Greenbriar Manor

A Place For Us

Greene Briar was a place where nightmares were set.

A great stone fortress with gargoyles on the eaves sat in the center of a round driveway on a large horse field in Arkansas. You could see the mountain range from the back porch. Except that there were more loose boards than was conducive for long contemplation. Ivy had overtaken the entire fortress marring the great cobblestone structure. The floors on the inside were marble and slick black to the touch. The velvet furniture was under plastic all part of the sale of the estate. Each piece was as red as fresh blood and claw footed. The library was full of moth-eaten Encyclopedias and first editions of Tolstoy left to return to the elements. Rats swarmed the basement, and the backdoor was known to open on its own in the night. Victorian mourning jewelry intricately woven hair flowers and hearts along with many epitaphs and large oil portraits of scowling long-dead ancestors to the Greene family. All of their likenesses were decaying like the abandoned filigree wallpaper in the parlor. The realtor had listed it as a "rustic treasure". Vanessa had purchased it with the last of her college savings. Eager to prove that the only thing in this creepy estate was character and good bones. But as she stood in the doorway with her moving boxes, she could not help but think that was it should really have been described as "The Road to Nowhere". She turned on the lights and immediately the house took on an air of its own. She could see parties of yesteryear and cotillions. Something about old houses they were like walking into someone else's memories.

She turned on the faucet in the sink. The water was slowly dripping, cold as winter, and off colored. The soil here was dense and some of it had leaked into the pipes. She would need a plumber as soon as possible. She found her room. A four-poster bed with a blue bedspread would do. Ornate furniture picked by someone else would be her investment. As she put her clothes in the armoire and closet, she was reminded that just because she now owned the estate did not mean everyone or everything had left here. It was someone else's pride at one point. She smiled at the thought of those families building an estate from nothing and keeping it in the family. It was exactly why she had bought this place from the outset. She put her hand on her ever-growing bump. Ivan would be here soon enough she would make him a nursery and listen to his laughter radiate down the marble halls of this place. His mom's big dreams and love would turn the cold to warmth. Jake would know she was capable of doing something for herself when he returned from Korea in fifteen months. Just after Ingrim would make his grand appearance.

As she reflected on her son, she felt a cool breeze over her face. Then, a door slammed down the hall. She walked into the long hallway and saw the front door had blown closed. She went to gather the rest of her things from the car. Careful to make sure she propped it open this time. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a tiny boy in overalls and a cap run around the side of the house. She did not remember there being another house on the property or any close neighbors. But, she followed the sound of laughter. It led her to a large oak tree overlooking a creek. In the tree was a large tree house with glass windows and a tiny red door. There was a tree swing and even a small set of shelves gouged into the tree itself on the inside of the structure for books or toys. She spoke loudly, "Hello, I saw you come up here. My name is Vanessa I own the house now. I am okay with you playing here as long as your mother knows where you are." She waited. Nothing happened. Maybe the tiny boy had climbed down the other side and run home. She smiled thinking of Ingram someday having friends and a safe place to explore here. She returned to the house.

She went to the library and looked for any books that might be salvageable. She found a few children's books that would be nice in the nursery. Greene Briar had once held children. Seven of them to be precise. Timmy, Vivian, Liam, Malcolm, Chessy, Salem and Daniel. All heirs of the estate. Now, all gone. Vivian had gone to Europe to do ballet and married a man from New Guinea. Timmy had passed away of fever before he was thirty in Boston. Liam and Malcolm had gone into business for themselves and were in Maui. Chessy had become an author of children's books and had passed away of old age beloved by many. Salem had been a nurse in the Navy and moved to France. Daniel had lived in the house until about a year ago when he had to be taken to a care home in a neighboring town at almost ninety-six years old. The house had many memories. But not a lot of secrets. The attic held old curios and trinkets and a bird cage. Old photo albums showed horse shows and tea parties and many other events enjoyed by all. She thought about people referring to houses as having old bones. She was living in a skeleton of someone else's life. She found some animal illustrations, ballet photos and a picture of a nurse in a naval uniform, two well-dressed men in suits at a ribbon cutting ceremony and one of a young man on a surfboard. She also found a picture of a debonair elderly man in glasses smoking a pipe in a corduroy chair in the library. She put them in several bronze frames. She placed the children's mementos in the room she occupied. The Greene children deserved a happy place alongside her future and Ivan's. Without their kind graces there would have been no home for her husband to return to her in. Even as the first storm rattled the old shutters out front, and the pipes creaked and bellowed the first few nights and strange scratching came from below the floorboards of the cellar she smiled at the luck of taking on someone else's old dreams and refashioning them into her own. Over many weeks, the house woke from its slumber and became whole again. The rats were exterminated. The porch patched up and screened. The door hinge replaced to avoid opening on its own. She furnished Ivan's nursery. With toys and figurines, she found in the attic. More gifts from this place including a tiny blue and white cradle. She cleaned the ivy off of the house. She opened all the windows to let the fresh air in and cataloged all the books in her library. She made a plaque for the door The Daniel Chess Collection and allowed locals to browse the stacks for a small rental fee and the price of coffee. Neighbors came and helped her, but they never mentioned having sons or the tree house in the backyard.