Ivy Hill
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CHAPTER ONE Holy cow! My eyes blinked in disbelief. Staring ahead, I said, mimicking a famous movie line, "Bud, I don t think we re in New Jersey anymore." I glanced down, expecting to see my faithful companion, but he wasn t there. My gaze slowly, apprehensively lifted to the panorama confronting me. I stood on the brink of an Alp s gigantic cliff side. My balance wavered as I viewed the most spectacular sight my callow eyes had ever beheld: under a bright blue sky, mountains in the near far distance, so massive I unable to judge what might lie beyond them. There were lesser hills, too, not as distinctively rocky but more verdant than their big brothers. Among them wound wide and narrow streams, flanked by forests, grassy plains and farmland. I could discern various-sized clusters of what were, from my vantage point, miniature buildings scattered throughout the grand scene. I don t know how I came to be there. I just was there, as if nothing else had happened in my 18 year old life until then. I knew my age, that I was strong, smart, and resourceful, that I was alone atop the mountain, and that I knew no one in this huge land. I didn t know why I was here or what I should do. I was trembling. Never before had I been higher than the Empire State Building. At that striking moment I was truly a lost soul on the verge of a deadly precipice in wholly unfamiliar territory, and awfully alone. So, I surveyed the scenery again, hoping to find a clue to my purpose or, at least, somewhere to go for the basic necessities of life. By now I intensely sensed the need for company in a place that was foreign to me, yet, somehow not totally foreign. I sort of vaguely recalled seeing something like this before, though on a smaller scale. The mountain was too high and broad for me to see what ,might be right beneath it. I would 1 have to find a way down. The sun was right overhead mid-day which meant I had several hours to descend before night fall, and it was likely I would require all that time and more to get to the bottom. When and if I did, what would I encounter? And what would I be able to do in the dark?
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About the Book
Have you ever had poison ivy bad enough that the puss from its blisters formed a scabby surface on your face that looked like eggs cooked over hard? It happened to me when I was about the age of Davey Pettigrew, the prepubescent protagonist of this novel.
But that’s only one of the challenges which Davey confronts; girls are another (as always). Then there are bullies, monstrous dogs, storm troopers, and strange and scary experiences in a faraway place.
So tag along with Davey, share in the fun and adventure and maybe discover something to lift your spirit.
A.D.M.
About the Author
Born and raised in the Bound Brook, New Jersey area, Alan D. Murray is a graduate of Rutgers University and the University of Missouri. For fifteen years, seven as editor, he was employed by financial publisher Standard & Poor’s. But, burnt out by the frenetic New York City business pace, he, his wife Beverly and their two children moved to New Hampshire’s White Mountains, where they became the proprietors of a legendary restaurant, The Robbin’s Nest. In 1986 they relocated to Danville, Virginia, Beverly’s hometown. Having been spoiled by ten years of relatively relaxed country living, Alan became a rural mail carrier, his present occupation. In his spare time he has written novels, short stories, and dramas for children and adults, both for fun and for profit.