The rain was unforgiving; for three days it pummelled the residents of Martin's Peak. It started out like any other with a bang, thunder lightning strong winds by the second day it was a full blown storm. The weatherman called her gwen. had turned the streets into rivers of mud and by the third day the town looked lie a slice of Venice. It was brought on by Gwen, a category 3 storm. The
weatherman described her as the worst storm in a century. Everynight with childlike
fascination rather than with the seriousness something of its destructive nature
and magnitude deserved he would describe its progress and latest victims to whoever was still left in the little town.
"She is only heating up, ladies and gentleman, so if you haven't already, pack up and leave, now." This were the parting words to his latest update.
Theresa May heard those words, but didn't act on them, she didn't want to and wasn't going to, she had invested too deeply in this place and felt like a betrayal if part and parcel of it.
was one such resident, she was sitting in her living room window and weeping for her rose garden, ten years of hard work and diligence
gone just like that. The water was so violent so frightening she could have been
staring at the amazon river. It was a frightening ancient force.
The streets had become rivers of mud, washing
away whatever wasn't secured in the ground. Unfortunately, for Theresa May this
included her Ford, her rose garden and her garden chairs and table. She sat in the window of her
living room and wept for her rose garden,
it felt especially like one for Mr.
Green who found himself caught in the downpour just as he set out for home, after spending the day selling corn at the city. By the time his donkey rode into his farmyard he looked like someone who'd been mud wrestling with a pig. Parking the beast in the stable he made a bee line for the farmhouse holding sacks of unsold, and now soggy and useless corn. The kitchen door was open but instead of escaping inside he waited outside and spied on his wife who was too busy mopping the floor to notice his tired red eyes peeking at her from the side of the door. Mr. Green looked around the kitchen, it was cluttered as usual. But it was the big black pot steaming by the fireplace that caught Mr. Green's attention. He took in a huge lungful of what was cooking in it. It smelled sweet and peppery like... lamb stew! Only his favorite dish ever. He grabbed his belly and massaged it gently as he looked at the pot longingly.
As eager as he was to wolf up the contents of the pot there was something else consuming his mind. It had everything to do with the little tin box tugged underneath his arm pit.
He jiggled the rusty old thing and grinned like an excited school boy as he listened to the little gold
nuggets rustling inside. The box was filled to the brim with
them. The shiniest smoothest little objects the old man had ever seen.
This gold could be the answer to a poor farmers prayers but it could also very well be his demise, because as the elders say, treachery, deceit and malice is never too far away from great wealth. He stumbled across the gold after his mule fell into a hole not long after leaving the city. He almost didn't spot the brown box because it looked just like the surrounding mud. Someone must have buried and forgotten about it. But as the saying goes, losers weepers, finders keepers.
Mr. Green was very excited but he was even more nervous for what if someone, someone with a greedy heart and murderous intentions saw him and followed him back to his farm? The possibility unsettled him to no end. For the umpteenth time he looked around him and over his shoulders, like before there was no one there, just the black mountains surrounding his farm and beyond them in the distance the sun setting over the great towers of Northern Stone/Nordingstone.
For a split second in his excitement Mr Green had the stupid idea of sharing his find with his wife but then reason kicked in. Telling his wife would be the biggest mistake of his life yet because the old hack couldn't keep her yap shut about anything, before he knows it every desperato in Northern Stone and beyond would be after is treasure and it could not have that.
The best thing to do for now would be to hide the gold, and so after brainstorming for a while Mr Green decided that the hole in the wall behind the drawer in the master bedroom would be the perfect hiding place, more especially since he'd hidden things in there from his wife before.
Getting the gold into the house without his wife noticing was the next thing he had to figure out. He thought of leaving the box outside in the rain until his wife went to bed but he hated the idea for some reason. What if it vanished? He would never be able to forgive himself. is why that finished mopping by now and it put away the mob and was busy over by the pot Mr Green waited patiently still getting Soaked in the rain but not that that was but that was nothing
Mr Greens wife had stopped mopping and was over by the fireplace now, stirring the pot, it was still pouring cats and dogs and Mr Green was still in direct line of fire but he waited patiently for the perfect moment. Moments later his wife finally left the kitchen and vanished somewhere in the house. This was his chance, Mr Green thought, and without dawdling he sprang into action. He darted into the kitchen, leaving a trail of muddy shoeprints behind him. He was certain he would get killed over it but he'd worry about that later. His number one goal was to get his gold to safety. He listened for his wife before heading into the rest of the house but couldn't hear her anywhere. Perhaps she knew he was there and was hiding in the wings to surprise him or maybe she left the house to get something from the shed, perhaps she'd run out of eggs. Whatever was the case he couldn't just stand there like a log, he had to get a move on, and that's just what he did. He snuck up to the which. leads into the next room and ever so slightly stuck his head out. He was starting down a small corridor. He could see their bedroom door at the end of it and no sign of his wife. So far so good. With a burst of energy he positioned himslef before the bedroom door and taking a huge sigh he opened it.
"Agnus, you in here? I'm home." He said with a frail cracking voice. When there was no reply he advanced into the room. He wife wasn't in here as well. It was a small room filled with the sound of rain like the rest of the house.
what did surprise the man was all the food she was cooking. It was as
if she was preparing for a banquet. Fascinating, he noted.
But
he couldn't loiter he was in here for a reason. He tiptoed towards
the bedroom. “Egnes, I'm home,” he called out to his wife as he
got nearer to the door, but she didn't reply. She didn't seem to be
in the house. It was just excellent, as it meant that he could hide
his gold and not worry about his wife catching him. In a few minutes
he was on his knees, in front of a shadowy hole in their bedroom
wall. This was the best place he could think of of hiding it.
The box
had failed to fit inside the hole, so Mr. Green emptied all of the
nuggets onto a large handkerchief that he'd placed on the floor in
front of him. There must have been thousands of them. Perfectly
reflecting the light of the candle he was holding. He ran his
fingertips over them and felt their smoothness. He smiled. They could
have been tiny stones, extremely well polished ones of course. Pinching
the candle with his knees, he gathered the corners of the
handkerchief, and tied them together, turning the handkerchief into a
nice little sack for his gold. Perfect! This would fit in the hole with no trouble. What was that? The old
man heard a noise behind him and turned his head only to stumble upon the sight of his wife, standing in
the doorway, hands on her hips.
"What are you doing?" It was an easy question but the old man lips couldn't form the words to answer it.
“Is
that a hole in the wall?” his wife said curiously, walking in with
her arms dangling on the sides of her body. Mr. Green hurriedly
shoved the gold into the space under the drawer he had pushed away
from the hole, as she approached. He then leaped to his feet with a
smile.
He could only gasp as looked for something intelligent to say, “It is in deed. So funny My ring had fallen behind the
drawer -”
“Oh!”
His wife interjected with an astonished stare, she touched her own ring. It was nothing outlandish; just a strip
with a fading shine, but she adored it, all the same. Her love had
given it to her.
Mr.
Green thought her reaction was a little over the top. “Yes,
well anyway,” He continued, “so I move the drawer – madly heavy
thing, and lo and behold there was this hole in the wall.” He
looked at her with a smile. She didn't return his smile however, had she bought his story?
She
breathed in, staring at the hole, “I don't like it, you need to
fill it up Angus. We can't have a hole in our bedroom wall.” After
speaking she stared at him with intense eyes. was she trying to tell him something? Then again, it
could have been nothing. It went on like that for a few more seconds,
and then she started talking again, “Anyway, food's just about ready.”
She
looked at the the small rusty metal box next to him, but didn't
comment on it. Her eyes wandered back to him, and then without saying
another word she turned and started walking out of the room, “By
the way,” She said just as she was about to leave, “Did you
find it?”
The
man looked at her stumped.
“The
ring, did you find it?” She said, a little irritably.
Mr.
Green giggled, showing her the ring on his right finger, “Thank the
gods.” He sighed. His wife didn't wait around after that, and with her gone it was back to business. It made him nervous
that she'd discovered his spot, but the fact that she'd have to go through a very heavy drawer, gave
him some comfort. Shoving the gold filled sack into the back of the hole, he pushed the drawer across it, and then stood. Wiping the dirt from his knees. The metal box was still on the ground so he picked it up and put it inside the drawer, before finally leaving the room to join his wife in the kitchen for dinner. They were
having freshly baked bread, a fried pig's head, and a nice hot
vegetable soup. It was a meal fit for royalty. He wondered what the
occasion was.
“Ready to tell me what this is all about? Are we celebrating something?” He asked. His wife looked at him with
disappointment. She quietly twirled her ring around her finger, then said with a sigh, “On this day, some fifty years ago, you sat me by the brook that ran behind my Father's cottage in Lickefry, and you said three words to me, three simple but wonderful words..."
"Oh, my dearest!" The old man cried, with a pained stare.
"How could you forget?” His wife demanded softly.
Mr.
Green gaped at her. Red like an apple! Lips quivering with no sound. His wife stood up at that moment, and moved her weight across the room towards their bedroom, behind her Mr. Green leaped from his seat.
“I'm
so sorry dear.” He said as he approached her inside the room with open arms, "I-I really don't know what to say."
"Have you been drinking?"
Before another word could be spoken by either of them, a noise filled the room. It sounded like gravel
hitting a hard surface.
“What's
that noise.” His wife inquired raising her eyebrows, and pinning
her ears back for better hearing.
“I'm
not sure” Mr. Green replied nervously.
“It's
coming from your drawer.” She looked at him curiously.
“Impossible.”
Mr. Green protested.
“Yes
it is.” She shot back.
“What
are you doing?” Mr. Green asked his wife as she stepped over
the mattress they slept on towards his drawer.
“What
does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to take a look.” Before he
could stop her, she opened the drawer and lid up its inside
with the candle she was holding. Her eyes swelled, so did those of
the man behind her. Gold nuggets, hundreds of them, were spilling out
from the metal box. They just kept coming out until the drawer was full of them, they spilled out onto the floor, then, just like that they stopped.
His
wife turned to him and said, “What's going on Angus?”
“I'm not sure but I think you and I are going to be Lord and lady.” He replied in a half whisper.
The relationship between Angus and Egnes is a little hazy ... but I guess it'll make more sense with in the next few chapters. And the gold!! Ooo! The ... the ... I can't find the right word at the moment ... but it's ... intriguing? Well, this whole chapter is done so very well. The dialogue is good, too. Not too formal ... although I have to say one thing ... because the characters seem to be living in poor conditions ... how is it that they speak as though well educated peoples? Unless they were forced into their lifestyle? Eh, I'm just pointing it out. And this is from what I've read ... not really from reading other reviews ... should I have done that first?
Points: 338
Reviews: 24
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