by S G Read
‘We know the nun was not buried in the church but what if she was demoted and kicked out?’ Stuart asked.
‘That is defrocked.’ Toby corrected.
‘What they send her out in her underwear?’ Simon asked.
‘No it just means she is kicked out but she does have the clothes she went in wearing, even if they are a bit out of fashion.’ Toby answered.
‘I can see where this is heading.’ Sherman declared. ‘Back to the newspaper again.’
‘Yes but not deaths this time but a woman coming out of the convent at the right time.’ Stuart answered.
‘But wouldn’t we have noticed that as there wasn’t very much about the convent after the new Mother Superior arrived?’ JC asked.
‘It won’t hurt to check will it?’ Ben answered. ‘If we can find Waif’s mother alive just think how happy she will be.’
‘Just think how happy they both will be.’ Stevey corrected.
‘Are you trying to take over my job?’ Toby asked.
‘Sorry Toby, it just popped out.’ Stevey answered.
They all went this time, to make a more thorough search and as Brian was still there with the mini bus. He drove them down and left them there while he and Jenny prepared for the journey back to Devon.
They all picked a paper and read it from cover to cover then moved on to the next paper trying to find a woman leaving the convent.
‘What if she got married to the man who caused Waif, when she came out of the convent?’ Stevey suggested. ‘We should look for marriages as well.’
They included marriages and worked, on stopping to read all about the women who were married to find out about them but there was no recent nuns getting married according to the paper.
‘We could check with the church about marriages.’ Colin suggested.
‘A nun getting married in the church soon after being pregnant?’ Simon declared. ‘Not likely.’
‘Is everyone going to say what I normally do?’ Toby asked irately.
‘Just stating the obvious.’ Simon answered.
‘You lot don’t usually see the obvious.’ Toby pointed out.
‘We must be improving.’ Simon exclaimed.
‘We’ll check the church anyway.’ Stuart added. ‘I thought it might be easy finding a live person.’
‘If she is alive.’ Sherman exclaimed.
‘She has to be one or the other.’ Simon pointed out.
‘But which one?’ Sherman asked. ‘All this uncertainty does not help.’
They searched the papers without a reference to a nun leaving the convent in disgrace or a marriage soon after Waif’s birth day. There were marriages but they did not know how old Waif’s mother was, or even if she did get married when she was no longer a nun. With no news they walked to the church to see if there were any marriages which fitted the bill but they still could not pin down a couple who might be Waif’s parents. They chose to walk back to the hall which took some time and Jenny and Brian were gone when they finally made it back.
Waif heard the lock click and sat there looking up at the door which was between her and freedom. Instead of just giving up she walked up the stairs to the door. The lock was old and when it was locked a shaft of yellow metal slid across into a metal receiver. She looked at the receiver and saw two screw heads one on either end. She walked back down and sorted through the tools in the tool box until she found the right screw driver, then walked back up to the lock with it. The top screw would not move but the bottom screw did and she turned it round and round until it was out but the second screw stopped the receiver from loosening. She walked back to her cot disappointed but had another idea. Could she spin the receiver round and off the lump of yellow metal?
She walked back up the stairs; levered, pushed and banged until the receiver moved an inch but it would not go further. She put it back where it can from but found it went easily and she was able to move it back in the other direction a little further. By the time she had moved it two inches her hands were sore but it still was not free of the yellow bar.
She rested her hands but fell asleep it had been a hard day. When she awoke she remembered the screw she had taken out and hurried up the stairs to put it back in. It was a race against time as Sister Angela would soon be there to supervise more work. Waif screwed the screw in with seconds to spare and hurried down to her cot ready to pretend to be asleep.
The door opened and she worked again washing, drying, ironing and folding other girls clothes. It was all she had known for some years, apart from the odd walk in the lane, sometimes on her own.
When the tumble drier was filled and running Sister Angela went up to her prayers locking the door behind her and Waif walked up to have another go at the receiver. She took out the loose screw and started moving the receiver again trying to get it to spin round further than it had to before so that the yellow metal bar was no longer held and the door would swing open. As she worked she had to listen intently to make sure no one unlocked the door and came into the cellar. If they did they were sure to catch her. That would mean another beating and the tools would be locked away.
When her hands were hurting again, she replaced the loose screw and settled down in her cot ready to have another go, if she had the time and her hands stopped hurting but once again she fell asleep. Sister Angela woke her when she came back so that Waif could iron and fold clothes ready to be taken up to the airing room. Now while she worked, Waif dreamed of walking in the lane all on her own, with no one to tell her what to do.
A procession of girls took the ironed clothes up to be aired and Waif was left all on her own again. She took the screw driver and removed the loose screw to work on the receiver once more. She banged it, levered it and cursed it until the yellow metal bar was free and the door opened.
She did not run out blindly but continued to free the receiver so that she was sure she could open the door whenever she wanted to, then pushed the door closed and slid the receiver back over the yellow bar. She wanted to go then and there but it would be better to do it at night when all was quite and there were fewer people about to see her. She screwed the loose screw back in and made sure the door was properly locked before she walked down, this time happily, to her cot. She would soon be gone from this place and they would have to do their own washing! She took one last look up to the lock and the brown wood could clearly be seen where the moving receiver had taken off the paint. Panic set in.
‘Get a grip Waif, there is a way out of this.’ She ordered and thought about it. What did she have that she could use? There was no paint in the cellar to use to cover the damage. ‘What would Tim do?’ She asked her self. ‘List what he had here just to see if anything would be useful.’ She answered.
Then she slumped down in her cot; all she had was washing powder and fabric softener! She looked around the cellar but that was all there was and her eyes settled on the washing powder, it was white! An idea came and she mixed some with water to make a paste then walked up and used it to cover the damaged paintwork. Close up it looked funny but when she walked down the stairs and looked back up it was passable. She settled in her cot to sleep but she was too excited and had to be content to just lay there dreaming what it would be like when she was gone from this place. She lay there and thought about her clothes, threadbare rags which needed changing and she hatched a plan. Over the next couple of days she would find clothes which would fit her and hide them after they had been ironed. That way when she went she could be dressed in reasonable clothes, just so she did not stand out as much as she did in the ones she was wearing.
Celia walked out the convent door and along the lane and she was happy. She reached the gate to the garden in Gordon Hall but she was not a climb over the gate and walk across a garden sort of girl. She forced herself to walk up the lane to the junction turned right and down the bigger road until she came to the drive to Gordon Hall. She turned into it and walked down the drive toward the front door; again she was not a back d
oor type of girl.
Tim saw her coming and raced down to meet her. It was no accident that he saw her coming as he had been watching the garden gate and the main drive since the first light of dawn. He opened the door before she could ring the bell.
‘Hello Celia come in.’
He led her up the stairs to his room in the north wing, where he had a desk set out, waiting for her to start him working. She sat down in one chair and he in the chair next to her. It made him feel odd sitting next to her, it was a feeling he had not felt before, to his knowledge. It made her feel special, teaching a ghost to read and write.
She wrote an ‘A’ and explained what it was and did the same to the rest of the alphabet. Then he had to write them all down but he had done this bit before so it gradually came back to him and that made it easier. She started on words next picking them at random and writing them down so that he could copy them. They were happy and lost track of time until Celia’s alarm alerted her to the fact that it was time to go. As it was late Tim gallantly walked her round the garden, she consented to go by the garden gate where they met Stevey who was looking at his chestnut stand.
‘Hello Stevey this is Celia.’ Tim exclaimed he knew Stevey liked her.
‘Hello Celia how are you?’ Stevey said awkwardly.
‘I am fine. I have been teaching Tim how to read and write I also hope to teach him to count.’
‘That is very nice of you Celia.’ Stevey answered revelling in the fact that he was saying her name.
‘He has been nice to me where Ursula in concerned.’ Celia explained. ‘Although it is not often you can have a face to face talk with a ghost is it?’
‘No I don’t suppose it is. You can come any time to teach him.’ Stevey added hoping to get her to come to the hall more often.
‘Thank you.’ She answered diplomatically as Tim had said almost the same thing on the way across. ‘But I am not allowed out during the week I will be back tomorrow though.’
‘Good.’ Stevey exclaimed and meant it. He felt a little jealous as they climbed over the gate and Tim walked her back to the convent but as he watched them go he smiled. Tim was a nine year old and three years younger than Celia at least and Tim was also a ghost, that meant that in reality, he was not competition.
Tim walked her back to the convent fading away before they arrived although Celia could still see him. She was let inside when she rang the bell and Tim walked through the door in front of her.
‘I will check on Waif while I am here and I will also see where Ursula is.’ He explained and kissed Celia on the cheek.
‘By Tim.’ she said quietly and walked on.
Tim found Waif in the cellar working although the machines were on their last load. It had rained on Friday and all the girl’s sports clothes were very muddy and they were the last load of the day.
Unknown to Tim Waif had already hidden a tee shirt she liked and some pants that fitted. All these girls had more clothes than they needed so one pair of pants and one tee shirt would not be missed. She still needed a skirt, cardigan, socks and shoes but she had started and it felt good. Every time Sister Angela came into the cellar she feared she would notice the lock but she had not seen it yet.
‘Hello Tim.’ she said happily which made him smile.
‘No tears today then?’ He asked.
‘No who needs sunshine? If I did get up there, it would probably rain on me. Down here is my own little world and any wood lice I see are under my control, I can kill them or let them live? The same goes for the two mouses.’
‘They are mice if there is more than one.’ Tim corrected it was one of the things Celia had taught him while she was there.
‘The two mice then; I sometimes set up the traps and then chase them off so that they do not get caught in them but I could easily let them die.’ She explained.
‘No Sister Angela?’
‘She will be down it twelve minutes which is when the first washing machine will finish its load and then she will stay down until it is all in the tumble driers before she goes back to her room.’
‘If it is a nun it is called a cell according to Toby.’ Tim explained.
‘I want to learn all this when I leave here and I am never going to wash any clothes again.’ Waif declared. ‘Is there any news?’
Tim had thought about telling Waif that they were looking for her mother amongst the living now and not looking for a grave. If he did that he feared that Waif would say something and Mother Superior would find out and then he did not know what would happen. He did not want Waif ending up like him and haunting the convent although it would serve the Mother Superior right.
‘We are still looking for your mother and I am waiting to talk to a woman who was at school here while your mother was here but she is ill at the moment and I have to wait until she is better.’ He did not explain the real reason, as she had not worked out that he was a ghost yet.
‘So she might have met my mother?’ Waif cried. ‘I would like to talk to her when I am free of this place.’
‘I will try to arrange that for you Waif.’ Tim replied.
The key turning in the lock stopped the conversation and Waif looked up at the door then back at Tim but Tim was gone again. Waif smiled and stood up to help Sister Angela. She stood at the bottom and watched her walk down the stairs.
Chapter 10
‘When did they leave?’ Stuart asked when he found that Jenny and Brian were gone.
‘Half an hour ago.’ Pat answered.
‘Oh.’ Was all that Stuart managed as an answer then followed the others to the games room.
‘What do we do now?’ Toby asked fresh out of ideas.
‘Well we still have the Mrs Parker option.’ Stevey exclaimed.
‘What will that tell us, if anything?’ Toby asked.
‘If she was there when Waif’s mother was then she will know her name and what happened to her. If she was pushed out of the front gate, she will know and we will know she is still alive.’ Stuart answered.
‘Or was then!’ Ben added.
‘If we know she was Sister Brenda then we can look for anyone round here named Brenda and if they are the right age, we can asked them.’ Stuart explained.
‘Knowing her first name and knowing that she was alive when she left the convent will be a major step forward.’ Sherman admitted. ‘Because we are guessing at the moment.’
‘How can someone just disappear and no one notice?’ JC asked. ‘If she was kicked out of the convent it was news so why didn’t some one report on it?’
‘Hang on!’ Colin declared. ‘Do you remember when we reached the hotel half of us were sent off to that hospital because we were injured in some way.’
‘Yes.’ Toby cried. ‘You have hit the nail on the head which is more than you could do when we were building the tree house. She had just given birth and they took her away in an ambulance. They might even have told everyone that she had died to explain why they were bringing up Waif.’
‘Well done Colin.’ Stuart declared. ‘So now we need to know which hospital she was taken to and where she went from there. Let’s go.’
They all piled out of the room except for JC it was his job to see if he could find anything out on a the internet. Outside the others split up and went off to their designated destination; some to the paper some to the nearest hospital and some to the hospital farther away.
JC was still trawling the net when Pat walked in.
‘All on your own JC?’ She asked.
‘Yes I am searching the internet, is there any news?’
‘Sergeant Portland just phoned to let you know that the body has been released for burial, said you would know what he meant.’
JC punched the air. ‘Yes.’ He cried.
‘Good news is it?’
‘In a way yes but bad news for the woman involved though.’ JC explained.
Pat left him working on the computer and as soon as she was gone Tim walked in.
‘Did
I hear that Mrs Parker is being buried JC he asked.
‘You did Tim but I don’t know when, I was just looking on the local funeral directors website to see if I could find it.’
There was a pause while JC searched the website to find the date if it was in there with Tim looking over his shoulder, to see how he did it. He found the list of forthcoming funerals and there was Mrs Parker. She had obviously been listed for a couple of days in hopes that she would be released for burial before the day arrived and it had worked.
‘They are burying her on Monday Tim in the local cemetery.’ JC announced as Tim could not read it himself yet.
‘I will go and see her when she is at rest, to find out what I can about Waif’s mother JC and then perhaps we will know the truth.’ Tim declared.
The other boys did what they could, some went to the first hospital but it was ten years ago and no one would let them see the records. The second hospital did name another hospital which she might have gone to, it was the St. Agnes cottage hospital which the boys had to admit was a serious contender. The rest struck out and they all returned to the games room ready to hear any other news as long, as it was good news. JC and Tim remained quiet, until they were all there, as neither of them wanted to repeat it several times as new people returned. Finally when they were all sitting in the games room, the reports began. Each team leader reported what they had found and Toby’s report about there being a St Agnes cottage hospital meant that the hospital went to the top of the list to be searched. They had learned not to expect news about patients, even if it was ten years ago.
‘How did you get on JC?’ Toby asked.
‘My news is this.’ JC answered. ‘Mrs parker is being buried on Monday and Tim has agreed to go and see her as soon as she is laid to rest to find out what he can and I also found out about St Agnes cottage hospital. I suggest rather than to go and ask them we go in when it is shut and search their files.’
‘How do we do that?’ Toby asked.
‘I was thinking of asking Tim to do it.’ JC answered.
