Series: Behind Closed Doors 5

The Captain John Potter House located in Storrowton Village, West Springfield Mass.

In the wee hours of May 1776, Sabina Bridget Barrett, an eight-year-old born into indentured servitude, fled the only home she had ever known. Her mother had recently died of fever, neglected by the cruel masters who denied her aid. Alone, frightened, and desperate, Sabina crept into the dark hollow of a newly dug cellar not far from the house she had escaped.

There she huddled- cold, hungry, and too afraid to call for help. In the days that followed, a floor was laid above her hiding place. With the Revolutionary War in full force and young men gone to fight, construction stalled, leaving the site abandoned. By the time the house was finally completed, the cellar where Sabina had hidden had long since collapsed and was replaced by a new one elsewhere. Her small life was already lost, her body swallowed by earth- yet her spirit lingered. Traumatized but unwilling to fade, she bound herself to one of the hand-hewn beams supporting the first floor of what would become the Captain John Potter House.

More than a century passed in silence. Seasons turned, families came and went, and still she slumbered, unseen and forgotten.

Then, in 1929, the house was carefully dismantled and moved to Storrowton Village at the Eastern States Exposition grounds. Piece by piece, the timbers were carried, and with each jolt and lift, the beam that held her stirred. When the house was raised anew, Sabina awoke. The world she opened her eyes to was dazzling and strange- outside, automobiles rattled along the fairgrounds, murmured music drifted in from radios nearby, and electric lights gleamed like stars.

Among the bustle of visitors and costumed interpreters, Sabina found herself a companion- a small boy named Thomas, brought daily by his mother, Margaret Hale, who worked in the Potter House as a period interpreter. Thomas had been mute from birth, his wide eyes observing everything, taking in the past without a single word.

Sabina was drawn to him. At first, she flickered at the edges of Thomas’s sight- a soft shadow moving near the hearth, the faint rustle of lace in still air. Thomas’s wide eyes caught the flicker, he tilted his head, curiosity brightening his gaze.

Slowly, a silent rhythm formed between them. Thomas’s fingers traced the outlines of old furniture, and Sabina’s presence danced just beyond reach, each aware of the other’s steady breath and quiet wonder.

One golden afternoon, sunlight spilling through the tall, mullioned windows, Sabina brushed a hand gently across Thomas’s lips. His eyes widened, and with a breath caught between past and present, a single word emerged, “Hello.”

Sabina laughed softly, the sound audible only to him.

Two children, separated by centuries united in silence and understanding, had found life in each other behind the doors of the newly reconstructed home of Captain John Potter.

This is my contribution to Dan’s Thursday Doors.

The story was inspired by the photograph. Dan originally shared it in his post entitled From Fair to Fair

This is part of a series of stand-alone vignettes. You may navigate all entries in the series by clicking on Behind Closed Doors tab in the Category drop down list.

29 thoughts on “Series: Behind Closed Doors 5”

  10. Simply brilliant.
    I love stories that have woven in their fiction historic facts.
    “Behind Closed Doors” is an excellent vehicle for such explorations. I have done so a few times with the Untimely Utterances series; and the amazing thing is that in the end only a very thin line separates what happened to what might have happened beneath the commonly acknowledged surface.

    Brava, Jodi.

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