Dustin froze as his own eyes met this girl’s large, terrified, yet daring, chocolate brown eyes.

She reminded him of someone he’d loved…..and lost. Suddenly a flashback claimed him.  A slender, beautiful woman with laughing chocolate brown eyes…..identical to this girl’s eyes, and long, golden brown hair that streamed out behind her as she ran. She was pulling his hand as they raced through a lush, green meadow speckled with wild, yellow and purple flowers, and he couldn’t help laughing – her laughter was contagious. They came to halt at an overhang providing a widespread view
of a valley with scattered heifers grazing.

“Right there. There is where I want to build our house.” The lady said with an arch smile at her husband standing next to her, while pointing to a hilly incline around which the heifers were grazing contentedly. The young husbad smiled tenderly at his wife.

“We’ll have chickens…”

“And geese….”

“And heifers….”

“And horses!”

“And guineas….”

“And we’ll raise our family.” She finished with a smile overflowing with genuine joy.

He snapped back into reality and realized that he’d been staring at the girl for several minutes. For the first time, he noticed four kids behind the girl. A tall, red haired boy about 16, a shorter, dark haired boy with quizzical blue eyes and an infectious grin, a young girl with long, reddish brown hair and large, confused eyes, and a tall, chestnut brunette standing directly behind the girl glaring fiercely at
him.

Kyrie was extremely confused. Her father was standing smack-dab in front of her and
one moment he was angry, the other – well, she wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing now. He was just…staring at her. For no obvious reason. It was getting a little creepy. The look in his eyes wasn’t anger or fear that he’d be caught, but a look of remembrance. Like she reminded him of someone. Jill took a step closer and whispered into Kyrie’s ear,

“Ok, I don’t know about you, but this guy – even though he is your father – is Creeping.Me.Out.” She said stressing the last few words.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t think he’s angry right now though; matter-of-fact, I’m not exactly sure what mood he’s in.”

“Come on! He’s going to come out of this reverie he’s in and try and take those papers back!” Ed said grabbing Jill’s and Kyrie’s hand and racing in the opposite direction. Kyrie chanced a furtive glance behind her and noticed her father had indeed ‘snapped out of his reverie’ and was running after them.

Ed too had noticed and suddenly veered into an alley with Phil and Alec close behind.

“Ed! I don’t know if this is safe! Shouldn’t we just head home?” Jill yelled as they raced down the alley.

“Well, do you want him to find out where we live and come take those papers back when we aren’t there to stop him?”

Jill exchanged a glance with Kyrie. With a sigh, Jill muttered “No, of course not.”

“In here!” Ed said suddenly slipping into an empty building with an old, wooden door hanging open by rusty hinges. They all were bent over double trying to regain their breath from their exhausting run.

Kyrie straightened up and looked around. “Hmm….” She murmured as she scrutinized the dilapidated building; part of it looked like it’d been partly burnt years ago. As her friends were discussing how and where to hide the newspapers, she noticed an old iron door that was probably immovable in its day.

Carefully she pushed it open. With a groan it swung open to reveal a large room with windows so high only eagles could look in. “Wow….” She breathed in awe. The room was empty except for a couple old, broken chairs and a few metal file cabinets against the wall in the corner. Spinning around slowly she gazed around her surroundings, until her attention was suddenly riveted on one particular wall.

“What in the world….” Drawn and written all over one wall, was dates and events in history. History of this town. “Ulysses S. Grant….1863….wait what?!” She gasped. Running her eyes over the wall, she picked out other famous names. Robert E. Lee. Amelia Earhart. Abraham Lincoln. Her eyes lighted upon one name in particular that arrested her immediate attention. Samuel A. Brink – Colonel in Civil War and Governor of Riverdale, born 1825, died 1915.

“Who is Samuel A. Brink? He is most certainly related to me, but how?”

“Kyrie? Kyrie! Where are you?” A multitude of voices joined in, echoing Jill’s call.

“In here guys! Come check this out!” She yelled back, her voice echoing loudly off the impenetrable stone walls. The sound of running feet accompanied her voice as everyone rushed in the massive room.

“Woah.”

“Wow.”

“Amazing.”

“Incredible.”

“What is this place?”

She smiled at their surprised and inquisitive faces that most certainly were identical to her own face when she entered this room.

“Good question guys. I have no idea what this place is, but look at this wall.” Four people crowded around her staring at the wall in undisguised surprise. “There are names and dates of people who have passed through this town or lived in this town hundreds of years ago. Look at this one name.”She said pointing to Samuel A. Brink – Colonel and Mayor.

“Is he one of your ancestors?” Ed asked curiously.

“I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure he is, but why haven’t I ever heard of him? Wouldn’t my family be proud of the fact that one of our ancestors was a Mayor AND a Colonel?” Kyrie said with a frown creasing her forehead.

“That’s a good point. If we had someone famous in our genealogy, I know I’d want to share that! I’d be proud of the fact.” Alec said in agreement.

“What if he was famous, but something or someone later destroyed his good reputation because they were jealous of him and hated his stance of fame?” Jill asked. Kyrie sighed.

“Hey! Maybe we can find something about any of these people in those old, rusty cabinets over there.” Ed said energetically.

Phil had been very quiet in the last few minutes, but now she spoke up. “What if they don’t know?” Every head turned toward her inquisitively. Phil saw their confusion and sighed. “I mean, what if his story of fame and heroism was forgotten or regarded as a tall tale, so it was passed down – but only as a story?”

Kyrie stared at Phil for a second, then her eyes widened. “I remember Aunt Clara telling me a story about a young man whose parents died, and he had no ties left to bind him to home, so he left and joined the army.” She furrowed her brow again, but eventually sighed. “I don’t remember any more of the story, but I can ask Aunt Clara to tell me the story when I get home. Oh no! Home! Aunt Clara doesn’t know where I am!”

“Oh, I meant to tell you. My Mom called me several minutes ago, and told us to have fun, but that your Aunt and Grandma had left town on an unexpected errand.”

Kyrie raised her eyebrow. “MY Aunt and Grandma? They NEVER go anywhere. Especially out of town. Wonder what happened…” She trailed off.

“Don’t worry. It’s ok. I’m sure nothing’s wrong; they probably just got a call from an old friend who’s nearby. Or something.” Jill added at the end after noticing Kyrie’s face.

“Oookkk. Let’s look in those file cabinets now.” Ed said attempting to dissolve Kyrie’s look of worry about the news of her Aunt’s and Grandma’s sudden, unexpected departure. He had been squirming impatiently for the last several minutes with the urge to explore the old files.

“Ok. Fine, Ed. Let’s look.” Phil said following Ed. At the statement that they were going to explore the old cabinets, Kyrie’s spirits rose a bit. She’d learned to tolerate – if not thoroughly enjoy – adventures after these past few adventures. Ed reached the files first
and opened the first drawer. Revealing tons of old, musty files…..with a few newer ones?

“What are you doing?” They all spun around, Ed with his hand still on the drawer handle, to face a tall slender girl with a head full of raven black hair and astonishingly blue eyes – furious eyes with a tinge of surprise and fear, facing them with her hands angrily on her hips.”