House of Swallows

By Jack Forge

Young Lisa Tavenor is upset at leaving her lifelong home in southern California. But her distress turns to excitement when she finds the house her parents bought for their new home in northern California is occupied by barn swallows. Fond of wild animals, Lisa worries the swallows will not be able to nest and raise their babies. Besides, she has to attend an unfamiliar school where Brittany Sample dislikes her. On top of everything else, Lisa's parents have a personal problem. Burdened by such difficulties, Lisa focuses on protecting the birds, so she persuades her father to make a shelter for them. Consequently, Lisa becomes a minor celebrity among her school mates. But Brittany is jealous. Consequently, Lisa faces a dire conflict with her rival and a calamity with the swallows that challenges the character of the two girls.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Forge
• Release date: May 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458188182

Jack Forge

Born John Stephen Rohde in Los Angeles, California, I focused my academic study on the liberal arts and I have striven to create worthy art most of my life.

Book preview

House of Swallows

A Tale of Youth

by

Jack Forge

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 John Stephen Rohde

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment. It may not be re-sold or given to others. If you want to share this book, please buy a copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book but did not buy it, please go to Smashwords.com and buy a copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Chapters

Chapter 1: Departure

Chapter 2: Arrival

Chapter 3: Houseguests

Chapter 4: The Shed and the Pond

Chapter 5: Battle of the Swallows

Chapter 6: Queen of the Campus

Chapter 7: A Place of Their Own

Chapter 8: Building It Right

Chapter 9: Vigil

Chapter 10: Sudden Fame

Chapter 11: Family Affairs

Chapter 12: Intruder in the Night

Chapter 13: Suspicion

Chapter 14: Accusation

Chapter 15: Suspension

Chapter 16: The Samples

Chapter 17: The Phone Call

Chapter 18: Another Chance

Chapter 19: Visitor in the Light

Chapter 20: The Pond

Chapter 1

Departure

Lisa Tavenor was sick about leaving her home in Los Angeles. She had always considered the place a part of her and going away from it was like losing a big piece of her life. As her father's car traveled the bleak interstate highway out of southern California, she was sitting in the backseat and dwelling on this major upheaval. She had been born in that small house in Sherman Oaks and had lived there for all of her twelve years. Lisa had tried every tactic she could think of to stop the move. When her father had first mentioned the idea, she had shown disapproval with her best eye-rolling scoff. When her parents had been making the plans, she had bewailed the complete loss of her social life and subsequent personal ruin. She had even feigned illness, not a false action, since the thought of moving away from home made her feel like throwing up into the packing boxes. The twelve-year-old girl wondered how her mother and father could consider themselves good parents, if they were actually going to tear the family out by the roots and transplant it in some godforsaken town hundreds of miles into unknown territory. Such an upsetting event could ruin her mental and physical well-being. Didn't they know that? Surely, they must have read a magazine article in a doctor's office somewhere about the need for stability in the days and nights of a child. How could they be so insensitive! What a calamity!

When the loaded moving van had left, and Lisa's mother, father, and older brother were walking out of the empty house to the car, the girl thought seriously of protesting: sitting down in the middle of the living room floor and refusing to budge. She considered staying there until they returned all the furniture, food, clothes, and toys to their right and proper places in her home. Yes. Her own personal sit-down strike. Then they would see how important the place was to her and they would have to change their minds. When they would call to her from the car, she would remain in the house, silent and still as a statue. When they would return to find her teary-eyed and cross-legged on the old beige carpet, they would finally get her point and apologize all over the place. They would embrace her then gladly move back into their home where they belonged. All would be well.

Lisa waited for them to call to her. She halted at the door and listened but heard nothing except the engine firing. Peeking out the window, she saw her mother and father talking in the car and her brother, Erik, in the backseat bobbing to noise screaming out of his headphones. Even Digger the Dog was sitting next to Erik, unbothered by the shrieking and staring straight ahead the way he always did when excited about a car trip anywhere, anytime, with anyone in the family. They were ready to go and expected her to join them without a doubt that she was immediately coming, so eager were they to leave and anxious to get to their new home in northern California.

Eventually the girl realized she could not disappoint them and to her immense woe would have to sacrifice her beloved domestic security for the good of the family. Her father had finally landed a job teaching English at the state university, a job he had wanted for years. She would leave her childhood home for him most of all, a sacrifice for which she knew he would always be grateful. By going along with the move, Lisa figured she would become a bigger person and would have something to bargain with one day when she needed it.

While leaving the San Fernando Valley on that hot spring day, out of respect for the receding southland, she spoke not a word until the car had crested the Tejon Pass and was descending into the great central valley beyond the San Gabriel Mountains. In her mind she said farewell to long summer days, turquoise pools, crowded beaches, girlfriends and boyfriends, exciting city life, and even the dense smog that made such pretty sunsets. Not until the car had been cruising steadily on the interstate and she had settled into a reluctant acceptance of the situation did she finally open up with questions about their new residence in northern California. So what's so special about this place we're moving to? she asked with poorly concealed petulance.

Her mother, a woman who appeared always to be smiling regardless of her mood, started to respond then looked at her husband, knowing he would want to tell his daughter about it in his own way. Sebastopol is a pretty little town in Sonoma county, Lisa, he said, surrounded by apple orchards, vineyards, and dairy farms. The climate is coastal, and there's quick and easy access to the beaches.

Lisa had a strong urge to make fun of her father's tour-guide description, but his last word diverted her thoughts. Beaches! she nearly shouted. They have beaches in northern California. I thought all they have is fog and rain.

Yes, they have lots of that, even a little snow once in a while.

A little. How come? Lisa asked. In LA we have lots of snow--in the mountains. Plus a little rain. And that place is way farther north. Who wants a lot of rain anyway, especially without snow?

Robert Tavenor was a patient man, well seasoned by his daughter's relentless barrage of challenging statements and questions. He had encouraged her inquisitive mind, so he was destined to live with the consequences of raising a bright and curious girl. You'll love our house, Lisa. It's in the countryside--used to be part of a farm.

She could not complain about this news for she loved animals, especially wild ones, and always regretted being limited in the city to the usual pet dog, cat, bird, or fish. She had been locally renowned for her interest and affection for fellow creatures. Whenever she had the choice of subject for school assignments, she always made pictures of animals or wrote about them. Her brother, Erik the Alien, as she called him, made fun of her in turn by calling her Mother Goose, but she was not bothered by the name even though she yelled at him for it, if for no other reason than to keep alive their rivalry. Some of her school mates had picked up the silly nickname and called her that too, but strangely she did not really mind hearing it from them either. Instead of raising a ruckus, she showed merely mild bemusement.

Erik had christened her Mother Goose after she had singlehandedly taken on the responsibility of watching over a brood of newly hatched goslings until old enough to fly. The day they took flight from the lake behind the Sepulveda dam and circled the park was a day even more memorable to her than the day she saw the movie star, Mark Stone, at Malibu Beach. That day had held a sacred place in her memory; that is, until she found out he was going to betray her by marrying someone else. The geese were better to remember, for they would never let her down, so she kept them in her heart and watched for them in the sky whenever she went to the park. Lisa liked to visit that large synthetic oasis in the middle of the Sepulveda flood control basin, especially whenever she needed to be alone with wild things, but she had to admit that it was not as satisfying as a truly natural habitat. I wish it was still a farm, she said about the new place to which they were headed. Digger and I would like lots of land. She hugged the mutt, and he slapped her face with his tongue.

What, dear? her mother asked.

Our new home. As long as we're moving to the sticks we may as well do it right and move to a big farm way out in the country with lots of open land around it.

Susan Tavenor looked at her husband to see if he wanted to respond. When he merely glanced at her and grinned, she knew the signal for her to take it from there. Our house is practically in the country, she said, but if it were way out in the sticks, your father would have to commute too far to work. Being a graphic designer, Susan, actually favored her daughter's notion. She could enjoy a touch of country life since she had access to the internet wherever she lived in the world, even though she lacked her daughter's hands-on affection for the other creatures. Don't worry, honey, I think you're going to love the place, she said with her characteristic smile. While it's not quite brand new, no one has lived in it since it was built. It's a big two-story house. You and Erik will have your own rooms. And there is a huge backyard with apple trees and a pond.

Lisa put other pluses into her mental notebook about their new home. She loved apples and anything made with apples: juice, sauce, dumplings, bettys, fritters, turnovers, and especially pie. And the image of a pond sounded wonderfully wild to a city girl. Maybe the new place would not be so bad after all, but there was the problem of the new school. She had always been slow to make new friends. Although an attractive girl, Lisa was no beauty and lacked the effervescent personality of other girls in her classes, so she was quite apprehensive about meeting new kids. The thought of it actually made her downright queasy.

As the car hurtled up the featureless interstate highway that bisects the length of California, Lisa reeled her new home through her imagination. Because she was bound for the place anyway, she decided to put a rose-colored filter on her mind. She saw a mansion on a hill approached by a long winding treelined driveway. A huge swimming pool with a waterslide. A big tree touching her bedroom window so she could sneak out on warm nights to meet the handsome boy who lived next door. He, being the most popular guy in school, would usher her into the most desirable and enviable clique. The student body would elect her class president and prom queen. Now even Lisa knew her picture was becoming too rosy, but she laid her head back, closed her eyes, and let her mind drift into the extravagant daydream. So engrossed was she that not even the loud insect-like noises issuing from the Alien's earphones bothered her. Moving to Sebastopol might be better than she had expected, far better. She was so transformed by fantasy and her basic optimism that she could now barely wait to see her new home. Still, she did not imagine what awaited them there.

Chapter 2

Arrival

Sebastopol is a charming little town about fifty miles north of San Francisco and ten miles from the Pacific Ocean. As a village it had formerly been a center for a community of dairy farmers and apple ranchers. Toward the end of the twentieth century, people discovered it as a likely place to retire. During an economic boom that soon followed, clutches of young technical wizards moved into the town as into many coastal towns and cities from San Diego to Canada. The newcomers bought agricultural land for housing, and the whole place shot up the scale of property value, as happened in many other cities. Developers built commercial and residential buildings like pioneers on a gold rush, quickly increasing the quantity of single-family dwellings, even past the bursting of the boom bubble. Because of the rupture and subsequent deflation, the Tavenors could buy one of these dwellings for a reduced price. Robert and Susan were thrilled to be able to get a house for about a third of a million dollars, a rare price in the golden state.

They had planned to move in during the next summer but were so excited about Robert's new job and their new home that he persuaded the Pearson College president to release him so he could move his family in April. They knew from having lived in California all their lives that April would be the best month for the change of residence. Beautiful weather. Not yet hot. Everything still green and flowering. Mindful of the children, they wanted them to see their new house in the best light.

When Robert cut off I-5 toward San Francisco, and they rolled through mile after mile of hills green and resplendent with poppies and lupine, he and Susan saw the scenery as boding well for their migration. Lisa liked wildflowers and always looked forward to spring trips out of the city to picnic in green grassy hills aglow with blankets of the little golden cups. She was a city girl but the spirit of the country dwelt in her veins like sap dormant in a young sycamore tree. So as the car progressed more and more into the northern part of the state, almost another world in contrast to the Southland as media people there call it, Lisa's sadness and resentment fell away from her. A hint of her mother's perpetual smile crept into the corners of her own mouth. Even before realizing it, she was looking forward to seeing the new territory. An adventurous girl, her hazel irises glowed when she saw an opportunity for discovery. She was herself getting more and more eager to lay eyes on the new place. How far is it, daddy? she asked with none of the former petulance in her tone.

Thinking she might be getting ready to complain, though, he stiffened. Not far now, Lisa. We should be there soon after sunset.

Sunset. It would be dark when they got there, she thought. She would not be able to look the place over carefully to make sure it was worthy of being her new home for the indefinite future. Are we going to sleep there tonight?

That's the plan, he said, stretching.

"Want me to