Chapter One
The year was 1993, and the weather that May 1st was beautiful: not a cloud in the sky, the air was pleasantly warm, flowers were blooming everywhere, and the birds were singing prettily in the trees. At the local apartment complex, there were ducks and swans gliding gracefully in the pond, and children were happily playing at the playground across the street.
Lying down on the porch of one of the townhouses was an old sheepdog. Normally, these springtime distractions would've had him bounding over to either chase the birds or join in with the children. But at this time of day, the time where the sun was halfway between noon and fully setting, he knew to sit and wait for his friend to get home. So he continued to sit and wait until the light-tan 1986 Honda Accord pulled into the driveway next door. He raced over to the car barking as a young brown-haired girl of twenty-two years got out of the driver's seat and opened the trunk to grab her groceries.
Seeing her dog come bounding over, Sarah smiled and threw her arms around his next.
"Hey, Merlin!" she laughed as the dog proceeded to lather her face with big wet kisses, "Okay, okay, stop! I missed you, too." After getting Merlin to calm down Sarah looked up to see and elderly woman walk out onto the porch next door. "Thanks for watching Merlin for me, Mrs. O'Connell!" she called to the woman, waving. Mrs. O'Connell was a delightful Irish lady who had been Sarah's neighbor for the past four years. At the start of college, she and her daughter, Shannon (a police officer), helped the girl get settled into her new place and even took care of Merlin while she was at school or work.
"Ah, you're quite welcome m'dear," the old lady replied cheerfully, "Whene'er Shannon's on the job, he's such good company." She watched as her young neighbor pulled at least five grocery bags out of her trunk. "Good Lord, girl, ye look like ye got enough food to feed an army there!"
Sarah giggled at Mrs. O'Connell's remark, "Sort of; I'm having a couple of friends over for dinner tonight, and they're pretty big eaters." She smiled wistfully as she thought of her 'friends'.
"Well then, why do ye not take yer friends out to dinner? I'm sure they'd love to see the town in spring."
Sarah bit her lower lip before answering, "Well, the thing is, my friends…aren't exactly the kind of people you can take to a public restaurant. Besides, I enjoy cooking: I even found this great curry recipe I want to try."
Mrs. O'Connell smiled and nodded; she knew how much Sarah loved to cook. In fact, the only times she ever ordered pizza or take-out were when she was cramming for exams or working on her thesis research. The girl had even brought some of her dishes to share with them, which Shannon was grateful for since her hours often left her unable to cook.
"Well, I leave ye to it then, m'dear. Take care."
"Thanks, you too," Sarah replied as she gathered her bags and made her way to the door with Merlin.
Getting through the door was difficult, what with having to juggle five heavy bags to find her keys and Merlin jumping up and down with excitement, but Sarah managed to get the door open and herd him in first before placing her bags on the entryway floor and kicking her sneakers off. Clearly exhausted from a long day, she trudged over to her couch and plopped face-down onto it. Merlin came out of the kitchen after getting a drink of water to sit by her and nudge her hand. Taking the hint, Sarah smiled and gave him a good scratch behind the ears.
"Well, Merlin, it's been a tough four years, but it was all worth it."
Around Sarah's eighteenth birthday she had applied to the local university for both Theatre and Writing majors. Her actress-mother, Linda, had given her a sizable college fund, as well as her first car, and even helped with finding an apartment close to the campus. The classes themselves were tough and she often found herself with full days of classes every week and even taking some summer courses just to catch up. The fact that she took a night job as a waitress at a nearby restaurant only added to her frustration. She didn't want to rely completely on her mother, but the hours left her with little sleep and not enough time to spend with her family. Her thesis was especially aggravating; she had chosen to research how all the religions of the world stemmed from one major religion and how the similarities between certain myths and legends coincided with real events. After much struggling she was finally able to get it turned in to her professor on time.
Whenever she had any free time on her hands, she took to writing. Her favorite things to write about were fantasy stories, especially ones involving goblins, fairies, dwarfs, etc. During her second semester she took a creative writing class and submitted a few of her stories as part of her assignments. The professor commented that she had remarkable talent, and even suggested that she try to get them published.
With help from her father, who was a highly-respected lawyer, she was able to find a reputable literary agent. At first, the agent warned her that her stories might not receive a big turnout (murder mysteries and graphic romance novels were starting to gain popularity), but when asked why she was pursuing fantasy she only said, "I want to give children a chance to experience a little magic in their lives". By the end of the semester, she had a couple of books of short stories published and they were a big hit with children; even their parents found the stories entertaining. And thanks to the royalty checks she received from the sales she was able to cut back her hours at the restaurant, giving her more time to rest, write and study.
Luckily, her hard work managed to pay off in the end. Yesterday was the last official day of classes for the spring semester, which meant that she was finally going to graduate from college! The realization made her feel excited and nervous at the same time. She still wasn't sure where she could put her Theatre degree to good use. There were very few play theaters or programs in town. Would she have to move? But, she would think about it tomorrow; right now, all she wanted to do was sleep…
Suddenly, she opened her eyes to find Merlin tugging at her sleeve trying to get her off the couch. Looking up, she glanced at the clock: it was already 5:00! Jumping off the couch, she grabbed her bags and proceeded to put away the groceries, keeping out what she needed to make tonight's dinner.
By 7:00 dinner was cooked, and the table was set for four people. Sarah took a quick shower, and put on one of her favorite spring dresses before going around the apartment to close every window shade she could get to.
"Can't have any peeping toms looking in," she said to herself as she walked over to the full length mirror she kept near the entryway. She stood there smoothing out her hair as she waited eagerly for the clock to read 7:30.
Soon, four familiar looking creatures (at least, to her) appeared behind her reflection: a grumpy-looking dwarf, an elderly fox-like creature riding on a sheepdog, and a large monster with reddish-brown fur and horns – all of them with happy smiles on their faces.
"Sawah!"
"Good evening, My Lady."
"Woof woof!"
"Um…hello, Sarah."
