Halifax Walking Tour 4

When last we left Jamie Poole she was in the clutches of Tristan, psychopath time traveler turned Nazi spy. She was trapped back in Time during World War II. Spoilers: she has returned to the present? How did she manage that? You'll have to get the book. Sisterhood of the Sword is available September 2023 and is set in Nova Scotia.

This is the last walking tour although there will be another blog about this last location because it fits so nicely into a big piece of Nova Scotia's history. Sure, this is a science fiction book. Sure, there's time travel. Sure, I have a psychopath time traveler who wants to destroy Time and everything in it. However, all the historical details are real as much as I can make them while bending them ever so gently to match the story. And so, here we arrive at our last destination. This walking tour will require a car, admittedly. We begin in Halifax, but our destination is a short distance away. Once again Nick Fagan takes the wheel. He's a much more dependable guide than Tristan. We'll leave him to destroying Time. Or not. After all, Jamie Poole is trying to stop him.

Our trip will begin again at Nick's house located on a side street off Flamingo Drive, and we will be headed to Lawrence House in Maitland, Nova Scotia. Having just traveled home from World War II, Jamie has discovered the location of a significant relic that had been lost to time. This relic is one of three statues Jamie has been collecting throughout the series. These are not ordinary statues. They contain supernatural power. To learn more about what makes them supernatural: read the books!

Now that she's home, she needs to recover it in order to stop Tristan. It is, ironically, located at the house of a significant shipbuilder. Note: This part of the story is fictional although the shipbuilder is real. Everything said about Mr. Lawrence is true. His acquisition of this statue was purely accidental on his part as he would have likely collected items in his sea voyages. The fact this allowed him to acquire innocently a significant and supernatural object just adds a bit of mystery to him. Have a read as Jamie and her friends plan their trip while visiting at Walter's house:

Walter exclaimed. “It’s time for supper. We must eat. Talk while I cook.”

We sat at the chrome table with a red top. Walter set to fixing food. I filled him in on the third statue in and its location according to my deceased grandpa: A place called Lawrence

House in Maitland. Nick had his phone out as quickly as Walter produced a map. New technology met old. Both pointed to a spot on the map.

“Here. A quick drive north,” Walter said.

Between Walter, who cooked and talked, and Nick, it became clear why this house-turned-museum was the ideal location for a third statue. In 1874 William D. Lawrence constructed the largest wooden-hulled, fully rigged ship ever built in Canada. At that time, shipbuilding had been common in Nova Scotia. The province exported goods, including wood and apples and, in Mr. Lawrence’s case, bat guano.

That’s right: bat poo.

According to Nick’s phone, Mr. Lawrence’s Victorian house with its twenty-three rooms showcased family heirlooms. One of those heirlooms would be a statue. As a museum, Lawrence House was a testament to the Golden Age of Nova Scotia’s sailing industry. He had built the ship on the banks of the Shubenaccadie River, beside the house. The ship’s maiden voyage, starting in St. John, New Brunswick, took him to Liverpool, then Yemen, Peru, France, Newfoundland, and then back home. Somewhere in those three years he’d acquired this third statue...

And here we shall pause again. Everything I've written about Mr. Lawrence is true, except the bits I made up. This is magic realism at its finest. We shall hasten the story along, and allow Jamie and her friends to eat in peace. The next day they will begin their trip to Lawrence House, and there are two things that I must mention. First, Walter has Asperger's syndrome. Jamie Poole Books is a diverse community of characters. Asperger's is Walter's superpower in helping Jamie. I have several relatives with autism, and Walter would be familiar as one of my older relatives as he would have been a boy during World War II. Second, Grandpa John is Jamie Poole's grandfather. He's been dead since she was a child. Jamie is regularly visited by the dead. Most of the time they are helpful. Grandpa John has followed her through several books, and here we meet him again. Ghosts seem to be able to slip in and out of Time more easily than time travelers, although for Jamie it's becoming easier and easier.

We return to Sisterhood of the Sword, and when they arrive at Lawrence House:

“It’s closed,” I cried in despair looking up at Lawrence House.

“We should have checked,” Lenore followed hot on my heels.

“This may turn out to our benefit,” Bruce rubbed his chin in thought. He herded us behind the museum.

It had been a long drive to Maitland on the shores of the Bay of Fundy and the mouth of the Shubenacadie River. As Nick had stated, it wasn’t that far from Halifax. It was what happened along the way that made the drive long.

We’d piled into Nick’s Volvo. Bruce in front with Nick, and Lenore, Walter, and me in back. It was a tight squeeze, especially since Walter had insisted on bringing his statue.

We’d left the city in the midst of snow squalls. Snow scudded sideways in sheets across the highway. I’d asked if it was safe. Nick had chuckled and promised it would clear in an hour. He’d been right. As we passed the town of Sackville the landscape grew rural. Woodlands popped up more frequently than houses. That’s when Walter began fidgeting in the middle. He checked his watch every few seconds and fidgeted further with the homemade queen chess piece, having now given me the statue.

Unable to stand it any longer, I’d asked, “Walter, do you need to stop somewhere? Nick, do you know if there’s a bathroom near?” I’d wondered if he’d feel comfortable standing behind a tree.

“It’s not time to use the washroom,” Walter replied.

“O…K…” I’d taken a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves,

and I’d chided myself. He had Asperger’s. I couldn’t rush him. It would only stress him further.

“It’s time for lunch.”

Bruce had peered over the seat. “You had a big breakfast.”

“It’s time for lunch,” Walter had persisted. “And I want tea.”

We’d just been in Sackville. Why hadn’t he said something? Now there was nothing but trees. He’d persisted all the way to the town of South Maitland where there were a few places to eat, but Walter had refused.

“Well, there’s no Tim Hortons coffee here,” Lenore had said.

“But there’s that.” She pointed at a local coffee shop.

“Inadequate,” he’d declared. “They don’t have lemon.”

“Where can we find lemon?” Nick had asked as he continued driving…past our destination.

“The Noel Shore. Just a little farther. They make sandwiches like Mamma made. And they have tea with lemon.”

“You’re sure?” Lenore had asked skeptically.

Walter had answered by glancing at his watch. “Twenty minutes. On the left. Turn into the parking lot. I assume you all want sandwiches?”

We had, whether we wanted them or not. They indeed had tea with lemon and lovely sandwiches. And the sky cleared.

The Bay of Fundy with its rocky and muddy banks guided us back to Lawrence House and a big Closed sign.

Lenore grumbled curses as we followed Bruce. “All this has me biting my nails to the quick. My fiancé’s future may depend on this.”

“Relax. This will work out,” I fired back while I made quick eye-contact with Bruce. He recognized the time shift too. The changes sped up, I was convinced. We’d talk later. I turned back to our current situation: assessing the house.

The Volvo was the only car in the side parking lot. A white fence surrounded the two-story house. We passed through a gate onto a sidewalk which took us past windows framed in red. A small foyer jutted out with a red trim door. Two chimneys perched on the roof with a third, smaller one at the back. We followed the house until it twisted along into a single-story structure that must have been added onto several times. We huddled against its side, out of the wind, where we could talk.

“Shouldn’t we hide Nick’s car?” I felt exposed...

And here we will leave them while Jamie finds herself wrestling with the question of how to retrieve a supernatural statue--a statue with the power to help her stop the psychopath time traveler. You might say she has the opposite problem of Indiana Jones. Remember that line he always yelled at the villain? "It belongs in a museum!" Jamie needs to remove something from a museum. I would never advocate a museum heist. Then again, I've never had the responsibility of time travel or preserving the Multiverse. Mr. Lawrence (real or fictional) holds a key to doing just that. If he had only known!

Our next "tour" will be a continuation of the Lawrence House area. Watch for the blog!

For a live reading of this same passage, check out our YouTube channel.

If this excerpt has you hooked, here's how to get this book and the others in the series: