Candyland especially for my granddaughters in Los Angeles

When your sweet mother was five years old I would take her to Montesorri school in Salem. We would sit out in the car and I would tell her a Candyland story. Sometimes a Sammy squirrel story. They are very happy memories

Chapter One: A knock at the window

Many years ago, around 1930, there was a little boy that lived in the little Red House. His name was Larry. Larry was eleven years old. He slept in the little room on the southeast side of the house. This is the exact same room that Katia and Liam slept in.

It was late in August. The plum harvest would begin in a few days. Larry helped his father stack wood, preparing for the plum harvest. His father would tend the furnance for the prune dryer, a big red barn along the little creek below the red house. The creek was low and it was a warm night. Late that night, after his mom and dad had gone to sleep, Larry heard a light tapping on his window. He thought it was just a branch touching the glass. However it was quiet and there was no wind. The tapping came back. Now a little louder, "tap tap tap." He sat up and ran to the window. He looked out over the side of the hill and saw a little man scampering across the road towards the creek below. This was no ordinary man, he was very tiny. In the bright moonlight he saw the little man cross the creek near the bridge. A small door opened out of the ground on the side of the creek next to the bridge. The door was tiny and the little man stooped to step in. Before he stepped in, he turned slowly around and looked straight back at Larry. He waved with his hand. He was not waving goodbye, but waiving for Larry to come.

Larry was very curious. What had he just seen? He quickly pulled on his pants and shirt and slipped on his shoes. He tiptoed out of the house and ran down the hill to the exact spot next to the bridge where the little door was. (I can show you the exact spot.) Larry looked carefully, there was no door to be seen. He crawled down over the bank to the waters edge and felt with his hands all along the ground but all there was only dirt,stones, moss and ferns. Larry said to himself, "maybe I was dreaming." He crawled up and began to walk back home when he heard a sound. "creeeek" He turned around and saw a sliver of light coming from the side of the creek. Slowly before his eyes a little door opened right out of the ground! Larry went back. Sure enough there was a door with hinges and a small iron handle where none had been before. It layed flat against the ground wide open. He slowly crouched down and stepped inside. A soft light came from far down below, what appeared to be a long tunnel. He eased down narrow stone steps when all of sudden the door quietly, without warning shut behind him. He was alone and now a little scared.

Except for the soft light from down below, he was in the dark. The steps led nowhere but down. He turned around and felt for the door to the outside. It was there but the handle would not move. He banged on it and tried to open it, but it was closed tight. "What do I do now?," Larry thought as he gazed down the stairs in the soft light. to be continued