Silas Tucker Archives ⋆ Be the Cat

7th Grade Revolution: The Storeroom

Liana Gardner — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 14:00:46 +0000

As the personality of Silas Tucker became clear, I knew that if he had gone to the trouble of creating a secret room, then he would have hidden things of value inside. Here was a man who when building his house had put in a hidden staircase, hid a portion of the basement, and created a tunnel to escape through. When building his house he had just lived through the Civil War and marched to the beat of his own drum. With the chaos in the nation at the time, he felt it reasonable to take measures to ensure that if war broke out again, he’d have means to escape, and he also managed to build up quite a nest egg and munitions to defend his stronghold.

Plus, there was that pesky, no-good nephew of his, and Silas would go to great lengths to hide his wealth from his nephew.

     She [Rhonda] poked her head out. “This is no ordinary storeroom. It’s a post-Civil War version of a safe room.” She cleared a cobweb from her path and took a step farther in.
     Then it hit her. Silas wouldn’t have kept tobacco in a safe room because he wouldn’t have used it. The smoke and scent would have told his pursuers where he was hiding. She stretched her arms and grabbed a tin off the top. The decades of dust felt gritty under her fingers. She pried the lid off. Definitely not tobacco, but something papery inside. She shone her light in the tin.
     Her hand shook and the lid dropped to the ground. She blinked. The contents didn’t change. The tin was full of five-thousand-dollar bills sporting James Madison on the front.

For signed copies of 7th Grade Revolution or to purchase the playing cards, click the Revolution Merchandise button.

Now Available:
Print: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Powells | Book Depository
All available Ebook Retailers

The post 7th Grade Revolution: The Storeroom appeared first on Be the Cat.

7th Grade Revolution: The Hidden Staircase

Liana Gardner — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 14:00:27 +0000

Last week I talked about the tunnel and how it created the school as a post Civil War mansion. Once I knew the era of the house, I knew it had to contain a secret staircase and rooms as well. The first Nancy Drew Mystery book I ever got my hands on was The Hidden Staircase and from that point forward I have been a died-in-the-wool fan of hidden staircases, drawers, rooms, and mysteries. I love the idea of being able to put things in a place no one else knows about.

It made perfect sense for the house to have a hidden staircase because of the personality of the original owner, Silas Tucker. Since he was building at the conclusion of a war, Silas wanted to make sure he had a safe escape route. One no one else knew about. And I’m sure he used it to perplex his nephew Morgan when he came to visit.

     “Find a candle and bring me the matches.” Dennis pulled the flashlight off his carabiner clip and flicked it on. Stairs. Spider web encrusted, but stairs, despite their age.
     Trent slid on his knees next to Dennis and handed him a candle and matches. He lit the candle and pushed it through the opening to the end of his reach. The flame burned bright. Trent looked at him with a broad grin and a twinkle in his eye.
     Dennis jerked his head toward the table. “Let’s put the stuff in a trash bag and see where this baby takes us.”
     While Trent bagged the bottles and matches, Dennis reached through the opening and broke the cobwebs to clear a path. Then he poked his head and shoulders into the passageway. The stairs went both up and down. The darkness and cobwebs made it spooky, but nothing would stop him from going down those stairs.

For signed copies of 7th Grade Revolution or to purchase the playing cards, click the Revolution Merchandise button.

Now Available:
Print: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Powells | Book Depository
All available Ebook Retailers

The post 7th Grade Revolution: The Hidden Staircase appeared first on Be the Cat.

7th Grade Revolution: The Tunnel

Liana Gardner — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 14:00:48 +0000

When starting off on the journey of 7th Grade Revolution I didn’t have a lot of information beyond the portion based on the real life classroom experience. I had spent time getting to know my characters, but beyond knowing there was a conflict with an outside agency. Normally, before I start writing, I do work on some sort of outline. Well … I pulled up the outline I had made for 7th Grade Revolution and had to laugh — the outline had more questions than it did answers, things in the outline that never made it to the book, and about three-quarters of a page in it simply stopped. So much for my outlining efforts this time.

Interestingly, I did know there would be a tunnel, but had no answers for things like: How did a tunnel come to be built under a Middle School? I did attend a college in the Midwest that had tunnels running from some of the older buildings to the others, which had been built for use in extreme weather conditions, but had never been used in recent years. Besides, those weren’t like the hand hewn tunnel of Washington Academy. The fully-lined concrete walls took away all the romance of the concept of tunnels and they simply became cold, dark corridors where you were more likely to greet a scurrying rat than anything interesting.

I wanted this tunnel to be more romantic. Which meant a potentially modern day construction was out as far as the school was concerned. And out of that thought blossomed the background for the school location and an off-page character (because he’d been dead for over a hundred years by the start of the story). Silas Tucker, though not a part of the school itself, definitely played a major role in the story and it was he who built the tunnel.

     Rhonda scraped the dust away with her foot. Come on, be there. Her stomach twisted at the thought of what Spencer would say if she had picked the wrong spot. And the rest of the kids would agree, especially the ones who’d moved the mainframe.
     Was that a groove? She knelt.
     She brushed her fingers across it. Definitely not a scrape from the mainframe. Teeny bits of grit fell into it and disappeared. Tracing it, she shook her head. A single groove wasn’t enough, there had to be more. And there had to be a handle somewhere.
     Dennis squatted beside her. “What’re you looking for?”
     “It’s here. The door into the tunnel, but we have to figure out how to open it.”

For signed copies of 7th Grade Revolution or to purchase the playing cards, click the Revolution Merchandise button.

Now Available:
Print: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Powells | Book Depository
All available Ebook Retailers

The post 7th Grade Revolution: The Tunnel appeared first on Be the Cat.