an hour, they returned the car and decided to call a cab to take them to St Mary Magdalene Church."
The cab driver said, "Aye, ye be wontin' ta see the Vicar. 'is name is Reginald Heald. Might I ask, are ye 'lopin'? "
" 'Lopin?"
"Yeh. Like ye runnin' off ta get married."
Moose said, "Actually..." but Marilyn gently tapped him on the leg. She took Moose's hand and said, "Yes. That's it exactly."
"Well, God be with ye!"
They paid the driver and got out. They waited for him to leave and then they waited for him to drive off. The two of them watched until the coast was clear.
"Ready, Moose?"
"Ready, hon. I've got the diary in my pocket and the portrait under my arm. You have the luggage?"
"Yep. Let's get out of here."
Marilyn and Moose joined hands and said, "Chappaqua, New York. December 24, 2004."
The air glowed and swirled. As they disappeared, the snow blew over the spot where they stood. In five minutes, no one would ever know they were there.


on to next part of STORY
Back to Table of Contents2
[ Read / Sign my guestbook ]
Get a free Guestbook