Lavender Hill (6 page)

*****

2:04pm

“Have you found anything yet?”

“No, you?”

“No, nothing – it’s gonna be impossible to find anything if we don’t know his name,” said Jack.

Jack and Amy sat in the car, which Jack had pulled over onto the side of the road. They were manically searching the internet using their smartphones, as passing traffic shook the car.

Jack stopped searching. “This is ridiculous. We need to find out the name of that guy first and then use a proper computer.”

They fell silent for a while and thought about what to do next.

“Is there a village nearby?” asked Amy.

Jack picked up his map and looked. “Yes, not far from where we turned out of the road for Oldway House. Why?”

“There might be a village shop or post office where someone might know who he is.”

“OK, great – let’s give it a try.”

Jack turned the car around and drove down the road towards the village.

*

Jack parked the car, and they both got out and looked around the little village. Small and pretty, stone brick, houses surrounded a central grassy area that had a war memorial in the centre. In the distance was a village shop.

“There’s a sign for the post office on that shop,” said Amy.

Just as they were about to walk over to the shop, Marly, the dog, trotted towards them. Jack knelt down and stroked her.

“Oh, hello – it’s you two again. Did you enjoy your walk?” asked the old lady from the wood as she walked towards them.

Jack stood back up. “Yes, it was lovely. The view from the top of the hill was incredible and the smell of the lavender amazing.”

“It is beautiful up there. Maybe, I’ll take Marly up there next time we go for a walk, eh Marly?” The dog looked up towards her, eagerly wagging its tail.

“We had a nice chat with the guy who lives in Oldway House,” said Amy.

The old lady looked towards Amy with an expression of surprise. “Well, you are privileged. Gabriel isn’t the most social of people – polite, civilised, but he likes to keep himself to himself, really.”

Jack and Amy looked at each other as she mentioned the man’s name.

They stood quietly for a moment as if unsure how to continue the conversation before the old lady said, “Right, I’ve got some chores to see to and Marly here will probably have an afternoon nap, eh Marly?” The old lady began to walk towards her house. “Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”

Jack and Amy waited for her to move out of earshot. Jack then said, “When we get to the post office we can say something like ‘we’re looking for a Gabriel Jones at Oldway House’ and see what they say.”

“OK, let’s go.”

As they walked into the post office, a friendly, bespectacled, middle-aged man greeted them.

“Good afternoon, how can I help you?”

Jack approached the man. “Hi, we’re trying to find somewhere called Oldway House. A Gabriel Jones lives there.”

The man looked puzzled and tilted his head downwards to look over his glasses.

“Well, Gabriel Ash lives in Oldway House – just off the main road out of the village, heading towards Totnes.”

Jack pretended to look confused. “OK, sorry, we must have been given the wrong details.”

Amy touched Jack’s arm. “We should hurry along, darling. We haven’t got much time.”

Jack looked at Amy and smiled a little at her timely intervention and good acting. They left the post office and got back into the car.

“‘Darling’ – very good, nice touch,” said Jack.

Amy smiled as if pleased with herself and Jack’s praise.

“Right, now where?” asked Jack.

“Remember, I need to get back to Bristol early afternoon. I’ll search the web tonight, but I need to get back to my car.”

“OK, I’ll take you back.”

Jack started the car and set off for Totnes.

*****

3:36pm

The clapping died down and Rebecca Hartley looked out across the crowd of people standing in the hall. Her expression was serious and focused and, as she absorbed the power from the crowd, she smiled slightly. She leant into the microphone on the lectern in front of her and pointed towards an unseen enemy.

“We are peaceful people. We are law-abiding and God-fearing people. But, we have been ignored and made to feel like naive fools.” She banged her fist down onto the lectern.

The crowd of people erupted into cheers and loud clapping.

“And we are not going to be ignored any longer,” she continued. “We are going to march through London tomorrow and insist our voices be heard.”

The crowd began to clap again, but Ms Hartley raised her hands to quieten them so she could continue speaking.

“Friends, we insist our opinion should be given due respect. We demand this not for ourselves but for a greater good and a greater being. We demand this right for God because we know the Rapture is a message from Him and a message to His followers and believers.”

Ms Hartley waited this time for the applause and cheering to die down naturally before she lowered herself towards the microphone and took on a deeper more threatening tone of voice.

“The Rapture is a message from the Almighty – and tomorrow, we will march with Him beside us. With our belief and his guidance we will not allow anyone to stand in our way. No one, will stand in our way.”

Ms Hartley stood back from the lectern and smiled and waved at the crowd as they cheered loudly and chanted her name.

*****

4:05pm

Jack felt something block the path of his front door as he opened it. He pushed the door hard and poked his head around it to see what was in the way. A suitcase was placed in the hallway: Sarah’s suitcase.

“Sarah?” Jack called as he walked into the house.

“Daddy,” Ella said while running from the living room into the hallway. Jack knelt down to hug her.

“Jack, is that you?” called Sarah from the top of the stairs.

“What’s going on?” Jack asked.

Sarah rushed down the stairs and began to usher Ella back into the living room.

“You go back into the living room, darling. Daddy and I are going to have a quick chat in the kitchen and we need you to look after Dylan.”

“Dylan doesn’t listen to me, mummy,” replied Ella as if her mum was silly.

“Well, you just keep an eye on him then.”

As Ella walked into the living room, Sarah turned back to Jack and indicated for him to follow her to the kitchen. She asked him to shut the door as they entered.

“Sarah, Why is your suitcase in the hallway? What’s going on?”

“I’m going to my parents, with the kids, Jack.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“We need some time apart, Jack. This isn’t working. And, I’m uncomfortable with this obsession you’ve got with the Rapture.”

Jack laughed a little. “You can’t be serious? The Rapture is all over the news and half the world felt it, but I’m crazy?”

“Everybody knows it’s some kind of mass hysteria, or natural event, that scientists haven’t been able to explain yet.”

“I never said I didn’t think it was a natural event.”

“But you’re obsessed with it. And it’s just another example of how you’ve changed. All this stuff about living naturally but taking it to extremes.”

“I’ve never insisted you guys did the things I tried.”

Sarah went quiet as if holding something back.

“What’s wrong, Sarah? Tell me?”

“I saw one of the mums from Dylan’s playgroup earlier. She said she saw you with some girl in town.”

Jack laughed awkwardly. “She’s someone I met at the Pointers meeting I went to. We went over to Totnes to research something to do with the Rapture. Her name is Amy. You can meet her if you want.”

Sarah laughed. “I don’t want to meet anyone who believes in all this nonsense.” She paused. “I believe you that there’s nothing in it, but we’ve got to be honest with each other. We’ve got problems and the idea of one of us meeting someone else isn’t completely ridiculous, is it?”

Jack looked at Sarah, but kept quiet.

“We need to have a break for a while,” Sarah continued. “You need to decide what you want out of life and whether you’re going to continue obsessing over this Rapture thing. We can decide what to do after that’s happened.” She looked at Jack for a few moments before continuing, “I need to pack the car. Don’t make a scene or the kids will get upset.” Sarah walked out of the kitchen.

Jack sat down at the kitchen table, placed his elbow on it, and then rested his head in his hand. He could hear Sarah moving around the house and out to the car. After a while, the kitchen door was slowly opened and Dylan walked in. He walked over to Jack and placed his hands on his knees.

“We’re going to see Granddad,” said Dylan matter-of-factly.

Jack put his hand on Dylan’s head. “You’re gonna have a great time, Dylan. You’ll have to tell me all about it when you come back.”

“Mummy said we might stay with Granddad for a while.”

“Yep, just for a while though.”

“Will you look after my fish?”

Jack laughed. “Yes, course I will.”

“You can put loads of food in the tank, so you can come and see us for a few days...”

Jack laughed again and then turned to look at the kitchen door as he heard Sarah walk towards the kitchen.

“Ah, here you are,” said Sarah as she opened the door. “Come on, Dylan. It’s time to go.”

Dylan took her hand and they all walked out to the car where Ella was waiting. Jack could see Ella had a better sense that something was wrong and he knelt down to speak to her.

“You’ll call me later?”

Ella nodded her head but didn’t speak. She then put her arms around his neck and hugged him.

Sarah opened the back door of the car. “Come on, everyone get in. We’ve got a long journey ahead.”

Jack helped the kids into Sarah’s car and then watched as she drove it away and up the road. He walked into the house and sat back down in the kitchen. He didn’t move as the daylight gradually faded and left him sitting in the dark.

*

Jack sat alone in the kitchen. He stood up to turn the light on and jumped as he heard a beep telling him he had received a text message. He grabbed his phone from his pocket hoping it was a message from Sarah or the kids but saw it was from Amy. He opened the message:

Call me, I’ve found out something about Gabriel Ash!

Jack was about to reply, but he suddenly felt conflicted as if he was choosing between the kids and Sarah, or the Rapture. He put the phone down onto the table.

Jack stood up and paced around the room before sitting back down and staring at the phone. For a brief moment, he felt the sense of understanding, hope and purpose that had gripped him on the day of the Rapture, and without consciously deciding to his hand automatically reached out for the phone. He held it for a while before dialling a number: Amy’s number.

“Jack, is that you?”

“Yes, hi – it is. How are you?”

“I’m great. You won’t believe what I’ve found out.”

“Tell me.”

“Are you OK, Jack? You don’t sound OK.”

“I’m fine. What have you found out?”

“This Gabriel Ash guy used to be a physicist at the university here in Bristol. I’m going to go the university library tomorrow to find some of his publications. He was a bit of a maverick apparently, controversial.”

“That’s great, Amy.”

“What’s wrong, Jack? I can tell something’s wrong.”

“Sarah and the kids left earlier. She couldn’t handle my obsession, as she put it, with the Rapture, and... well, we’ve been having problems for a while.” He paused. “I shouldn’t be telling you this stuff, really.”

“It’s OK. I don’t mind listening. It must be difficult. You should come here tomorrow and help me find out about this guy.”

“I will, definitely. The thought of being in the house when it’s so empty is horrible.”

Amy hesitated for a moment. “You can drive up tonight if you want.”

Jack went quiet before replying, “OK... yeah, OK, I’ll do that. We can spend the whole day researching this guy then.”

Amy gave directions to her apartment and then they said goodbye. Jack immediately got up and prepared to leave the house. He packed quickly and then rushed into Dylan’s room and sprinkled plenty of food into the fish tank. As he walked out of the house and went to close the door, he paused. From the front door he could see down the hall, through the kitchen, and out of a window to the moonlit fields beyond. The fields he had seen the iridescent light pass over some days before. He stared at the fields for a while before carefully closing the door.

*****