Medieval
Madness
Mr.
Willifred's Great Adventures Book 1
by
Jessica Sara Campbell
Genre:
YA Fantasy, Time Travel
Traveling
through time is not for everyone, and it's definitely not Susan and
Freddy's idea of a fun ride. Their adventurous granddaughter Sylvia,
though, would be happy just to do something new for a change already,
anything!
Travel
back in time to medieval London with the Willifred family on a
heart-warming adventure of history, excitement, humor, and love. Meet
the real heroes of the medieval era, some who you may not have heard
about, and some you might know well! Watch history come to life in
this action-packed saga.
As
Sylvia discovers, medieval London may not be as glamorous as it
appears in the movies, and there may even be someone up to no good
behind the scenes. No one ever said old age is easy, and no one ever
said being a teen is easy. Join Freddy, Susan, and Sylvia on a
jam-packed ride of a lifetime, for they might find more than they are
expecting in their typical weekday routine this time…
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The
bright light at first blinded Mr. Willifred, who stood outside blinking for
several
long moments before the outside came into focus.
The
sun was high in the sky and hazy, as if covered over with a thick layer of
dust―or
perhaps disease and human excrement, judging from the smell. There
were
only a few beggars out on the street, dressed in thick skirts and trousers that
appeared
homemade and durable, yet at the same time worn and tattered.
The
compact street was not asphalt cement, but a one-lane road packed with
dirt.
My car couldn’t fit through here, Mr. Willifred thought to himself,
shaking
his
head.
“Erm,
excuse me, gov’ner!” The person responsible for Mr. Willifred’s
excursion
from his home broke into Freddy’s thoughts.
In
front of Mr. Willifred, smiling as brightly as the dust-covered sunlight, was
clearly
a homeless beggar.
It
looked like neither a man nor a woman, though there was only a small
mustache
present and no beard. Also, the voice was high pitched, so it must have
been
a woman. This person had ruddy cheeks and small, squinted brown eyes
lined
with old age. But there was kindness behind the lines and toothless grin.
Caked
dirt and a putrid smell had followed this woman to his front porch.
Freddy
shook his head. Such rudeness.
Wait! Freddy looked down. The
front porch! There was no longer a
front
porch!
Freddy squinted at the ground in front of him.
Where
once his cement porch had been, with the lovely porch swing and crisp
white
overhang, there was only more packed dirt!
Mr.
Willifred felt overwhelmed with being outside in this strange new world,
of
smelling the foul odors and seeing this strange being before him, and was
having
difficulties taking this all in. He pulled his shirt up to his nose, making no
effort
to appear polite in the midst of such chaos, and noticed another change
instantly
and frighteningly.
His
clothes were different! No longer was he wearing his checkered blue-andwhite
button-up
shirt, shiny slip-on brown work shoes, and tan slacks. He
appeared
to be wearing a heavy wool and cotton tan shirt and cotton slacks made
rather
crudely and by hand, not from a sewing machine.
“Ow
are ye, kind sir?” asked the bedraggled woman in front of him. She held
something
in her hand, something grey and lifeless.
Freddy
shuddered and kept his ugly shirt up by his nose and mouth. “How can
I
help you, mister…um…miss?”
“Ell,
moi naime is Ferona, an oim the maid servan fer tha dwellin next door.
Mr.
an Mrs. Voigt wanted to send ye a gift. We awl saw ye ain’t been out in days.
We
wanted ter make ser ya didn’t have thar plague! Ere, we brot ye a chicken.
Thought
ya might be ungry!”
The
woman held up the lifeless, diseased-looking, headless grey bird. Freddy
covered
his mouth to avoid gagging. He looked around quickly, scanning the
street,
the houses. He glanced behind him and saw that, much as his clothes had
changed,
so had the outward appearance of his house! It looked small, old, and
moldy.
He took two steps backwards onto the packed dirt street, head staring up
at
the mud-packed, rock-layered dwelling that used to be his house, and felt his
foot
step into something squishy, then felt his back run into a person. He turned
around
quickly. He had run into the smelly old woman!
“Ah!”
he called out. A man on the street with a large beard looked over at him
grumpily,
and a dirty looking woman carrying two sickly looking young children
frowned
over at him. He heard a plop and saw a woman in an upstairs room
dumping
something onto the dirt-packed street from a copper pan, something
that
looked remarkably like… No! Freddy
thought to himself. People wouldn’t
do something like that! Freddy was
quite certain he was close to experiencing
something
like a mental breakdown.
“Excuse
me, kind sir.” The old woman, now standing next to him―too close
next
to him―once again broke into his thoughts.
“But
ya want ter be takin this ere chicken now? I got lots of work ter be doin
terday.
Almost tea time. Got ter get back to the Missus and Mister.”
“Um…
Yes. Certainly.” Freddy forced himself to function. “Thank you for
the…bird…
We will enjoy the…nourishment…it may or may not provide.”
The
woman raised her bushy eyebrow at him and grinned. “Oright then, ere ya
go!”
She held out her hand with the dead bird hanging from it.
Freddy
took a deep breath and grabbed hold of the thing. He knew his hand
would
never again feel clean. The woman turned around and began to hobble
across
the small, cramped street.
Freddy
waited until she turned, then quickly opened his door, which no longer
looked
like his door, just a crack, ran inside, and shut the door. Before even
looking
inside, he threw the dead chicken to the floor. To his floor. Freddy
looked
around, appalled. His floor looked like his floor. Clean, white, except for
the
dead grey chicken. He looked down. His clothes! Back to normal! Freddy’s
head
swam with unanswered questions, with a longing for his old life, with a
desire
for things to just go back to normal. For his friends, his neighbors, his
office
and customers, for his favorite restaurant, and his normal schedule. His
vision
became blurry as he worried about taking care of Susan and Sylvia in the
midst
of circumstances he had never experienced. He dimly heard Susan calling
out
to him as darkness filled his vision, and Freddy Willifred slumped to the
floor,
passing out in temporary relief. Sylvia and Susan ran to support him.
Jessica
Sara Campbell was born in Florida and raised in New Hampshire and
Idaho. She loves Disney, teaching, reading, writing, and animals. She
has been married to the love of her life for seven years. Jessica has
been writing since birth, even if it was only scribbles. Jessica has
played both the violin and the piano and speaks French. Jessica has
written articles for several Newspapers in Idaho, but her favorite
writing took place in high school and college where true literary
nerds can let their creativity flow. She loves fishing, horseback
riding, and hiking just as much as swimming at the beach. This is
Jessica’s first book, and it is a dream come true.
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