Androshorts: The Village Witch

"Bastard!" said the first Private.

"Captain Clements sir," said the junior officer, "That's... that's Squire Holborrow!"

"That WAS Squire Holborrow, now he's just a dead rapist, to hell with him," spat out Steve, "I will speak for this brave farmer, I witnessed the late squire's assault and attempt on this maid's virtue!"

"Aye sir," said the junior officer, "I'll arrange for men to come and..."

"Leave 'im to the crows," said the farmer, turning and offering his hand to Steve, "thank you Cap'n..."

As Steve reached for his hand there was the sound of talking, and discussions about the critical state of the health service and Steve wondered where he was.

He came around and there was his gorgeous naked Ella handing him his baby daughter and a bottle of her expressed breast milk.

"Morning Darling!" he said taking the baby, "I've just had the strangest fucking dream..."

They both showered, and Ella picked Sam from her cot, considering the task that the Health Visitor had given them and the reason for Steve's weird dream.

"Fuck it Stevie, let's drive to town."

He nodded and smiled, and opened the door down to the street and his car.

"I've never been to the big town," she grinned, "coming to think of it, I've never done more than sit in a car," she said stroking her fingers across the door pillar, the dash and paying particular attention to the seat belt he pulled across her.

"You'll have to learn to drive! You'll love it," he said, "I'll find a good driving instructor. Don't suppose you have a licence?"

"No, although I have been entitled to one since 1903." She grinned at him.

He slowly pulled forward looking behind him to the baby seat and their child happily ensconced.

"Stevie," said Ella, "Look, if something happens I just want you to know that this last year has been the happiest of my entire and very long life."

"Ella honey," he said stopping the car dead in his reversing manoeuvre, "if you're worried we can go back. I want you and Baby Samantha here for the rest of my life and if that means ignoring the health visitor for a few years and just me driving out to nearby towns on my own then I can live with that."

"Stevie," she leaned over and kissed him, "I've lived countless lifetimes and seen the world change, I've finally had the child I've always dreamed of and known the love of my life, you." She kissed him again, "I hope that it's all going to be OK, but if it all comes to a grinding halt or I age 350 years in ten seconds like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, just keep going. Keep going and tell Baby Sam about her lovely Mum that died of a thousand cancers but loved her and her Daddy more than anything else in the known universe." She kissed him one more time. "Just drive Stevie." She reached across and laid a hand on his on the gear stick. He drove forward. She closed her eyes.

He thought about the last year, this gorgeous woman, no HIS gorgeous woman with her outrageous story even he still wasn't sure he believed and what might happen to her, to their perfect child and even he had his doubts and dipped the clutch for a second.

If they both disappeared he hoped that he would remember none of it, not a thing and hoped he'd go back to that shitty school in that shitty town and not know about the village, his woman and his daughter. He couldn't live without them that was for sure.

"Love you Stevie," she said and lay back in the expensive leather upholstery of his expensive car.

He drove through the village, noticing the waves from the villagers seeing him, Ella and their baby out on their first road trip since the child was born a few weeks before.

He carried on driving, he passed the church with its red brick bus shelter still with the loopholes added by the Home Guard in 1940, and still bearing the signatures of the boys that had built them. He passed the rectory and looked to his left, Ella was comfortable and enjoying the sun on her face and closed eyes, content in her first drive.

He passed the old church and its cemetery and the ruins of the Holborrow house, Ella still looked fine. He came around a bend and saw an elderly lady at the junction waiting to cross. He slowed right down and waved to the lady to cross with a big smile, giving her plenty of room.

That was strange, he could have sworn it was the lady from County HR that had interviewed him for this job, dark hair, scar on her cheek -- the same woman he had dreamed about last night, it had to be her!

The lady stepped across the road with her dark walking stick, once she was more than half way across she stopped and picked up a cat, black with white socks and a white blaze on its chest, just like Ella's cat Charlie that he'd played with two nights before. The old lady waved to him holding out her arm indicating that he should drive on. He waved and returned her big smile.

As she bowed slightly Steve saw a scar on her right cheek clearly and knew it was his interviewer, and he could see her eyes on Ella, then with delight on Baby Sam in the back, then her huge smile and a blown kiss. He slowed down to pull over and say hello and thanks, but she and her cat had gone as fast as they had arrived.

He stopped at the T-junction checking his mirrors for her but she had definitely gone, so he turned right and headed for the large town and put his foot down, checking that his beautiful woman was still beside him and well. She evidently was. He put his foot down and moved up into third as the road straightened in front of him.

Her face pulled into a grin and she screwed up her eyes, still not wanting to see what might be coming. "Hell Stevie this is fucking torture, have we passed the Holborrow ruins yet?"

"Yeah, about a mile or so ago."

"WHAT?!" she snapped opening her eyes and looking at him and then the road in front.

"The ruins are back in that direction, about a mile and a half ago."

"The church?"

"Was way back there!"

She looked behind her, "But..." her pretty face flushed and she put a hand to Steve's wrist.

"But what?"

"I've never been this far before." She looked from left to right and Steve slowed down to allow her to take in what was going on around her. He drove slowly and the surrounding trees gave way to fields of ripening crops, the golden corn weeks away from being ready and the bright yellow pungent flowers of oilseed rape. "Does the road bend to the left here?"

"Yes."

"The white horse," she said peaking up in her seat, "is he still there?"

"Of course," he said, remembering the running horse shape cut into the chalk by local men a thousand summers before.

"I used to play there when I was little, me and my big brother Sam would take bread and cheese and a jug of Dad's beer and walk there in the summer. Grandmother said that's where I got my power with potions from."

"Well, there he is look." He slowed right down and pulled into the small viewpoint car park.

"Can we go up and sit in his eye?" She was almost bouncing in her seat now.

"Sorry lover," he said pointing up to the fence around the site, "Horsey is a listed ancient monument look and you'd probably get arrested for breaking in."

"Ancient monument," she tutted, "mind you Stevie," she leaned over and kissed him again, "So am I."

They reached town, parked and Ella was all eyes for the business bustle going on around her almost hiding behind the pram, but to Steve's surprise she got used to it real quick, faster than seemed normal for that kind of culture shock. Again, Steve had that nagging doubt that all of this was just TOOOOO unbelievable.

They found the registrar and Samantha Eliza Clements was registered. They had lunch and a glass of wine to celebrate, and even went shopping and bought Ella her first pair of jeans to show the health visitor. Steve was impressed, she looked hot in them so she bought more clothes to update her wardrobe.

They headed home again with him taking a rather circuitous route to show her the nearby villages, and with them both tiring turned into the long road that would take them home, and all seemed well in the village, and Ella asked if she could go back to her place and check her post.

He slowed down and they entered Traitors Lane and it seemed very overgrown since they were there last just a few days before. So overgrown that he couldn't drive in to where he normally did and couldn't see the sign with the apostrophe.

"Stevie," she said climbing out of the car, "There's something wrong." She got out, stopped and turned and unclipped baby Samantha and held her in her arms padding slowly down the lane towards her house.

It wasn't there.

Everywhere was weeds and a few piles of brick, stone and a piece of tile. Ella was stunned. "My house..." she gasped, "my things..."

He walked across the site looking for signs of what might have happened.

He looked down at the brick path that he had trod so many times when coming to visit. There was no sign of it. The place where her front door had been was long grass that looked like it had been like this for many years, the place where the fireplace had been had a tall oak tree growing in it.

"It's not here," said Steve, "and to be honest it looks like it hasn't been here for many years.

"But..." she had tears in her eyes, "where's Charlie!"

He thought back to their journey out that morning. "I thought I saw a cat like him with an old lady this morning." He stopped, "funny thing, she had a big scar on her right cheek; I'm convinced she was the lady that interviewed me for this job."

Ella stopped, and turned back to him, stunned. "Dark hair, darker than mine..." he nodded, "Did she walk with a black walking stick, a blackthorn?"

"Yes, do you know her?"

Ella turned to face him. "Yeah," she said with a happy smile and tears in her eyes, "I used to, that was my Grandmother." She hugged the baby to her in pure pleasure. "She gave me Charlie just before she died, he was to keep me company and look after me and has done for two hundred and eighty years." She chuckled, "I guess now the curse must be broken and after all, now I have you to look after me." She kissed Baby Sam who was starting to wake from her nap. "She interviewed you?"

"Yeah," he said recalling that afternoon, "she had a really strong accent, very specific about what I was coming to do and how I had to be man enough for the job. I remember the green tea she made me, urrgh it was horrible!"

Ella smiled, "Tell me what it tasted like?"

"What, other than horrible?" she nodded, "grass with a hint of petrol and garlic." He grinned at the recollection, "said it would make me a big strong boy, and that I'd need to be."

"A petrol... spirit... fuel kind of smell?"

"Yeah... is everything O..."

"Grandmother Eliza," she closed her eyes, "she chose you for me then she gave you a potion, it was one to protect you, to stop my curse affecting you the way it did other men." Ella's eyes filled with tears.

"If it's any consolation she blew both of you a kiss after she saw Sam."

"She saw Sam?"

"Of course she did, and she saw you, her smile? Well when she saw Samantha there..." he caught his breath with the realisation that all of the story he had been living with for a year was actually true, "She looked so pleased honey, and proud."

"Thank you Stevie."

"So the protective green petroleum goop... love potion as well?"

"No Darling Stevie, that was all you and me."

They went back to his place and even that looked different. His front door no longer opened straight onto a staircase but into a large sitting room with a mix of his furniture and hers, the same went for the dining room and kitchen. Only Baby Sam's nursery was as they had left it that morning. In the main bedroom all of Ella's personal things were there, with his.

Back downstairs they continued their exploration, Ella looking worriedly for a missing item.

"My diaries," she said, "I can't find my diaries!" She pulled open cupboard after cupboard. They would be really hard to miss after all.

"I guess your Grandma figures you don't need them anymore."

"I suppose so," she said, "after all," she moved closer to him with the baby held between them, "I don't have to think about the past, I have a future now."

Above the fire place was a couple of new photos of them, a posed portrait and one that was clearly a wedding photograph with Ella looking wonderful with her dark hair and red lips contrasting beautifully with her white lace wedding dress and him in a grey morning suit, her veil pulled back showing her beautiful face, the happy and glowing bride on her big day. They both stared at the wedding photograph in amazement -- it was undoubtedly them!

"Bottom of my wardrobe, grandmother's box!" back upstairs to their room and he pulled out an old beaten up oak documents box that he guessed she'd had for three hundred years. Under their still fresh looking marriage certificate from the local church they found her driving licence, her passport and her birth certificate -- she was thirty one - and assorted paperwork suggesting that Ella had lived in this house for many years inheriting it from her Grandmother on her death. He looked at the date on the marriage certificate, and they had been married shortly before the baby's conception.

"Grandmother," chuckled Ella, "no out of wedlock children on her watch!"

On her dressing table next to the open box was a small antique porcelain ring tree with three rings on it. She picked up two, a thin band of twisted yellow and white gold and a diamond clustered engagement ring and without thinking or particularly paying attention she slipped them onto the third finger of her left hand that was cradling Sam and they fitted perfectly.

"You forgot yours too..." she said handing him his thicker wedding band with a slight shake of her head.

"Oh ye..." by the time he'd slid his into the groove it had undoubtedly created in his skin over months. He looked at it and then her. "Now they weren't there this morning Ella..."

She stepped across to him, biting her bottom lip, "I don't think they were, but then neither was all our stuff on the ground floor, but... I can remember... not putting them on when we got ready to go out... Mr Clements."

"Now you come to mention it, I do remember thinking I had forgotten it when we were driving to the registrar... Mrs Clements!"

Just on the top of the box, was an envelope addressed simply 'To be opened on the birth of my first great-grandchild'.

Recognising the handwriting at least she quickly handed Sam to him and snatched up the envelope tearing it open, she read it aloud,

"My Darling Rosella,

I trust this note finds you well, happily married and with my great-grandchild with you. Right now, life will extremely confusing for you and you will be struggling to understand just what is going on.

Believe me, everything sorts itself out in time, and in a short while it will seem like none of the bad stuff in your life ever happened as you both concentrate on Baby, and each other -- after all I just know you would have married a good one who is all that you want him to be, just like if I could have chosen him for you!

Let life happen my dear, dear girl, forget the past and just enjoy the future and all of its blessings. I've found over the years that truth and justice just happen to have a way of working out. If ever I wanted for anything it was for you to be happy, as I just know you are now. The business we worked so hard for is all yours now and you owe it to yourself to put your feet up and enjoy the benefits after so many years of toil and heartache, so live long and live well my beautiful baby, I know your Mother and Father would have been so proud of you, as l still am." Ella's voice finally broke with the emotion, "with enough love to cover hundreds of years, your loving Grandmother Eliza."

She slipped her arm around his neck and pulled him close, crying but with big smiles among the tears, "I'm free Stevie!" she wept, "I'm finally free!"

They went to the pub that night for a meal, and as they walked pushing the baby buggy before them there was a huge lump of architecture he'd never seen before.

"It's the Holborrow house!" hissed Ella frozen to the spot, her mouth hanging open. As they got closer they saw that it was the Holborrow Hall Hotel and Conference Centre. She stopped and looked at a particular window, "that window there," she said hugging herself against a particular memory, and looking through into a large room with tables and chairs, with happy diners, "Remember it like I saw it yesterday."

"Things have changed Darling," said Steve, "you probably did see it yesterday."

Steve could remember what the park had looked like and taking his class there, he also thought about where she had stood to show him the point she had thrown the rock from; it was the same place without question. "In her letter... she said it would be like the bad things had never happened. The house is still here." She looked shocked, stunned but he could detect and air of joy there too.

They walked on, he thought about mentioning his dream but decided against it.

In the pub that night all was bonhomie and almost everyone crooned over Sam in her pram gurgling quietly, Dorothy came from behind the bar to pick up her great niece Samantha and gave her a cuddle, kissing and clucking over the child's mother, the gorgeous brunette that she had spent all her years since puberty hating; not that she knew it now of course.

In his usual weekend corner waxing lyrically as he always did, was the Professor that Steve had talked to about the village and the academic's belief about what might have happened to the old squire and how Traitor's Lane had got its name, in this pub all those months ago and he greeted his friend Steven and offered beer. Tonight Steve asked him about 'the empty plot at the end of the Traitor's lane'.

"Vine Lane you mean?"

"Yeah sorry, confusing it with a town I used to live in."

"Oh no, there hasn't been a building there since the 17th century. Was an old farm cottage, the last resident there was Rosie the midwife. She moved on to live with her grandma after the death of her father and it went to ruin. In fact many of the bricks were robbed out by the Holborrow Family and used to build that row of houses you live in!"

The bespectacled man drank his strong ale and picked up the cheese and onion sandwich he was chomping through, "not that Squire Holborrow lived to appreciate it mind you," he put down his thick crusty bread sandwich and looked conspiratorially at his audience. He dropped his voice to a whisper, "according to the history books he died in a hunting accident, but local legend has it he was caught trying to rape a local maid by her yeoman father, who shot him where he stood still with his trousers round his ankles."

Steve's dream of the night before came back to him, even the smell of the gunpowder. He smiled.

"Really?" said Ella, happy at that tiny bit of restored family pride.

"Apparently," he said, "again, legend has it that the Widow Holborrow knew he was a philandering wrong'un and after the local man and a passing gentleman confirmed the Squire's antics, she had him buried in the woods where he fell to keep his shame from his three children. It's said that on the coldest nights you can still hear him banging on the church door to get in and take his place in the Holborrow crypt."

"Any other local ghost stories? " asked Steve looking at Ella.

"Not that I know of," said the man taking up his thick sandwich again. Ella smiled.

Gradually they got used to the fact that he had moved to the village eighteen months ago to be the new deputy head and had rented a room from the gorgeous lady that owned the big house across the green from his school with a view to eventually buying somewhere in the village. The gorgeous lady had inherited the big house from her late grandmother, and lived well running the thriving business they had both operated.