The search for Merlin Homes 10/15

“Just before we leave,” said Morwenna the next morning; “I’ve remembered something essential about these cottages that you ought to know.”

She went up into the roof space of the cottage with Jack and showed him a number carved deeply into the main beam holding up the roof.

“Every Merlin Home’s cottage has a serial number carved here. The company keeps records including the code necessary to make any particular cottage move from one place to another. Your number is three hundred and twenty five. I’ll make a note of it and when we find a company representative to solve our problem, I’ll ask him to contact you and give you the code for your cottage. It’s as well to know it even if you don’t intend to use it yourselves, after all one day it will be passed on to the next owner who may very well want to travel!”

The whole family came outside to watch as the scooter took off and disappeared into the distance.

“Nice people,” said Morwenna as they resumed their search pattern, “but fancy having a cottage like that and not knowing how to use it properly!”

They travelled for the whole of that day without a sight of a cottage anywhere. Then just as it began to get dark Jennifer Jane saw the glow of lights not too far away and headed the scooter towards them.

“It looks like a small town, maybe there’s someone there who knows about the cottages. We’re less likely to be noticed as witches in a town anyway and it would be nice to sleep in a bed rather than out in the open.”

Morwenna agreed, as did Moggy, although once again he didn’t really mind where they went, providing there was plenty to eat and nobody chased him.

As usual the scooter landed just outside the town limits where nobody could see them. After the countryside they’d seen so far, it was a pleasant surprise to drive into a town that had well paved roads and pavements, with gas lighting at every corner.

“This looks a bit more promising,” said Morwenna as the scooter trundled along on its wheels towards the nearest inn. She bought some drinks and asked the landlord if he’d ever heard of a company called Merlin Homes.

“Yes of course I have, there’s a shop just round the corner. They’ll have gone home for the night now, but it’s only a couple of minutes walk away once they’re open again in the morning.”

Full of excitement, they got up early the next morning and gobbled down their breakfasts. They had to wait a few moments while the landlord reckoned up their bill and then assured them it was about now that the local shops began to open.

As he’d promised it only took a minute to arrive, whereupon they stood still for a moment and then both burst out laughing.