When Poppy's grandfather dies, her father inherits his childhood home in Happy Springs, New Hampshire. He decides to take his three daughters from England on their first trip to the land of his birth to fix up the house as a potential summer home and give Poppy a break from some problems she's been having. He says it's an old house that just needs a little work to restore it back to its full glory. It's going to be fun fixing it up. Poppy isn't so sure...

 

"Hey, wake up sleepyhead we're almost there."

My eyes fluttered open at the gentle nudging from my sister as she reached back from her seat in the front of the vehicle. Letting out a yawn, I stretched my arms out and tried to work some of the kinks out of my neck and shoulders.

"Hey, down in back," said my father briefly glancing back over his shoulder at me with a grin. "It's hard enough trying to get used to driving on this side of the road again as it is, without you obstructing the rear view mirror."

"Tell me about it," I muttered glancing out of the window, the late-afternoon summer sun muted by my sunglasses. "Do they all know they are driving on the wrong side of the road? Driving on the right is just kinda fu...freaky."

I shuddered slightly watching a car pass by on a side of the vehicle that my instincts kept screaming should be the pavement.

"Language please Poppy," sighed my father with a slight edge to the voice. "You may be seventeen now but while you are under my roof I hope you will respect my rules, particularly with Daisy in the car."

I blushed as I ducked my head and spared a glance at my sleeping younger sister in the seat next to mine. Even at seventeen the one thing that always brought me up sharply was the thought of disappointing my father in some way. I could deal with him being angry, though he rarely was in front of any of us kids, but him being disappointed in me caused a gnawing discomfort in the pit of my stomach that would niggle all day until I could get back in his good books. I guess l was just too much of a daddy's girl at heart. In contrast, mum and me had endured stand up, knock down screaming matches from pretty much the onset of puberty and we were only just coming to terms with our new, slightly tentative, harmonious relationship.

"I think it's actually the car rental company's roof dad," laughed my older sister from the front passenger seat.

"Yes, thank you Fleur. I knew I should have brought the boys," said my father shaking his head slightly, a put up tone creeping into his voice. "But nooooooooooo, your mother was all 'it will be good to spend time with your girls' to me."

Dad flashed me a quick wink in the rear view mirror signalling he wasn't serious and that he had forgiven me for my earlier outburst.

"Y'know, for a town called 'Happy Springs' I expected it to be more...joyous," said Fleur staring out of the window. "Maybe spontaneous musical numbers breaking out in the streets or at least public dancing."

"And I've not seen any springs either," I added.

"Do you think they meant springs, 'boing!', or 'stick-it-in-a-bottle-carbonate-it-and-charge-one-pound-fifty-a-bottle' springs?

"I kinda pictured a town full of laughing Zebedee's," I said with a grin.

"BOING!" cried my sister and I together, causing my sleeping younger sister to stir.

"Should've brought the boys," muttered my father under his breath in his most put upon voice. "And not let Alice raise them on the kids shows of her youth."

"Are we there yet?" asked Daisy, elongating the last word as she stretched.

I reached over and brushed some of her fringe out of her eyes before impishly flicking one of her strawberry blonde pigtails.

"Hey! You said you weren't going to do that anymore," she squealed, covering her pigtails defensively with her hands.

Reaching over as best the seatbelt allowed, I put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a partial hug.

"I'm sorry," I said leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "You just looked so cute I couldn't help myself. I won't do it again though, I promise."

"It didn't really hurt or anything. Just don't do it, 'kay?" she replied settling into the hug. "I like it that you're nice to me now."

"I wish I could undo the past sweetie," I whispered resting my chin on her head. "I wish I could change a lot of things but the worlds not like that. We get second chances not do-over's."

"New and improved though, little sister," said Fleur leaning back from her seat to rest her hand on my knee. "New and improved."

I clasped my free hand over hers and closed my eyes, listening to the rhythmic sounds of my little sister breathing and the wheels on the road while taking a moment to bask in the love of my sisters. Despite all the things that had happened recently, I still couldn't believe how lucky I was to have the love of my sisters.

"We're here girls," said my father, his voice catching a little as he watched us in the rear view mirror. He steered us to a stop on the opposite side of the street under the shade of a tree.

Releasing my seat belt, I slid out of the car, well minivan in reality, and stepped down onto pavement. In front of me was the sort of property you see in movies, set back from the road with an immaculate front lawn sloping up to an imposing two storey colonial revival style house.

"Not bad. Not bad at all," I said helping Daisy down. "I think I can live with this."

"Sweet," said Fleur walking round from the other side of the car. "I don't think this looks anywhere near as bad as that solicitor made out when grandpa's will was read."

We briefly high fived as we took in the view, sharing a grin. Mum had insisted that the cost of any decorating be kept down by us doing it rather than employing someone and looking at the house in front of us even the flower baskets hanging from the porch were picture perfect.

"Uh, is it me or is someone living in our house?" I asked, noticing child's tricycle sitting at the top of the driveway.

"There are indeed people living in that house, because girls it's not ours. That's the Jensen's place, or it was when I was a kid. Our house is on the other side of the street," chuckled my father. "I parked this side so we got the best view. Isn't it something?"

My breath caught in my throat as I turned to see the ramshackle property behind us. Like the other buildings in the street, it shared the same two storey colonial revival style although rising from one side was a...well a turret I guess you'd call it. A brick rounded turret with windows all around the top storey which rose slightly above the roof of the main building. It gave the impression of once being an imposing building, nearly half as big again as the properties around it. However, this was clearly a building that had seen better days. Only two of the four windows on the first storey had any shutters attached and the three that were attached appeared to be hanging on through willpower alone. The glass in the three attic windows rising from the roof were cracked and several roof tiles were missing revealing the underlay. Things were little better on the lower floor with two huge windows, one either side of the leaning porch, pretty much obscured by a pair of untended trees. The tattered screen door swinging slightly in the breeze to bang against the front door gave it a forbidding feel despite the summer sunshine. It was the virtual dictionary definition of property blight.

"It's something all right," breathed Fleur.

"It just needs a little bit of love," said my father grinning.

"It needs painting," piped up Daisy as she moved round to our dad to get a better view.

"Then we'll paint it."

"It needs new glass," said Fleur.

"I'll call a glazer once our stuff is unpacked."

"It needs an exorcism," I said, raising my sunglasses to get a better view.

"Then we'll get a priest," laughed my father.

"What's an exorschism?" asked Daisy.

"Nothing you need to worry about," said dad scooping Daisy up into his arms. "It's just your sister being silly."

"You know we're going to be known as the kids from the creepy old Haas place," said Fleur, emphasising her words with a rather melodramatic sigh.

"Hey now, be nice I grew up here," said Dad with a frown. "It'll be fine once we've given it a bit of TLC."

"Is it too late to go home and send the boys out instead?"

"Hush Poppy. It'll be fine."

Any retort I had once cut off by a groaning from the house followed by a loud crash as one of the remaining shutters fell to the ground. Slack jawed Fleur and I exchanged a horrified look.

"Well that's one trip up the ladder saved," said my father with a forced smile. Pulling some keys from his pocket he threw them underarm to Fleur. "I'll park the car by the garage and unload. Why don't you are your sisters go ahead and take a look around our new summer home."

"Oh joy," I breathed as I pulled my handbag out of the car.

~o~O~o~

The front door creaked eerily as Fleur turned the handle, pushing it open to reveal a dingy hallway stretching the length of the house. Dust swirled in the light as a gentle breeze blew in from behind us, which from the smell emanating from it was the first time in a while it had been exposed to fresh air. The squeak of my trainers on the varnished hardwood floor echoed through the house eerily as I entered the hallway.

"Abandon hope all ye who enter," I whispered, only to get a nudge in the ribs from Fleur.

Stopping to take in the view, I brushed my fingers around the outline of a discoloured rectangle on the wall which I assumed once marked a picture frame that had been there a while before its final removal. Similar marks were visible on the floor indicating where there had once been heavy items of furniture.

"The floors don't seem in too bad a state," said Fleur tentatively bouncing up and down on the boards. "No real movement, or anything that I guess a bit of washing and buffing up wouldn't sort?"

"Great, that's your job then," I replied with a grin. Fleur stuck her tongue out in response.

Pushing open a door into a room that I guessed had once been a living or dining room I marvelled at the large fire place that dominated the outer side wall. Intricately carved wood panels flanked the hearth and a thick wooden mantel shelf rested across the top. The wood seemed almost black in the poor light from the obscured front window.

"Now that's a fireplace that wouldn't be out of place in some costume drama," said Fleur running a finger along it.

"Dusty?" I asked squatting down to look at the carved wooden panels beside the hearth.

"Not as bad as I thought given it's been empty for what, a year now?"

"Longer. Aunt Libby said Grandpa went into that care home about eighteen months ago if I remember."

"These wood panels are something else," said Fleur running a hand over the carved panels. "Though the one on the right seems damaged. Is this something you could fix?"

I reached over and traced the cracks in the wood with my fingers.

"I'll have to find the right wood and sketch out the pattern. Maybe. Carving was more Ellie's thi... I... I..."

I blinked back unbidden tears as an unwanted memory surfaced and I sank to my knees fighting back a sob. I hated being so weak, so emotionally out of control, a passenger on the rollercoaster of my emotions. I felt my sisters arms wrap around me as she gently pulled me into an embrace.

"Shhhh, now," she soothed, stroking my hair. "Remember what mum said. It's okay if you need to let it out. Bottling it all up isn't doing you any good. All it's doing is making it burst out like this when you can't hold it in anymore."

"How can I after...after... she... she... can't. How c-c-c-can I..." my voice trailed off into great heaving sobs as I buried my head into her shoulder.

"You can do it by not doing it on your own for a start. We're a family. Families help each other."

"But I don't deserv... don't deser... don't..."

"No. You're not doing that to yourself again, you hear me? You deserve the same as everyone else in this family. You're no better and no worse than anyone else here, okay? There's no room for that sort of thinking," she said pulling me tighter into her embrace.

In response I just sobbed harder until emotionally exhausted and a little travel lagged, I eventually drifted off to sleep in her arms.

~o~O~o~

"Merrr-ooow?"

I awoke to what felt like someone rubbing the tip of my nose in tuna scented wet sandpaper but actually turned out to be a cats tongue.

"Hey there girl? boy?" I murmured, gathering the cat into my arms as I sat up. "Where did you come from?"

"Respectively, it's a girl and the garage," said my father putting down his kindle and switching off the clip on light as he got up from where he had been sitting. "Daisy found her when I was unpacking the car. We decided to call her Fluffy. It seems she's taken a liking to you."

Kneeling next to me, he gathered up his jacket from where it had been bundled up as a pillow for me.

"Fluffy?" I said holding the short haired tabby cat out in front of me. "Fluffy?"

"Daisy found her, so she got the naming rights," he said with a smile. "Her stuffed toy cat is called Fluffy remember? And what with your mom's cat fur allergy she's never had a real cat. So, Fluffy."

"Shouldn't we have her checked for like fleas or rabies or something?" I asked turning the cat in my hands slightly to get a better look at her. In the early evening sun her silver streaks seemed to glow slightly.

"Already done it. We took her to the local vets and had her checked out. She's not chipped or on their lost list and is in perfect health as far as they can see. Tomorrow we'll stop by the local sheriff's office, so if someone has reported her lost or stolen we should know soon."

"Where's Daisy?" I asked listening to the silent house.

"Your sisters have gone on a supply run, including picking up some take-out for dinner. They should be back soon."

"Take OUT?" I asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow. "Surely, you mean take AWAY?"

"Don't call me Shirley," replied my father with a chuckle. "It's been twenty years since I've been back here. I'm reconnecting with my roots."

"Yeah, life was sure tough in the 'hood eh? Detached mansions set in what, half an acre of land from the looks of it?"

"Hush now," he mock scolded, lightly tapping me on the nose. "Anyway, enough about me. Let's talk about you."

I placed the cat gently on the ground and pulled my legs tight up against in a hug, not meeting my father's eyes.

"I'm fine."

"You're far from fine. And these... moments... are getting worse, more frequent. You've got me worried pumpkin," he said softly. "I've spoken to a couple of friends on the faculty at Dartmouth and they've given me the name of a therapist in Plymouth that might be of help. She's supposed to be a little out there but has great results with..."

"Freaks like me?"

"Hush," said my father tapping my nose again. "You're many things but not a freak, you hear me? I don't know what goes on in that amazing brain of yours at times but I'm not going to let you bottle this up until you have a breakdown or worse."

"Me? Amazing?" I scoffed. "Dad, you have a host of awards sitting on the mantelpiece at home. That new strain of wheat you bred to produce better yields in harsher terrain is feeding millions."

"And yet people still die of hunger in places where the soil won't support it. Even worse, there are places where the soil could support it but stupidity stops people from growing it due to conflict or the over exploitation of natural resources such as water vital to crop growth. I could create a wheat crop that could grow in a desert without water and people would starve due to the stupidity of mankind."

He sighed for a moment and scratched the cat, I guess I should call her Fluffy as it's her name, behind one of her ears.

"Sorry, that was a little preachy," he laughed. "Anyway, you on the other hand are an artist and a very talented one too. Not only did you sell all your artwork at that local gallery exhibition but that gentleman from the Royal Academy told you to keep in contact with him so he could come to your future exhibitions. I didn't see him tell anyone else that."

"No, he told Ellie that too," I whispered as I felt my eyes start to sting again with unshed tears. "That was always her dream. It was all she could talk about, going to The Slade and then the RA. I actually preferred The Ruskin, then the RA, but I always knew I'd go to The Slade to keep her happy."

"Ohhhh...Poppy, I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

I leant into his hug as he pulled me close to him.

"I'm soooooo sick of crying," I sniffled.

"I know pumpkin," he said kissing the top of my head. "We'll give that therapist in Plymouth a call tomorrow okay?"

"If you think she can help..."

"I don't think it could hurt. It'll be a nice road trip anyway. It's been ages since I've been to Plymouth."

"Okay dad..."

"Mind you, don't expect miracles. It's been my experience that Haas women are naturally tearful. Why should you be any different when you're upset?"

"Because I'm not..."

"Shush now. I think I recognise one of my own daughters okay?"

"...Okay, dad."

"We good?" he asks giving my shoulders a gentle squeeze. He might have said 'we' but I know he meant 'you' from the tone of his voice.

"We're good. I'm good."

"Good," he said releasing me. "Oh, you might need this."

I dubiously accepted the cloth handkerchief he offered me from his pocket.

"Oh don't worry, I've not used it for its intended purpose. I keep it for damsels in distress."

I dabbed at my eyes with it, noting the familiar smell it seemed to hold.

"It smells like...mum?"

"Yes it does. She spritzed a little perfume on it before we left as a keepsake. That's another reason I carry it. It's like having a little piece of your mother with me wherever I am."

That sums up my parents really. It's like they are still in some teenage romance still. Nothing big or fancy, just little things to show their love for each other. As you can imagine my younger brothers hate all the relatively chaste public kissing involved between our parents.

"By the way, the good news is while you were sleeping the heating engineer came and checked out the furnace and gave it the all clear so we'll have hot water for the radiators and showers once we have power. The bad news is that due to a paperwork snarl up the power company won't have the electricity connected until tomorrow."

"So we're staying in a hotel tonight?" I asked hopefully.

"Pfft. Hotel, shmotel. I stopped off at a sporting goods store on the way back from the vets and picked up some battery powered lanterns and some sleeping bags. Think of it as indoor camping. Oh, if you want to have a look around before the girls get back with dinner, grab a lantern from the hallway. The sun sets surprisingly quickly around here."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to replace the batteries on the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. It looks like your grandfather had them installed relatively recently but better safe than sorry."

As my dad head towards a doorway I hadn't noticed at the other end of the room until now, I turned and headed back through the double doors that I had originally entered.

Fluffy dutifully trotted behind me, the bell on her new collar jingling. The hallway was quite dark by now but I spotted the lanterns next to the pile of luggage we had brought with us and headed over to them.

"Oh, watch out for the canoe!" yelled my father, his voice echoing off the walls of the empty rooms. "We had a bit of an incident at the store!"

"What canooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!"

I hit the ground with a heavy slap, and heard my sunglasses skittering off my head and across the floor.

"YOU OKAY?"

"NO I'M NOT OKAY! SOME IDIOT PUT A CANOE IN THE HALLWAY!" I yelled back rolling onto my back. I gingerly blew on my hands trying to sooth the stinging from the impact. I hissed quietly from the pain.

"MY BAD!"

"WHY THE FU--FREAK IS THERE A CANOE IN OUR HALLWAY?" I yelled back. This time the only response was silence.

"DAD? HELLO?"

Being careful not to put too much pressure on my stinging palms, I pulled myself up on my knees and took a good look at the canoe. What was a real surprise was that it wasn't one of those modern fibreglass ones. It had a real wooden frame with some sort of canvas stretched over it and a pair of heavy looking oars inside. On the seat was a label and I leaned forward to see it more clearly.'Property of Clarks Sporting Goods. Display only. Not for sale.'

How the fu... freak did we end up with a display model of a canoe? Daisy. It had to be Daisy. My sister was disaster on wheels, well she was when we let her be on wheels. Which we didn't often because hello, disaster on wheels.

"Merrrrrrrow!"

I looked up to see Fluffy rubbing her chin against one of the ribs of the canoe, her body protruding half-in, half-out of a hole in the side.

"Oh. Is this your handiwork or Daisy's?"

In response Fluffy rolled on her back, batting at the tattered fabric with her paws.

"Pleading the fifth eh? Probably for the best."

"Meow?"

~o~O~o~

I shifted on the sleeping bag trying to get comfortable as I surveyed the cartons of Chinese food arranged on one of our hard bodied suitcases. Dad had moved the rest of our luggage into the room with us, including oddly, the canoe which Fluffy seemed to have adopted as her own personal cat basket. Although the tree out front mostly obscured the window, dad had also rigged up a makeshift curtain using a groundsheet he'd picked up with the sleeping bags. The effect of it all was that the light from the lanterns gave the room a surreal sort of urban campfire like feel to it.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow?" asked Fleur as she worked to cram a larger helping of noodles into her mouth with the chopsticks then ought to reasonably fit."Ohhhhh....this is good."

"I've got a couple of contractors coming in the morning to give me some quotes for the big stuff that I can't do, so I'll need to stay here for that. I'll also need you and Poppy to run some errands in town and out to the old Schultz Mall for me in the morning. We need some blinds for the windows for a start, so that the world and its wife can't look into the house. Then in the afternoon, we're going out to surprise your Aunt Libby. She doesn't know we're here yet."

"Wait...why haven't we told Aunt Libby we're here?" I asked pausing on the sesame prawn on toast that I had chosen.

"Because knowing your Aunt Libby, she'd insist on us staying the night with her," replied dad. He reached over to help Daisy pick up a chicken wing from one of the cartons."And this is more fun isn't it princess?"

Daisy nodded happily in response as she bit into some chicken wings, enjoying being able to eat food with her hands for once.

"Wait...there was an alternative to this?!? A bed with a mattress and real sheets?!?" shrieked Fleur around a mouthful of noodles.

"Chew your food kitten, this isn't a race," said dad.

"Daaaaaaaaaad."

"Trust me, we'll look back fondly on this night at the end of the summer."

"You're absolutely sure they didn't have any aromatic duck?" I grumbled prodding a carton of lemongrass chicken noodle salad. "Every Chinese restaurant or take away I've ever been to does duck. You know I like crispy aromatic duck."

"Will you stop going on about that. I asked. They said did not do any duck items on the menu. They were very insistent," she replied.

I snorted my disbelief at that statement.

"Look... Duck Off!"

"Fleur!" chastised dad.

"What?" she replied sweetly. "That's what they said to me."

"You know very well."

"I'm sorry daddy," she said in a sweet little girls voice, her face schooled in contrition.

"Balls" I muttered under my breath.

"Poppy!"

"Pork balls! Do we have any?"

"Here, balls to you," said Fleur passing a carton over to me with a sly grin.

Picking up my chop sticks I made sure that I held them in such a way as to give her the finger while favouring her with a big grin.

"I should have brought the boys," groaned dad, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, you sho--"

A loud crash from outside stopped Fleur in mid-sentence.

"Daddy, what was that?" asked a startled Daisy as she looked around nervously.

"That was nothing to worry about princess. It's just one less trip up a ladder tomorrow."

~o~O~o~

End of Chapter 1

 

Authors note: I honestly didn't intend to write this as there were two other stories I was trying to write (including Wynter Lionness which has a chapter nearly in the can) but I couldn't not write it as it was muse blocking. I've decided to go ahead and publish just to get it off my desk and give me an outlet in between writing the other stuff. It's meant to be a little fun and give me a chance to try writing something in modern times not involving super powers or magic. I've also never written something set abroad really, so another first. This is the first of approximately ten chapters of roughly the same length in an on-going story. I'm sort of pitching it at a John Hughes / Dawson's Creek level of realism (and those references didn't date me at all) *rolls eyes*. I intend to publish a chapter a month, work permitting. No reproduction etc without permission. Comments always welcome if you enjoyed it.