Chapter 3 (Part 2)
Setting up the train occupied Rob and Grandad for the next hour or so. Sam was in the way, so he decided to go and make an aerial rope for his soldiers on the trees at the top of the garden.He tied a string to the highest branch of apple tree and secured it at ground level near the gate.He climbed the tree, fixed the pulley at the top and tried it out with one of the soldiers. He watched him glide smoothly to the ground. Perfect! From his perch he could see most of the garden. Mum was right. The garden must have been lovely years ago before it became neglected. It could be made attractive again with a lot of work. Even now, in its overgrown state, the leaves of all the different trees and bushes were showing beautiful colours.
The whole garden was on a steep slope. The house was at the bottom of the slope. It had once been a small farm attached to the house were the farm buildings. Next to the kitchen was a stable and a byre for the cattle. These, like the workshop, were built into the hillside to keep the animals snug and warm in the long winter months. Because of this style of building, it was possible to walk out of the end door of the barn on to the slope of the hill, just like you could from the loft above the workshop.
The area at the top had once been an orchard with apple and plum trees. there had now been joined by thorn bushes and elder trees which made it seem more like a jungle. It was good place to play. From here, Sam could look down over the whole area. To the right there was a flight of steps going down to the yard between the workshop and the barn. To the left of the barn there were more steps going down through the garden.
The garden itself was like a giant staircase, made of terraces. At the top was the orchard. Then there was a steep bank down to the next level which was a shrubbery. At the edge of the shrubbery was a wall dropping down to the lower level where there was a lawn and flower garden. After this, there was another wall going down to the path with the vegetable garden beyond. That was how it was meant to be, but at the present, it was so overgrown that it was difficult to see all those features.
As Sam glanced down, he saw a boy walk along the bottom path and disappears round the end of the house. He frowned. Who's that, he wondered?
He went down the steps to see who it was, but the unknown visitor was no longer around.
"Did you bring a boy with you?"he asked his Grandma when he went into the house.
"No, Sam. Just Grandad. He's a great boy,' chuckled Grandma. "I bet he's playing with the train set."
"I've just seen a boy in the garden," persisted Sam.
"perhaps it's one of the neighbours that we haven't met yet," suggested his mother. " Is he still there?"
"No, he's gone," said Sam, disappointed because as yet he had not found any children near enough to play with.
"Don't worry, he'll be back," Mum reassured him. "He was probably just seeing what we are like," she turned back to Grandma and continued her conversation about wallpaper. Sam felt that they were not really interested and he returned to the garden feeling lonely and puzzled.
Posted by
Emma Teh
26/05/2008
03:21pm
