Home Sweet Home

the Village, which seemed soradiantly joyful in the bright spring sunshine.
As theyapproached their rented house Mrs Marigold broke the enchantedsilence that had hung over them both for the previous fewminutes.
“Oh darling don’t you just feel that it’s the perfect house in theperfect village? It’s just made for us.” Herhusband looked over at her with a grin that made him look ten yearsyounger and said “Yes, it is perfect, we mustn’t lose thathouse.”
Later thatafternoon after brief negotiations through the Estate Agent, a salewas agreed. They had finally bought their dream house and to markthe occasion, they celebrated with Champagne and the entire familytoasted their future and their luck in finding such a wonderfulhome.
*****
Several weekslater Jackie and Ben were coming back from the playing fields amile or so outside the village. They were kicking a ball along asthey went, when Ben kicked the ball too high and it sailed straightover a fence at the side of the road. “That was stupid.” saidJackie “How are we going to get it back?” Meanwhile Ben had beensearching for a gap in the fence when he suddenly made aconnection. “Wow, Jackie, this is the house we are buying, I’m sureit must be. I’ve never thought of it before but this is the lowerroad out of the village and the garden backed onto it and Idefinitely recognise that huge apple tree that we saw in thegarden”
Jackie thought for a moment and then said “Well Isuppose we can go round tomorrow and ask for our ball back.” ButBen wasn’t really listening. “Hey Jackie, these two panels areloose, I’m going to try and squeeze through and get the ball, I’msure they wouldn’t mind anyway, even if they see me and I doubt ifthey will ‘cos it’s nearly dark.”
Jackie wasapprehensive but bolstered a little by her brothers’ rock solidconfidence she agreed to wait by the fence while he popped in andretrieved the ball. She watched as he prised the panels apart andslipped through and then all she could hear was a gentle swishingof leaves as he presumably forced his way through the shrubs at theend of the garden. Then all was silent and she gazed around, withheightened senses, across the open fields that lay just to theother side of the road from where she was standing. The evening hadalmost turned to night and under the overcast sky she could makeout the silhouettes of trees way off in the distance and theoccasional harsh caw of the, only just visible, wheeling crows,crashed against her fragile senses, sending butterflies shootingthrough her stomach. She looked back at the fence and thought“Where is he? It can’t take that long to find a ball, surely”
In truth he hadonly been gone a few minutes but in her strained state it seemed anage. Finally she pulled at the fence panels and pushing her headthrough the gap she hissed as loudly as she dared.
“Ben, Ben, where on earth are you? Come back, I’m scared.”
There was asudden noise and then something or somebody crashed solidly intoher, knocking her backwards almost into the road and there was Benstanding over her, panting and gasping and almost beside himselfwith terror. “Jackie come on we’ve got to run.”
Then he came tohis senses enough to see that he had sent her flying and that shewas sitting on the ground nursing a blow to the head. “Jackie, areyou OK? Here let me help you and then we must get moving.” Slowlyhe hauled her to her feet and with one arm around her, half tocomfort her and half to pull her along, they set off home at atrot.
On the way backhe did his best to explain to Jackie what had happened and inbetween panting for breath and sobbing in terror, he laboriouslygot his story out.
He had quicklymade his way through the shrubs and could see the ball right in themiddle of the lawn. He paused between the shrubs and tried to getup courage for a quick sprint across the lawn and back to retrievethe ball, but his heart was pounding in his chest and his couragewas waning. Then suddenly, just as someone standing at the side ofa pool, desperately trying to summon up the courage to enter thecold water, reaches a point of decision and jumps, so Ben startedto run. As he reached the ball and fumbled to pick it up in hispanic stricken hands, he looked up at the house and saw at oncethat it wasn’t the house he knew. It appeared empty and abandoned.For some reason this calmed him and he walked a little closer. Itmust be very close to the house they were buying, maybe even nextdoor, but he hadn’t remembered seeing any such house on the daythey had come to view. At this point Ben had almost returned totell Jackie, but his curiosity made him go right up to the back ofthe house and even in the half-light it was clearly derelict.Window frames were empty of glass, a rear door was hanging from onehinge and even the bricks were loose in places. He thought ofJackie waiting and knew he mustn’t be too long but he seemed almostcompelled to enter into the house. This actually proved quite easy,as he only had to swing the door slightly to one side and stepthrough.
The house wasin a completely dilapidated state and the floor was strewn withrubble, shattered glass and other nameless objects that lay justbeyond resolution in the gloom. He felt he wouldn’t go muchfurther, for in truth his courage was bow tight and ready to snapat any moment, but he crunched his way as carefully as he could toa door and promptly froze.
He could hearvoices on the other side and a thin strip of light was visiblethrough the cracks in the door. At this point his nerve finallysnapped like a twig and he half tiptoed and half ran across theroom to the broken door and exited the house at a gallop, comingthrough the shrubs to the hole in the fence so fast that he failedto hear or see his sister until he