Sonja Hakala

Hi–It’s me, Sonja. If you don’t mind, I’m going to interject myself into this Monday morning story for a moment.

I know that you’re used to reading short stories here on Mondays, and what follows is a kind of short story—but with a difference. It’s actually the first chapter of my next Carding, Vermont novel, a mystery entitled The Dragons Are All Gone.

It begins in Carding’s Frost Free Library because, well, I love libraries. They are my favorite places on earth (next to the home I share with my husband), and they’re full of stories so I thought I’d pick one to tell you.

This chapter will appear again in February 2025 (I hope you don’t mind the repeat but a lot of time will elapse between now and then). After that, new chapters in The Dragons Are All Gone will appear on consecutive Mondays until we reach the final chapter.

Publishing a book this way—in serial form—is an old idea. Charles Dickens did it. So did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Many of the magazines in the 19th century published books by popular authors in monthly installments. The latest writer to publish a book in installments is Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith. His series of tales from 44 Scotland Street inspired me to approach my next Carding book this way.

So far, this is the only complete chapter so we’ll all be surprised by what happens next. I love the not-knowing part of this, don’t you?

I do hope you enjoy The Dragons Are All Gone. And if you have comments along the way, please email me via Edie Wolfe at ediewolfe37@gmail.com. She takes care of all my correspondence.

~ Sonja Hakala

Okay, let’s get started, shall we?

Chapter One: At the Library

“Hey David, it’s about that time,” Annie Crane called up the library stairs. “I think we both need to be getting on to the next thing in our lives.”

“Yep, yep,” David Tarkianen said, his pen flying over his notebook. “Can you give me a minute?”

Annie sighed loud enough to be heard clearly on the library’s second floor. “Not tonight, David. I already told you. I have a nephew’s birthday party over in New Hampshire. Please, I’ve got to go now.”

A few choice words floated toward David’s lips but they remained unspoken. Never piss off the librarian, he reminded himself. Never piss off the librarian who has the power to help or hinder your research. He hit rewind on the microfiche machine then started stuffing the notes he’d scattered on the floor into a shoulder bag with seams already straining to stay sewn. Hidden among the papers was a flimsy notebook with a blue cloth cover. 

“I really need to take some time to get myself organized,” David muttered as he snapped off the second-floor lights. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll stay home, and go through my paperwork. It’s gotten so I can’t find anything when I want it.”

Annie was standing by the Frost Free Library’s front door, one hand on its handle, her other hand holding car keys. At least she isn’t tapping her foot, David thought as he wished her a good night.

“Sorry about holding you up, Annie. I just lose track of time when I get into this stuff,” he said. 

“I understand that, David, but it seems as though I end up staying later and later every night,” Annie said as she locked the door behind them. “I think we’re going to have to come to some sort of an understanding about this.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” He started running his hands over his jacket, searching its pockets for his own keys. In the process, his shoulder bag slid to the ground, and a small drift of papers spilled onto the sidewalk.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you to it,” Annie said as she stalked off toward her little red car.

“Yeah, yeah, I guess so,” David said. A wispy breeze lifted the edges of the papers on the ground forcing him to lunge at his notes. Then the tires on Annie’s car crunched onto the main road as she headed out of town, leaving him alone in the gloom of an October night. David stayed still, knees and hands pinning his precious research to the ground as he waited for the breeze to wander off.

“You don’t understand, Annie” he muttered as he stuffed his pockets with carelessly folded sheets. “What I’m doing here is important work. In just a few months, we’re going to have people streaming into town on the hunt for anything and everything about Calliope, and we’ve got to be ready when they get here. This is an opportunity for Carding, an opportunity to set the record straight,” he glanced up at the nearly full moon, “and maybe we can make a little money off the legend of Timmen Eldritch.”

David took a careful look around then checked to be certain his bag wasn’t leaking any more paper before slowly rising to his feet. As he made his way to his car, the wind picked up again, sweeping hundreds of dried and curling leaves before it so that David rustled and crunched as he walked.

Just then the lights of the Crow Town Bakery winked out, and the loneliness that lurked in the shadows among the silent buildings around the village green draped itself about David’s shoulders. He shivered as he filled the passenger seat of his car with his notes and research while looking over his shoulder. Twilight was long past, and a thin cloud sliced its way through the moon. 

“Spooky night, innit?” a voice called. David jumped and whirled around only to find himself grinning at Lee Tennyson, everyone’s favorite farmer in Carding. “You’re out kinda late. Did Annie kick you out of the library again?”

“Yeah., she did.” David pressed a hand to his heart. “You gave me quite a start.”

“Sorry about that.” Lee eyeballed his former history teacher’s car. Its windshield was cold enough to sport ice crystals. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you start your Toyota, turn on the heat, and then come sit with me for a couple of minutes while your windshield defrosts.”

When David hesitated, Lee added: “I’ve been hearing about your Calliope research, and folks are curious about what you’re up to. I’d like to know, too,” he raised an eyebrow, “unless it’s top secret.”

“Thanks. That sounds like a good idea.”

David was grateful for the enveloping warmth when he slid into Lee’s truck. “Did you put a new seat in this thing?” he asked as he bounced up and down. “Last I remember, it was all cracked, and there was a big hole where the stuffing used to be.”

“Yeah, my wife complained about the springs in the old one poking through her jeans so I figured it was time, and Stan had an old Ford out in the back of his garage with a good seat so we swapped them a couple of Saturdays ago.” The two men gave the matter of the old truck’s renovation a few moments thought in the silence of folks who have known each other long enough to be comfortable with silence.

“You know, I was just a kid when Calliope came to Carding,” Lee finally said. “But even though I was young, I understood that their lead guy, Timmen Eldritch, didn’t give people in town much of a reason to like him. I was shocked when I heard my Dad call him an ‘arrogant little prick’ because he was not in the habit of using language like that.”

“I never met Eldritch,” David said. “He was gone before my wife and I moved here. Do you suppose that’s what most people thought about him, that he was an arrogant little prick?”

Lee nodded. “If memory serves me right, yeah.” The farmer sighed. “I gotta tell ya, David, your interest in researching him is causing some uneasiness among the people who lived in Carding back then. I was too young to know or understand exactly why people took against Eldritch but I do remember that it was more than a simple dislike.”

“Oh? In what way?”

Lee paused to watch another cloud cross the moon, considering his words. In high school, David Tarkianen had been everyone’s favorite teacher. He had a way of making dry subjects like the Industrial Revolution or the fall of Rome or the Reformation feel relevant and lively. Lee didn’t want his former teacher to feel he was being criticized.

“Okay, this is the best way for me to explain it,” Lee said. “There was this kid in school when I was in second grade named Bradley. Just a regular kid, you know, lived just down the street from here with his mother and grandmother. I don’t remember much about him except this—every time salt was spilled, he had to throw some over his shoulder. It was a real compulsion,” Lee said. “I mean, he had to do it or he’d get so uneasy that everyone around him would get twitchy. That’s what it was like when Timmen Eldritch was around, everyone felt kinda twitchy. As far as I’ve ever been able to figure out, there was no logical explanation for it. But I do know that ever since you started nosing around in the library looking for Calliope stuff, I’ve been feeling that same twitchiness moving around Carding.”

David sighed. “Maybe that explains why Annie Crane has been so reluctant to help me with my research. She’s always been so great so I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t help me this time. Did she live here back then?”

“The librarian? No, but I think she had an aunt or a sister or cousin who did.” Lee glanced over at David’s car. “Well, looks like you’re all warmed up, and I know my wife has made chicken pot pie for supper…”

“So I need to let you go,” David said, reaching for the truck’s door handle. “Thanks for telling me about the Calliope situation. It’s just that the tenth anniversary of Eldritch’s death is next year, and I’ve been seeing chat online about folks making pilgrimages to Carding to see if he does come back like he promised. I just thought it would be a good idea if we were prepared, that’s all.”

Lee snorted. “Some people will believe anything.”

“Yeah, well thanks again,” David said as he stepped out on the pavement.

“Wait, you dropped something.” Lee waved a slim notebook with a blue cover at his former teacher.

“Huh, it’s not mine,” David said. “Must have gotten mixed up with my papers. I’ll bring it back to Annie tomorrow morning. Enjoy your supper, Lee.” As he tossed the notebook on the floor of his car, David never saw the pencil-thin beam of a flashlight bobbing among the squat junipers in front of the library.

---

The Dragons Are All Gone will be the fifth novel of Carding, Vermont written by author Sonja Hakala about the Vermont town that no one can quite find on a map. It will be published in paperback and in an ebook version when the book is complete.

The Dragons Are All Gone will appear in weekly installments on this website beginning in February 2025.

The Carding Chronicles appear here, on this website, every Monday. Hope to see you next week.