In this episode we meet Lucas, the boy next door, who takes Magpie on a whirlwind tour of Pocket. Lucas is very knowledgable about the history of the small town, but for some reason he holds back when Magpie expresses interest in a spooky abandoned house nearby.

Music: Nightbridge by Cannelle (www.cannellemusic.com)

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TRANSCRIPT:

Things with Wings Productions, with the support of Whimsical productions and Collected Sounds presents: Episode 2 of The Skylark Bell.  I am your host Melissa Oliveri.  

If you recall, in our previous episode we were introduced to our main character, Magpie, who just moved into an old farmhouse on the outskirts of a small town called Pocket.

In today’s episode we’ll read Chapter  2, Lucas, where Magpie meets the boy next door who takes her on a tour of Pocket, but seems reluctant to talk about both the spooky abandoned house nearby and a mysterious old woman named Farfalla!

So get comfortable… grab a blanket, a warm drink… and let’s get started.

The cool spring air hits Magpie’s face as she walks down her long driveway.  The cloudy sky makes the early evening seem darker than it should be.  It casts a grey haze over the countryside. Magpie takes a deep breath and fills her lungs with the earthy smell of wet dirt and wildflowers, not at all fazed by the muddy puddles along the side of the road.  In fact, she’s surprised by how comfortable she feels in the country after living in the city all her life.  She passes by the driveway that leads to the house next door; next to it a large mailbox with a bright red flag perches atop a thick wooden post.  Next to the flag, worn letters spell out the surname ‘Starling’.

Across the road, a little farther down, she sees a long lane leading to a delapitated two-storey house.  The house is completely dark, it looks like no one has lived there for decades, and Magpie is instantly intrigued.  She is so focused on the mysterious house she doesn’t hear footsteps coming up behind her.

“I wouldn’t go there if I were you,” says a voice in her ear.  Magpie startles and turns around quickly.  A boy about her age is standing by the side of the road next to her, wearing worn jeans, dark rubber boots and a chunky knit sweater.  Tousled black hair falls around his face and his grey eyes look completely serious.

“Excuse m-m-me?”  she stammers, her heart still beating rapidly. 

“You must be the new girl,”  he says, “I’m Lucas Starling, I live…”

“…oh, next door to me,”  she says.  

Lucas looks at her, puzzled. “How did you…?  Are you psychic or something?!”  he asks suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

“Psychic?” Magpie pauses, narrowing her eyes at him – how could he know? “Um… no, I saw your mailbox,”  she says, pointing to it in the distance.  

“Ahh…” he says with a single nod, which sends his black curls waving back and forth

They stand, staring at one another for a moment, awkward silence between them, until Magpie realises he’s waiting for her to introduce herself.  “Oh!  I’m Magpie!”  she says, reaching out to shake his hand.  “My mom and I just moved in today.  I’m heading into town to grab some food, which restaurant would you recommend?”  she asks.

A smile teases the corner of Lucas’ mouth.  “You’re from the city, aren’t you.”  It is more of a statement than a question.  “There’s only one restaurant in town, it’s called The Early Bird.  You might want to hurry though, they close in about an hour,”  he adds, glancing at his watch.

“Oh!  I guess… I didn’t realise…”  Magpie feels completely foolish.

“Why don’t I walk with you, so you don’t get lost,”  Lucas says with a wink.  Magpie looks back at the abandoned house.  She wants to ask Lucas to tell her more about it, but she is afraid he’ll think she’s weird, so she smiles at him, nodding, and they start walking toward Pocket.

Lucas leads Magpie down the main street of town.  It is mostly lined with tidy, two-story homes with ornate trim around the windows, large front porches with swings and rocking chairs, and well-manicured flower beds.  As they near the center of the small town he begins to tell her about the handful of businesses that line its main street.

First, they come across a gas station with old-style pumps from the 1940’s.  “The gas station used to be a hitching post back in the day, before people had cars.  The main building housed a tavern, I think it was called The Redwing Inn, for people passing through town on their way to the larger cities on either side.  The outside was painted bright red, I saw it in a painting once,” says Lucas.  Magpie can hear the passion in his voice, he’s very knowledgable and very interested in the history of the town.

“That’s the Pocket General Store,” he says, pointing to a quaint building with grey wooden siding and a sloping roof, “They carry everything from groceries to farm equipment.  One of the kids, Sebastian, is in our grade so you’ll meet him next fall. You are going to Pocket High, right?” he asks.

 “Yes, of course,” she replies.  Magpie has pushed all thoughts of school to the back of her mind.  At her old school the kids weren’t particularly nice to her, and she is nervous about what might happen now that she’s the ‘new girl’.  

“Pocket High is just down the street at the end over there,” says Lucas, pointing to the only crosstreet in the small town, “It shares a huge lawn with the library next door and we usually eat lunch out there under one of the trees.  The principal, Mr. Swift, is pretty cool; he lets us plant a community garden at the back of the lot where we grow all kinds of vegetables for families whose farms have had a bad season.  That way they have enough food to get through the winter.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!”  says Magpie.  It sounds like the people of Pocket are kind and giving.  Maybe she has nothing to worry about!  “Where does that street go, across from the school?” she asks, pointing to the right.

“The house on the corner is actually a bakery, Tuffetto’s!  Mr. Tuffetto makes the best bread you’ve ever had, and his wife makes cakes and pastries, all different shapes and colours.  We always get our birthday cakes there.  Then at the back of the street, where all the blackberry bushes are, that’s the house where Farfalla lives.”  he says, without offering any further explanation.  “Ah, here we are!”  he adds, not giving Magpie a chance to ask about the mysterious Farfalla and her blackberries. 

Magpie can’t help but wonder why someone who is so happy to talk about the history of the town would be so mysterious about the abandoned house, and the woman named Farfalla…?

Thank you so much for listening.  Join me next week as we pursue our adventure and read Chapter 3 of Meadow Lane and the Skylark Bell, where Magpie has an uncomfortable encounter with one of the locals, and learns that the people of Pocket may have reason not to trust strangers.  – Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe, you don’t want miss a thing! 

Before I go, I’d like to thank Phaeton Starling Publishing for this fantastically eerie story, and Cannelle Elanion for composing equally fantastic and eerie music for this podcast.

 

 

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