Waiting for the Flyers Part 13: Jess of the Oaks

‘Jess wants a meeting, he says it’s urgent.’

Jack and a young lad I had seen about before the accident stood facing me as I eased myself into my favourite chair.

‘Why doesn’t he come here if it’s important?’

‘He wants to show you something, he wants you to go to Burnalham. He sent young Lennie with this note.’

Jack handed me a sealed lilac coloured envelope. A posy of forget-me-nots were depicted on the left hand corner. On the back, to be opened by Madam Sally only was written in Jess’s rather ornate hand.

‘Cute.’ I smiled at Lennie.

‘We found a whole lot of them in the bedroom of an old house.’ Lennie chipped in.

‘Do you know what this is about, Lennie?’

‘No, Maam. I don’t stay at the village, I go there sometimes to see my brother. He’s helping Jess in the big house. I’ve got a bike – we found some in a place Jack says was a workshop. It’s easy to get there now the road’s done.’

‘Well, Lennie thank you for bringing this letter. I will read through it as soon as I can. Jack or maybe Junior will find you when know what I want to do about it. I suggest you don’t go far until you hear from me.’

Lennie left us with a bag of cakes baked by Rachael in his hand and a smile on his young face.

‘Before I read this, what are the difficulties for me getting to Burnalham, Jack.’

‘If you really want to go we can rig up a cart for you to ride in. The road is quite solid. Young Roy’s been training your pony and a couple of others to pull carts. He’s a great asset, he seems to know how to get into the mind of horses. If you do go be careful. Jess has been keeping himself and his group of friends very close, we don’t really have much idea what they do. We have the occasional meeting with him when he asks about Rachael and what’s been happening in the community.

Almost deciding to go to Jess even before I read his letter I asked Jack to leave me so I could read it alone. I guessed it contained information Jess only wanted me to know for some reason. After Jack left I went to my bedroom and closed the door.

****

Dear Madam Sally,

I heard you are recovering well from the accident. There was a moment when we all thought we would lose you. It may surprise you, but I would be the first to say your loss would have been a terrible disaster.

Some members think I am a headstrong rebel with no respect for our community. They may be correct about me being headstrong, but I have a deep respect and concern for our people. I admit I’ve been impatient regarding expanding into Burnalham which, understandably, some might consider insolent.

Maybe I was, but in the weeks we have been there we have carried out a great deal of investigation in the area around Burnalham. Alan, Jack and their brothers are doing good work searching the village and making use of what is found, but when I first visited I saw something else. It felt like a stepping stone. There is so much beyond this small village. The maps you showed me. I can’t settle. I have to go find it, Maam and I’m not the only one who feels it.

When I heard about your accident there was a lot of talk about what would happen if you died. The thought of your death made me realise bad things could happen to our community. I feared losing you would leave our community without direction.

You taught us why we are here and explained the weight we all carry on our shoulders for the future of humanity. We know the sacrifices you made for us. You built a family and a community with no regard for personal needs. You have never put yourself above any of us. You are our mother. You are our anchor.

Now I come to the point of this letter. I want to expand and set up smaller communities all linked to the place where we all grew up. Also the recent problems with the lower fields flooding will, I am sure, get worse. Burnalham is almost surrounded with land that was farmed until a few decades ago. We should be turning our efforts to reclaiming the land to ensure we have enough food in the future, especially as we increase our numbers.

There is one more thing left for me to tell you, which I hope will convince you to visit me. Like the old people found in Burnalham, there are more and we have made contact with them. They know a lot of things about the past and the history of this area. We must learn from their experiences before we lose them. I won’t go into more detail, I prefer you meet them and speak with them face to face.

I hope my words persuade you to come see me. I look forward to your reply.

Respectfully yours

Jess of the Oaks.

****

After reading Jess’s letter I knew I had to visit him. There was no doubt in my mind Jess was right about reclaiming farm land around the village. Also his ideas for stepped expansion linked to our central community seemed logical. However, I had concerns about his actual intensions. Jess was a talker, a natural born politician who knew instinctively how to get people to do what he wanted. It would be foolish to ignore him.