Gypsies and Owls and Lemon Twists: A Katie Minerva Adventure

By L. K. Quinque

Katie Minerva, a curious young girl growing up in the village of Sumneytown in the late 1800s, once again finds herself caught up in adventure and thrust into an enchanted place where things are not always as they seem.

This time, after buying her favorite lemon twists from Bindlehofs Grocery, Katie meets a tree full of owls on one of her fishing excursions along the Ratty Fly. These owls inform her that one of her lemon twists isnt what she thinks it is, and when a magical wind steals it away, Katie knows they must be telling the truth. Now the town believes that the owls are bringing everyone bad luck. Meanwhile, a mysterious gypsy woman is also searching for the magical spiral that is not a lemon twist, and only time will tell if Katie can keep the promise that she made to the owls.

In this fantasy tale, one adventurous girl sets out to solve her towns problem of bad luck, assist a group of owls, and retrieve a magical item from a strange gypsy woman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Aug 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781480833821

L. K. Quinque

L. K. Quinque is a retired office worker, wife, world traveler, and mother of two daughters, four grandchildren, and one fat cat. This is the second Katie Minerva Adventure set in the mystical village of Sumneytown, Quinque’s hometown.

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Copyright © 2016 L. K. Quinque.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-3381-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-3382-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910876

Archway Publishing rev. date: 08/05/2016

CONTENTS

The Katie Minerva Adventures Series

The Dream Weaver

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Part 2

The Caravan

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

THE KATIE MINERVA ADVENTURES SERIES

The Dream Weaver

To my husband, Otto, always there with his love and support in whatever I choose to do.

To the village of Sumneytown, the backdrop for Katie’s adventures, a great place to grow up. Forgive me for taking liberties with some of the locations and names. It’s still a mystical place to me.

CHAPTER

1

K ATIE MINERVA WIGGLED HER BARE toes in the cool, creamy mud along the bank of the Ratty Fly, behind her house in Sumneytown, as she studied the line of her fishing pole and waited for the slightest nibble beneath the soupy, brown water. It had rained cats and dogs the day before. Usually after a rain she had good luck, but not this morning. Not one nibble. Sighing, she lifted her line, throwing it farther out into the stream as she shoved her feet deeper into the muddy area in front of the rock she was sitting on. Her shoes sat discarded to one side, her stockings trailing from their tops and a gaping hole visible in the one.

As much as Katie loved summer, by the time the middle of August rolled around, she had pretty much exhausted herself doing all the things she sat in school dreaming about during the long winter days following Christmas vacation. The colorless landscape of snow that hung around most of the winter was always fun, and school was good. It helped that her problems with arithmetic seemed to be working themselves out. The school library was a lifesaver. Katie loved to read.

Delphinia, Delly for short, Katie’s best and oldest friend, had been visiting her grandparents in another town for the last month and would be home in about a week. Katie missed her. Asia, her new friend, was back home with her parents, who were home from an archaeological site for the summer. Asia was happy to be with her parents, if only for a short time. And Steely, the boy she fished with in the summer, was busy working on his dad’s farm a good deal of the time. Then there was Josephine—Josie—Katie’s other friend. Katie liked to spend time with her, but playing with dolls was definitely not one of Katie’s fun things to do, and Josie spent a good deal of her time with her growing doll collection. Egads!

Katie looked across the stream and through the trees to the sun and realized it was getting close to lunch and she had better be getting home. Katie’s mother needed to go to Mr. Bindlehof’s to deliver her fruit pies and pick up groceries. She would need Katie’s help with the delivery.

The grocery store was in the middle of town, and Katie could usually find excuses to visit the candy counter when she was in the area. The huge, shiny glass jars were lined up on the counter with their rainbows of colors glistening inside. The lemon twists were to die for, and Katie couldn’t resist them. The shoelace licorice came in a close second. Katie sighed as she thought about her sweet tooth. Mr. Bindlehof would wink at her and drop an extra piece in her bag when she paid him. It was a good thing, Katie’s mother said, that Katie was an active young girl. Between penny candy and her mother’s cakes and pies, she certainly satisfied her sweet tooth. Katie’s mother liked the grocer; she said he was a kind man. He was generous to a fault with most of the kids in town who came in for their favorite candies and slipped the extra piece in all of their bags. He had no children of his own and seemed to enjoy the visits of children to his store.

Another sigh escaped into the quiet scene along the stream as Katie slid her feet from the mud and retrieved her line. The water felt cool as she swirled her feet in the soupy liquid to wash the mud from between her toes. Nothing was better than being barefoot in the summer. Sitting on a rock near the edge, Katie wiped her feet with her petticoat, leaving a slight brown stain, and stepped stocking free into her shoes. Then she headed home, her stockings trailing from her pocket.

CHAPTER

2

T HE BELL ABOVE THE FRONT door made heads turn as Katie and her mom entered the store. Business was brisk, Katie noticed, as they headed to the counter in the back. She didn’t waste any time. There was no doubt where she was going. The glass jars seemed even bigger and better as Katie walked past them, touching the smooth surfaces with her finger. There were some interesting-looking new candies in a couple of jars, but Katie didn’t stop till she got to the bright-yellow twisted sticks in one particular jar.

Katie’s mother brought her fruit pies to Mr. Bindlehof once a week during the summer months to be sold in his store. Her fruit pies were well known. Katie’s father said there was a touch of magic in each one. Katie Minerva thought that was interesting; she knew something about magic.

Checking out the store was always fun, and the smells were inviting. Mr. Bindlehof had a little bit of everything. All canned goods were lined up perfectly on the shelves; baskets of fresh summer vegetables and fruits were displayed invitingly in front of the counter running along the left side of the store. Katie’s mother bought her material from the store to make curtains and dresses for Katie and herself. The rolls of bright materials had a special place in one corner of the store. There was even a section with pots, pans, dishes, and glassware. The different items were always displayed pleasingly. Katie, being artistic, had an eye for these things. Mrs. Bindlehof was the one who took care of such matters. Katie guessed she must be artistic as well.

Katie’s gaze was wandering to the jars of candy again when she heard a raised voice coming from behind her. A lady and a young boy were standing near the barrel of pickles by the counter in the back. The lady was scolding the boy, who had his finger in his mouth. Katie guessed he had tasted the briny liquid in the barrel. Yuck! Katie had no taste for those pickles. The lady was shaking her finger at his nose.

Horace, I have told you time and again you had better behave yourself, or the gypsies will come and take you away and put you to hard work in their gypsy camps.

Katie watched him as he looked at his mother, his finger hooked inside his mouth. He didn’t appear to be impressed by the warning. Maybe he had been told the same thing so often he just didn’t believe it.

Katie continued to watch as the lady finished her shopping, keeping her eye on the boy. They left the store, the lady muttering and shaking her head.

Katie smiled to herself. She saw the little boy in school from time to time. He