MY FRIEND

By Bob French 

It was Frances’s twentieth birthday and we had arranged to meet in the Red Lion pub on South Street in Manningtree around seven to be thrilled, spooked, or even frightened by an evening with Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, and his ghost hunters.  The Red Lion was our local, loved, and cherished by everyone who used it, especially the ladies' hockey team when playing at home. To come in out of the cold and sit by the fireplace with a nice drink with your mates was out of this world.  This old wood and stone building was, according to our town’s history, established in 1605, the same year Guy Fawkes tried to improve the interior decoration of the Houses of Parliament. 

          Sue and Frances had organized the food from the Dragon House Chinese restaurant next door, which went down a bomb, then Sammy our talented goalkeeper, started to tinker with the keys of the old honkey-tonk piano when without warning, the lights dimmed and a hushed spooky voice appeared to come from the shadows of a corner in the room.  Instantly the room fell silent and we could all sense the atmosphere change.

          “Tis the last day of October in the year of our Lord, 2020.  Not only is this night ‘all hallows eve,’ when the dead walk amongst us, but a full moon.”  The voice grew even eerier. “Not only is it a full moon, but it's a Blue Moon and to be honest, I do not know what will happen out there tonight.  They say that on such a night, Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General himself, sometimes roams these parts, so if you take my advice, stay close and don’t wander off alone.”

I could feel the tension growing around me and my head started to throb again, which I put down to the bang I took I got from a hockey ball during this afternoon's game. The evening turned out to be great fun as we had our fortunes told, Tarot cards read and we even played with a Ouija Board. 

It was whilst me, Sue, Frances, and one of the ladies organising the entertainment were playing the Ouija Board that Frances asked the board if any of us on the board were witches.  We were all in high spirits as our fingers started to move around the board, then I suddenly felt a chill rush through my body as Frances suddenly gripped my hand, and in a whisper called out. “My God!”

The woman who had introduced the board was staring at me.  The pupils of her eye seemed to narrow as though she was trying to read my mind. Then in a voice that scared me, she quietly asked me.

“Is your family name Hocket then love?”

I sensed the room fall silent and felt as though everyone was staring at me.  I tried to answer her, but I couldn’t, so just nodded.

“Do your folks come from Manningtree then?”

With a sigh of relief, I recalled Dad saying that he and Mum used to live in Rayleigh and broke eye contact with the woman.

At ten, one of the women who was involved in the cards stood and explained that outside this evening’s entertainment, for five pounds, she would be leading a walk out to where the original St. Mary’s church had stood and the ducking pond in Mistley where the ghost of Matthew Hopkins sometimes walks. Without exception, we all donned our coats and shuffled out into the bitter cold October evening.  We were pleasantly surprised at the tantalizing smokey tang of the air, so reminiscent of autumn, met us.

 It was amazing. Even though the street lights had been turned off by the town council, as energy efficiency measures, I found that our path was brilliantly illuminated by the huge blue moon that shone directly above us, casting ghostly shadows everywhere, which the woman used to her advantage as she wove her tales of the ghosts and witches that roamed these parts as a result of the dreadful deeds committed by Matthew Hopkins.

It was around midnight when the woman had started to lead the girls away from the ducking pond, having explained the methods that Hopkins used to determine the guilt of the unfortunate people. But, Frances and I chose to remain.

For some reason, we were mesmerized by the silence and stillness of this lonely place.  I had visited it during the summer when the tranquil beauty of the surrounding trees and the gentle ripple of the pond was a magnet to visitors to the town, but now I only felt fear.

We stood in silence, just staring out over the pond.  Then we heard them, the voices, moaning softly as though calling out to us. My nerves were tingling as I gripped Frances’s arm, then gave a sudden jump. “God, can you see them?”

Frances gave out a short scream, turned, and quickly made her way towards the rest of the girls, leaving me staring at the ghostly faces that slowly appeared from under the trees opposite me. I tried to move, but I felt as though I was frozen to the spot.  I could feel my heart pounding inside my chest, and for a minute or two, all I could do was just stand and stare back at the poor souls who had met their fate in this desolate place. 

Then it dawned on me. It was an illusion.  The wind had picked up and was moaning through the wire fence, and what I took to be faces moving in the darkness was the moonlight shining down through the branches of the trees.

I took a deep breath and tried to shake myself when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to rise; a tingle rushed through my body and I felt a shiver run down my spine.  Someone was watching me.

Without thinking, I turned and looked out across the dark empty pond.  I could see the mist starting to rise, then something caught my eye; a sudden movement.  There, standing just inside the tree line was the figure of a woman.  My whole body shivered with fright as I studied her and realised that she was probably thirty or so years old, but her clothing that was not of this century appeared a little worn.  We stared at each other for a while, then I called out to Frances.

“Can you see her?  Over there, just under the trees.”  My voice was no more than a whisper. Then I realised that Frances had left me for the safety of the rest of the girls. I was all alone. The ghostly figure then slowly raised her arm and pointed to the path that led to where, according to the woman, the old church of St. Mary had stood hundreds of years ago. 

Without thinking, I turned and slowly walked towards the path.  My mind was in overdrive. The ghostly figure had started to move as well. I thought that if this was some sort of prank, then it was a good one.  But the question the woman put to me in the pub haunted me.  “Was I a witch?”

We reached the path at the same time and I was surprised to find myself calm and relaxed.  We stood not ten paces apart and I could see the expression on her face as clear as day. She looked at me and pointed towards the path.  Suddenly I heard the distant voices of the girls, calling out to me from across the pond, but I chose to ignore them. Soon we were walking side by side down the path.

Without turning, I spoke.

“My name is Caroline Hocket and many hundreds of years ago, I think my family used to live in this town.”

Not knowing if she could reply, I turned and looked at her and felt calmness creep through me.  She was no threat.  The woman turned, and smiled at me, then put her ghostly hand over her heart then placed it on mine.

“Are we related?”  To my surprise, the woman slowly nodded.  We continued walking along the path in silence until we came to the abandoned graveyard.  The woman pointed to the gravestones across the other side of the old church grounds.  I followed her as she wandered about the stones looking for someone.  Then I realised that she was probably looking for a relative, so I joined the search. I found one very old and faded stone to a Hocket, but when I pointed it out, the woman smiled and shook her head.

After what seemed like an hour, we both retired to a stone bench amidst the gravestones and sat down.  She had sat next to me as though it was perfectly normal.  Suddenly my head started to throb, which caused me to frown.  Without warning the woman, very slowly raised her hands and carefully massaged my bruise.  To my surprise, the pain that had been bothering me since the game, faded away.

“What did you do for a living?” I asked, and the woman went through the motions of sewing, then cradling a baby.

“You were a seamstress and a mother?”  The woman smiled and nodded as though proud of what she had done during her lifetime.

“Did you have a husband?  Did he work the land around here?”

The expression on her face changed as she shook her head.  I gathered from her hands, that he had worked the land, then gone off to war and never returned.

“Is he buried here?”

The expression did not change as she shook it, then she pointed to my ring finger.

“No, I don’t have a man or a job.  I look after my mum, who is poorly.”  The woman seemed to understand, then patted her hip.  The confused look on my face told her that I didn’t understand, then she rubbed her thumb and index finger together.

“Money. No, we have little money. My mum used to be a school teacher in the town and dad is a carpenter but work is scarce these past few years.”

Our conversation was interrupted as the chattering of the girls appeared to be getting louder as they were obviously moving down the path towards us. The woman took my arm and pointed to the moon, then drew a circle with her hand.  She had to do it a few times until she saw that I understood what she was saying.

“You want me to meet you here at the next blue moon.”

She nodded, leaned across and quickly kissed my cheek, just as Frances came around the corner of the path, she was gone.

“What are you doing here all by yourself?”

I lied. “My headache was giving me hell, and I just wanted to sit down quietly for a bit.  How did the tour go?”

Sue leaned down and took a quick look at my bruise. “Mmm, seems to have cleared up.  I Can’t see the bruise anymore.”

As I sat there on the stone bench at midnight on the 22^nd of August the following year staring up at the huge blue moon, the ghostly figure of the woman gradually appeared next to me.  This time I had brought a plastic writing board and a magic marker so we could communicate.  We sat there for over an hour chatting away.

I still hadn’t got a job and my mum’s health had not improved.  I scribbled that the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with her.  My friend, as I referred to her now, asked what my mum’s symptoms were and I wrote them down.  She studied them for a while, then nodded.  She patted my knee and waived me to wait then wandered off.  She had been gone for nearly an hour.  When she returned, she had a bundle of what looked like herbs.  Slowly she took me through what I had to do with each herb, then leant forward and kissed my cheek, smiled at me, before slowly fading away.

At the end of September, on a bright sunny afternoon, Mum suddenly got out of bed and walked around the house. The following day, she and Dad went for a long walk.  When she returned, she explained that she felt as fit as a fiddle.  I made an appointment with the doctor, who after carefully examining her, declared that the strange illness that had plagued her had simply vanished.  She was as fit as a twenty-year-old.

A week later she got her old job back as a teacher at a local school. With time on my hands, I got a job in our local Tesco’s and Dad found work on a building site just outside Colchester, building a hundred new houses.  Our problems were over.

I often wander out to the stone bench in the grounds of the old St Mary’s churchyard, hoping that my friend would reappear so I could thank her, but she never did.

Copyright Bob French

 

 STARSTRUCK   (Part 2 of 2) 

by Richard Banks 

         “Tell it to your folks,” he growls.

         We do, and that’s when we find out we’ve been missing for nearly a week. No one’s seen us during that time and no one believes a word we say.

         “Damn those drugs,” says my Dad, and that’s it. It’s all down to the drugs, and my allowance is cut and bank card cancelled. It’s much the same with Leroy and I’m told not to see him again. So I don’t for the next two weeks. After that we meet up in Allis where no one knows us and there’s little or no chance of our folks ever finding out. It’s me and Leroy against the world, at least that’s how it feels. All we want to do is move on and forget the whole thing ever happened, but that’s not the way it’s going to be – at least not for now.

         Someone’s tipped off the press and a ratbag of reporters turn-up on the doorstep wanting to talk to me. Dad calls the police and they’re sent on their way but not before they take my photograph and ask me a whole lot of questions I would have been better off ignoring. Next morning I’m on the front page of every comic pretending to be a newspaper, some of which have a picture of my head on the shoulders of this other girl who’s underdressed and over endowed. What’s more they’ve managed to get hold of our statements to the police, to which they’ve added some fevered speculations of their own. The headline in the Daily Reveal says it all, ‘College Kids Drug Fuelled ET Romp’ which picks-up on our exchange of tops. Dad goes ballistic and joins forces with Leroy’s old man in suing the Reveal and every other paper running trash stories. But that don’t help me and Leroy who are on the end of every bad joke going.

         But two guys who aren’t laughing are Griff and Theo who also claim to have been abducted, and are now founder members of an organisation claiming that aliens are not only in the skies above  but down below in every tier of Government up to and including the White House. This they tell us in the College car park, while looking furtively about them for those they call, the ‘Cover-up Crew’. They’re as mad as hatters but whose to say they’re wrong. All we know is that they’re not as entertaining as the X Files and we would rather they weren’t around reminding us of something we’d rather forget. Leroy says thanks but no thanks and, when they persist, tells them less politely that he doesn’t want to see their faces again.

         “Phone us if you change your mind,” says Griff. He hands me a card with a mobile number on it beneath the words, ‘Alien Survive.’

         It seems that for every Griff and Theo there are as many folks wanting to explain them away. No it wasn’t a space ship they say, it was, a satellite, a balloon, a meteor – you’ve heard it all before. Maybe it’s all in the mind others say. Hilary is a shrink from New York with a theory she’s determined to prove, and I’m just the kind of person she wants to include among her case studies. This might be someone who can help I think, so I arrange to meet her in a hotel lobby in Milwaukee. I tell her what happened and she nods her head and says she believes me - then come the buts. Subtle buts that play with words like ‘perception’ and ‘reality’ and muddle them up with guilt and other emotions I don’t have.

         “What do you think about the slave trade?” she asks. How is this relevant I think, but don’t say because I know she’s building up to telling me. Instead I tell her what she has probably worked out for herself, that I don’t approve of slavery, past or present, and that if she’s got a petition I’ll gladly sign it. I say this with sufficient irony to make her realise that I don’t like being played. If you got something to say just say it is the message I’m sending out and by the expression on her face she’s receiving it loud and clear. So, she gets round to saying, what she hoped, with a little prompting, I might start thinking for myself. As theories go it’s rather neat. It goes like this. I’m a white affluent American whose ancestors owned slaves or if they didn’t own slaves profited from their exploitation. This, she says, is deeply troubling to me. So, to overcome my feelings of personal culpability I have created a new power dynamic in which African slaves, now in the form of alien abductors, are oppressing me.

         “Could this be you?” she asks, “after all your boyfriend is Afro-American. Is it a co-incidence that your abduction occurred soon after you started dating?”                                                                                                                                                I tell her that I’m a second generation American whose grandparents came over from Norway. If I were to have guilty feelings it would be for the Viking raids in Europe. But as there’s nothing now I can do about them I’d rather concentrate on the here and now. “Anyway,” I say, “how does Leroy fit into your theory? He was there too.” Hiliary says she’s not sure; she will need to speak to him separately, but never does. She departs for another appointment and I don’t see or hear from her again.

         Whose next, I’m thinking and they’re not long in coming, two guys in uniform with short cropped hair and ID cards that say they’re from military intelligence. They’re not slow in coming to the point. The country, they say, is under threat from an enemy seeking to seize control of American airspace. But it’s not the aliens trying to do this, it’s the Chinese. First they sent over their lanterns, then the so called weather balloons and now it’s new aircraft types with advanced weaponry capable of reducing American cities to ash.

         “Are you sure?” I ask.

         It appears that they are and what’s more they have a dossier of unassailable evidence which proves that my abduction was only one of numerous incidents attributable to the yellow peril.

         “But my abductors were aliens,” I tell them, “eight foot tall reptiles with green scales. How can they be Chinese?”

         “Think about it,” they say. “Consider the evidence, one of them was called Chog and the other Mog. Aren’t those Chinese names? And when you say they were green, are you sure? There’s many shades of green and in the dead of night a dull yellow is bound to look darker than it actually is. Anyway whose to say they weren’t in disguise.”

         “This is evidence?” I say.

         “Everything you say Miss Gilsen is evidence. Now think carefully. Did you at any time hear them speak in a language that might have been Chinese?”

         I tell them that Mog didn’t speak once and that Chog spoke English - in a voice that sounded kind of familiar.

         “Familiar?”

         “Yes, couldn’t place it at first,” I say, “then I did. It was Jimmy Stewart, he was talking like Jimmy Stewart.”

         “But Jimmy Stewart was a patriot!” they exclaim in shock horror.

         “Perhaps the alien was too,” I say.

         They leave having probably put me on a watch list of alien sympathisers.

         When three weeks pass without any further visitors it seems that our ‘fifteen minutes of fame’ are over and we can get back to normal. Leroy’s folks get-together with mine and decide that they will allow us to see each other again providing we abide by a 101 conditions, chief among them being that we let them know, at all times, where we are and what we’re doing. This is good news and saves us the bother of sneaking off to Allis twice a week.

         Then after one accident too many we give our folks the ‘glad tidings’ that they are about to become grandparents. The fathers go ballistic again and our mothers silent and stony faced. When the noise subsides it’s the mothers that take charge and the two families meet to discuss ‘our options’. Number one on their list is,” I tell them, “one big no; I’m keeping my baby and Leroy’s standing by me.”

         “Then” says mother, “it will have to be a yellow wedding.”

         “A yellow wedding?” I say.

         “Well it can’t be white.”

         I don’t believe what I’m hearing, but when I say we’re not so sure about the whole wedding thing a compromise is struck and arrangements made for us to get hitched in a low key civil ceremony at the Court House. At first it’s going to be held at midnight in front of an uninvited audience of nil but gradually it becomes the big Cinderella event that both our mother’s want and my Dad can well afford to pay for. Then not to be outdone Leroy’s father announces that he has bought us a furnished apartment in Milwaukee near the university we’ll soon be at.

         I should be grateful, and I am. It’s going to be OK, better than OK, amazing! And all I have to do is buy a dress that isn’t yellow or white and turn-up on the big day. I choose a peach evening dress that’s fits loosely over my small but expanding waistline.

         All this is a vast improvement on being abducted by aliens. That’s yesterday’s news and from being in my thoughts every day of the week it’s now as relevant as a discarded email in Trash. Maybe Hilary was right, perhaps it was all in the mind, or maybe nothing more complicated than a bad smoke. Who knows, who cares, all that matters are the special things to come. I’m counting down the days. Bring it on!  

 

                                              *****

         Six months later we’re at Uni and my waters break two weeks early and I’m rushed off to a maternity hospital that’s only a few blocks away. This would be embarrassing if it wasn’t so painful and I pass out in the ambulance. When I wake-up it’s all over and no one’s looking pleased. I’m in a small, white tiled room with two nurses, and a fat guy sat down on a chair, smoking a cigar. He tells me that I’m in a temporary medical unit and that he’s the guy in charge. He speaks in a flat, southern drawl that has neither warm or empathic. This doesn’t feel right and I panic. “Where’s my baby!”

         The guy pulls a disapproving face and, cigar in hand, motions me to calm down; but there’s no chance of that.

         “I want to see my baby,” I scream. I try to sit up but there’s a searing pain across my stomach which throws me back onto the bed.

         “Best lie flat,” he says, “you don’t want to be straining those stitches. Want a pain killer? You only need ask.”

         I tell him that the only thing I want is my baby. “Please, please show me my baby!”

         “Wish I could,” he says. “The ambulance arrived too late, there was nothing we could do, nothing anyone could do, the child was stillborn.”

         “I don’t believe you,” I say. “I want to see it, hold it, I need to know if it’s a girl or a boy!”

         “And you will,” he says, “but not now, best you rest up for a while.”

         “No way,” I shout, “Not later, now! I want my baby, now!”

         He looks rattled and appears not to notice the ash falling from his cigar onto his shoes.

         “I demand to see my baby. My Dad’s an attorney, my husband’s father knows Mayor Stevens. If you don’t show me my baby we’ll sue you for every dollar you got.”

         “Yeah,” he says, “I know who they are, you don’t need to say. I also know you’re smart and feisty enough to keep shoving until you get what you want. Only wish I could oblige. Had you been expecting a black or white baby, no problem, even at this short notice we could have come up with something. But an inbetweenie, that takes longer and as of now we don’t have one.”

         “So my baby’s not dead. Is that what you’re telling me? Where is it then?”

         “There never was a baby.”

         “Then what the hell was inside me?”

         “I think you know the answer to that. It’s in the zoo with the other freaks. Want to be known as the mother of a freak? No way. So, you listen to me. This is what happened: your baby was a normal child, born dead. Be grateful we’re here to help you and make this whole thing go away. Do as you’re told and no one beyond you, me and these ladies will know how it was Your husband and family have been told the sad news and that you’re not well enough just now to receive visitors. When they come you tell them that you wanted the child cremated and, if by then we still haven’t got an appropriate stiff, we will say we messed-up and had it done before getting the father’s OK. After that you get some ashes and you scatter them, or do whatever. End of story, and you get on with the rest of your life.”

         “And if I don’t do what you want?”

         “It won’t be good, Missy. We can’t have you stirring up a panic. If you’re not prepared to co-operate we’ll have no choice but to declare you insane. People like that are put in institutions. Once in there you won’t be getting out. And before you start telling me again about all the important people you know let me tell you that they count for nothing next to the people I answer to. Believe me you don’t want to be on the wrong side of them. So, if you value your freedom the deal is this: you had a baby, a normal child, still born, cremated at your request. This is what you tell everyone, no exceptions, not Leroy, not your mother, no one.”

         “That’s a hell of a secret to be keeping to myself.”

         “If you want to live normal again that’s the way it’s got to be. Why settle for less?  Life’s good, especially for an uptown girl like yourself. Have fun, enjoy the glad times to come. And just one word from you will make it happen. So, what’s your answer? I’m asking you one last time. Do we have a deal?”

         “Yes,” I tell him, “we have a deal.” What else can I do?

         A nurse puts a needle in my arm. “You need to rest,” she says, “tomorrow evening you can have visitors, for now it’s best you sleep.” My eyes close shut, but for a few seconds more I hear them talking.

         “Is she out?” says the man.

         “She’s out,” replies the nurse.

         “Let him in,” says the man. A door opens and someone else draws near. He says no more than a dozen words, but that’s enough. Jimmy Stewart’s back in town.

 

The End.

 

Copyryght Richard Banks

 Twilight Time

Janet Baldey

This is going to be one of my good days.  My body feels as if it’s floating just above my bed; the ache in my bones has disappeared completely and my mind feels as if it has been spring cleaned overnight. As if she is still with me and whispering in my ear, I can clearly hear my favourite carer, Sadie, telling me that she will be on duty today.  Instinctively I try to form a smile but it turns into a lopsided snarl. Nevertheless, I am happy.  At least she will treat my ancient flesh gently, not like the other one who pushed and pulled me this way and that as if I was one of the living dead; a nuisance to everyone and so far gone it didn’t matter what she did.  But she was wrong.  Although my body resembles a sack of dough, there is nothing wrong with my brain and I sussed her from the first.  All smiles to Sadie but when she turned to me her mask slipped and I saw contempt, distaste, and an obscure emotion that I struggled to process. She plucked at me with fastidious fingers as if I was infectious and all at once I flexed a muscle in my brain and knew it was fear that I sensed.  I also knew she wouldn’t be back and the knowledge comforted me.  In any case, she is quite wrong.  I’m not just a lump of flesh, I do have a life, although not one she would understand.

It’s a lovely day outside. I can tell that by the way my curtains are rimmed by light.  Soon Sadie will tap at my door and waft in like a soft summer breeze.  First, she lets the outside in and my room is filled with sunshine and the twitter of birds.  Then, she washes me and changes my bedclothes, her soft voice chattering non-stop, recounting little anecdotes and snippets of gossip she thinks I might like to hear.  I think she gets as much out of this as I do as frequently her voice deepens and she drifts towards more personal topics, problems of a domestic nature that need a solution and I like to think talking to me helps, although I never utter a word.  Then, after a kiss as light as gossamer, she is gone and I am left alone.

This, is when my life starts.  I peer into the corner nearest my bed and there is a little girl with wide, cornflower blue eyes.  She is timid, this little girl and clutches her toy rabbit to her as if it’s about to run away.  Our mother, has already washed and dressed her and she has two pigtails sticking out from the side of her head, with pink ribbons that match the colour of her dress.  My spirit leaves my shell and gently unites with hers and immediately we are one.  I have spent many happy days with her as my memories creep through the mist of years and the love that surrounded me in my infancy gives me strength.

In the next corner, the child has morphed into a gawky, awkward teenager who hates her looks and is so shy as to be almost catatonic.  She needs a lot of help that girl but in those days, children were seen, not heard so no-one noticed she was crying inside. In any case, our mother was so occupied with the problems of her second daughter, that she pushed aside her first, in many ways, the most needy. A bright girl, she found relief in self harm but was canny enough not to cut her arms instead she disfigured her thighs that nobody saw. Whenever I visit her, my memories are grey and twisted, much like the scars that decorate her upper legs and the thought of her pain saddens me.

Then, there is the harried young mother of three.  She is desperately worried about her middle daughter and I need to reassure her that all will be well and the child will grow into the most successful of all her children. But how does one calm the irrational fears that keep her awake at night?

A new day brings Sadie back again, but instead of softly wafting, she boils into the room with the force of a tornado.  Wisps of hair foam around her head and her eyes are wild.  This is not my sweet Sadie and I wonder what has happened as she rushes around the room, scattering tissues and cotton wool buds first onto the bed and then the floor.  I stare at her.  I’ve become used to reading Sadie’s lips but today they’re working overtime and her incoherence almost overwhelms me, but over the past few months, I’ve become aware that her marriage is not a happy one.  Purple bruises frequently stain her arms and occasionally her face, but fiercely loyal, she gives away very little.  Sometimes phrases like ‘Anton was in a bad mood today’ or ‘when someone upsets Anton, I pay for it’ slips from her lips but afterwards she looks ashamed and clams up.  But today is different, she almost acts as if I wasn’t there and it hurts to think I can so easily be dismissed. 

I will let you into a secret, since my immobility, I’ve developed a secret power.  By flexing a certain muscle in my brain, I can see into peoples’ lives as clearly as if I were watching a film, but I very rarely use this power,  The few times I have, I was left feeling unclean; an unwelcome usurper into peoples’ privacy, a bit like a man in a dirty raincoat.  So, knowing that, I hesitate but then decide to go ahead anyway because I must know why Sadie is so upset.

So, the movie starts to unspool.  There is a man lurching down the road and I can see by the way people flinch out of his way that he smells strongly of alcohol.  He comes to a little green gate and grasping at it with both hands he executes an unsteady right turn, almost falling over in the process.  Weaving up to the front door, he fumbles out his key and stabs at the keyhole several times before losing patience and dropping it.  With his fists, he hammers at the door.  “Lemme in, you daft cow,” I hear him roar. “I’ll giv yer ten seconds.” Immediately, the door opens and I catch a glimpse of Sadie’s face.  The man enters and there is a confusion of noise, the man’s bawling drowning out whatever she is saying.   He pushes Sadie down a narrow corridor and aims a blow but she dodges it and runs up the stairs.  “I’ll teach you,” he roars, stumbling after her. “’Yer’ll not look so pretty after I’ve finished with yer.”  But just as her husband reaches the top stair, Sadie reappears, thrusts out her arms and pushes him backwards down the stairs. I hear a sickening crack as his head connects with something hard.  A scarlet tide floods my vision and I know immediately what has happened. There is a limit to what anyone can take and my poor Sadie reached it. Because of his brutality she has been turned into a murderess.

I feel so blessed she chose to run to me but wonder why.  I try to see inside her mind but it’s a welter of confusion.  Perhaps she felt, as a woman of colour, she had no other choice but to carry on as usual until apprehended.  I know I must help her and not for the first time, rage at my paralysis although I know it’s wasted energy.  At last, she looks at me with eyes less clouded than before.  Some of her panic has receded and I flex my secret muscle as hard as I can until I see a spark of understanding.  Now, she knows she has refuge here and  soon I will show her my cache, for what use have I for money?  Later, when the hue and cry has slackened, she must go. 

As must I, for the ghosts of me have left their corners and are closer now.  Deep in the dark, I hear their voices; and know at last, it’s twilight time.

 

Copyright Janet Baldey

 

 

 

 

 

 

STARSTRUCK (Part 1 of 2)

 STARSTRUCK     (Part 1) 

by Richard Banks

If there’s anything worse thing than being abducted by aliens it’s the fall-out from talking about it. Take my advice if it happens to you put it down to experience and move on, no good will come of making a fuss. I mean, who’s going to believe you, not the cops that’s for sure.

         Wasn’t in the Station five minutes before we realised it was one big mistake. Oh yeah, they were all ears to begin with, saw we were shook-up, and when Leroy said we’ve been abducted and held against our will they were all for rushing out and pulling in whoever we said had done it. Then we told them it was aliens, and we were shown the door. Only wish we had got through it but then one of them asks what we’ve been smoking and suddenly we’re the ones on the wrong side of the law. But Leroy’s angry and insists they take us seriously. “We want to make a statement,” he says, “it’s the law, our legal right, a crime’s been committed and we want something done about it!” Leroy’s studying law at college and knows just enough about what he’s saying to sound convincing, so they sit us down in separate rooms and after they search us for the grass we don’t have no more we tell them what happened.

         Mother says always to start a story at the beginning, so I did.        

         “It goes like this, officer, - we were heading down Highway 181 to a late night drive-in when Leroy turns right down a slip road and then onto a forest track that’s definitely not going to get us to the film.       

         ‘This isn’t the way to Wauwatosa,’ I tell him, but he just laughs and tells me to chill. He has something to show me and once he stops I’ll be more than glad he did. This is not something I want to be hearing on our second date. I’m getting ready to fend him off with my handbag when he pulls into a clearing and points up at the sky and says, ‘what about that!’

         What about what? I start to say then don’t because it’s the most beautiful, starry sky I’ve ever seen. It’s even better when he turns off the headlights. So, there we are, him telling me the names of them all and how the moon’s going to rise up any moment above the hills to our left. And when it does, it seems like he made it happen. If this isn’t romantic nothing is. And then it all goes nuts. 

         ‘What’s that star over there?’ I say, ‘the one zigzagging about between Sirius and that other one you were telling me about.’

         He looks up and tells me half a dozen things it isn’t, ‘but whatever it is,’ he says, ‘it’s coming our way.’ And sure enough it’s getting bigger by the second. Then, just when we think it’s about to pass over us, it drops down and lands a few feet away like it’s the next car in the parking lot. It feels like being pulled over by the cops, so Leroy opens up his window and throws out the smoke we’ve been sharing. But this ain’t no police car and the two dudes getting out are not like any cops I’ve ever seen. Worse still they’re not even people, unless they’ve been painting their faces green and sprouting scales instead of skin. One of them peers through the open window at Leroy and then at me and I breath in something really gross that’s either them or Leroy.

         The creature curls up its wide mouth into what is either a smile or the freeing-up of its jaws for dinner, but when it speaks the creature is definitely on the friendly side of weird 

         ‘Hope I’m not interrupting anything,’ it says in a voice that’s gender male and oddly familiar. ‘Looking for a place called Tucson. Any idea where it is? Sorry to be asking but the autopilot’s down and we’ve been all day without finding the place.’

         Delroy recovers his voice sufficiently to make a noise that sounds like water squeezing through a blocked-up pipe. Then he manages to speak, ‘Tucson?’ he croaks. 

         The creature confirms that Tucson is indeed the place he is seeking. ‘Is it near?’ he asks. He looks at me in the hope that I might have more to say, but to his credit Leroy gets a grip on his vocal cords, and in a higher than usual voice, tells him that he’s in Wisconsin State and that Tucson is a thousand miles due south. The creature seems quite pleased to be hearing this and politely requests the exact co-ordinates which Leroy doesn’t know, but he does have a road atlas which he presses into the creature’s hands. ‘Take this,’ he says in the hope that they will get back in their spaceship and be off, but the creature won’t hear of it.‘This gift is too much,’ he says. They can’t possibly accept an object of such learning and craftsmanship unless they have something of comparable value from themselves. Leroy says that’s quite alright and that anyway it only cost a few dollars, but the creature insists that we come on board and choose something from the many gifts they have for friendly aliens such as ourselves.

         ‘We have,’ he says, ‘rare perfumes from Apixabar, the latest fashions from Delrosia, carpets from Cartobia and the legendary glow plant from Sector 61. Come inside and choose whatever you like, then we’ll be on our way and you can get back to whatever it was you were doing when we came.’ He gives Leroy a knowing wink which, no doubt, would have been accompanied by a sly dig in the ribs had the creature been able to get its elbow through the window. 

         By now it’s obvious they won’t be taking no for an answer and as they are both eight feet tall and have large teeth and claws we don’t have much choice but to do what they want and hope we get out in one piece. But so far they couldn’t be friendlier and they escort us through the open door of their craft into a room that’s twice the size of everything that can be seen from the outside. This, we’re told, is the flight deck and research room where they spend most of their time; upstairs is the rest room in which they sleep and watch old films on TV. 

         ‘By the way,’ says the one who’s been doing all the talking, ‘my name’s Chog and this guy here is Mog. What should we be calling you?’ 

         I tell them that I’m Jo and that Leroy is Leroy which ain’t letting on too much but if they’re wanting last names and addresses they won’t be hearing them from me. But they don’t ask and Leroy moves the conversation along to the subject of their research. ‘What is it you do?’ he asks.

         ‘We’re sort of explorers,’ says Chog, ‘we find planets in unexplored sectors of the universe  and gather data on their lifeforms and geology. Then we write it all up for assessment. Over 80%  we graduate, anything less we start over again.’ 

         ‘So, you’re students?’ I say. For the first time I realise these guys are not much older than me and are probably doing the equivalent of an end of course project. How cool, I think, and me gone no further than LA. ‘Is there anything we can do to help? This is America in case you didn’t know.’

         Chog says that he does know, but that the land based stuff is mainly down to Mog. ‘He’s a geologist which is why he don’t know any language but his own. Rocks don’t talk,’ he adds, ‘so no need for him to. But if you wish to assist our studies a sample of your breath will enable me to analyse your chemical structure.’ 

         ‘Sure thing,’ I say, ‘what do I do?’ The words spill out before my brain tells me this may not be a good idea. But it’s too late now and he has me breathing in and out through a tube that’s connected to what looks like a water dispenser. The liquid inside bubbles and then sparkles.

         ‘That’s enough,’ says Chog. He asks me how I’m feeling and I say fine because, wow! I’ve never felt better, but it’s also sort of scary and confusing. This, I’m thinking, is one big mistake, and the alarm bells inside my head are telling me they agree. ‘Don’t let Leroy breath down the tube,’ says the smallest bell that’s pink in colour and answers to the name of Sal but it’s too late and he’s already taken a puff. Someone mentions Tucson again and Chog says that he and Mog are meeting up in the desert west of there with some other guys they know. ‘There be some serious partying going on, fancy coming?’ he says with a smile that’s close to being a leer. Inside my head, the alarm bells are going into overdrive and red lights are flashing. ‘We’re leaving,’ I say, ‘enjoy your trip.’ I grab Leroy by the arm and we walk weak-kneed, but unchallenged, towards the door.        

           Next thing I know we’re back in the car, feeling the worse for wear and stinging all over like someone’s been sticking pins in us. Leroy’s throwing-up out of the window and to make matters worse he’s wearing my top and me his. That’s when we decided to come here.”         

         The cop I’m speaking to blows out his cheeks and looks up at the ceiling. “Anything else you want to say before you leave?”

         “What you going do about it?” I ask.

         “Well Miss Gilsen, let me tell you what I could be doing. I could be charging you for being high on whatever it is you’ve been inhaling. I could also be charging you for wasting police time, but I’m not, because, as you know, your boyfriend’s father is real good friends with the Mayor, and in the land of the free and equal some people are more equal and less accountable than the rest of us. So what I’m going to do is file your statement under B and take you back to your parents who, if they have any sense, will give you a darn good hiding - or doesn’t that happen on the finer side of town?”

         “But it’s all true,” I say.

         “Tell it to your folks,” he growls.

         We do, and that’s when we find out we’re been missing for nearly a week. No one’s seen us during that time and no one believes a word we say.

 

(To be continued)

 

Copyright by Richard Banks

         

 MACDONALDS TONIGHT

By Bob French

They sat close together on their settee with a thick blanket over their knees, facing the small unlit fireplace, and laughed at the hundreds of photographs they had kept in a large box of the friends they had worked with over the past 39 years.

Daphanie, in her day, had been a beautiful woman, whilst Louis, had been a tough weather-beaten young man who had made his living as a Corsican bandit.

They first came to know each other when Louis arrived in England as an eight-year-old immigrant and on his first day at school was picked on because he was different.  Daphanie stood up for him and soon they were inseparable.  When they graduated to secondary school, their roles reverse and Louis protected her from the conceited boys who thought that she was fair game.

Daphanie went on to university, then medical college to be a doctor, whilst Louis, after a few years doing odd jobs, returned to his home country and took up the profession of his father and his father before him; as a bandit.

Twenty years had passed; Daphanie, had become bored with the NHS and decided to go and work for Medecins Sans Frontiers and had thoroughly enjoyed it.  She had worked in South Sudan, the Congo, and now, on her last tour before retiring, she found herself in the war-torn country of Yemen.

Louis had worked with his father, before becoming bored with running from the Gendarme, and crossed over to the Island of Elba where a United Nations team was helping the people after an earthquake.  Because of his enthusiasm and dedication to helping those in need, they asked him to join them.  He too, travelled the war-torn countries of Africa and the Middle East until his unit was assigned to Yemen.

It was on a hot sticky afternoon when the village of Albuqa, suddenly came under attack from bandits from the north. Louis and the men from his section quickly started to defend the village. 

He watched in horror as a young boy dashed from the secondary school across the open ground.  Bullets hit him and spun him around like a rag doll.  Without thinking Louis dropped his weapon and sprinted out into the open, picked up the wounded boy, and raced back to cover. Within half an hour the government helicopters had arrived and were forcing the bandits back over the border.  Louis knew that there was a hospital in the village of Aleshash and on a good day it would take just under two hours to reach, but he knew that the old rations truck would take at least three.

He arrived just as it was getting dark and the medical staff quickly took care of the boy.  He asked where he could get a drink of water and was directed to the hospital rest area.  As Louis eased himself into one of the battered leather chairs, the door opened and a woman entered and started to remove her surgical gown.  As she took off her mask she glanced at Louis, then gave a scream of delight.

““Louis! Louis where have you been? What are you doing here?”

Within seconds, they were holding each other closely, not wishing to release each other.  It was then they realised how much feeling they had for each other.

Daphanie eased back from Louis and stared into his dark brown eyes. “God I have missed you.”  Then she kissed him. 

Just then a security guard entered the room.

“Are you the man who brought the young lad in?”

“Yes Sir.  He was wounded by bandits from the north who raided our station.”

The security.  “Your first +

aider said that you ran out into the middle of a fire-fight, picked up the boy and took him to cover. Is this right?”

Louis turned to Daphanie. “Will he be alright?”

“Yes Louis, thanks to you I was able to take out the bullets and patch him up.  We’ll need to keep him in for a week or more, but I don’t see why he can’t lead a normal life after that.  But tell me all about yourself?  Where have you been?”

Louis gently held her hand and guided her to the bench and began to explain how he had joined the United Nations Team and where he had been.  When he’d finished Daphanie hugged him.

Louis telephoned his base and explained that the old rations truck had broken down and would take at least three days to fix.  His boss was happy for Louis to stay but wanted his first aider back soonest.

The following day four battered army jeeps rolled into the compound.  Before the guards could ask who they were, six bodyguards stepped out of the vehicles and cordoned off the area.  Then a tall, distinguished-looking Yemini jumped down from a jeep and walked towards the hospital entrance.

A security guard intercepted him and demanded to know who he was and what did he want?

The man spoke reasonable English. “I wish to speak with the Doctor who saved the life of the boy from the school at Albuqa.”  Just then Daphanie stepped out from the tent and, knowing how the Yemini communicated, spoke softly to the man.

“Salam Malecom. Can I help you?”

The tall man stared at Daphanie.  I wish to speak to the Doctor who save my son.”

“That would be me.”

His expression instantly changed; his voice became harsh. “You are a woman.  Why is there no man doctor to treat my son?”

Daphanie smiled. “I’m sorry, but throughout the civilized world, a doctor is a doctor no mater their sex.  I can assure you that I have taken great care of your son.”

I also want to see the man who saved my son from those baboons from the north and brought him to your hospital.”

Louis had seen the cavalcade arrive and slowly started to make his way towards the main hospital tent.  As he approached, he saw Daphanie speaking to the tall man, then suddenly point towards him. Suddenly two heavily armed men grabbed his arms and propelled him towards their leader.

The tall man stared at Louis, then nodded.  “I am told that you risked your life to save my son?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Why?  He is not of your race.”

“My job is to help and care for people, regardless.  Your son was wounded and needed help.”  Louis just shrugged his shoulders as though to say ‘what did you expect me to do?’

Daphanie quietly interrupted.  “Could I have your name please?”

The tall man became cautious.  “Why do you need my name?”

“So that I can give your son his name.  At present, he is known to us as John Doe, number 25.”

The man smiled, then nodded.  “It is Sheik Mahammad, Abdul Aziz Al-Marabak.”

Louis instantly recognized the name and bowed his head.

“We are pleased to be of service, Sheik Marabak.”

Sheik Marabak started to move towards the entrance. “Now, please show me my son.”

“No!”

Sheik Marabak stopped, spun around, and stared at Daphanie, with anger in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but you can not see your son dressed like that.”  She nodded to his dirty and dusty clothing and greasy ammunition belt hung across his chest. “Louis, please escort the Sheik to the changing room and have him change into gowns before he sees his son.”

Sheik Marabak instantly understood what she was demanding, then barked instructions for his men to wait outside. 

The Sheik spent half an hour with his son before he reappeared dressed in his desert clothing.

“Doctor. I wish to show my thanks and appreciation for saving my son’s life.”

Daphanie could see the gratitude in his eyes and spoke gently to him. “I’m sorry but we are not permitted to accept gifts from those we assist. Those are the rules.”

The Sheik looked at her for a while then spoke. “When do you and this man leave my country?”

Daphanie was suddenly confused by the question.  “Leave?”

“Yes, I am sure you both do not intend to stay in my country for the rest of your days?”

“Louis nodded.  Sorry, my Sheik.  We will end our tour and retire to England together in five months’ time.” Daphanie smiled at Louis’s decision to come and live with her in England.

The Sheik spoke quickly to one of his officers, who provided a small card and pen.  He wrote something on the back of the card and handed it to Louis.  “When you both finally settle down and you are in need of help, call this number.

They returned to England and bought a little cottage in Manningtree and survived on their meagre pensions.  They didn’t have a TV and spent many happy hours in the evenings going through the large box of photographs of the people they had served with and the memories associated with them.

“Daphanie suddenly picked up the card Sheik Marabak had given them. Eight months ago.  She looked at Louis.  “Do you remember what he said. “if we needed help.”

The following morning Daphanie called the Yemeni embassy and was put through to the Charge de Affair, who politely invited them up to London.

They no sooner entered the embassy door when the Charge de Affair greeted them and ushered them into the Ambassador.

“Doctor Daphanie and Mr. Louis, how pleased I am to see you.  I have been instructed by Sheik Mahammad, Abdul Aziz Al-Marabak, the President of Yemen, to firstly award you both the Most Sacred Order of the Golden Mountain and secondly to offer you any assistance we can.

They stood in a trance as the Ambassador draped the brightly coloured ribbon, with the large gold star around their necks.  “Now, I think it is time for a cup of tea?”

Once seated, the Ambassador spoke. “Now you are probably wondering what we mean by ‘help in any way.”

Daphanie nodded. “Yes, we are not really sure what you mean.”

My government would like to pay, no reward you both for saving the President’s son, who by the way got into Oxford, thanks to.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful.”

“Now to business.  We will pay into your account the sum of 150 each month until you pass away.”

Louis, who had remained silent so far, quietly spoke to Daphanie.  “A hundred and fifty pounds would help us a lot.  We could even get a TV.”

The Ambassador smiled; “No, No you misunderstand me.  One thousand five hundred pounds each month.”

They both sat there stunned.  Daphanie spoke first. “Sir, that is rather a lot of money.”

“For saving the life of one’s eldest son in my county is priceless Doctor.  If you need more, then you must call me and I shall arrange things.  These are the instructions of my President.

On the train home, Louis asked Daphanie what she was thinking.    She didn’t answer him straight away then, smiled, “let’s have a MacDonalds tonight.”

Copyright Bob French

Two Poems from Rosemary

 Nuts

by Rosemary Clarke

Nuts are good for you so I am told.

They're sweet and they're crunchy and never grow old.

We've put them in cakes or have eaten them raw

They come out at Christmas, and then we want more.

We don't eat enough of them, of that it is true

.
I can't see why when nuts are so good for you?

PS and raisins.

Copyright Rosemary Clarke

 

THE STRANGER

by Rosemary Clarke

Spiders webs with spiders all over the place

Tangling my hair, covering my face

The room is darkened and covered in gore

I didn't know, now I won't live here no more.

Go out in the sunlight, live once again

No matter the trouble, no matter the pain.

Just keep forging onward that's all I can see

Then finally I'll find the one that's called 'ME'.

Copyright Rosemary Clarke