The Cobbe house viii The long walk

I was nervous as we left Reppertons.  I kept feeling that Brinks would be there, waiting in the shadows, or standing in the car park. His fists in tight balls, his eyes, feverously glittering, shaking for violence.  He wasn’t of course. It, for need of a better word, had a habit of using people, then discarding them as it saw fit; so I relaxed a little as we took the narrow path at the rear of Repperton’s then left along Sligo street, and past the narrow wooden houses that made up this area of town.
       I hadn’t left Bridgeton; so perhaps I had become blinded, at least to a degree, as to that present state of the town.  However, Nell and Circie both in lampoon cartoon images -together with Daniel’s contribution that, it has to be said, made us all laugh- shared images of broken toys damaged doll’s houses and rickety  train sets.
 At first I was embarrassed and slightly ashamed to admit that the town I loved had fallen into such decline.  But in the end I had to admit it.   For It was true, there was a slow, though formless, decay occurring in Bridgeton. Businesses’   that should have flourished; such as the iron foundry and the sawmill were on the brink of folding and floundering.  One document, published in the “Bridgeton Gazette” discussed how the timber produced here “wasn’t strong enough” or “too brittle” for use.   Another relating to the foundry, stated that the metal ingots were “not of the right quality”; thus Leading to a layoff of 1/3^rd of the town’s workforce. But that wasn’t all. Families who moved here, hardly stayed for anytime at all anymore; people left giving no real reason, other than a sense of feeling “unwelcome” thus leaving the overall population of the town increasingly both elderly and infirm, as they simply were too old, or too tired to go through the process of relocation.The high street itself also reflected this change, becoming increasingly artisan and selective.  Most of the major retailers had moved five miles out of town public houses and churches became abandoned and people became increasingly isolated; and the rail line was becoming increasingly intermittent. I had to face it, the town was dying.
​        With this fresh eye given by Circe, Nell and Daniel, I saw the houses we past in a new light. The lawns were overgrown. The windows needed cleaning, the rooves were missing the occasional tile ; hedges were overgrown and unkempt, All of which, in this slow growing twilight, led me to shudder.  I had to face the reality. It was taking control of the town. I thought about the Thatched house and I shuddered, locking the image away so no one could share it.
​       Finally  Nell broke the silence
       ‘Yes, it does all seems more dilapidated than I remember it…’   she sighed a little as we  as we walked  towards prospect street, her blonde hair  blowing In the westerly. Circie smiled wanly.  
      ‘D’gger’s n a dirt road’ muttered Daniel, as we walked in the slowly encroaching night. We turned the sharp  corner and there was a tractor with a crane attachment by the old Sables place. I looked at Circie and she smiled gently.  Circie then looked up to the end of the street at her old home.
​       ‘It seems smaller somehow.’
​       ‘We were smaller then; perspectives change.’  I sighed
​        I pushed open the old wire door and then the front door and stood in the oak lined hall, of my parent’s home.  Then made my way to the pale green painted kitchen at the rear
​       ‘where your folks?’  Nell aske
​       ‘ Mum  passed away two years ago… Dad, found the house a hard upkeep. I took it on an’ rent some of the larger rooms to boarders. I tend to stay at my old Uncles house, but, there is little space for all of us. This house pays for his stay at Bridgeton General… after his stoke… he found life…painful. There’s no one here at the present…it fills up more in the summer months; an’ I have bookings for next year paid in so…though I am running at a loss, it’s not a huge loss an’ the bank’s good, but-I put the coffee on the stove as we all sat in the kitchen around the long green tiled table.
​       With a faltering hand I felt inside my jacket pocket and slowly pulled out the soldier. I placed it in the centre of the table and as we all sat down and stared at it, I finally explained where my research had led to
​      ‘So…it’s a child?’
​      I nodded at Circe, ‘it’s a child that…. Has…suffered badly and, and-
​      Nell looked down and away
​     ‘-I felt…I felt that I let Tony down, we were his friends.
​      ‘-The Tony we knew was stolen from us by this thing. The sleepless nights, the endless dreams, I don’t know why I haven’t gone insane…but I  don’t know what to do. My Uncle wasn’t an exorcist, he was a a historian, a chemist. Science was his God…
​      ‘I I think if we all hadn’t moved when we did-‘ But Nell was cut short
Suddenly; the kitchen draws all around the room, were  being pulled  violently  open of their own volition one at a time. They fell to the floor with loud  crashes. Slowly The light overhead began to dim. Daniel began to mutter and rock as the overhead light slowly began to spin.
     ‘TickitytockityticketytockitybangbangBANG’
​      Then the  only empty chair in the room opposite me suddenly pulled back, and a dark misty presence began to appear. We held each other’s hands across the table and the rattling began to subside; but a cool, breeze and hard laughter began to fill the room. Then as quickly as it started it trailed off. I looked around the room nervously. My heart thumping sickly in my chest.
​       ‘Butterfly’s’ ‘ Daniel sang; and a moment later, through soft swirls of incandescent light, the most beautiful and colourful butterflies, that  I had ever seen, suddenly burst into the room and began to dance about us.  In gentle flapping circles they flew up to the ceiling, then they swooped down once more; and when they touched the walls, and then went through the walls, they returned once more; leaving sparkles of bubbling golden green light; that popped in an ethereal spectral mist.   Daniel giggled happily as the fragrance of summer filled that near winter kitchen
​      ‘This place is silly’ Daniel giggled
​       We all looked at Daniel with awe; unable to fully understand what was happening; or at least having the words at our disposal to comprehend the beauty and wonder that shone about us Then Daniel took command, his voice sounded different, older more sure.
​       ‘WE need to go the Cellar…he’s buried in the cellar, with the other’s…we need to free him an, an’ cleanse the town.’  All the while Daniel was looking mesmerised at the butterflies that flew about him
I Looked at Circie and a slow tear formed in her eye.
​      ‘Daddy goorrn Daddy gorrn’ Daniel sang as the butterflies touched us filling us with peace
​      ‘He’s a beautiful boy.
​      ‘Yes.’ Circie  shone  looking into my eyes; and for a second that lasted a lifetime, I felt the closest I have ever been to love. One by one the butterflies slowly slipped back into  the spectral mist from where they came. I looked down at the toy soldier, now finally resolved.