The Stanhope Trilogy, Book Two: Where America's Day Begins: The Further Adventures and Misadventures of Two Very Misplaced Southern Girls

By Patti O'Donoghue

Cecilia Anne Celia Stanhope and co-conspirator Regina Goldie OBrien are at it again! Theyre back in Sandy Run, North Carolina, and Celia learns that her dead parents left a trust fund of more than one hundred thousand dollarsa detail that her guardian, the Air Force Captain Anita Carter, failed to mention.

Trouble is Celia is eighteen years old and supposed to wait until shes twenty-one to get the money! Does she want to wait? Will her aunt terminate the trust early? You guessed it, no.

Celia cooks up a plan to get her aunt to release the trust funds. But where to go? The girls spin the globe and settle on a tiny dot in the western Pacific Ocean, Guam, USA, as the place. Now the girls have the place and soon Celia will have the money.

Mix in discovery, treasure and tales of shipwreck--and Celia's belief that treasure is sitting in the sand and waitingfor them to find it--and you'll see how very misplaced these two southern girls can get!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 27, 2007
• ISBN: 9781456724276

Patti O'Donoghue

Patti O'Donoghue launched her first book, The Stanhope Trilogy, Book One, Celia, in spring 2006. She continues the adventures of Celia and Goldie in Where Americas Day Begins. Ms. ODonoghue holds an advanced SCUBA rating which she received at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Her diving experiences include sites in the tropical waters of Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Ponape and the islands of Palau. She has explored wrecks of ships and aircraft of World War Two that can still be found in the waters off these western Pacific Islands. Fact and fiction of numerous wrecks have fed her imagination to create the Trilogy stories. Ms. ODonoghue has served as Director of Public Information at Mount Olive College, Mount Olive, NC and as President of the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce. Her writing and photography have appeared in magazines and newspapers. Her husband's 33-year Air Force career took the family to Germany, Turkey, Guam and bases in the United States. Patti and Greg ODonoghue are the parents of five children and the servants of one cat, Miss Kitty.

Book preview

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PROLOGUE

My name is Cecilia Anne Stanhope, Celia to my friends. I’m eighteen years old now, but this story began when I was thirteen. Then my parents died, and I had to go to Germany to live with my aunt, Air Force Captain Anita Carter. As you can guess, I wanted to stay in eastern North Carolina, where I’d lived my whole life.

My mother was the beautiful, red-haired Amelia Anne Carter Stanhope, who left the big city of Raleigh, North Carolina, to marry my father, Randolph William Stanhope, and live in the woodland community of Stanhope’s Mill. They owned an import/export business and traveled in a two-seater airplane. One day, the plane crashed and that was pretty much the end of my life, too.

Oh, there are other people who love me and wanted me to stay in North Carolina and live with them, like Mr. Henry, the editor of The Journal, and his wife, Miss Emily, and the Southerlands. Mildred Southerland was the librarian at the Sandy Run Library at the time, and her husband, Mr. Jonathan, still is the town’s mayor.

But you know how some adults are. They don’t listen to what you want, and they make decisions for you. My aunt said I had to go with her. She said she had an obligation. I can tell you that she did not like me, and I did not like her, either.

My leaving broke Henrietta’s heart, because she’d been with the Stanhope family her whole life. She even took care of my daddy when he was little. I had to leave my best friend, Cynthia, and my school and the neighborhood dogs and the turtles and frogs and fish in the lake and my canoe and my golf cart and the wild blueberries in the secret place in the woods.

I had to leave before I could find out what happened to my friend, Mark. (I’ll tell you a secret: I think my daddy had Mark murdered because of something he did to Cynthia and me.) Mr. Henry says that Mark’s family just moved away, but I could not find out about it for sure. Mark disappeared. No one would tell me anything, and I think Mr. Henry said what he said so I would not worry over it.

Anyway, I did move to Germany and became an air force kid, which turned out to be a really good thing. What was not so good was the trouble I got into. My daddy and mother tried to teach me about the consequences of doing something before I thought it through, but somehow, that lesson never got into my brain.

When I went to Germany, I cried a lot, because I missed my parents and my home. Things got better when I met Regina O’Brien at the pool. I finally had a new friend. I called her Goldie, because she had long, blond hair and sparkled in her yellow bathing suit. She called me Cee.

What a pair we were; me, with my curly auburn hair and freckles splashed across my nose, and the golden one with the long legs who liked everyone—and I mean everyone. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a tad on the shy side. We did everything together, which included the getting-into-trouble part.

I won’t go into the awful details here, but you might as well know that we got into so much trouble that we both got sent back stateside—kicked out is what happened.

Goldie’s dad worried about his career, so he sent her to live with her grandmother in Goldsboro, North Carolina. My aunt had the same worries, but her finding me in her boyfriend Michael’s bedroom is what did it. Now I know what you think, but I did not do anything bad. Stupid, yes. Bad, no.

Do you think my aunt would listen to one thing I had to say? Not a chance. On top of that, Michael told her it was my fault! And she believed him. Of course.

So here I am in Sandy Run, North Carolina. I live with Miss Mildred and Mr. Jonathan. Miss M is now the librarian at Stanhope College, and I work there to help earn my keep. Goldie and I are freshmen at the college, and she works part time at the library, too.

There’s more. I found out that my parents left a trust fund and my lawyer, Mr. Paul Dudley, says that there is more than one hundred thousand dollars in the trust. I have to wait until I turn twenty-one to get the money! I’m thinking that I need the money now.

My aunt is the trustee of the funds, which means she has control of the money. Do you think she will give it to me now if I ask? No, I don’t, either. She’s gonna make me wait for sure.

But I have a plan, and Goldie and I decided today where we are headed when I get my hands on one hundred thousand dollars: Guam, USA. Why Guam? Read on and you’ll find out.

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CHAPTER 1

THE PLAN

Guam, Celia whispered.

Guam? Goldie whispered back.

That’s it, Celia answered. Sure enough, Celia’s finger had stopped the globe’s spin on the tiny speck in the western Pacific Ocean. Her thoughts drifted back to Ramstein Junior High School in Germany, when she was so in love with Joseph. All she wanted to do was live on his island of Guam. A strange turn of events, Celia thought.

I’m not sure I want to go there, Goldie said a tad louder. Several of the Stanhope College Library regulars looked up. One shushed them.

Look, Celia retorted, we agreed. I close my eyes and you spin the globe. I point my finger and stop the globe. Where it stops, that’s where we go. I am, in fact, touching Guam. And, it’s my money. I should be able to say where we’re going.

‘It’s my money, it’s my money.’ Is that all I’m going to hear on this great adventure?

No, of course not, Celia said, sorry she’d made any reference to the money her dead parents had left in the trust fund. The commotion caused the librarian, Mildred Southerland, to leave the circulation desk and head in their direction.

Whoops, Celia whispered, here comes Miss M. Are we going to Guam or not?

Okay, okay, Guam it is, Goldie whispered back. Come on, let’s look it up. They dodged around the table to the reference section and grabbed the G World Book, with the librarian on their heels.

Are you two on your breaks? Miss Mildred asked.

No, ma’am, I’m helping Goldie with some research, Celia said. Celia and Goldie, freshmen at Stanhope, worked part-time in the college library under the supervision of the librarian.

Miss Mildred could have retired years ago, but she didn’t, because Dr. Webber, the college president, needed her. The college needed her. Most of all, the students needed her. And, besides, she reigned as queen in the library, and that suited Miss Mildred just fine.

Is this for an assignment?

Yes, ma’am, Goldie said.

We’ll get to the book truck in a minute, Celia said as she scooted two chairs together. The librarian appeared satisfied and walked back to the desk.

They flipped past gems, Germany, grafting, Great Britain and Greece.

Here it is! Goldie whispered. Look how close it is to the equator. It’s gonna be hot! And it’s so, well, so small. They call it ‘where America’s day begins.’ I wonder what that means.

I know a lot of this stuff already, Celia said.

How come? Goldie asked.

"There was a boy from Guam in my history class, eighth grade, Joseph. He told us that Guam is an American territory and is a day ahead of the mainland U.S. Therefore, ta-da, that’s where America’s day begins. We all thought that was so cool!

Did you know Joseph—kind of brown, coffee-colored skin? He was nice.

My boyfriend did, Goldie answered. Said he liked some bookworm drip. All the guys felt sorry for him. She must have been really ugly.

You’re looking at her. The bookworm drip, Celia said.

Oops. Goldie was quiet for a moment. Cee, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything.

Who cares, Celia said. It doesn’t matter, anymore. Look, look, look. It says they have typhoons. Joseph never talked about typhoons.

Let me read. Goldie grabbed the book. "It says in 1962 that ninety-five percent of the buildings on the island were destroyed by a typhoon. Oh my gosh, hot and windy. Look at this, ninety inches of rain a year! And wet.

What are we going to do when we get there? Goldie asked as she closed the volume on her hand to save their place.

Work, Celia said. We’re majoring in business, right? Plus, I can certainly pass as a librarian.

If they have a McDonald’s, I can get a job right away, Goldie said. Remember, that’s been my part-time job since I was old enough.

We’ll get jobs, easy, Celia agreed. All we have to do is get our hands on the trust fund and go.

How exactly do we get there?

Fly, I guess. A boat. What do I know? Stop asking me hard questions and get out of here before we get in trouble. Go do some work. Two professors glared in their best this-is-a-library-so-let’s-have-some-quiet looks.

A little noise in the library, big whoop, Goldie said. A table of students who were studying looked up. Okay, okay, I’m going. She headed toward the magazine room. Bye, now, she added. She wiggled her fingers at them.

Celia looked above her at the Reference Section sign and hoped that Miss Mildred would understand that it wasn’t her fault that Goldie was a little bit crazy. Anyway, she also needed to get on upstairs and shelve books where it was quieter and she could think.

What was going on, dear? Miss Mildred asked.

We got to talking about the paper she has to do, and we got silly. Sorry about that, Celia mumbled on her way past.

Upstairs, Celia returned books to their proper places on the shelves. She felt all trembly inside and wondered if Goldie did, too. Now we have a place to go, Celia thought. All I have to do is persuade Aunt Nita to terminate the trust fund and give me the money. Now. Not four years from now. Of course, how to do that presented a major stumbling block to the plan.

A book slipped from Celia’s grasp and crashed to the floor. She rubbed her hand along several pages, trying to undo the creases caused by the fall. Glossy color pictures highlighted the voyages of underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau’s research vessel, Calypso.

Cousteau and his divers seemed to float along underwater reefs and shipwrecks. They hung suspended among formations of fish. Their air bubbles ascended toward the shadows of hammerhead sharks. Time for a bathroom break, Celia thought as she tucked the book under her arm.

Inside the ladies room, Celia locked a stall and balanced her right foot on the commode to provide support for the book.

She read about how Calypso sailed all over the world and gathered scientific information about the oceans and its creatures. She read about how pollution turns colorful reefs a dull gray, like the rock-strewn surface of the moon. She read about crossing the equator and about scuba diving which Mr. Cousteau did before anyone knew what it was.

That’s what I call adventure, Celia thought. Maybe we can find a way to join Mister Cousteau. Maybe we can learn to do scuba. Maybe we can explore the reefs of Guam all by ourselves.

There must be gold doubloons and such out there in the ocean, Celia said out loud, just waiting for us to pick them up.

At that moment, Celia decided for about the hundredth time that they had to get more specific about the plan to get her money. She’d heard Dr. Webber, Stanhope College’s president, say more than once that things don’t just happen; they are made to happen.

How’re you gonna make it happen? Celia whispered to the walls of the restroom stall. "First I call Mr. Paul Dudley, my attorney. Have him write to Aunt Nita. Tell her I want my money. He will know how to word the letter.

He represents me. Not her. Right? Right! Celia danced out of the restroom. She’d made a decision, and did it feel good.

Watch out, world, she thought. We’re about to make a trip to Guam, USA, happen!

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CHAPTER 2

LIFE HAPPENS WHILE YOU WAIT

Celia figured Mr. Dudley knew what he was doing. He sent her a copy of his letter to her aunt. So why hadn’t they heard anything? She couldn’t stand it any longer. Need to write that letter myself, she thought.

Miss Mildred, she said in the library one afternoon, I think I ought to write Aunt Nita; kind of soften her up. About releasing the trust money, I mean.

Do you feel she needs softening, dear? Miss Mildred asked.

Yes, ma’am, I surely do, Celia insisted. Mr. Dudley wrote, and she’s not listening. ‘Course, that’s nothing new, but still …

Go ahead, Miss Mildred said. I’ll look it over when you’re finished, if you’d like. Celia wrote and rewrote until the letter sounded just right. She showed it to Goldie.

Did you remind her that you need a car? The Nova is dying on me. Goldie asked as she grabbed at the letter.

Don’t need any reminding, thank you very much, Celia said. She handed the letter to her friend.

Dear Aunt Anita,

I hope you are well and have gotten promoted and are still traveling a lot. You always liked to travel. Recently I’ve been thinking about the places that you took me while I lived with you. You have my deep appreciation for that, because I realize now that you wanted me to become a refined and