Read Online The Repossession by Sam Hawksmoor - Free Book Online Page B

left it in the kitchen. He’d long ago given up smoking, but was unable to surrender the pipe itself. He looked back into the yard and beyond where the power line stood at an angle. The power was probably down right
    across the valley after the storm, the ground simply washed away from under the pylons in some places.
    The valley itself was underwater. Some farms would probably never recover, but then again, the water would find a way out. It had before, back in ’77 when he was a kid. That’s when they’d built the wall alongside the river.
    Built it to exactly one metre higher than the breach of ’77 and here they were all over again with a wall crumbled before the force of nature.
    Which brought him back to the kids and the stray pig. Had they brought the pig with them? The chances of a pig ending up here were so remote it was going to be an interesting story when he heard it.
    He hadn’t inspected the barn since he’d made the cider last fall. He generally took a tour of everything he owned after a storm. He had been lucky, no damage except to the barn roof. No problem to fix it. The boy would probably help him if he asked.
    Who were they? How long had they been gone? He wondered if they were like the others.
    Rian woke first. He saw the man sat on the straw bale looking up at them. He looked at Genie still asleep, curled up tight to him, her fingers tucked into his shirt.
    He shook her a little and her eyes fluttered.
    ‘Genie,’ he whispered, immediately aware his voice
    sounded strange. ‘Wake up.’
    Genie sat up. Instantly awake, trying to reorient herself. She was in a barn. She wasn’t in her bedroom.
    She was with Rian. It wasn’t a dream.
    Rian sort of acknowledged the man watching them.
    Tried to clear his throat.
    ‘Sorry. We needed shelter.’ He was surprised by the sound of his voice sounding and feeling scratchy.
    There was a lump growing in his throat too. Not a good sign.
    Marshall pointed at the pig with his pipe. ‘That yours?’
    Rian and Genie looked down over the bales and there was the magnificent pig sprawled out as happy as could be, snoring.
    Genie smiled. She looked at the man. ‘Pig saved my life.’
    Marshall nodded. ‘Pig’s a smart animal. I asked if it was yours?’
    Genie shook her head. ‘Got washed down the river with everything else, I guess.’ She coughed. Her throat was tight and sore. ‘We clung on together and he followed me here. It’s huge. I can’t believe it. Long walk too – for a pig.’
    Marshall could judge a lot by what people said, or didn’t say. The surprise in the girl’s face was genuine.
    And it was she who had saved the pig and that was more than most would do.
    ‘It’s a Tamworth sow. She’s a grower, good sixty kilograms I’d say. Nice ruddy colour too. Someone would be proud to own such a pig.’
    Genie looked down at the pig a moment and saw its feet shake. She felt quite attached to the beast.
    ‘Where you from?’ Marshall asked.
    ‘Spurlake.’ Rian had planned to lie but it just slipped out automatically.
    Marshall nodded. Closest town.
    ‘The Paramount Steakhouse on Peak is my favourite.’
    Genie glanced at Rian, puzzled. She didn’t know it.
    ‘Hate to tell you, Mister, but they must of torn it down years ago. We never heard of it,’ Rian confessed. Didn’t want to upset the guy an’ all.
    Marshall stood up and smiled. ‘I know that. Just testing. Breakfast?’ He looked at the pig a moment. ‘I’ll leave out the bacon.’
    Genie smiled. ‘I should hope so. It’s quite sensitive.’
    She tried to straighten her hair. She was a mess. ‘We got anything for the pig?’
    ‘Some apples, some cereal. They’ll pretty much eat anything,’ Marshall mused. He moved over to the side and pulled out a small bucket and filled it from a tap on
    the wall. ‘I got a paddock I used to use for my horses.
    It can live there for now until we find its owner.’ He brought the water over and left it a few feet away from the pig.