Ichabod: A Sleepy Hollow Story

Ichabod: Part One

Journal Entry Number 113
August 17, 1820:
"Ichabod and I have finally arrived in Sleepy Hollow. We moved in yesterday afternoon. However, I feel as if this place is different than anywhere I've been before. Sleepy Hollow is located in the southernmost tip of New York, in a county by the name of Greensburgh. In this county, by the eastern shore of the Hudson, lies a small market town or rural port by the name of Tarry Town. About two miles out from that village there is a small valley. Within this valley, or rather lap of land amongst high hills, is Sleepy Hollow.
Sleepy Hollow seems to be the quietest place in the entire world, travel wise. Those who are born here generally never leave, and newcomers, such as Ichabod and I, rarely ever move here. So far, we've seemed to be generally ignored by the townsfolk. My guess is that since newcomers are rarely seen here, most people are tightly knit and aren't exactly friendly to strangers.
As I stated earlier, this place just doesn't appear right. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land and pervade the very atmosphere. And as for the few people that have talked to us, they all seem to be quite strange characters. The weather has also changed. While we were on our way down here from Connecticut, the rest of New York seemed fairly warm. Once we came here, though, any traces of summer disappeared. Perhaps it's the hills blocking some of the sunlight, or perhaps it's something much greater..."
Diedrich Knickerbocker

Diedrich closed his journal, done writing for the day. He opened up the drawer on his desk and put it inside. Diedrich was a writer, and lived in the house with Ichabod. Well, it was more like a small apartment. The mayor of the town, who was also the town's judge, gave them this 'house' without much reason. The two guessed it was because the people of Sleepy Hollow didn't know them yet, and as Diedrich stated in his journal entry, the people weren't fond of strangers, as they were a tight knit community.
As Diedrich stood to leave the room, he heard the door to the apartment come open, followed by a loud crash.
"Diedrich, are you here? I'm afraid I might need some assistance," called Ichabod from the other room. Diedrich wondered what the issue was this time. He opened the door to the bedroom and went down the tight staircase into the small main room. Ichabod was lying on the floor covered in white powder, with food and other items scattered across the floor.
"Would you at least close the door? It's fairly chilly outside," asked Diedrich. Ichabod looked up at him, confused for a moment. He then turned his head behind himself and realized that the door was indeed wide open.
"Oh! Sorry Diedrich!" Ichabod scrambled to his feet and shut the door. They then both looked to the floor where Ichabod's mess was. Diedrich looked back up at Ichabod, with a quizzical look on his face. Ichabod smiled and said, "I brought breakfast!"
Ichabod and Diedrich had always had a tradition of eating breakfast together. In the past, they've lived separately, so they either met-up a each other's homes, or met-up at a local bakery or tavern. Being where they were, they couldn't exactly meet-up anywhere. Also, they had no choice but to live in the same home. The two were the best of friends and were extremely close, but this lodging they're at now is a bit too close.
The two began cleaning up the mess. "Ichabod," Diedrich started, "where did you get all this stuff?"
"I went into the town's tavern," Ichabod began, "There were three ladies working the bar. I asked them if there was a bakery in town, and they replied by saying that THEY were the town's bakers! I asked them what they could do for breakfast, and they just, well, went off I guess."
"What do you mean, 'went off'?" asked Diedrich.
"They went crazy!" said Ichabod, "They went into the kitchen and began making food. They were going extremely fast. I didn't even know what was going on! After about 30 minutes or so, they came out with all this." Ichabod gestured to all the food on the floor, but dropped the eggs he happened to be carrying. Diedrich looked up at him with a glare. "Uh, sorry again, Diedrich," said Ichabod, embarrassed. He went to go get a bucket and a sponge.
As he did this, Diedrich asked, "So these ladies at the tavern, you asked them what they could make for breakfast and they went nuts and made everything?"
Ichabod opened a closet and found the bucket.
He then turned to Diedrich and said, "I guess that's about right."
"Also," Diedrich started, "why are you covered in that powder?"
"Oh, well when I came inside I had to use my foot to kick open the door, because my hands were full from carrying everything, so I tripped and fell on a bag a flour!" Ichabod explained.
"And they gave you a flour bag so you could make your own food?" Diedrich examined everything on the floor. "Ichabod, they gave you enough stuff to make breakfast for the entire month, and I'm not kidding!"
"Well, how kind of them!" Ichabod exclaimed.
"Ichabod, I'm pretty sure that these three ladies have taken up an affection for you. Do you know their names?" asked Diedrich, looking very burnt-out from all of this ridiculousness.
"Hmm...well I think they said their names were Ernest, Gretal, and Whil-something," Ichabod pondered, "However those names don't sound very feminine, so I think I heard wrong."
Diedrich sighed, sounding very exasperated, "Ichabod, please don't get too attached to anyone; I don't think we'll be staying here for very long."
Ichabod looked confused, "And why not?"
Diedrich then looked strangely serious, "Because I don't trust this place."
After that, the two finished cleaning up. Ichabod went outside and filled up the bucket from a nearby well. He then came back inside and began scrubbing the floor clean with the sponge. Diedrich picked up what food could still be used and put it away. He then scrapped the rest.
After Ichabod finished sweeping the floor, Diedrich finished fixing breakfast and set their table. The table, like the rest of the house, was quite small and could barely fit the two of them. Ichabod sat down with Diedrich to begin eating. Despite his thin frame, Ichabod eats like a horse. Diedrich, being built quite similarly to Ichabod, couldn't eat quite as much. As they were eating, Ichabod told Diedrich how he mentioned to the ladies about his hobbies, such as reading and eating apples, and both of their occupations, with Ichabod being a schoolteacher and Diedrich being a writer and also a doctor. Diedrich looked up from his plate at Ichabod and asked, "Did you tell them about anything else?" There was a very serious tone in Diedrich's voice. Ichabod looked worried for a moment, but then began laughing. He had clearly been holding this in for a while.
"Diedrich stop acting so serious!" Ichabod said between chuckles, "You're never serious, so stop acting like it!"
Diedrich tried to keep a straight face but couldn't. He burst out laughing as well. Ichabod's mood was always contagious.
"Yeah, HA, you're right, Haha!" Diedrich managed out with his laughter, "Oh, it's just this new place really got to me. I'm sorry I've been putting a damper on everything." Diedrich said, with an apologetic smile.
"You're fine, old friend!" said Ichabod, "This new place might be strange and all, but we'll be fine! Let's enjoy it while we're here," said Ichabod. He raised up his glass of milk. "A toast," he began, "to a new town! A new adventure!"
"A toast!" Diedrich repeated. They clinked their glasses together and continued to eat breakfast, chatting and laughing the whole time, as great friends do.
As they finished up their breakfast, Ichabod took a huge bite out of his slice of pork and said, "I gong ina towr toay."
Diedrich began laughing, "Ichabod just wait 'till you're done chewing first!" Ichabod grinned, revealing mashed-up pork in his mouth. Diedrich shook his head and continued to laugh, "My stomach hurts from laughing so much; I can't eat anymore!"
Ichabod swallowed his pork and said, much more clearly, "I'm going into town today. I'm not sure where the schoolhouse is, so I'm going to ask around. Hopefully in the process I'll become more acquainted with the people."
"How do you know they're going to be friendly?" asked Diedrich, finally beginning to calm down from laughing.
"Having the people be friendly isn't the issue right now," Ichabod started, "However, we need to be friendly first,"
"I agree," said Diedrich. Then he asked, "Besides those ladies at the tavern, have you met anyone else?"
"Well," Ichabod started leaning back in his chair, "you and I both met Mayor Smiths, who's also the judge...hm...there was this one big fellow who looked at me with quite a glare. I don't think he liked me too much...um...Oh yes, I met the tailor, Claus Mogens! He was actually quite friendly and talkative. A little annoying, but not too bad,"
"Okay, so you've met one friendly person who's somewhat annoying. Great. Anyone else?" Diedrich said, obviously unhappy with what Ichabod said.
"Hmm...well, when I was on my way back from the tavern, I almost dropped everything. Fortunately this one girl was nearby and she helped me with what I was carrying just before I dropped it all, like I did here," began Ichabod, as he gestured to his still flour-covered body, "She was quite beautiful, actually. I talked to her for a little bit. She mentioned her name was Katrina. She said that she was the daughter of Baltus VanTasell, the farm-owner here. She was quite nice, however I can't say the same for her mother," Ichabod chuckled at the last part.
"Ichabod, I'm not sure how long we're going to be staying here, so don't get too attached," Diedrich said, becoming a little more serious.
"Diedrich, you're not my parent, please don't worry so much," Ichabod said, annoyed at Diedrich's usual 'parenting.' Being a doctor, Diedrich thought of everyone else before thinking of himself. Since Ichabod was his best friend, he especially worried about him, however Ichabod usually doesn't need it. Usually.
"Remember when you over ate back in Connecticut? You really shouldn't have tried to finish that apple pie," Diedrich reminded him.
"Could you stop lording that over me?" Ichabod asked, tired of hearing that as well, "Besides, this is different. I've got it under control. I won't 'fall in love' Diedrich," Ichabod paused after saying that,"...not again."
"Well, be careful out there anyway," Diedrich warned, again 'parenting' Ichabod.
"Yes, dad," Ichabod jeered as he headed for the door, taking a book with him.
He opened the door to leave, but Diedrich stopped him, yelling, "Clean yourself off first! You're still covered in flour!"
Ichabod looked down at himself, "Oops, forgot about that, thanks," he said, putting his book down and running to grab a washcloth. He took the cloth to the bucket he used earlier and began scrubbing his face and hands clean. He then went upstairs to change into some backup clothes, which consisted of a simple white shirt, a light brown vest, black pants, white socks, and light brown shoes. He then took his regular clothes, which consisted of a blue jacket, a black vest, a white shirt, black pants, black socks, and black dress shoes, and took them outside and pinned them up to a clothes rack, where the constant breeze of the town would blow off the flour in time. Luckily, Ichabod's trademark tri-corned hat was untouched by the flour, so he could wear it into town.
"What are you going to do today, Diedrich?" Ichabod asked as he was leaving the house.
Diedrich looked up at him from where he was doing the dishes and said, "Oh, probably stay around here all day and continue working on my book."
"Witch book is that?" Ichabod asked, for Diedrich has written many poems, stories, and other works.
Diedrich grinned, happy to talk about his book, and said, " 'The Life of Herald Knickerbocker'. It's the one about my father's time in the War of 1812. My mother told me to write it after my father died of pneumonia a year-and-a-half ago."
"I had just met you when it happened, I remember. Of course, we were still in Connecticut. As I recall, we were in Cornwall when you got the letter. I had only known you a week. We rushed over to Farmington to see him," Ichabod said, recalling the event, "Well I do hope your book goes well! I know it means a lot to you."
"Thank you, old friend," Diedrich said with a bow. Then Ichabod went outside, carrying a book with him.