laugh, int we, boy?’ she sat forward and grinned. ‘Just teasin you, girl. Where’s your humour?’
‘You pullin me bout my mother? Tell me honest cus I int got the time.’
‘Course not. Her name’s Eleanor, int it? Don’t say that in your notebook now, does it?’
Ennor shrugged. She couldn’t remember much of anything. ‘I lost my map,’ she said. ‘Lost me map and now I’m lost meself.’
‘Bless.’ The old woman smiled. ‘Now you eat. Let’s see if I can’t get you back on track.’
Ennor supped at the unidentifiable soup and she listened to the old woman as she walked them across the moor, sketching everything into her mind’s eye and scratching notes with her pen to make sense.
The woman sat low and heavy in her chair and with eyes half closed she visualised everything in detail and sometimes she smiled and pointed out things of interest to Ennor as if she were part of the memory.
‘Not far now. Brown Willy just to our right, see it, girl? Always keep it to your right, biggest tor on the moor, you keep him in sight and you won’t go wrong.’
The woman fell silent and Ennor sat forward in anticipation. ‘What is it?’ she asked.
Suddenly a magpie slammed into the front-room window with a thump, causing them to jump and Rabbit got off the floor to go outside to look.
‘There it is, good-sized house on all accounts, small village tip-top north of the northmoor. What’s it name? Treburdon, I think, and there’s that yellow door. That’s the house you want.’
Ennor looked at the old woman and asked her how she knew all this.
‘Your nana told me.’
‘Really?’
The woman shrugged.
‘And you int pullin me?’
‘Why would I do that, birdy?’
Ennor thanked her because maybe she really was telling the truth and if she was she didn’t want to seem rude. She underlined the words ‘Treburdon’ and ‘yellow door’ and closed her notebook.
The front door slammed and Rabbit stood grinning with the magpie swinging and its feet sticking like pegs through his fingers.
‘That’s bad luck,’ Ennor and the old woman said in unison.
‘I’m gonna stuff it.’ The boy grinned and he ran to the kitchen with a squeal.
‘Please excuse the kid. He’s fifteen but a life lived out on the moor with nobody but his old gran has him turned backwards a little.’
Ennor wondered about the rest of his family but before she could open her mouth the old woman told her they were dead.
‘All of um dead,’ she repeated. ‘In the ground one way or the other, burnt or bones, but it don’t really matter, does it?’ She offered up more soup but Ennor declined. The sound of knives chopping in the kitchen and the talk of death had turned her off it.
‘I gotta get goin, while it’s still day.’ She stood and went to take off the red coat and was told to keep it like a swap shop and she thanked the woman for everything and let her put the rucksack on to her back and fuss her a little.
‘Got your hat here somewhere. Found it danglin in the bushes like a poor dead thing.’ She took Ennor’s hat from a nail in the back of the door and tucked her hair tight and bulbous into it.
‘Don’t forget us now you hear, birdy bird? Come back knockin when you’re passin. One or other is always here.’ She called Rabbit out from the kitchen and they stood and waved her from the house like long-losts and then from the path and finally from the ridged horizon.
Ennor stopped once to wave and then twice and when her path was close to dipping from view she waved a third and final time and shouted thank you into the wind towards them.
Things were going to start moving now. Ennor knew she was a day away from finding Mum and then they would be home and dry for Christmas.
The sky was bright and the sun lay low and blinding on the horizon, barely up, almost down. Ennor looked at the time and she stopped to push up her sleeve. ‘Damn,’ she shouted. The old woman had stolen her watch and she would now
‘You pullin me bout my mother? Tell me honest cus I int got the time.’
‘Course not. Her name’s Eleanor, int it? Don’t say that in your notebook now, does it?’
Ennor shrugged. She couldn’t remember much of anything. ‘I lost my map,’ she said. ‘Lost me map and now I’m lost meself.’
‘Bless.’ The old woman smiled. ‘Now you eat. Let’s see if I can’t get you back on track.’
Ennor supped at the unidentifiable soup and she listened to the old woman as she walked them across the moor, sketching everything into her mind’s eye and scratching notes with her pen to make sense.
The woman sat low and heavy in her chair and with eyes half closed she visualised everything in detail and sometimes she smiled and pointed out things of interest to Ennor as if she were part of the memory.
‘Not far now. Brown Willy just to our right, see it, girl? Always keep it to your right, biggest tor on the moor, you keep him in sight and you won’t go wrong.’
The woman fell silent and Ennor sat forward in anticipation. ‘What is it?’ she asked.
Suddenly a magpie slammed into the front-room window with a thump, causing them to jump and Rabbit got off the floor to go outside to look.
‘There it is, good-sized house on all accounts, small village tip-top north of the northmoor. What’s it name? Treburdon, I think, and there’s that yellow door. That’s the house you want.’
Ennor looked at the old woman and asked her how she knew all this.
‘Your nana told me.’
‘Really?’
The woman shrugged.
‘And you int pullin me?’
‘Why would I do that, birdy?’
Ennor thanked her because maybe she really was telling the truth and if she was she didn’t want to seem rude. She underlined the words ‘Treburdon’ and ‘yellow door’ and closed her notebook.
The front door slammed and Rabbit stood grinning with the magpie swinging and its feet sticking like pegs through his fingers.
‘That’s bad luck,’ Ennor and the old woman said in unison.
‘I’m gonna stuff it.’ The boy grinned and he ran to the kitchen with a squeal.
‘Please excuse the kid. He’s fifteen but a life lived out on the moor with nobody but his old gran has him turned backwards a little.’
Ennor wondered about the rest of his family but before she could open her mouth the old woman told her they were dead.
‘All of um dead,’ she repeated. ‘In the ground one way or the other, burnt or bones, but it don’t really matter, does it?’ She offered up more soup but Ennor declined. The sound of knives chopping in the kitchen and the talk of death had turned her off it.
‘I gotta get goin, while it’s still day.’ She stood and went to take off the red coat and was told to keep it like a swap shop and she thanked the woman for everything and let her put the rucksack on to her back and fuss her a little.
‘Got your hat here somewhere. Found it danglin in the bushes like a poor dead thing.’ She took Ennor’s hat from a nail in the back of the door and tucked her hair tight and bulbous into it.
‘Don’t forget us now you hear, birdy bird? Come back knockin when you’re passin. One or other is always here.’ She called Rabbit out from the kitchen and they stood and waved her from the house like long-losts and then from the path and finally from the ridged horizon.
Ennor stopped once to wave and then twice and when her path was close to dipping from view she waved a third and final time and shouted thank you into the wind towards them.
Things were going to start moving now. Ennor knew she was a day away from finding Mum and then they would be home and dry for Christmas.
The sky was bright and the sun lay low and blinding on the horizon, barely up, almost down. Ennor looked at the time and she stopped to push up her sleeve. ‘Damn,’ she shouted. The old woman had stolen her watch and she would now
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