Margaret J Anderson

To Nowhere and Back Margaret J Anderson

On Elizabeth's first discovery of the tumbledown cottages at the far edge of the woods, all she saw was the rotting thatched roof and crumbling walls. Inside the air was dank and the wallpaper was stained with damp and mold. But on the next visit, escaping from the misunderstandings and misery of being the new girl at the village school, everything has changed. The decayed thatch has been replaced by new straw, the crumbling walls are intact and smoke curls from the chimneys. Most confusing of all is the girl in the faded ragged dress who is feeding the chickens. Could the girl be a ghost child who has come back to haunt the woods where she once played? Somehow Elizabeth can't believe in a ghost who feeds chickens. Or in ghost chickens, for that matter. There must be another answer, but it is just on the edge of her understanding. Elizabeth has to see her again. On their next meeting, when the ghost child, Ann, reaches out and touches Elizabeth something happens that Elizabeth can never understand, though it was to happen again and again. They simply become one person and only Ann walks through the door of the cottage, yet Elizabeth is still there, thinking and looking and feeling as Ann did. As Elizabeth moves back and forth between the two worlds, the past becomes a vivid reality. She enjoys being part of a lively family of six children compared to her own only child status, but she soon realizes that her trouble fitting in at school is nothing compared to not having the chance to go to school at all. And there's also the fear that she may not find her way back to the present.