I quickly replaced all the things in the box, gingerly kicking the dead spiders to the corner of the room with my shoe.
4
A Shock Discovery
Whilst we were having our tea that night, I watched Mum with an eagle eye.
She was humming whilst spooning rice pudding into a bowl for Lois.
She certainly looked okay.
I decided to strike out. “Mum, do you like living here?” I asked boldly.
Mum looked a bit surprised. “That’s a funny question, Rosemary. Of course I do, it’s my home.”
I ploughed on. “Would you rather live somewhere else, say, if you could?”
“No,” Mum said frowning slightly. “What are you getting at, darling?”
“Nothing. Just wondered if you could choose somewhere else to live where you’d go?”
“Well, I choose to live here, which is all pretty good right now as, believe it or not, I’ve got an audition tomorrow at twelve noon. So you girls try to think of me then whilst you’re having your lunch and think some happy good luck thoughts to me.”
My heart sort of sank, and I felt a little rock in my tummy — of dread, I think it was.
“What’s the job for then, Mum?”
“Well, it’s a play, a wonderful play called Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and I’m going up for the role of Martha. It’s a fabulous part.”
“I’ll help you with the script after tea if you like, Mum,” I say, desperate to spend some time with her to try to find out what’s going on.
“Alright, darling, thank you. I’ve got a little spell to put together first, so you can be my special helper with that once we’ve put Lois to bed.”
“I want to be a special helper, too,” whined Lois with rice pudding dripping from her chin.
“You can get the coloured bags out, okay?” Mum said briskly whilst she gathered up our dirty plates.
Later that evening, once Lois was in bed (she had forgotten all about the coloured bags, thankfully), Mum and I sat in at the kitchen table with all her boxes.
“Now put some comfrey in this little bag, Rosie, and some mistletoe in this one.”
“What do they do then?”
“Well, the comfrey is to attract money and the mistletoe helps to purify and breaks hexes.”
“What’s a hex?”
“It’s a bad thought that someone has put out there on to someone else. I’m not sure I really believe in hexes, but Frances and Phyllis do, and so I’m bowing to their superior, if somewhat old fashioned, knowledge.”
It was somehow quite therapeutic opening little clear bags with the dried herbs in and sprinkling a few fingerfuls into the tiny brightly coloured organza bags that Mum gave me. Then I had the job of assembling all the ingredients and putting them carefully into bigger bags with candles and unusual stones, and finally I was allowed to cut the ribbon for Mum to tie around the spell scroll, which was the instructions. They were written in all fancy handwriting with swirls and loops and looked so important and precious.
Suddenly, my concentration was broken by a frantic banging on our front door.
Mum rushed out of the kitchen to the hallway and, just as we got to the door, Uncle Vic burst in almost carrying Frances, who was wailing uncontrollably.
“What are we going to do Vic? I can’t bear it. Where do we start looking?” Her already chubby face had ballooned and looked red and blotchy. She had snot running down her nose. Uncle Vic looked embarrassed, worried, and slightly annoyed. Actually, it was difficult to tell, as when your eyes are looking in different directions you constantly look confused. I think it was safe to say he was worried, as he kept patting her pudgy arm in a comforting sort of way.
“Now, now, Frances, let’s not overreact. Let’s get you lying down with a chamomile tea. Rae, have you any valerian root? I might need to add a thimbleful of that too in this instance.”
Mum was about to dash off when a little voice from the top of the stairs floated down.
“Is that the internet shopping?”
At least, I think that’s what she said. It’s difficult to tell when Lois has her dummy in. She could have been asking for the time in Hong Kong for we all we knew.
“No, darling, get back to bed, please. It’s PE tomorrow, so you need your sleep,” Mum placated whilst grabbing the chair in the hall for Frances.
Frances sank into it like a brick being thrown into the ocean and pulled a large mauve handkerchief out from her handbag and blew her nose noisily. In fact, it was so loud I thought a ship had come into port. I had to stifle a giggle as Frances’ skirt had risen up, showing two flesh-coloured pop socks, one of which was halfway down her calf making her look extremely comical.
“Rosie, go and get Frances a glass of water please, darling.” Mum motioned to me as she took Uncle Vic to one side.
I went back into the kitchen and hurriedly got a glass down from the cupboard to fill with tap water. I came back into the hall just as the tail end of Mum and Uncle Vic were disappearing through the wall.
I nearly dropped the glass.
Was I seeing things?
I looked at Frances to see if she was looking aghast like me, but no, she was still sniffling and rummaging about up her nose with her handkerchief.
“Thank you, Rosie, my love,” she stuttered, her soft Scottish accent sounding at odds with her obvious distress. “Could you pass me my handbag down there so I can check my face?”
It was all I could do to stop my mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. I located her glittery silver handbag down by her chubby ankles and passed it to her.
“I think I’ll just pop up and use your lavvy if that’s alright, dear. I fear my face might need a little wash.”
“Are you alright, Frances?” I managed to whisper.
“Oh yes, just a little bit of bad news, that’s all my dear, but your Uncle Vic and Mr Foggerty will take care of everything. There’s nothing to worry about, nothing at all to worry about.”
She wore her soothing expression like a mask, and I could see underneath she was not convinced at all. I couldn’t wait for her to lumber up the stairs, so I could investigate the wall.
I nonchalantly leaned against it, watching Frances huff and puff up our stairs. It felt pretty firm. No squidgy bits, no cracks that I could see. I felt it over with my hands to see if I had missed a secret doorway or handle or anything. But how could there be? The radiator was right in front of it, so even if there was a secret doorway how on earth would you be able to open it?
I ran into our sitting room, which is where you would find yourself if you had walked through the wall. I really expected to see Mum and Uncle Vic sitting on the settee deep in conversation, but there was nothing. Just a very sleepy Maggie showing her fat, fluffy tummy. She meowed at me languidly and rolled to her other side.
“Did you see Mum and Uncle Vic, Mags?” I asked her.
She meowed again and how I wished I understood cat language. Mind you, knowing Mags, she was probably saying bog off and leave me alone.
Mum had disappeared, leaving me and Lois home alone with two cats and a dappy old lady who hadn’t seemed to notice a thing. Was I scared? Yes, a little bit.
All my life I had accepted our extended family’s comings and goings, never questioning where they suddenly appeared from on those occasions when they didn’t use the front door. I was used to my mum’s herbal remedies and charms that she made, but this was something way out of my comfort zone.