The Darker Half Chapter 11

The Darker Half Chapter 11

By Janet Baldey

CHAPTER 11

The best thing about the new house had been that tree. It had been spring when they moved in and it had masses of pink blossom that had looked good enough to eat, like the candyfloss they sold at fairs. Later, in mid-summer, Anna would lie underneath it, on the sun-crisped grass, looking at picture books while its leaves shaded her from the heat. Her Daddy told her it was a cherry tree and that later perhaps her Mummy would make a cherry pie. But, no matter how loudly her mother screamed and raged and no matter how many times her father threatened to beat him, Alec wouldn’t leave the tree alone.  Anna couldn’t work out why it held such a fascination for him but this was before she understood that once Alec got an itch he couldn’t rest until he’d scratched it. At the time,  she thought it was because of her, and so she stopped going near it but that didn’t work. Roughly three times a week, Alec got stuck amongst its branches and had to be rescued by her father, summoned by her hysterical mother who constantly feared for Alec’s life. Then came that terrible day when her Mummy was proved right and from then on the tree’s days were numbered.

“Anna, go and get your brother, he’s probably up the tree.”

To her surprise, her Mummy had sounded very calm.  Then she remembered something she’d overheard the previous evening.

“Alec’s getting really good at climbing now.” Her mother said, sounding proud. “Well, I suppose boys will be boys,” she added fondly.

“About time.” Her father grunted and there was a long silence broken only by the rustle of his newspaper.

For the first time, Anna had felt a bit sorry for her Mummy, she had little enough to boast about where Alec was concerned.  But Anna wasn’t a bit pleased about Alec’s newly found skill because now she was barred from lazing in the tree’s shade. If she tried, Alec pelted her with twigs, cherry pips and anything else he could find.

“Hurry up girl, stop daydreaming and go and fetch your brother. His baked beans will get cold.”

An impatient voice interrupted her thoughts and reluctantly Anna got up from the table and went outside. The fact that her beans were getting cold didn’t seem to have occurred to her Mummy. What was wrong with her legs anyway, she grumbled to herself as she walked down the path. As she got nearer, she slowed. There was a crumpled black smudge lying on the ground underneath the tree.  It looked like an old coat that somebody had thrown down but as she grew nearer she realised it wasn’t a coat. It was Alec. He was very still, he must be asleep, although that was strange because he was always hungry and it was teatime.  Also, he was lying in a very strange way and she felt a twinge of alarm.

“Alec, are you OK?” she called but he didn’t move. She ran to where he was lying and bent over him, his face was very white and there was a thin mauve line around his lips. She felt frightened and put out a hand to shake him but then drew back, realising that maybe she shouldn’t. Turning, she raced towards the house, yelling for her father and mother.

When they came back from the hospital her father took her mother upstairs to lie down. She’d been given a sedative at the hospital because she was so upset. He sat down in a chair and lifted Anna onto his lap.

“Your brother’s hurt his head. He must have tumbled down the tree. He’s got to stay in hospital for a while.”

“Is he going to die, Daddy?”  Anna lived in terror of people dying, especially her Gran, who she loved the best in the world, except for her Daddy of course.

“No, of course not love. Although he banged his head very hard and is still asleep at the moment. Now, Mummy is very upset and will have to spend a lot of time with Alec in the hospital so we think it would be a good idea if you stayed with your Grandma for a bit.

Anna was delighted. She loved her Gran and later she remembered those weeks as among the happiest of her life. She slept in Gran’s second bedroom underneath a pink satin eiderdown, which was Anna’s favourite colour, and Gran had made a set of pink and white striped curtains that matched exactly. In the morning's Gran walked with her to school and when they got back in the afternoon, they’d have their tea. It was always Anna’s favourite, fresh tomato sandwiches, sprinkled with a little salt, and fairy cakes with pink icing. Gran would sit at the table while Anna talked about her day and afterwards she’d listen to Children’s Hour on a little green and cream radio.

Grandma used to cook delicious food and at the weekends, they’d have a baking session when Anna would help cream butter and sugar together and decorate little cakes with glace cherries. Gran would put her little radio on the windowsill and when they were waiting for the cakes to bake they would dance around the tiny kitchen in time with the songs being played. Gran liked Country & Western best and knew all the words to most of Johnny Cash’s songs. At last, all pink and sweaty, she would collapse into a chair and throw her apron over her face crying, “that’s enough now. I’m too old for this.” 

Best of all, Gran had a little dog, a Jack Russell called Binky and they used to take him for a walk in the woods every evening. Sometimes Binky would be naughty and disappear down a rabbit’s hole and had to be coaxed out with biscuits but mostly he just ran around barking at shadows. At last, with Binky safely tethered on his lead, they’d walk home along paths bordered by clumps of trees made mysterious by the gathering darkness. Slightly spooked by the crouching bushes, Anna would slip her hand into the warmth of her Gran’s and look forward to her nightly mug of Ovaltine, wishing with all her heart she could stay with her forever. It was so peaceful without Alec.

One evening, her Gran started to talk about her brother.

“Are you looking forward to seeing Alec again, love?”

 Anna didn’t know what to say and looked down at her plate. Whenever she thought about Alec, her stomach started to tie itself into a knot. She crumbled her cake and nodded, hoping that Gran would talk about something else, but she didn’t say a word. At last, Anna was forced to look up, Gran’s face was serious and her eyes looked as if they could read her mind.

“I know he can be difficult, love. But he is only a little soul and has been through a lot.” She sighed and stared into the distance and Anna had the idea that she was really talking to herself. “Poor lamb, in a coma for three weeks, fancy”. She turned back to Anna, “anyway sweetheart, we’ve all got to be very gentle with him and I’m sure things will be back to normal in no time at all. And don’t forget, I’m just around the corner and, provided your mum and dad agree, you can come and stay with me any time you like.”

But afterwards, when she was back in her own home, she knew that Gran had been wrong. Things didn’t get back to normal and as the weeks went by, Alec became stranger than ever. They each had their own bedroom but the walls were thin and at night she was often kept awake by Alec grinding his teeth and muttering words that she couldn’t quite hear.  He was even naughtier than before and she couldn’t keep him out of her room. Once she got back from school to find that he had broken every one of a china menagerie of animals her Gran had given her. In doing that he also succeeded in breaking her heart and for the first time in her life she had a screaming tantrum. His shirt soaked by her tears, at last her father managed to calm her down by promising to put a lock on her door.

Alec also took against the tree and blamed it for his accident. Screaming and crying he refused to set foot in the garden while it was still there. When that didn’t work he wouldn’t leave the house and had to be dragged out forcibly whenever the family went shopping.

“Get rid of it,” he yelled. “I hate it, the ugly thing. It tried to kill me.”

He wouldn’t listen when they tried to tell him otherwise and grew so furious that his face looked like a big red balloon and Anna wondered if he’d burst.  In the end, her father crumbled, worn down by Alec’s incessant tantrums and his wife’s nagging.

“You’ve got to do something about it, Len. Alec’s developed some sort of neurosis and ‘e won’t get better till you do.”

   One morning, Anna was woken by the dull thwack of an axe and staring out of her bedroom window, she saw her father’s muscles bulge as he took a swing at the tree’s trunk.

“No,” she shouted and ran down the stairs, without bothering to put her clothes on. Racing barefoot down the path she launched herself at her father.

“No, Daddy. Leave it alone, it’s my tree.”

Gently, he disentangled himself. “Sorry, love. It’s got to go. Alec is frightened of it.”

“But I love it.” By now, tears were streaming down her face, “Alec’s accident wasn’t the trees fault. It won’t hurt him.”

Her father let go of the axe and drew Anna to him. “I know. But he thinks it will and it’s not good for him to keep fretting about it.  And, after all, it is only a tree sweetie. When Alec gets better, perhaps we’ll plant another one to take its place.”

Anna couldn’t stop crying, how could she tell him it wasn’t just a tree?  It was more than that. It was her safe place and the only beautiful thing in that ugly garden. When she was sad, just looking at it cheered her up.

 Staring at him out of swollen eyes, Anna saw it was no good. His face was kind, but at the same time firm. Reading his expression, she knew that it wasn’t his idea. He didn’t want to cut the tree down. He’d been forced into it by her brother.  She suddenly felt scared. He was her Daddy but even he couldn’t say ‘no’ to Alec and if her Daddy couldn’t control him, who could?

Copyright Janet Baldey