Door in the Tree

Chapter 1: Hide-and-Seek Alice ran as fast as she could, up the hill, away from the stump where Mary was counting aloud, with her hands covering her eyes. William, meanwhile, scrambled into the undergrowth along the side of the forest track and, at a distance from him, a flash of white marked where Spot was bounding away from the block, his tail wagging as he tried not to bark with excitement.It was a bright spring day with a breeze blowing. It shook the branches of the trees and made them sway and move above Alice's head, clattering and swishing. Reaching the cover of a clump of gorse bushes, she paused, gasping for breath, and looked around her. The first green buds had opened along the hedgerows and primroses, wild daffodils and violets pushed up through the moss and dead leaves that covered the bank on which she crouched.Across the valley, through a gap in the forest, she could just see the top of the dovecote in the kitchen garden and beyond it, the roof and chimneys of Golden House. The familiarity of the view made her feel at home. Although this was only her second visit to the place, she already knew the lay of the land. There was something comforting about recognizing landmarks, she thought. It meant that you couldn't get lost. William was so pompous about having the compass, but really all you needed was to use your eyes.Down below, Mary's voice rose in volume as she neared "a hundred." Alice pulled back behind the gorse bushes and crouched lower, waiting, with her heart pounding. She hadn't actually wanted to play hide-and-seek, in fact she thought it a complete waste of time, but now that they'd started, she couldn't help getting caught up in the game.It was the first day of the Easter holidays, or rather, it was the first day of their visit to Golden House. All three children had spent Easter weekend with friends in London and then come on by train, via Bristol, the day before.Phoebe had been waiting for them at the station and they'd driven back through the early evening haze, reaching the house as the last light finally drained from the sky and darkness settled over the valley.Jack had been in the kitchen washing his hands at the sink when they'd come in and Spot had appeared from nowhere, rushing toward them, barking and licking and jumping with such enthusiasm that he'd knocked Alice off her feet and then landed on top of her, covering her face with his wet tongue while she happily screamed and protested.Stephanie, who'd been sleeping in her cot, had been woken by all this commotion and joined in with a strong bellowing so that the whole house, which a moment before had been silent, echoedand reverberated with noise."Oh, Lord!" Jack had yelled, covering his ears and laughing. "You're back! I'd forgotten how noisy you brats can be!" and he'd pushed Spot off Alice and yanked her up on to her feet and given her a hug.Later he'd gone with them up to their rooms at the top of the spiral staircase above the great hall and he'd sat on Mary's bed and talked while they unpacked. He was full of all the work he'd been doing on the house and all the surprises he'd found; "The cellars and the attics and bits of old junk and goodness knows what else," he'd told them excitedly. But they hadn't really been listening to him. They'd wanted to be on their own, to savor the pleasure of being back. They hadn't even wanted to share the moment between themselves. They'd each wished that they were entirely alone so that. they could hug themselves and run to the window and look out or lie on the bed and stare up at the steeply pitched ceilings of their rooms, with the dark wooden beams and cobwebs and white, flaking plasterwork.Then Phoebe had called them down and they'd had supper round the kitchen table and everyone had started to talk at the same time about what had been happening to them since they were last together. They'd eaten thick bean soup, followed by vegetabCorlett, William is the author of 'Door in the Tree' with ISBN 9780743410021 and ISBN 0743410025.