the mysteries of Harris Burdick

A brief introduction from Chris Van Allsburg:

I first saw the drawings in this book a year ago, in the home of a man named Peter Wenders. Though Mr. Wenders is retired now, he once worked for a children’s book publisher, choosing the stories and pictures that would be turned into books. Thirty years ago a man called at Peter Wenders’s office, introducing himself as Harris Burdick. Mr. Burdick explained that he had written fourteen stories and had drawn many pictures for each one. He’d brought with him just one drawing from each story, to see if Mr. Wenders liked his work. Peter Wenders was fascinated by the drawings. He told Burdick he would like to read the stories that went with them as soon as possible. The artist agreed to bring the stories the next morning. He left the fourteen drawings with Wenders. But he did not return the next day. Or the day after that. Harris Burdick was never heard from again. Over the years, Wenders tried to find out who Burdick was and what had happened to him, but he discovered nothing. To this day Harris Burdick remains a complete mystery. His disappearance is not the only mystery left behind. What were the stories that went with these drawings? There are some clues. Burdick had written a title and caption for each picture. When I told Peter Wenders how difficult it was to look at the drawings and their captions without imagining a story, he smiled and left the room. He returned with a dust-covered cardboard box. Inside were dozens of stories, all inspired by the Burdick drawings. They’d been written years ago by Wenders’s children and their friends. I spent the rest of my visit reading these stories. They were remarkable, some bizarre, some funny, some downright scary. In the hope that other children will be inspired by them, the Burdick drawings are reproduced here for the first time.

(this is my version of one of the images)

MR. LINDEN'S LIBRARY
___________________
He had warned her about the book.
Now it was too late.

“Are you listening to what I’m saying, young lady!” said Mrs. Roberts in an irritated voice to Ellen, who had been playing with a curl that had loosened from her braid.
“Sorry Mrs. Roberts” said Ellen trying to suppress a yawn, but unfortunately for her, Mrs. Roberts noticed and crossed her arms in the posture Ellen knew to be the one she used before starting a speech. “Ellen Clarisse Bradwood! Do you realize that this decision has been made by your parents with the hopes that you might be protected from all the criticism and to assure your reputation won’t be harmed by the scandalous situation your sister has placed your family into! And believe me; this hasn’t been exactly cheap either! You have to fulfill your duty with your family at least showing your gratitude by learning all the rules of Mr. Linden’s house so he won’t kick you out on the first week! He is a respectable gentleman, and being under his protection will keep your family and you from falling into ruin. It doesn’t matter if he is your uncle or not, he is a strict man and he only agreed to help in the situation because of the love he had for his stepmother, your grandmother, whom always considered you her favorite. You are sixteen years old, it’s time you start living in the real world and start behaving like you are expected to!
Mrs. Roberts finished her speech with a serious look, as if she had just said the most enlightening of truths, but Ellen knew this all too well already, she was sick of hearing about it from everybody in her house, and it was unnecessary of her pompous governess to go over the subject again. Ellen was sure she should just stick to do her teaching job on the ones of the family that still could use some instruction, like her tree younger brothers, that in the very same moment where trying to play ball with a jar. She knew the rules by hart, and she needed no more talk about them, she just wanted to spend her last afternoon home actually enjoying one last time the place she loved so much, and which she had no idea when she would see again after her departure the following morning.

In the morning, after she had been finally left alone to say goodbye to everything she knew, Ellen got in the carriage, saying goodbye to her family with a fake smile, so her mother wouldn’t cry more then she already had, thinking she would have a long journey to cry herself, and gave a last look to the house as the carriage started to move.

After fifteen hours, Ellen finally arrived at her uncle’s house and was overwhelmed by how big it was, it had to be a pretty lonely place to be, with so much space and just a person to live with. She got out of the carriage, and was welcomed by all the help, that seemed to be organizing something.
“Miss Bradwood!” Said a plump woman walking towards her, “welcome to Linden’s Park, I’m Mrs. Creeck, the housekeeper, I hope you had a comfortable ride, the master was waiting for you, to welcome you before his departure, he is in his study, come this way, please.”
“Departure?” Ellen asked wile trying to catch up with the housekeeper that was already walking through the double carved oak front door. “Yes, unfortunately he has to go on business to the city, but he’ll be back after winter” answered the first wile she passed the foyer and walked trough a door on the left into a long corridor.
Wonderful! I won’t even have someone to eat with for the next four months! Tought Ellen glumly as she walked trough the corridor behind the woman. “Mr. Linden, Miss Bradwood has arrived” said Mrs. Creeck after knocking softly on the door at the end of the corridor. “Come in” said a voice from the inside. The heavy weight that had placed in Ellen’s chest when she was leaving her house doubled when she realized it was the time to meet her uncle, and to be evaluated, so she tried to organize her hair and clothes without making much progress after having such a long trip, but then Mrs. Creeck opened the door and made her come in, closing the door behind her.
“So you are Ellen” he said glancing at her with a penetrating look, he was tall and skinny, and his hair was completely white. “Yes, Mr. Linden, thank you for receiving me in your house, I intend not to be a burden for you, I’m sure you’re a busy man” said Ellen nervously. “You’re right, I’m very busy, but I’m also glad to be helpful to the family” he said with a curious smile “I won’t be here to keep you company, but please, feel at home, you can use anything in this house to pass your time, there are plenty of books to read, if you feel like it” Ellen felt the relief go trough her body, the man wasn’t half as scary as she had thought he would be, and she would be fine as long as she could read, “ that is more than I need, I’ll be perfectly well as long as I have a good book” she said with a little more confidence now. “Very well then, there is only one request I have for you” said Mr. Linden in a cryptic way “It is imperative that you promise to me not to read the book I have placed on the crystal urn in the back of the library, there is no danger in this house but that, and if I’m not here, you could get lost past my reach” he finished with a mysterious smile, but with eyes that said clearly that he was serious about the matter. “Mm…as you wish” Ellen answered a little taken aback by his odd words “Very well, said Mr. Linden in different more casual voice, “I’ll leave, Mrs. Creeck will make sure that you get accommodated, so you can rest properly, good bye Ellen” he left the room before Ellen could say good bye, just glancing back with an unsure expression before entering the corridor out of Ellen’s view.

After getting settled the night before, Ellen fell asleep as soon as she touched her new bed, and she woke up the next morning fully reassured, she got dressed and went down to the foyer, expecting to find a servant that would show her the house, and the way to the dining room, as she was famished after skipping dinner the night before.
After her breakfast and her tour trough her new home, Ellen wrote to her family and then found herself with nothing to do, so she went to the library to find a good book.
The days started passing, and Ellen had gone around the house, until she knew the way to every room and what was in it, she was starting to feel too lonely to be distracted by the book she was reading so she went to the library to get a new one, and then she saw the big urn, the one containing the forbidden book. She walked towards it, expecting to find what was so dangerous about it; maybe it was a pagan book, or one with inappropriate contents? But as she got closer, disappointment grew when she saw that it was a thin, simple white book, with a green and gold image of a beautiful but uninteresting tree on the cover and the words “the magic world of The Plants”. A botanics book? So it was just a joke then! , she thought, as she remembered the dramatic warning from her uncle.
She moved on to find a new book to read, letting the urn and its book behind.
For the next weeks, the library became her favorite place from the house, and she spent most of her time there reading, as she discovered that her uncle had the most interesting collection of odd books, all filled with fictional subjects from imaginary worlds, she was fascinated by them and almost forgot her loneliness.
Tree months after her arrival, Ellen had read almost a fifth of the books in the huge library, and she hardly stopped to eat and sleep. One night, she finished an especially interesting book about a world of creatures made of light that could fly and see all beauty from the universe; she wished such world could exist. She sat on her bed thinking about that, too unsettled to sleep, so she resolved to go to the library and get another book. She walked trough the silent house with her bed candle and finally reached the library, but then she found there was someone inside, as light was coming out from under the door. “Mrs. Creeck?” she asked as she opened the door, but there was nobody inside the library, the light was coming from the forbidden book as if it where a window to a sunny morning. Ellen walked to it, lost in its beauty, opened the urn, and took it in her hands. It was open on the first page and it said with shiny letters “welcome to the magic world of The Plants, if you are brave enough to see its wonders, you’ll be well compensated, if not, be prepared to face your worst fears”
Ellen closed the book and its light went off, she put it under her arm, and run to her room, expecting to read it in a place where no one would see her. In her room she closed her door, and got to her bed, where she opened the book again. Light softly covered her as she read the first words once again, then she passed the page and many things happened at the same time: a beautiful plant that looked as if it were made of emeralds came out of the book, growing rapidly and covering her bed, she dropped the book, shocked by the astonishment, the plant started covering her, showing confusing images in her head every time a leaf touched her skin and send tickles trough her body. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time, she couldn’t think, she could only see what the plant showed her as her heart started racing in her chest and her breathing became irregular and difficult, she started to get dizzy and vaguely saw a thing after realizing the plant was choking her; then, realization came to her in a finally clear picture, it was so absolutely wonderful, so perfect, such a beautiful world just a little further the reach of her hand, so overwhelming that she barely noticed how she didn’t had any oxygen left in her lungs. At that moment, before she passed out, her uncle kicked the door open, strangely without an ounce of surprise in his eyes, just a mix of anger, disappointment and desolation in his face as she was slowly swallowed by an infinite darkness.