God's Acre

by Dee Yates

  As the moon sank behind the hill, he sat until sheep began to emerge from the darkness. Then he gathered up his clothes and silently left the room. He dressed in the still-dark kitchen and stepped outside into the chill beginning of another autumn day.

  36. Visits

  September 1940

  ‘We were wondering if you’d heard anything from Alan,’ Jeannie said, when Fiona opened the door. ‘His dad, in particular, is concerned.’

  ‘Come in, Jeannie.’ Fiona showed her into the small living room. ‘Sit down, won’t you? No, I’ve heard nothing yet, but he did say that they might not be able to write until they were settled in whatever place they were making for.’

  ‘It must be hard for you, waiting to hear,’ Jeannie said, echoing her own feelings.

  ‘Aye, it is that. I’ve been going to help out at my parents’ farm, just to keep me occupied. It’s better than sitting here all day waiting for news.’

  Jeannie looked round the room. It was neat and free of the clutter of many farm cottages. On the mantlepiece was a wedding picture of Fiona and Alan, the two of them looking happy and relaxed. Jeannie thought fleetingly of Alan’s remarks about the state of his marriage and turned back to Fiona.

  ‘Er, can I ask whether you’ve managed to start another baby yet? I mean, after losing the last?’

  Fiona gave her a long look. ‘No, no babies. Probably for the best, seeing as I would be bringing it up on my own, so long as this war is on.’

  Jeannie paused, wondering whether to mention her own pregnancy, but she thought better of it and asked instead, ‘How long will it be before Alan gets leave.’

  ‘I’ve no idea. I think it’s something like eighteen months.’

  Eighteen months, Jeannie thought. A lifetime.

  ‘Well, if you’re lonely at any time, do come up to the farm. We’d love to see you.’

  ‘Thanks, Jeannie. I appreciate it.’

  Jeannie rose to go. She took a last glimpse at the wedding photo and tears came to her eyes. She blinked them away rapidly before Fiona could notice and walked to the door.

  ‘It’s a lovely wee cottage you have,’ she said.

  ‘I think so, though Alan seemed sorry to leave the farm.’

  ‘Well, one day it will be his to run as he likes.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose it will. Goodbye, Jeannie. Thank you for calling.’

  Jeannie reached the front gate and turned to wave, but the door was already closed.

  *

  ‘Tam, it’s good to see you again.’ Rob Cunningham gave him a friendly slap on the back and looked at the lambs he had bought at market. ‘Aye, lad, you’ve not done badly, considering the state of them this year. A poor year it’s been and no mistake. Let me treat you to a cup of tea before you go.’

  The two men collected their tea and cake and found an empty table in the cafeteria.

  ‘So tell me, Tam, how’s that lass of yours? We miss her dreadfully at Blackford. I’ve a couple of new girls now, but they’re a bit wet behind the ears. Your Jeannie was on the ball with picking things up. The wee lads are missing her too.’

  ‘They must come up and see us. She’d love to see them again. You know she called in to see their mother. She’s been up to Glasgow to visit her aunt and uncle – he’s no’ been so well. She went to see Alice and the wean while she was there.’

  ‘It’s gey hard for these parents separated from their children. And how long is it going to last, I want to know. I was listening to the Home Service on the wireless this morning. There’s been terrible bombing on London over the weekend. Upwards of four hundred people killed, they are saying.’ Rob shook his head and stared down into his empty cup as though trying to read the tea leaves. ‘It seems to be getting worse. Have you heard from your brother yet?’

  ‘No, nothing yet. We’ll let you know when we do.’

  ‘You do that, pal. Well that’s me off home.’ Rob got up noisily from his seat. ‘Give that lass of yours my best wishes and tell her to come and see us soon.’

  *

  Tam guided the wagon into the farmyard and jumped down to open the gate into the field. Then, taking hold of the reins, he steered horse and wagon through the opening, shut the gate and lowered the back of the wagon to allow the lambs to escape their imprisonment of the last several hours. He stood and watched as they ran down the ramp, gradually coming to a standstill as they realised they were free and all around them was fresh food waiting to be eaten. Tam looked at them in their new environment. It was true what Rob had said. They were not in as good condition as he would have liked, but that was how things were just now. They would have to make the best of it.

  Jeannie was cooking the tea when he came in. She turned and went to him and put her arms round his neck. ‘Tam McColl, you stink of sheep!’

  ‘Sorry. You shouldn’t have married a farmer if you wanted a husband smelling of roses!’ He kissed her. ‘And how’s the mother-to-be? I had a cup of tea with an admirer of yours at the market – Rob Cunningham. He’s missing you. Wants you to call and see them. I didnae say anything about the baby. I’m leaving that up to you.’ Tam sat down and unlaced his boots. ‘He was saying they’ve had awful bombing in London this weekend. Hundreds killed.’

  Jeannie gasped. ‘Madge! I met a woman called Madge when I went to see my aunt. We were chatting. She was on the Glasgow train, going to her cousin’s wedding. Then she was travelling back to her home in London on Saturday. Oh, that’s dreadful.’

  ‘She’s probably fine, sweetheart. What you have to remember is that millions of people live in London.’

  ‘Aye, I suppose so. It’s strange,’ Jeannie mused. ‘You meet someone from the other end of the country and then you hear of something like this happening down there and it makes it real. I do hope you’re right.’

  *

  It was another two weeks before Jeannie found time to visit the Cunninghams. She waited at the school gates for the children to come out. Malcolm ran over and flung his arms round her. Shortly after, Ian emerged. Together they walked and talked along the track to the road and down the valley side to the farm.

  ‘Look who we’ve brought,’ Malcolm said proudly, opening the door wide to show Agnes his prize, before racing off to feed the calves.

  ‘Jeannie, how good to see you. Come in, lassie, and sit down. I must say, you look very well. Married life must be suiting you.’

  Jeannie smiled convincingly. ‘It is suiting me.’ She looked around, but the boys had disappeared. ‘Actually, I’m going to have a baby.’

  ‘Oh Jeannie, that is good news. When’s it due?’

  ‘Not until the end of March, we think. I saw a doctor in Glasgow when I was visiting my aunt. I suppose I need to see someone here.’

  ‘You will indeed. I’ll help you with that, if you’d like. And how have you been keeping? Any problems?’

  ‘None at all. I was tired at first but I’m fine now.’

  ‘And Tam? Is he excited?’

  ‘We both are, and his dad too.’

  ‘Well, that’s the best news I’ve had in ages.’

  ‘What is?’ Neil had come into the kitchen, unseen by both women. They looked at one another and Jeannie gave a slight nod.

  ‘Jeannie and Tam are having a baby.’

  ‘Well, congratulations. You certainly didn’t waste much time. Let’s hope it looks like you when it’s born and not like its father.’

  ‘Neil! That’s not a nice thing to say,’ scolded his mother.

  ‘Maybe, but I’m only stating the obvious, when all is said and done.’

  37. Presents

  Oct 1940

  The arrival of a part-time woodwork teacher at the school on the moors solved Ian’s problem. He had been wondering what he could make for Jeannie’s baby when it should arrive and now it came to him that he could enlist Mr Finlay’s help to make a wooden cradle. The fact that he was only eight years old concerned him not at all.

  When he had drawn a detailed picture of the finis
hed article and worked out the appropriate lengths, he took the drawings to Mr Finlay. The teacher surveyed what Ian had given him, looked at the boy over his glasses, saw his determination and said he would help.

  It was agreed that all the older boys should lend a hand. Malcolm was upset that this would not include him, but he was promised to be allowed to sandpaper the cut wood and rid it of any sharp edges. He was also sworn to silence; this was to be a Christmas present for Tam and Jeannie and there was to be no hint of word getting out before Christmas arrived. Only partially mollified, he went off to consider how he could make a present of his own for the baby.

  All was going well. Mr Finlay gave the boys a lesson on tenon and mortise joints. The wood was chosen and cut. Even the rockers had been rounded so that they would give the baby a smooth ride. By the time the pieces had been assembled, the whole varnished and polished and a mattress, sheets and blankets made by the older girls, several weeks had passed and Christmas was fast approaching with a customary break for the New Year celebrations.

  *

  At the McColl Farm, Jeannie also was conscious that Christmas was not far away. A sharp rap on the door interrupted her baking. Wiping flour-covered hands on a cloth, she went to answer the door. Agnes Cunningham stood outside, looking flustered and upset.

  ‘Oh Jeannie,’ she gasped, stepping over the threshold. ‘I’m glad you’re here. Do tell me you have Malcolm with you.’

  ‘No,’ said Jeannie, looking round the room as though willing him to materialise. ‘He hasnae been here at all today. Did he say he was coming?’

  Agnes sat down heavily in a nearby chair. ‘No, but he was acting quite mysteriously at breakfast. I asked them what they wanted to do with it being Saturday. Ian wanted to draw – a project he was doing at school, he said. Malcolm decided to go outside. The next thing I knew he’d disappeared. And he hasnae come back, even for his dinner.’

  ‘I’ll go and check with Tam. It’s Tam he’ll be with, if anyone. You sit here and catch your breath.’

  Within a few minutes, she was back with Tam and his father.

  ‘That boy!’ said Douglas, shaking his head. ‘Always getting himself into mischief.’

  ‘I havenae seen him all week,’ added Tam. ‘He’s certainly not been here today. I’ve been around all morning and would know if he had been. Did he say he was coming to see us?’

  ‘No, he didn’t. I assumed he was going to find Rob or Neil and help on the farm. That’s what he usually does.’

  Jeannie grabbed her coat from the back of the door. ‘Let’s go and search round the farm and down to the river. He likes messing around in the water and might have gone that way.’

  She and Tam hurried out into the yard, followed more slowly by Agnes and Douglas. A raw wind was blowing damp air across the moor as they slithered their way through the bog and down to the river.

  Half an hour later, they were once more assembled outside the door of the cottage, having checked all the outbuildings, the land around them and a considerable stretch of the river.

  ‘Where else does he like to go? Has he been anywhere with school that he enjoyed?’ Jeannie said to Agnes.

  Agnes frowned. ‘Not that I can think of.’

  Jeannie was quiet for a minute, thinking, and then her face lit up and she turned to her husband. ‘Tam! Remember the day you collected me from the station. You were telling me that Malcolm had gone with you to see the pheasants. Do you think he might be there?’

  ‘I hope not.’ Tam glanced quickly out of the window. In these winter months they would not have much time to search before the light faded. ‘There’s miles of forest. If he’s lost in there, we’d struggle to find him, especially when night comes on.’ He paused. ‘Aye, but that’s the place to look. He might not be there, but we have to check.’ He turned to Agnes. ‘Agnes, you need to go back home in case he turns up. We’ll come with you and ask Rob and Neil to give us a lift to the forest. Then they can go and call on Alec and check if he’s seen the lad. If he’s not there, they can bring Alec with them and we’ll all search. Alec knows the forest better than anyone. Jeannie, you stay here with Father in case he should come here.’

  ‘No, Tam, I’m coming with you. I can’t sit here and do nothing.’

  ‘I’m not having you out in the dark in your condition.’

  ‘I’m perfectly all right and I’m coming,’ Jeannie snapped. ‘So that’s an end to it.’

  It was no time for an argument. Tam gathered his things without another word, fetched a hurricane lamp from the barn and they set off.

  They went first to the pheasant pens. The lamp shed an indifferent light on the ground in front of them. Some birds were in the pens, others roosted in the trees. There was no sign of Malcolm. Tam stepped into the shed where Alec kept tools and feed. There was an array of wood laid out on the bench, together with hammer and nails and a saw. Tam lifted the lamp high so it would shine on the tools. The workbench was covered in blood. Jeannie followed him in and gasped at the sight, remembering the day that she had found Alec with a gunshot wound in his shoulder.

  ‘Tam,’ she gasped, ‘you don’t think Malcolm could have got hold of a gun?’

  ‘No, Alec always has his with him. And if Malcolm had had an accident while Alec was here, we would know about it by now. If Malcolm has been here on his own, he could have cut himself on the tools – if it’s him that has had them out.’

  Tam went to the door and looked out towards the edge of the clearing. The forest was losing its clarity and night would soon be upon them. The darkness in among the pines was absolute. He shouted Malcolm’s name and the sound reverberated along the other side of the valley. But there was no answering call. He walked to the edge of the clearing and gazed into the darkness of the forest, calling again. Nothing.

  ‘We’ll follow Alec’s route. That was the way we went on the day Malcolm came with me. He’ll maybe remember it.’

  They set off down the hill, Tam holding tight to Jeannie, for fear she would trip on the roots that snared across the path in front of them. They shouted Malcolm’s name as they went, stopping every now and then to listen. Above their heads, the wind sighed through the tall branches. An owl hooted nearby and Jeannie jumped at the sound and almost lost her footing.

  ‘I told you that you should have stayed behind,’ Tam said crossly.

  ‘How could I sit there with wee Malcolm missing?’

  ‘Because there’s our baby to think of now and it wouldnae do any good if you fall.’

  ‘I could no more have stayed behind than you could. It’s Malcolm that’s our concern now. How would it be if we had to go and find Alice in Glasgow and tell her we’ve lost her youngest son?’

  They could hear the murmur of the river now. Reaching it, they turned eastward to follow its path along the edge of the forest, calling as they went. Jeannie looked down into the murky depths and shivered. Supposing he had lost his footing and fallen into the river? He could be several miles downstream by now. They stood for a while, lost in thought before Tam suggested they retrace their steps and follow the river in the other direction. At the point where path and river met, they called again and this time heard an answering whimper.

  Tam held the lantern high again and his eyes searched the uneven ground around them, and there was the boy lying curled up at the base of a large fir tree. Tears had made rivulets through the dirt of his face. His right hand was covered in blood, and he could hardly stand.

  ‘I caught my foot in the roots of a tree and I can’t walk now,’ he said, beginning to cry again. ‘And I cut my finger off in the shed. And I’m hungry!’

  ‘Let’s see, wee man.’ Jeannie knelt down beside him and took hold of his hand. There was a deep cut between his right forefinger and thumb, but the finger was mercifully intact. Blood had run up his arm and over his jacket.

  Tam handed the lantern to his wife and knelt down, lifting Malcolm easily. ‘Put your good arm round my neck,’ he instructed him, ‘and we’ll soon ha
ve you back. Jeannie, be careful – the tree roots are all over the ground here.’ They started off along the path again.

  ‘What were you doing there, Malcolm?’ Jeannie asked. ‘You know you’re not meant to come all this way on your own. Mrs Cunningham is worried sick about you. You could have been lost anywhere in the forest. We might never have found you.’

  Malcolm was uncharacteristically quiet.

  ‘Malcolm, pal, what were you up to?’ Tam said sternly. ‘You must no’ run away like this.’

  The lad started to cry again. ‘I wasnae running away. There was something I had to do. I can’t tell you. It’s a secret.’

  ‘Well, maybe if you’re going to borrow Alec’s tools, you better let him into the secret and he’ll maybe help you,’ Jeannie suggested diplomatically.

  In the distance came the sound of a car and doors slamming. Tam called and the three men emerged out of the darkness.

  ‘Panic over. We’ve found him. First we need to get him home and see what damage he’s done. Then I think he needs to ask for your help, Alec.’

  ‘Actually, first I need something to eat. I’m starving,’ Malcolm said, making them all laugh.

  *

  ‘What were you doing, anyway?’ Ian said as soon as he was alone with his brother.

  ‘Well, you wouldnae let me help with your present, so I was making one of my own.’

  ‘You didnae tell, did you?’

  ‘Of course not. Alec says he will help me with mine, when my hand is mended, so it will be even better than yours!’

  ‘It will not!’

  ‘It will so!’

  The bleeding had stopped and Agnes had bandaged Malcolm’s hand, given him a large supper and put him to bed. The next morning a visit to the doctor with Rob and Jeannie resulted in stitches to his hand and a bandage to his sprained ankle. On Monday, the ground being too rough for the car, Rosie was led out of her stable and hitched to the wagon, and Malcolm arrived with great ceremony at school, where he was the centre of attention for the remainder of the week.