Chapter 1

"Yes Miss Peach, the property is very beautiful." "As I told you over the phone, the eighteen acres have a wonderful view of lake Mead which you can see to the south through the center of the forested grove of mature trees." The real estate salesman explained. "Dr. Cuthbert, the previous owner, loved his privacy and built an eight-foot chain link fence all around the sides and front. He was the one that planted those beautiful trees and bushes which as you can see completely hides everything from prying eyes." He continued. Here we were at the end of March so the only trees with any green were the fir trees. The bushes were either evergreens, like Cedar, or tall thick Privet hedges which ran all around the perimeter fencing. Off to the south west, by the lake was a big clump of trees and bushes, more like a large copse. When I looked further, I could see a pathway, by the fence leading into it. I couldn't resist investigating further. I followed the pathway into the copse and was astounded at what I saw in the interior. Inside was a completely cleared glade with pool and a small lawn. At one corner of the lawn area was a mound about ten feet tall (man made) built like a rockery. From the rockery sprang a small waterfall which tumbled into the pool and from the pool emptied into a brook running through the trees to the lake. The sight almost had me in awe of the potential beauty that could be expected in the summer when everything was in bloom and the trees were green. About ten feet from the pool on the grass verge was a long outdoor stone bench, positioned perfectly for quietly relaxing at the water's edge. The tranquillity of the scene can only be imagined if you hadn't seen it. It was wonderful.

I told the salesman, Mr. Jenkins, that the grounds were a dream that had come true, but I was interested in the house and the out buildings every bit as much as the grounds.

We headed toward the out buildings and there we found a sheep pen with six rather large sheep corralled within the fenced area. When I looked further, I could see that the animals were free to wander as they pleased throughout the property. As Mr. Jenkins explained, these were the lawn mowers for the property. They did a good job too since all the grass was very short. I thought things were a little strange though since there were two rams and four yews. One ram too many.

Attached to the sheep pen was another animal barn in which were kept four pigs all of which were around six or seven hundred pounds or more. The barn was next to the sheep pen and both sections had their own lockable outside doors. The pen and the barn were separated by a wall which had a wide door with a fair sized window through which you could see. Mr. Jenkins told me that they were being looked after by the University that Dr. Cuthbert had been a professor. The deal was that they stayed with the property because there was no room at the University to keep them. I must say that the pen and barn were kept spotlessly clean and I couldn't see a speck of dirt on the pigs.

Mr. Jenkins told me that if I were to purchase the property I would not be responsible for any of the animals. I was very interested so I wanted to see more. He agreed that we should look at the house, and while we were there we could look at the greenhouse and workshop.

When we reached the back of the house, I could see the swimming pool built into the large terrace just off the French windows. All you had to do was walk out of the house to get to the pool which was twenty-five yards long by twenty yards wide, according to Mr. Jenkins. The pool was shaped a bit like a kidney with a rock wall at one end from which tumbled the treated water entering the pool. Cuthbert seemed to have liked waterfalls. All around the exposed areas of the swimming pool and patio or terrace were trees and shrubs but they were far enough away not to block the sunlight but big enough to completely hide the entire pool area. The pool had lots of old leaves and garbage floating on the surface and resting on the bottom which I would have cleaned pretty quickly if I bought the place.

The green house was quite large and was attached to the house on the west side against the living room. In fact it was arranged to be an extension of the living room so that you could walk out of the living down two steps into the green house area. Mr. Jenkins explained that Dr. Cuthbert had added the green house after the house had been built. He'd done a beautiful job of it. Just at the entrance to the green house was a huge waterfall which went from the ceiling to the floor on the north side which was half in the living room and half in the atrium. At the base of the falls was a fish pond which overflowed into a channel flowing to the atrium and to another much larger pond at the back. There were fish in all the waterways, mostly gold fish but there were also turtles and water snails.

In a separate pool with it's own fountain, and almost the same size as the large fish pond was what looked like enormous water slugs. I had never heard of water slugs before.

There was a thermometer in this pond which registered 98.2 øF and I thought at the time that this was very warm for slimy, cool temperature creatures like slugs but I didn't think any more about it.

All along the atrium walls, and up too about the 5ft level were wire meshed reinforced windows which let the light in, but were opaque so you couldn't see out. Above these windows were regular glass windows so you could see out to the garden through these. None of the windows opened although all the windows were covered with a wire mesh. I could only guess that the mesh was to prevent vandals from breaking the glass with rocks. The mesh didn't interfere with the view much though. It had a curved roof like the Crystal Palace in London, England and was about 30ft high in the middle. The atrium was quite wide at 40ft, with about 10 ft of plants against the outside walls and in the middle a large hot tub and patio area used as a sitting area. Magnificent plants were all around the inside of the atrium, which included palm trees, rubber trees, Dieffenbachia, vines, ferns.