DEEP IN THE VALLEY

CHAPTER FOUR

THE HANDLE

I wake next morning with mother shaking me with a worried look on er face. My head is throbbing and the back of my throat feels like it's been slit with a knife. 

"You're burning up" mother says and rushes out of the room returning with a thermometer and a small bottle of rescue remedy.

"Why did you get so wet yesterday?" she asks while squeezing five drops of the remedy onto my tongue.

"You should have let me drive you to Janie's house, you really are too stubborn for your own good young lady", she shoves the thermometer into my mouth and flurries out of the room.

"A bus splashed a puddle over me" I shout after her, I may be sick but I'm still sharp enough to lie.

"Winter get your school bag and coat, I'm taking you to school today, your sister is ill" I hear her say as she descends the stairs.

Winter appears at my door with his bright yellow Troll toothbrush in his mouth. "Are you really sick?" he mumbles suspiciously.

"I think so", I say nodding my head and point to the thermomotor.

"That's not fair, I want to be sick too", he says as mother enters the room again with the heavy blanket, a litre bottle of water and a bowl of fruit. She takes the thermomotor out of my mouth. "Definitely no school today. Maybe I should get the doctor?" she says as she paces around the room.

"I'm fine" I say "If I feel any any worse by lunchtime I'll call you" I smile at her.

She gives me with that worried look I've seen at many times throughout my life, a mixture of concern and confusion so I make things easier on her.

"Honestly, I will, don't worry, I promise." I say.

She looks at her watch.

"OK, I'm doing yoga at the old folks home today, I'll be home by three" she says and kisses me on the forehead and whisks Winter out the door and they clamber down the stairs.

Eventually the front door slams shut. A smile grows on my face. This couldn't be more perfect even if I had planned it myself. I throw the covers off and get dressed.

It's stopped raining and a clear sky reflects on the wet ground as I walk down Cardiff Drive. I still feel pretty crappy but I've brought dad's fishing stool for a bit of comfort and am wearing his heavy field jumper to keep warm.

I place the stool on the bank behind a bush and watch the old man's house. Nothing happens for a long time and then a pair of young playful foxes runs onto the street in front of the old man's house. They roll each other around and are unbelievably cute. I watch them with a smile on my face; it's nice to feel that again.

The sound of the front door closing makes them scarper and I look back to the house to the old man walking to the garden shed. He goes inside and shuts the door behind him.

This is it, I've got to go see whats going on so I rise from my stool and cross the road. I approach the shed door straight on so I can't be seen. I take a deep silent breath and then slowly creep around to the left, edging my way to the window and look in.

The tools, the wood, everything is the same as yesterday. And just like yesterday there is no old man. I shake my head. Where does he go?

I go back to the door, take hold of the handle, take a deep breath and go in. If he's in there I will say that I dropped a pen when we were here day before yesterday and just came to retrieve it.

'Hello' I say as I open the door and move into the empty shed that smells of soil and rotting wood. In front of me is the wall of tools, to my right are some old sheets of stacked wood, behind me is the door and to my left are an old bicycle and some cardboard boxes. But no old man.