Due to the passing of Great Aunt Agatha, the girls were being left on their own. Mother had left strict rules of conduct however, for this All Hallow's Eve.... No going door to door for treats! No going outside at all -- the doors are to be kept locked at all times! This too was a family tradition -- and also a family "mystery". The older girls were perfectly able to care for their younger siblings....and so it was.
After Mother and Pappa left, the older girls Amanda, Melinda and Natalia locked the the four younger girls in the nursery. The little ones understood that this was not a mean act but for their own safety.....because of the "mystery."
The younger siblings accepted their prison of love and gazed out the window. There was a full moon.
They could see their friends trotting happily from door to door procuring sweeties in abundance.They had been given fruit and tea to enjoy but somehow it seemed very unfair. Juniper thought it best to close the curtains so that the enticing site would no longer be in view.
Lou-Lou looked over at the grim site and their sad little faces.She knew it was her duty to entertain them this evening. It had always been. This she was very good at. Story telling was her passion. Daydreaming was her normal state. The younger ones looked to her for this and gathered around.
Lou-Lou began, pretending to read but really just fabricating her story. "Once upon a time on All Hallows' Eve there were three young ladies (here she named their three older sisters) who gathered together in the parlour just as the sun set. They had fetched from the old trunk in the attic the boxes their mother had hid from them," and so on and so forth. Her story went on...
Goosebumps began to creep up the tiny arms and shoulders of the wee ones and they cuddled into a blanket. Lou-Lou appeared to be in a trance.
Meanwhile in the parlour..........TO BE CONTINUED