(aka Bike) Part 602 by Angharad |
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“Do you know anything about her?” asked Henry regarding my foster child.
“Only what she’s told me and what they said at the home, which is very little. Her mother didn’t like her overt femininity and tried to beat it out of her, according to Trish.”
“I didn’t work, it never does.”
“It certainly didn’t in my case.”
“Your mother beat you, too?”
“No my dad did, quite severely on one occasion.”
“Yet you looked after him, when he was ill.”
“I went to see him, took him out, took him in treats and so on.”
“Despite what he did to you?”
“He was still my dad.”
“I don’t know if I could do the same, Cathy. Back in our ancestry, about a hundred and fifty years ago, a domineering father bullied his son and threw him out in a blizzard. The boy nearly died, however, he was found by one of the villagers who looked after him. The father assumed he was dead, until about a year later they met and fought.”
“Don’t tell me the boy overcame the tyrant?”
“No, the father was kicking seven bells out of him, when the old lady who’d been looking after the boy saw them and hit the father with a rock, killed him stone dead.”
“Good for her,” I said imagining the scene in my head.
“Not really, they hanged her.”
“Oh, couldn’t the boy stop it?”
“No his mother stopped him interceding on the old lady’s behalf.”
“Oh, what happened.”
“The mother fell own the stairs a week after the execution, broke her neck.”
“Pity it wasn’t a few weeks earlier.”
“Quite, but the story was the ghost of the old lady came back to get her, and we have a tradition that if any wife of the laird, doesn’t do her job properly and fairly, and that especially means looking after the old and sick on the estate, the old lady comes back to haunt them until they do.”
“How does Monica fare with irate spooks?”
“Very well, she actually does her job very well, in that regard, very caring towards our staff and tenants.”
“You make it sound feudal,” I said rolling my eyes.
“Futile at times might be a better description, but yes it is like a time warp back to the Victorian era.”
“I suppose it’s quite entertaining, the old ghost story and skeletons in the cupboard.”
“No, it’s quite real, she visits every wife of the laird at least once to let them know she’s still around.”
“Come on, Henry, pull the other leg.”
“It’s true, Monica has seen her.”
“I’m a scientist, I don’t go for all this crap, sorry and all that. It’s mediaeval and this is the twenty first century.”
“Just remember, one day you’ll be the laird’s wife, the Lady of Stanebury, and she will come and see you, wherever you are. Monica saw her in Hampstead.”
“Come off it, Henry, this is a wind up. If there were such things as ghosts, then she could have seen one that was a local London one, not necessarily all the way from Scotland.”
“You wait and see, it’ll happen.”
“Only because you’ve planted the idea in my unconscious–nah, it won’t work, Henry, I shall be the first modern lady of the manor and do away with all these silly superstitions.”
“Carry on like that, my girl, and she’ll be paying you a call before you get wed.”
“Let her come, I won’t see or hear her, I’m a non-believer, it’s all bunkum.”
“Ask Stella about her, she’s seen her.”
“Henry, Stella is in no fit state to comment about anything, let alone fairy stories. Has Simon seen her?”
“No…”
“There you go then.”
“The men never do, it’s only the women.”
“In which case, I should be okay then.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, “Stop talking like that, you’re as much a woman as any I’ve ever met, and better than some. You’ll see her alright, you can bet on it.”
“I’m tempted to say, how much, but as I shall only become lady muck, if I actually marry Simon, which isn’t certain, and he only accedes to the title when you croak, so you wouldn’t pay up then anyway.”
“I’ll leave in trust for you, but you will see her.”
“Don’t be so sure–unless I can count it, cut it and shove it in a test tube, it doesn’t exist. Give me a ghost I can see under a microscope, and I’ll believe; until then, I won’t. Besides, I was only going to bet you a fiver.”
“A fiver! Ha, on an each way bet no doubt.”
“Can you do that on this sort of wager?” I was totally ignorant of betting and gaming.
“No, don’t be silly.” He shook his head in astonishment.
“I thought not, pity.”
Henry shook his head again, “I think I shall have to get out of here, I’m going stir crazy.”
“Do you actually need to be here, why couldn’t you go home?”
“I can’t get upstairs with two legs in plaster.”
“So, stay downstairs, get a bed brought down.”
“Not in Hampstead, it just isn’t done, dear girl.”
“Bugger that, if you’re needing a ground floor room, then have one and blow convention, or are you afraid of the ghost visiting again?”
“Ha ha, very good, Cathy. I’m seeing the surgeon tomorrow and the plaster may be able to come off or they put a walking one on, that would give more possibilities.”
“Why not stay in Southsea? They have lifts there and you could get a wheelchair.”
“I did consider it…”
“And?”
“I didn’t think it was a good idea for the staff to see me with two legs in plaster.”
“Don’t you think they’ll all know about it anyway?”
“But that is just a rumour, which I would be confirming.”
“Henry, don’t tell me you want out of here, because you could have gone to the hotel weeks ago, you could have gone home, you’re just too stubborn to make changes, even when they’re in your favour.”
“Carry on, I like this, Cathy, I’m tempted to hire you as a management consultant.”
“Henry, you already pay me a fortune for nothing,” I whispered this last line.
“Nonsense, that’s a retainer, we do it for all our experts.”
“How many have you got?”
“Dozens, mainly legal and financial, but environmental is going to become very much more important, and we can then claim to be the green bank.”
“I think the Cooperative, may have beaten you on that one.”
“Ah they might be in the lead at the moment, but we usually win the race.”
In this mood, arguing with Henry was pointless. “Right I have to go,” I pecked him on the cheek, “So I’ll tell the hotel to get your suite ready for tomorrow onwards, then?” I ducked out of the door as he flung his empty urine bottle at me. I heard it bounce off the door. “I hope you won’t need to go for a few minutes,” I laughed back at him, then ran off.
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Comments
Cathy Is In For A Rude Awakening
Sooner or later, Cathy's long held beliefs or lack thereof, will come crashing down . Henry's warning about her being visited by the old lady is something that should never be taken lightly. She needs another near death visitation by her mother to set her straight on a few things. Tom is wise enough to know that there are things in this world that have no Earthly explanation. Cathy needs to open her mind to possibilities. Until she does, she will never fully understand the power of faith.
Well Jengirl, That's Mostly True, But
As Angharad says, the story writes itself, and so, only the characters reallly know and they ain't a tellin'
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
been a while
I am as ever amazed how you do these so regularly and consistently, with only a typo or two. Gasp, you're not perfect. Cathy does seem just a wee bit pedantic and blind on the anything outside touch feel smell idea, not everything is logical 'reality'. I also mutter and mumble a bit here at there when she's overly touchy on any perceived slight to her femininity, but... I do believe that no matter how 'passable' and accepted you may be there, or secure in yourself, there will always be that tiny whisper somewhere in the back of the head that says, but you're not REALLY are you? Logic, hah.
Long may you peddle Ang. And that last line... evil, I love it.
Kristina
Hummm, could it be the woman
Hummm, could it be the woman everyone saw in "Puddin's" room was the woman Henry was telling Cathy about? Perhaps she came to see how Cathy was doing before actually paying her a personal visit. Cathy is right on about Henry tho, He needs to get into the 21st century fully rather than operate in a 19th century mode with his staff and others.
J-Lynn
Other ghost
Or it could be the other ghost we've seen in this tale: Cathy's mum.
I don't have
a ghost of an idea - I usually leave those bits to Bonzi - he's out creating a few more little ghosts :(
Angharad
Angharad
Seems to me that
Cathy's scientific beliefs are already weakening. Only yesterday she said, "I went to the hospital and zapped Puddin’ then spent some time with Stella." Unless there is some strange British slang that I don't understand at all, "zapped" kind of implies that Cathy has resigned herself to the blue light thing. I was a little surprised to see that Henry didn't respond with a "he'd be stupid to let you get away" when Cathy said that the wedding wasn't completely assured.
Cathy
I have never seen anyone is such denial about fundamentals that she has seen first hand, she even has some proof overall. Not the mark of a good scientist. Being a skeptic is one then, but dismissing evidence out of hand because it doesn't match your world view is another.
By the way, I'm a skeptic. I haven't had Cathy's evidence presented to me the way she has, but I do have a ghost story or two.
Thank you Ang
I am really, really liking Henry.
Cathy, how can you poo poo, the castle's wraith, with you seeing your mother, the healing auras, and your own astral visit to the baby ?
I've had a few 'things that go bump in the night' myself, my heritage I guess.
Listen to Daddy-in-law.
Cefin