Greenbriar Manor

The Past is Practice

Fern closed the leatherbound encyclopedia of horses she found at the back of the library. She looked at each photo of the original Greene family. Distant cousins of Miss Fran and even maybe the woman who had bought the place. Her mother had been here since she was barely old enough to walk. Taking orders for laundry with her grandmother. She told her once of a strange older woman who appeared sometimes after a heavy storm. An old cook her mother believed all covered in flour and bad omens. She wore a dingy old blue apron and wielded a rolling pin like a warning at all the children in the house. Her accent was American but thick like she had spoken other tongues long ago. She stayed for a week at the end of every summer and in a fog, she left as the air turned crisp. Her mother had claimed that her friend had dreamed her up in a book and magic had brought her to life. But that no one else could see her but the children of the house.  Sometimes she wondered if that wasn't the way with this whole place. Someone else's fever dream. What had become of them all she wondered to herself? Brooklyn had returned sulking and quiet. She remembered how sick her mother had been before they came to stay here and wished there was something she could say. Kids at school could be mean to children keeping invalids and facing becoming orphans. But she knew that Mari was the one who was cross. Since the accident she had not said two words. She kept looking off in the distance like she was wanting to run away. That man had taken a real liking to her. She had never heard what happened to their father just that he was not with them here. She knew that kind of pain. Her father had been lost in the mines in an accident. Diamonds always gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. No one knew how much some of those pretty things cost other's souls. She missed her father sometimes late at night when the crickets sang. Mari must feel that way. She looked for the book she had seen the picture of the black horse so much like Sultan, but it was not on the shelf. The house had secrets. Maybe she would find one that would explain how their family came to be here and what they would have to do to take their leave. She missed their apartment with its amenities and tiny green tiled kitchen . It seemed like another lifetime since they had been there. She exited the library and on her way out the door she ran into a tiny girl about the same age as Mari with a green ribbon in her hair. She smiled shyly. Fern remembered seeing her before and asked her name. The girl spoke in a whisper like she had not talked to anyone in while and was really nervous. "Hello. My name is Bridgette but my family call me Bette for short. I have not been here in a really long time and I would very much like a friend. My cousin has not arrived back yet. But I think my mother did she used to work here when she was young. She sent me back here to join my cousin for the summer. Have you met her yet?" Fern thought about Mack going to see his cousin and thought maybe she was the little girl he mentioned. Any friend of Mack's was a friend of hers. She took her hand and walked down to the stable. Sultan snorted and kicked the hay in his stall. Fitful until the tiny dark haired girl produced a sugar cube from her pocket and popped it in his mouth. He whinnied and laid down calm and happy. Maybe Mack had brought a friend for Fern afterall. Mari had taken to her doll and the library more and more lately. It would be nice to have someone to talk too and maybe even ride to school with again in the Fall. The house had brought someone home. But what of Ingrim's stable hand? 

Brooklyn had been standing at the gate every morning while Mari did schoolwork since he came home. He mostly spent the hour looking down at the ground. His father had come and gone again and there was something about this day that felt off. Who else would come back? There had once been 3 Greys and 10 Greene's on this property. Many of them had come and gone and been lost to time except in old dusty books and trinkets. He knew about Chessie's letters. But the others had left things too. Soon, Ingrim or Mack would find something and it would begin again. The Manor never stayed quiet for long. Daniel had always seen to that opening a library here had given the town more lore to grab hold to from the Manor in between the trees. It would give more than it took this time he feared. Fran was back and Mack too but they were different. Vermont had not been kind to them. Someone was coming and he wanted to be ready. The past had brought his father and taken his horse. It had brought Fran and Mack back. Yet, Bridgette was looming somewhere just out of sight. She would find her place and purpose too as all the children did here but hopefully not Mari  or her long lost doll in the process.