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Show CHAPTER VI - kl - These were busy days at Gaven House. Everything was in a constant turmoil. As soon as the old school bus reached the mailbox, after school, the girls jumped out, checked for mail and then raced up the road towards the house. With the help of Maddie and a local girl who lived near San Bruno Avenue, Athena supervised the bottling of peaches, pears and apricots. The smells of plum, strawberry and blueberry jams permeated the big old kitchen, escaped and spread throughout the house. Placed on the kitchen table, and on any available space, were all the various jars of jams cooling. Soon they would be taken downstairs to the basement and placed upon the shelves above the wine barrels. Lining the basement walls, on hooks, were long bags of spices of every kind. They were put into various savory Greek dl3hes that Athena was teaching Maddie to prepare. Also, Penny and Vicky : must be there on Saturday afternoons to make certain that their training in the preparation of these traditional receipes were kept up-to-date. Maddie was so busy with the bottling that she had not mentioned a word about her promise to tell the girls what she knew about the ghost. As time went on, they wondered if she was deliberately ignoring them. Also, Claudine seemed to have completely disappeared. Whether it was because of the hustle and bustle around the house, they didn't know. "Do you suppose she'll ever come back?" asked Vicky. "It's been weeks Bince we saw her in the attic." "I don't know," replied Penny. "We'll just have to wait and see." Well, it wasn't Maddie that told them more of the ghost of Gaven House. They were out by the gazebo one afternoon and they could feel fall in the air. The dense fog was starting to roll in from the ocean. The roses and lilacs were long gone, but the Pyracamthas were still ablaze. |
