SANCT-U-IRY
By Martha Gipsiecrone Bowman
Blackwell House Gone
1
Judging from the position of the sun its about 7:00am. The electricity is out again and the house is sweltering. I opened the windows and started a fire in the stove out in the Summer Kitchen to make a pot of coffee then I walked outside on the porch to try and catch a breeze before heading towards the small barn and the animals that needed to be fed. When I'd finished milking the goats and turning them out into the yard I fed the chickens and gathered about 3 dozen eggs then stopped to pet Silver and the mare and give them some oats before opening their stall doors and heading back to the house to fix some breakfast and spend my day closing the book on Blackwell House History. ***** I was born Liberty Josephine Blackwell October 31,1950 in this very house, a monterous 4 story home with 23 bedrooms, 12 baths and lots of ghosts. As the youngest of 3 children and the only living heir to The Blackwell Dynasty when my parents died in a car wreck shortly before Chritmas in '66 I'd inherited Blackwell house along with the remaining 600+/- acres and the responibilities that came with it. This was also around the time I started seeing things before they happened and discovered my dreams had a way of coming true. Because I was barely 16 at the time the Law Office of Radcliff, King & Michaels, who had been the Blackwell Attorneys since 1859 became my Legal Guardian and the Executor of my Estate, retaining Power of Attorney and control until my 18th birthday. Granting me a generous $800 a month personal allowance they appointed custody of me to an elderly relative on my Mother's side and offering Aunt Katherine enough money to make it worth her while to take on a spoilt teenager who was also strong willed and independent settled in to run my life. I however had other plans. ***** On a beautiful weekend in April I drove the 273 miles to Denver in the little red Mustang I'd received for my 16th birthday and paid cash for an almost new Silver Airstream which I arranged to have stored until summer. The end of my Junior year I packed to go on a vacation with some classmates telling Aunt Katherine some lie about a road trip and checking out some colleges. I promised I'd be back in time for school then picked up the trailer and headed towards San Francisco. ***** Sometime during that 'Summer of Love' I found my Pagan roots, embraced Witchcraft and changed my name to Sunflower. I also fell in love with Paul 'Moon' Jorganson. Moon was a Priest in the Coven of the Circle Of The Stars so when he and his brothers and sisters moved on in September with about 10 others to 'New Mecca', a commune in Tennessee, I went with them. We stayed there until Halloween of 1968 when I turned 18. By January of 1969 thanks to Ilijah Barker Sr, the father of a friend who had returned to law school after San Fransisco, Blackwell House was mine without any legal interference from anyone. Mr Barker stayed on as my personal attorney and the following year when my first book came out helped me to set up Gipsie Publishing. On Beltaine (May 1st) Paul and I were married on the mountain. All our friends and brothers and sisters from the commune were invited and asked to stay on or return August 24th for the 1st Annual AUTUMN GATHERING; a month long celebration of The Goddess. Those who chose to stay were offered low interest loans to build their own homes or start a business in town. ***** Now with Paul gone and the chidren grown and scattered around the country I live here alone except when the workers arrive for the planting or harvest or someone stops in for a few days on business or to visit; and of course there's always the AUTUMN GATHERING. Somehow though I manage to stay busy and for the most part I don't mind the quiet epecially since I know it will soon be a thing of the past. ***** Having already opened all the windows and doors on the first floor to catch any stray breeze that might find its way down from the High Ridge I climbed up to the second floor and did the same. Then remembering the crews would be here Wednesday to do their semi annual inspection and any work I needed or wanted done before the cleaning people came on the15th to get the house ready for The Gathering I went on up to the third floor. Finally, recalling what I had seen in the Tarot Cards I continued up the stairs to the old servants quarters which hadn't been used in over a hundred years to let it air out as well. When I'd finished I took a cold shower and dressed for my guests who would be arriving there later in the day. ***** Between the power being out and the heat I had long given up the idea of getting any actual work done inside and by the time the attorney arrived with the papers I'd asked him to draw up I was sitting on the front porch with a notebook and a glass of iced tea enjoying the shade and the slightly cooler breeze off the high ridge. Even the dogs had decided that was the coolest place to be and barely looked up from their naps when Abraham Michaels pulled up in the yard with Sheriff Gorden right behind him. "Good afternoon Mrs Jorganson. I hope you don't mind but since your phone isn't working I stopped in Oakgrove and asked Sheriff Gorden and Pastor Carpenter to join us so you can all sign the papers at the same time and we can get the ball rolling on this 'non profit' of yours. The Pastor had to stop off and make a call on the way but he should be here shortly." "Abraham, thank you for rushing this thing through, I figured since 40% of the people who know me think I'm crazy anyway I might as well take advantage of it" "And Andy, sorry to drag you away from your duties but if we're going to do this we need everything to be legal; wouldn't want you to have to visit me officially now would we?" "Come sit, both of you. Would you like some tea or maybe a glass of wine, I also have a cake I baked yesterday." I said going in to prepare a tray. While I was inside David came running up the porch stairs . "Hey Momma Sunflower,can I help with anything? he yelled as he barged in letting the screen door slam behind him. "You can grab the ice bucket and the tea pitcher then come back and get the tray; I don't trust you with the cake - you'd have your fingers in it before you got it out the front door, and walk don't run I don't want you sloshing tea all over or breaking my glasses and china." "And that's for calling me Momma Sunflower." I said swatting him with a dish towel when he got within reach. "Don't slam the door" I yelled just as it banged shut behind him. "Well Gentlmen, shall we get Sanctuary off the ground?" I said sitting the cake down on the table a minute later. ***** For the next 2 hours we sat listening while Mr Michaels explained the papers we each had copies of and signed or initialed where ever he indicated we should; though I'm quite sure none of us- except him - understood half of what he was saying. By the time we'd finished Blackwell House and all it's holdings belonged to Sanctuary under the control of its Board of Directors. He placed the copy he'd been reading from in his briefcase and stood up. "You'll have 3 days to void this contract if you should decide to reconsider Mrs Jorganson at which time I will have the final papers ready for you and your personal attorney to sign authorizing the transfer of all business accounts over to Sanctuary." he said shaking my hand. "Thank you Abraham. Will you gentlemen stay for lunch?" Andy accepted since he had aready left Brian in charge telling him he'd be gone most of the day unless there was an emergency and David who was always hungry and had his mouth full with a bite of his third piece of cake didn't even bother to answer. My Attorney who acted like he couldn't get away fast enough so he could have me declared mentally incompetant before the papers became final declined. I was inside sitting out a salad and some sandwiches as he pulled out. ***** "Awful nice of your Attorney to give you time to come to your senses and figure out that we just might take all your money and run off to some tropical island somewhere ain't it?" Andy said between bites of a roast beef sandwich. "Nope, don't think so. Mr Lawyer Man already thinks Ms. Jo's C_R_A_Z_Y and knows there's nothing going to stop her once she gets something in her head, he just wants his firm out before the ship sinks." David answered and they both laughed so hard Andy almost choked. The boys carried our plates out to the porch while I went into the office to grab some pens and paper and pick up the plans that we'd been working on for the project The Goddess had laid on my heart. We talked until the sun began going down. Before they left Andy went downstairs to the cellar and flipped the breaker that would switch the first floor of the house directly over to the generator that operated on power from the windmill and David made sure everything that wasn't necessary was turned off or unplugged. "In an hour or so you should have enough power running into the house to at least operate some of your lights and the appliances but I wouldn't try to run the air conditioner or anything like that until after Kidman gets out here on Wednesday with his crew and checks it out. For what it's worth though Western Colorado Electric sent a Fax out this morning saying they should have all the power competely restored by tomorrow --- for how long this time is anyone's guess. I'd suggest we make getting the solar panals in and operational one of the first orders of business for Sanctuary." I handed them both some blank checks to cover what we had dicussed earlier and anything else that came up then reminded them they both needed to be here when Kidman got here Wednesday then told David to thank Starr and her ladies for volunteering to help with the food. I hugged them both and wished them Blessed Be as they were leaving.
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