The Way Home

...and awoke with a start, realising that I had left my handbag by Siobhan's grave. I called out to Tommy to stop the bus so I could get off and walk back to the cemetery but he seemed not to have heard me. Either that or he ignored me although Tommy was not that type. I stood and rushed down the aisle. Still no reaction from Tommy. So I did what was probably the most stupid thing I've ever done.

I've said that the bus was old, ancient even, and it was the type that didn't have doors. As Tommy slowed down for a bump in the road, like a careless child I jumped, my feet running as they hit the grass verge. I think I stumbled then fell.

I must have been jolted more than I thought for I seemed to come out of a dazed state like another daydream. I was standing by the roadside uninjured although I could not remember hauling myself to my feet. And I noticed that the bus was missing and it should not have been if Tommy had seen my desperate jump. From where I landed, the main road runs straight for a mile or so and the bus can be seen for quite a long way.

I was confused and then realised that I was not standing by the roadside but in the cemetery by Siobhan's grave with no memory of how I got there. There was a still form lying there, one arm draped across the grave. There was a look of peace on the face, even a hint of a smile. Then I remembered my earlier sudden shock and the subsequent palpitations when I saw that I was not alone.

"Kathleen." A soft, gentle voice behind me.

I turned to see the woman in the strange hat standing there. She lifted her hands to remove the hat, revealing a face of quite extraordinary beauty. Clear golden eyes looked into mine, compassionate, so very compassionate, and radiant light surrounded her. She reached out to me, saying: "Take my hand, Kathleen."

I did as she bade me and as I touched her I felt an overwhelming rush of love from her.

"Come with me, Kathleen."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home," she told me.

"Home?"

"Yes, Kathleen, home... where Siobhan is waiting for you..."

The End

"Everything that is and will be, will cease to be;

The moon and the stars, youth and beauty..."

(Old Irish proverb)