The Automaton

The house was cold, much colder than she’d expected. Yes, she knew it had been empty for some time, the agents had told her that, but she wasn’t expecting the severity of the cold. It actually made her shiver. Tom put his arms around her.

“Soon warm the place up love, don’t you worry.”

She smiled at him. He was such a kind and gentle man.

“Okay, you go get the heating sorted out and I’ll put the kettle on.”

He smiled back.

“Deal.”

Dianne turned, walked along the large hallway and into the kitchen. It was a big old country kitchen, pine units, Aga cooker, butler sink, slate floor and a huge oak dining table in the middle of the room. It was the kind of thing she had always dreamed of having, shame they would only be here for a month or so.

Tom was the National Operations Manager for a large distribution company. They had opened up a new warehouse in Derbyshire and had asked Tom to oversee the operation for the first few weeks.
Knowing that he would be working long hours and maybe weekends as well, Tom was reluctant to leave Dianne for this length of time, so he struck a deal with the company that suited them both.

They agreed to rent them a house for as long as Tom was needed in the new depot. They agents had sent them a choice of four or five and Dianne had fallen in love with Gramley House. It was a beautiful four bedroom period house with over two acres of ground, it came fully furnished, albeit a bit dated, but hadn’t been lived in for over a year. The cleaners had been in and done a good job, everything was clean and tidy but it was still freezing cold.

Dianne made the tea and opened a packet of hobnobs. Tom came in and sat down.

“Heating’s on, might take a time to warm the big old place up but it’s all working.”

“Thank god for that, I’m already wearing two jumpers under this coat and I’ve got two pairs of socks on under these track suit bottoms.”

“I thought you looked a bit like the Michelin woman.”

“Me? You want to have a look in the mirror Mr Watkins, you’ve put a bit of weight on recently.”

He loved the way she called him Mr Watkins when they were larking about.

“Where’s Ben?”

Ben was their three year old Border Collie.

“Outside exploring I expect, probably killed three rabbits by now.”

“He’s gonna love it here, so much ground for him to run around in, no more having to walk him round the block morning and night, here, we’ll just open the door and let him wander about, we're a good mile from the nearest road.”

They finished their tea and biscuits and started the horrible job of unpacking their clothes. By eight o’clock they were sitting down in front of a very old and out dated massive Sony television watching Antiques Roadshow and drinking a glass of Rioja. Ben was asleep on the rug by the radiator. He suddenly sat up and started looking around him.

Dianne turned the sound down on the tv.

“Can you hear that?”

“What’s that love?”

“I can hear a phone ringing.”

Tom strained his neck as though trying to concentrate.

“Yeh, I can hear it, sounds like one of those old fashioned telephones.”

“Well it’s not our mobiles and I haven’t seen a phone anywhere in the house.”

“Maybe it’s been stuffed in a draw somewhere.”

Dianne walked into the hallway.

“I can still hear it; maybe it’s coming from one of the bedrooms.”

She walked up the impressive staircase and stood on the landing, she could still hear the ringing, neither softer nor louder, just the same. She walked into the first bedroom. It stopped.

Tom continued watching the television, Dianne walked back into the room.

“Did you find it love?”

“No, it stopped when I got upstairs, I’ll have a proper look in the morning.”

By ten o’clock they were in bed, exhausted. Ben slept in the corner of the large bedroom, curled up on some blankets that Dianne had found in a wardrobe in one of the spare bedrooms.

They were woken just before three by Ben. He was standing and barking at the bedroom door. It was open.

Dianne sat up, Tom was rubbing his eyes.

“Ben. Ben. What’s up?”

He continued barking.

Tom shouted at Ben.

“Enough Ben!”

Ben cowered and sat back on his blankets. Dianne walked over and gently stroked his head.

“It’s okay boy, Tom, I can hear that phone ringing again.”

“Forget it love, let’s get back to sleep, big day tomorrow and I’ve got to be up in two hours.”

Tom went back to sleep quickly, but Dianne couldn’t seem to settle. The phone stopped ringing and Ben calmed down, the house seemed cold again. The heating was set to come back on at four thirty. Tom had set the alarm for five and had to be in work by six. She got back to sleep just fifteen minutes before the alarm went off!

Tom was up, showered and dressed and in his car by five thirty. The new depot was fifteen minutes away by car at that time of the morning and he wanted to be early on the first day. Dianne got up at the same time as Tom, made herself a coffee and let Ben out to have a run around. By six o’clock it was just getting light, a beautiful clear, bright, spring morning.

Dianne put on her green wellington boots and decided to have a stroll around the grounds. It was an impressive house; there was a plaque on the outside wall with the date 1906. A small stream ran through the grounds and Dianne followed the path beside it. Ben kept obediently at her side all the way along.

They got back to the house after an hours walk, as Dianne walked into the kitchen she could hear the phone ringing again. She looked at her watch, still too early to call the agents. She wandered into the hallway, she could still hear it, entered the two large reception rooms, still it rang. She went up the stairs and into her and Tom’s bedroom, it still rang. She entered the smallest bedroom at the top of the landing next to the bathroom. It stopped.

The bedroom was cold, yet the radiator was on full blast. It had a single bed, a wardrobe, chest of drawers and an old wooden chair. She opened each drawer. Nothing, just lining paper. She stood on the chair and looked on the top of the wardrobe, again nothing. She got down on her knees and looked under the bed. There was something there, she reached out her arm and grabbed it. It was some kind of mechanical toy.

It was covered in dust and looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. She blew the dust away and walked down the stairs into the kitchen. She got a damp cloth and wiped it clean. It was a man on a bicycle. The man had a metal key attached to his back, Dianne turned the key clockwise a few times and heard the mechanism clicking as she did so. She put the toy on the kitchen table. The wheels of the bike started to go round and as they did so the bicycle moved quickly along the table, as the wheels turned the toy made a ringing sound, exactly the same sound that she and Tom had heard last night and again early this morning.

The toy was red and green and Dianne just managed to catch it before it fell onto the hard stone kitchen floor. She turned the key again, the wheels went round propelled by the man’s legs and every time they did, the bells rang. “Bring bring.”

Of course, it was the sound of an old fashioned bicycle bell.

Now she was confused, she and Tom had clearly heard the bell ringing twice last night and then she had heard it again early this morning and yet the toy didn’t look as though it had been touched in years. Besides if it had been wound up and let go who could have done it? The house was empty apart from her, Tom and Ben.

Maybe she had heard a phone after all. She waited till nine o’clock then rang the agents. A woman answered the phone.

“Dawson estates how can I help you?”

“Oh Hi, it’s Dianne Watkins here, we moved into Gramley House yesterday.”

“Hello Mrs Watkins, everything okay?”

“Yes it’s fine thanks, just wanted to know if there is a telephone in the house, we keep hearing a phone ringing but can’t seem to find a house phone anywhere.”

“I don’t think there is, let me have a look at the details, won’t keep you a moment.”

Dianne heard the familiar sound of “on hold” music, this was some kind of instrumental modern jazz that she hated, after a few seconds it stopped.

“Sorry to keep you Mrs Watkins, no there is no house phone, apparently there hasn’t ever been one fitted, sorry about that, is it a problem?”

“No, no we both have mobiles so it’s not a problem, it’s just that we keep hearing what sounds like a telephone ringing, not to worry, it’s probably just something silly, like a neighbours alarm or something.”

“Well if you need anything just let us know.”

“Thank You.”

Dianne put down her mobile. So if there was no phone in the house what the hell were they hearing?