The Eagle's Nest

Barney was on the other side of the brook relishing the breeze and the quiet solitude. It was a fragile, duck-egg blue colour, like the subtle sweep of a painter’s brush. Twigs twirled on its murmuring surface, little messengers from the mountain trees where they had come from. The brook flowed over the pebbled riverbed. It sounded like the airy, velvety whirl of a starling flock. He had come in through the new pass with Tuff and she had wandered away, as usual. This time however, she didn't return soon. He wasn't worried but he wondered what was keeping her. Sales were picking up at the store and he was contemplating hiring another part-timer. What he didn't know was that he needed more than just another part-timer. His sister who managed the branch by the Watergate was soon going to be married off to Jared who lived in the next town. Straying left, he saw something that looked like a bag some distance away. He blinked and it was no more. Maybe it was just Tuff, he thought but then Tuff was black and the bag was sandy brown. Trying to make as little noise as possible, he moved in that direction avoiding the stones hewed on the path. What he saw made his heart skip and his lips part. 

There standing before him was Alexa, his childhood friend and she was a sight to behold. Even more surprising was his usually vicious Tuff nestled between her legs. She had not just grown up, she had transformed, literally. Gone were her puffy eye lids and dotty eyes. Her fat cheeks had turned oval and her dark skin was now a deep brown. She was slim and only slightly curvy but she was beautiful. His friends would regret calling her ugly now. He was besotted with her as a boy. If only his father had sent him to her school, he might have had more time with her outside church. The saddest moment of his childhood was finding out that they had moved while he was on holiday. The second was when his best friend, her elder brother passed away. She hadn't seen him yet and a thousand thoughts ran through his head. 

Feeling eyes on her, Alexa looked around. Seeing nothing, she quickly slung her bag behind her. She had missed the magical watery grace of the river and was sad to leave. Before she could take another step, the dog ran out and someone came into view. Certain that he had been staring at her, she eyed him suspiciously.

Realizing that he was still gaping at her, he said hurriedly, "I'm sorry, I was looking for my dog."

Oh was all she said taken aback herself.

"I'm Barney Da..."

Chuckling, she said, "Barnabas Darrow. I remember," walking back to the road. 

"Oh, I wasn't expecting you to, Alexa."

She looked at his ears and smiled again. His big ears no longer made him shy, but for some reason, his face turned red when she looked at them.

"Are you going to your house? I could give you a ride." Her face fell immediately and was silent for a while before she mumbled a thank you and entered his car. Confused, he slid in next to her and restrained himself from asking any more questions. He didn't know how long she was staying, but he resolved not to let her leave so easily this time.

Harry was sneaking around in the paths to the main house trying to trap a rabbit. He heard the front gates which nobody ever used rattle and give way. Wondering if any of the master's children had returned, he slunk away and hid. It was a lady coming and she did look a little like master but more like Ma'am. That was what he called the master's wife whom he'd seen only once. She was a lovely lady with a voice like an opera singer's. Very kind, he'd called her for she had given him so much presents, more than he'd received in his 7 years, that he had a hard time fitting them all in his box. Tiptoeing closer to get a better view, he saw the rabbit but quickly decided to let it go. He was surprised to see that it was Miss Alexis. She looked different from all the photographs he'd seen and he had seen a lot. His mother had a trunk full of them under her bed. Said it reminded her of the happier days. She always talked about the children, 6 of them, that he knew all of their likes, dislikes and perhaps even things they didn't know about themselves.

Miss Alexa was the third child and second girl. She later became the second child after her elder brother died at age 5. Momma had said that she wasn't the easiest child to love what with her ugly face and iron will. She smiled all the time and for a blinding second, one might be deceived to think she wasn't so ugly after all. Cunning and bossy, she all but lorded herself over her siblings and ran the house in her mother's absence, with an iron fist, bending everyone to do their part. She wasn't wicked of course, his mother would quickly add, she didn't put any of them up to mischievous doings, just liked to be in charge and all.

However the person he was seeing, though recognizable as Miss Alexa, looked nothing like what his momma described. 

Don't be fooled his mother always said, what dictator looked like one and what terrorist wasn't supported by well meaning people. Miss Alexa is no terrorist neither does she look like one. To be honest, she's the most intriguing of the lot. She has the smallest build among the little girls, even her friends whom she kept on her tails with fine biscuits and yoghurt, stolen from her mother's store. He had learned that she was very good with words, both sweet and foul mouthed his mother had said. She had learned late not to take heed to everything she said. Sweet-talk you straight into trouble she had said.

It was hard to fit the lady in his mother's stories with the one he was seeing. One, she looked tired and worn as if she had come a long way and was worrying about something. Two, she was really beautiful. He had seen pictures of her younger self and she was just as his momma described but it seemed his momma's news was behind the times. He watched her walk out of sight taking no notice of him. Off he went to their quarters to tell his momma of their unexpected guests.

Alexa went in through the back door. It creaked open centimeter by centimeter. It could move faster, but the wood of the door had grown moldy and soft with water and neglect, and if she had pushed it harder, she'd probably push right through the door. Once inside, she found a thick coating of dust and mold on everything. Cobwebs brushed her face as she stepped deeper into the house. She moved deliberately, dust billowing into clouds as she passed. She continued to move through the house till she came to a door, faded green, paint curling with age, brass handle almost consumed by a thick network of cobwebs, reaching out, she turned it. The 2nd kitchen,( it had always irked her that they had 2 kitchens. It simply meant more rooms to clean despite the large no of rooms). Her mother put them to house chores early on despite the maids they had. For the most part, they were just older distant relatives whom she catered for and in return, they helped around the house. She remembered their first chores as kids was to stack plates from there to the cupboards in the main kitchen and thought of turning it to a playroom for the boys. The image of the boy with the elvish ears sprang up again and she quickly dispelled it. She turned and walked towards the main kitchen. The brown cupboards were moth ridden and looked as if they hung on the walls by sheer will. She didn't dare touch any of them. The large gas cooker was rusty in many places. She doubted if it still worked at all.

Entering the dinning room, tears welled up in her eyes. Wiping them away quickly, she looked at the old chandelier still waiting for them to swing it playfully. Flaking speckles of paint lined the floor with dust and the corspes of unfortunate creatures. The disused wooden furniture were rotting slowly, stained with linchen while the curtains hung limp and moth-eaten. The place felt still, heavy with expectation and foreboding waiting for one more lifeform to creak across the worn wooden floorboard. The cupboard with the china drew her attention and she walked towards it remembering the china they were forbade to touch and how they had used it anyways. Sipping fine tea they called it ( tea laden with more milk than they were supposed to use and so much sugar that would make a dentist cringe) and hot soyabeans with the glass cups when their cousins came over and the plastic cups didn't go round. The dreary days of custard and potatoes which she hated and the leftover morsels of wheat glued underneath the table. Opening the curtains, she looked out to the backyard. Green algae was all over the floor and the sand was bright red and cracked in many places. With nobody to tend them, the vegetables she had planted with her mom had disappeared and all that remained were infested stems. The walls were badly cracked with the yellow paint barely visible. A sad smile came to her lips when she recalled bathing under the rain in the yard while her brother swam in the pool of water. Avoiding the rooms by the stairs, she went straight to their room, the children's room. Exhausted from her journey and not finding any dust free place to sit, she rested on the wall as memories came flooding back. A thousand times did they turned the room upside down playing and preparing for school, more so the latter. A lot of things were not working. Heck the house didn't even seem to be working. If she took it, a lot of work had to be done and her savings depleted. If she sold it, she'd go back a couple of thousands richer. She knew which sounded appealing to her. 

When she found out her mum left her the house, she immediately decided to sell it. She hated leaving the house and she hated the house for letting her go. But now she was here, the familiar walls and memories it evoked was just a little much. The dank smell finally got her moving to her mother's room where they'd slept and played hide and seek for most of their childhood days. The main bed still had the horrible bedcover bought specially for her brothers who didn't stop wetting the bed till they were four. The foul smell almost chased her away. She dusted the chair by the dressing table where she and her sisters had tried on their mother's make up and wigs. Fingering the worn table, she discovered the scribblings on the wall with crayon. "I love you Mommy." She remembered writing it when she was recovering from surgery and her mum was nursing her back to health. It was one of the very few days when she couldn't hide the concerned look on her face. Her mom wasn't one for cuddling and hugging till they grew older and then she (Alexa) preferred not to be touched at all. It was almost as if she had touch phobia. Opening the drawer, she caught a pice of paper frayed at the edges. It was her mum's barely legible writing. She was crying when she finished. It was an old love letter to her father. She loved him till the very end inspite of everything he put her through. Crying, she recalled the words in the letter that came with the house deeds.

"...my eagle, I pray that one day you lay your wings to rest and nest. If you will, go back home to that place you've always loved secretly. I'm not apologizing for taking you away, I just hope I didn't take you too far. It's old, I know, but you always loved antique things, vintage you called them. More importantly, I trust your magic will work even better where your heart dwells..."

She couldn't believe she wanted to sell the house her selfless mother had left her. Their rift had caused her flight and somehow she'd landed back in the beginning. Her mom knew she'd one day return, she always did. Wiping her eyes, she ran outside. Her interior designer wheels were already on overdrive by the time she got to the door.

Harry and his mother stood as soon as the back door creaked open. Miss Alexa ran past them without stopping. 

"Now son, I don't know what you're talking about the little Miss looking worried and all, but that face though beautiful, looked anything but worried."

"But mom..."

"Shh. If I'd say anything, I'd say that face was definitely set."

"What does that mean momma?"

"It means we have a new Mistress and I dare say she's going to be better than her late mother, bless her soul."

"She's going to live here? How did you know? Was that what Ma'am came to discuss with you? How wonderful momma! I can't wait for her to move in, I bet I'd learn a lot from her. You did say she was good at gardening and I'd also like to speak the way she does..."

"I suppose it's no use telling you to mind your business while she's around. You seem to have a mind of your own."

"Who's the gentleman at the gate, momma?"

"That's Barnabas, Mr. Darrow's oldest son. I'm surprised he's with her. Well of course he wouldn't know that the Miss used to hate him with his elvish ears and his queer name. She didn't make fun of him, but she complained so earnestly that her little friends took it upon themselves to do it while she smiled innocently."

He wasn't paying attention anymore, his thoughts were on the rabbit. He would really have to catch it now, didn't want anything ruining Miss Alexa's new garden.

Barney saw her running and was instantly worried. Surely all the rumors about the house being haunted weren't true.

"I've changed my mind," she said bending over to catch her breath. 

"Really, errm... mind telling me what you changed it to," he muttered still confused.