A Weekend in Paradise

I enjoy my weekends in Cloverdale. Getting away from school, kids, explosions, screaming and conflicting music steaming through my head from three simulators running simultaneously is a blessing. At mission's end on a Saturday afternoon, after everyone has gone home and the school is locked, I step outside, close my eyes and wait....... There, can you hear it - that sound in the distance? A faint whistle announces the arrival of the Coastal Express, The Train of Dreams. Minutes later it's "All Aboard!" I have a favorite seat in the last car. Once I'm settled the train jerks forward and slowly gains speed. Soon its a rhythmic clickity clack down the railroad track. First stop, Fernwood on the Moor. Second stop, Cloverdale. Daytime transforms into twilight as I walk the checkered pavement from the train station to my sanctuary at the end of the lane. Flitterbugs jump across the small canal. The cool evening air is scented with the smell of moving water. With one turn of the key I'm home - away from home. The mantle clock greets me by striking 8:30 P.M. (that is if the trains are running on time).

You'll notice that I keep the light on in the parlor. This lamp near the window gives the appearance that someone is home. I don’t worry about burglary - after all, it is Cloverdale in the Shire, but one can never be too safe.

Once settled, I walk along the narrow canal to the High Street and then downhill to Moss's Wonderland Bakery to purchase pastries for Sunday. The Piggly Wiggly is my second stop of the evening to restock the icebox. With groceries in arm, my to do list is finished. After a stop home to drop off my purchases I'm back down the street to visit friends.

In the early morning hours I return home and fall asleep to the sound of water beneath my bedroom window. My Sundays start with church in the Cloverdale LDS Branch. Afterward, I'll make a stop to visit the nuns at the Convent of the Sisters of Ever Increasing Hope. I have a standing invitation for tea and biscuits after mass. They keep a Diet Coke for me - knowing my religious restrictions. The rest of the afternoon is spent talking to the citizens of Cloverdale in my never ending search for new stories to post in 'Letters from Cloverdale'.

I return to the real world late Sunday evening. On Monday its back to school, kids, explosions, screaming and conflicting music steaming through my head from three simulators running simultaneously.