The One Great Gnome

The One Great Gnome — page 5 — what Lily was having for breakfast but made herself think of something else Can I explore what’s around she asked her dad as she brought her empty cereal bowl to the sink Well I don’t have to worry about you being run down by a taxi here said her father Go ahead I’ll just be alone in here unpacking all by myself Sarah ran upstairs and found her clothes in the second box she opened After getting dressed she came down the creaking steps again and went out the front door The fog had lifted and she could see the yard a bit more easily Although her parents had wanted her to come while they were looking Sarah didn’t see the house until they moved in the day before She had hoped that if she didn’t go see the house maybe the move wouldn’t happen That didn’t work out Sarah hopped onto the gravel driveway and followed it to where it met the road At the mailbox she looked left and saw nothing but trees and the road twisted around a bend and out of sight She looked right and saw a newer house across the street Sarah wondered if a girl close to her age lived there Sarah turned around and got a good look at the outside of her own house It was big and it looked as though it had been around a long time It reminded her of the farmhouses she had seen in her mother’s books but this one didn’t look nearly as nice It was three stories tall and seemed to have 5

The One Great Gnome — page 6 — once been painted white but the paint was all cracked and flaky The few shutters she could see hung at strange angles Sarah looked up at the roof many of the shingles had fallen off Her mother had told her the house needed work but it had good bones Sarah wasn’t so sure She ran around back There was a long stone wall and she jumped on top of it Instantly the rock she was on started to slide and she barely got back to the ground without falling She made a mental note not to do that again The yard seemed enormous to Sarah When she lived in Manhattan and wanted to run around Sarah’s mother would take her and Lily to Central Park which is a huge park right in the middle of the city No need to do that here This backyard was already like a park She counted at least four giant trees that she thought she could climb And one even had a big branch to hang a swing from She would have to tell her dad about that one As Sarah continued to look around she saw a smaller house attached to the side of the main house Her dad had said it was called a bungalow and was used as a guest house or as a place for a caretaker to live It was in just as bad shape as the main house Then Sarah noticed something at the far side of the yard It looked like another house but it was tiny and almost all covered up with ivy It looked like the vines had tried to swallow it whole Sarah went closer The building was about eight feet wide and about ten feet long One side was a wall of windows which were mostly broken Sarah guessed it was 6

The One Great Gnome — page 7 — a potting shed She had never seen one in person but she had read about them in her mother’s magazines Farmers used them to store supplies and to grow plants in early spring when it was still too cold outside There was a door on one end and Sarah pulled at the handle As the door opened it groaned as if it had rusted in place but Sarah opened it just enough so she could climb inside She knew her mother wouldn’t like her playing near the broken glass so she was glad her mother had already gone to work Sarah looked around No doubt about it It was a potting shed There were ceramic planters all over the floor mostly broken an old twisted shovel and even what looked like some very old packages of seeds Sarah picked up a silver stake with a handle on it It reminded her of a tiny sword and still looked sharp It had two stars and a moon carved into its side Maybe it was a weeding tool She put it back on the ground There was a rickety counter in one corner of the shed It was mostly covered with dirt and some broken glass but Sarah noticed something on top half-buried in dirt She gently lifted off some pieces of glass and brushed it clean It was a small oval-shaped picture frame no bigger than the palm of her hand She rubbed the front of it against her jeans and looked at it It was a photograph of two people standing in front of a house Sarah looked carefully and noticed that the house looked just like her house except new The man was dressed like a farmer with overalls and tall boots and his face was covered with a big bushy black beard But even through all that hair Sarah could see he had a kind face The 7

The One Great Gnome — page 8 — woman next to him was probably his wife She had her hair pulled back tightly and wore a simple dress with an apron It reminded Sarah of one of her favorite books Little House on the Prairie Sarah turned the frame over and saw some handwriting on the back It was written in cursive and was very loopy like the way her grandmother wrote when she sent Sarah letters It was hard to make out Sarah squinted like she did when she was trying to concentrate really hard Otis Gregory Grimwald and Lavenia Sally Grimwald she read You don’t hear names like that every day Sarah thought they must have been the people who built the farm Her house had been their house and this potting shed was probably where Lavenia started the plants from seeds Sarah tucked the frame into the soft pocket of her sweatshirt Her mom and dad would love to see this Sarah was just turning to leave when something caught her eye It looked like a little gray shoe that was sticking out from under an overturned planter Sarah carefully lifted the planter and laid it aside The shoe was part of a statue It looked like a little elf or gnome made out of stone He was about three feet tall and dressed in a suit and on his head was a pointed hat Sarah had seen these in her mother’s books They were garden statues that people put in their yards for good luck Why hello there said Sarah as she carefully stood him up You don’t look too happy do you she asked as she wiped the dust off of his face with her sleeve She was right 8

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