Outside Calcibar
Mansion
Calcibar manor
was built by James Nolan Calcibar eighty-one years previous. Near the end of
his life, his son, Daniel Nolan Calcibar, donated the estate to be a school for
magic in honor of his father. It was a grand affair and the estate made for a
beautiful school. However, in the years since the closing of the school, the
iron wrought gates had rusted; the red brick and white limestone had been grown
over with ivy and moss. The once clear and beautiful windows became translucent
with dust, and the woods and gardens are now choked with weeds and brambles. It
is a sight of prestige lost.
Although the
manor is in a dilapidated state, many children of Strouton at some time or
another, make a play area out of the large grounds. They frolic and chase
through the bushes and grassy courtyard, whisper and crawl through the leaves
and thorns, but not one ever dared enter that place of magic and mystery which
was inside.
“I heard Daddy
say wizards are coming to the haunted house,” said one boy in a loud whisper to
his friends as they eyed the building from a bush.
“Be quiet Tommy,
you’re just trying to scare us,” scolded a little girl with a pink ribbon.
“No, I mean it,”
cried Tommy, “Daddy was reading the papers and everything!”
“Guys, do you
really think we should be so close? What if they see us?” asked another boy.
“Nah, don’t
worry Fred, there’s no way any wizards are there now.”
Yeah,, if there
were there’d be smoke from the chimneys because they’d be stirring their
cauldrons,” said the girl.
“Don’t be stupid Susie,” said Tommy, “wizards don’t use
cauldrons.”
They do too!”
whined Susie. “I saw it at the magic shop with my own eyes,” she added.
“Susie, witches
work aat the magic shop. Wizards use those wand thingies,” countered Tommy.
“That’s right,
and they shoot fireballs and lightning and turn spaghetti into worms and
controls your mind to make you eat them.” Fred added, sounding more and more
scared than before.
“They can’t turn spaghetti into
worms!”
“Yes they can!
And if they’re angry they’ll turn you into a frog and keep you as a pet”
“You’re being
stup-“
“FRED, TOMMY
LOOK!” yelled Susie pointing out at something.
From the cover
of their bush the two boys looked across the courtyard and saw a silhouette in
one of the big windows. It wasn’t moving, merely there, but it hadn’t been
there before. Fred screamed, “ A GHOST!”
“No stupid it’s
a wizard.” Tommy said smugly. They paused, then they screamed and scrambled to
leave their hiding spot.
The figure
raised its arm, and a gust of wind, the color of mist, whished across the
courtyard toward them. It lifted them up, rushed through the trees and set tehm
at the open iron gate. The two who didn’t lose their breakfast, ran down the
dirt road, while the one who did lose his breakfast struggled to catch up.
Back at the
window, if anyone were listening, a voice could be heard saying, “perhaps that
will get them out of the way” as its owner tucked a slender stick into his
pocket.
