Zak lay the blanket over her body. Seeing his mum’s, dad’s and brother’s names written there had filled him with a longing to see them again. He felt guilty now, for calling Elder a witch. What had she ever done except try to help him, in her own weird way? But why would she write all these name on leaves? Did she think that these people were part of her life . . . her friends even? Zak felt odd even thinking it, but it did seem as if the doll had kept her company and now she really was all alone.
Laughter rose up from the fireside as Aisha attempted to teach Iona a Somali song. Zak paused for a moment and listened to their conversation. It was hard to believe that these two girls had hated each other just a few days ago.
‘I don’t really do “soothing”!’ Iona tried once more to follow Aisha’s words and tune, before collapsing into giggles.
‘It’s hard to learn another language,’ Aisha said, smiling. ‘It’s not just the words; that’s just the surface of it.’
‘But you can hardly tell you ever spoke another language.’
‘I know but I still love speaking to my friends in Somali. When I was in Primary I used to run off to the toilets to look in the mirror to see if speaking English changed the way my face looked! Crazy isn’t it?’
‘I don’t know. What language do you dream in?’ Iona asked.
‘Both now! But I remember the first time I dreamed in English how upset I was. It felt like a whole part of myself was drifting away. I told Liliana but she didn’t understand why it upset me. She just said I should be proud that I can dream in two languages!’
‘I’m with her there!’ Iona laughed.
‘I was afraid that I’d forget who I used to be. It’s hard to explain but there are things you can say, ways of thinking and believing in one language that you can’t catch the meaning of in another. Some ideas you just can’t translate.’
‘Deep! But I can’t even speak another language except a few measly words in French. If you learned English, I don’t see why I can’t learn a little song in Somali. Let me try again.’
Aisha nodded and sang smiling at the intent way that Iona listened and then repeated the line, this time stumbling a little less over the unfamiliar sounds.
Zak walked across the mossy tree trunk that straddled the stream, scrunching leaves underfoot on purpose so that they would hear him coming.
‘Where have you been?’ Aisha called out as he clambered over the edge of the shelter.
He pointed back towards Elder’s den. He still couldn’t understand how it was possible that Elder had been living this close without them discovering her, however skilfully her den was hidden among the trees.
‘With Elder at the war memorial,’ he answered.
‘You’re not still going on about all that!’ Iona laughed and ducked inside the shelter.
Zak smiled and took the photograph from his bag and showed it to Aisha. ‘Is this the old man you saw in your dream?’ he asked, pointing to Albert.
Aisha stared at the photo and frowned. ‘He was older, but he did look a bit like that.’
‘A bit?’ Zak prodded.
‘Well, I don’t know. I only dreamed about him once!’
Zak ignored the note of doubt in Aisha’s voice. ‘This man,’ he said, pointing to Edwin, ‘is the soldier who led me to the air-raid shelter.’
Aisha furrowed her brow, as if trying to work out a puzzle.
‘Still don’t believe me? Here! How do you explain this then?’ Zak handed her the name in the plasterwork. ‘Look, same people as on the shelter wall: Albert Bainbridge. Eddie and Maisy were Albert’s grandchildren. Peggy was Edwin’s sister and Eddie’s mum. Convinced now?’
Aisha didn’t answer, but took the piece of plaster from him and traced her fingers over the familiar name, then she picked up the map with the memorial stone circled in pen.
Now that she was faced with the evidence, the only way to explain all this was that somehow both she and Zak had found a way to connect with the family who had sheltered here in an earlier era. Aisha cast her mind back to what Elder had said when she’d first come to the shelter. Something about her not being able to stay there among that family because there was too much ‘longing’ in the place. Maybe this wartime family had sensed their own longing and found a way to appear to them.
‘I found these at Elder’s place. She admitted she took them from me. I think she wanted to see if she could trust me before she showed me where the memorial was. She’s got all our names written on leaves. Our names, our families’ names and even Edwin and Albert’s – all written in gold pen. She has this idea that she’s looking after everyone who’s been a part of this wood. Including us!’
‘Maybe she is,’ Aisha whispered.
‘I was thinking we should ask her to come and sit by the fire.’ Zak rubbed his hands together to keep warm. ‘She’s going to freeze up there tonight, and she’s all alone.’
‘You’ve changed your tune! She’s always been alone,’ Iona said as she joined them.
They stood around the fire for a moment then Zak remembered Elder’s gift and took the amber beads from his pocket.
‘Elder asked me to give each of you one of these.’ Zak inspected the beads, shining a torch under the surface of the amber, to make sure he was handing them the right ones. ‘She gave one to me too. She said the butterfly was for you, Iona, and the ladybird for Aisha; mine’s got leaves inside. They’re all different.’ They each peered into the amber eggs, which were the colour of sunshine, honey and the autumn wood. The beads glowed warmly in the firelight.
‘Why would she give these to us now?’ Iona asked, inspecting the butterfly suspended in time.
‘I don’t know, but she buried her doll by the memorial today.’ Zak found himself telling Iona.
‘Why would she do that? She loves Crystal.’ Iona began to pace up and down. ‘Something’s up with her. You’re right – let’s ask her to come over here to be with us.’ She pointed a torch around the outskirts of the shelter.
‘Where’s Red, by the way?’
‘Here with you,’ Zak said, shrugging. ‘Isn’t she?’ Both girls looked at him blankly. ‘She got up with me this morning and came as far as the top of the slope, but I sent her back. I figured she headed back to the shelter!’
All three of them started hunting around, calling Red’s name, but there was no sign of her.
Aisha looked down at the amber bead she held in her hand and felt for her own prayer beads under her clothes, suddenly needing their warmth against her skin. ‘Elder showed me these before; she called them her inheritance.’
Without another word between them, they headed over the stream, following Zak and calling Red’s name into the darkness as they went.
They stood outside Elder’s den, not wishing to intrude. Since Zak had left her she had covered the low entrance with a piece of old wooden door, which they eventually pulled back. As they crawled inside they were relieved to find that Elder was sitting up on her bed of leaves. She placed her finger on her lips and beckoned them inside. Night lights had been lit in jam jars all around Elder’s bed, as if she was setting up a vigil. She indicated for Zak to switch off his torch. In this light Elder’s den was transformed into a painting; a warm glow fell across their faces, half in shadow, half in light, and everything was tinted with the soft colours of autumn.
‘We’ve lost Red!’ Iona whispered. ‘Have you seen her?’
Elder grinned her gap-toothed grin and nodded towards her leaf bed. Nestled into Elder’s side was Red, her tongue lolling. She was panting hard and great waves rippled across her tightening belly.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ Iona knelt down next to her dog, a look of deep concern on her face.
‘Nothing wrong, Red is strong, nothing wrong, sing a song.’
Red lifted her head and laid it on Iona’s lap.
‘I’m here now,’ Iona murmured.
Then, as if she had been waiting for Iona’s arrival, the dog’s breathing seemed to ease,
and she shifted her position on to her side and moaned, deep and low, as a tiny puppy slithered out of her. She licked away until the film that covered its body was cleared, then bit through the cord and the copper-coloured puppy let out a faint cry. No one spoke, not even Elder.
Then Red seemed to sleep for a while as she passed out of her the empty sack that the puppy had lived in. They were all entranced by the creature’s tiny movements so it was hard to know how much time passed. An owl hooted somewhere close by, as if to welcome the puppy into the world. Then once again Red’s stomach began to contract and roll, and they watched in amazement as another emerged. As before, Red seemed to know by instinct exactly what to do. Elder placed the two puppies by the dog’s side and they began to suckle.
‘How could we not have noticed?’ Iona whispered. ‘Maybe this is why she was hiding – she must have been trying to find somewhere safe to have her puppies.’
That night Red gave birth to three copper-red puppies – two girls and one boy. Red fussed over each of them.
‘She’ll be a good mother,’ Elder predicted, and as she tended to Red the years seemed to fall away from her face. ‘I used to dream of being a midwife,’ she confided in Iona, and then she took the girl’s hands in hers. ‘You got your butterfly, didn’t you?’
Iona nodded.
‘Amber for love and happiness, for healing and sunshine. Time to fly free. You can take my wreath down now, unpin the leaves and let them go.’ Elder was pointing towards the doorway. Iona hesitated, then walked over to the wreath, unhooked it and brought it back to the old woman. She knelt down and began to release the leaves one by one. There were hundreds or maybe thousands of names written on them.
‘Lay them here on Elder’s bed, by Elder’s heart and Elder’s head,’ the old woman instructed.
When all the leaves were strewn around her, the golden writing shimmered in the candlelight.
‘Did you find Lucy?’ Elder whispered in Iona’s ear. ‘Look for Lucy Locket – she’s not lost yet,’ Elder murmured, prodding Iona’s chest.
Iona began to search through the leaves as if her life depended on it, turning over leaf after leaf.
‘What are you looking for?’ Zak asked.
‘Nothing!’ Iona lied. She slowed her frantic searching as she came across the leaf on which Elder had taken it upon herself to write Iona’s real name: Lucy. Her heart felt ready to burst as she placed the leaf carefully in her pocket.
‘Did you find the little Lucy treasure?’ Elder whispered in her ear.
‘I did. Thank you,’ Iona whispered back. It seemed to Iona that this was the kindest thing that anyone had ever done for her – maybe it was time to remember who she had once been.
‘Good, good . . . then snuff out the candles and look for my light in the dark, my earthstars.’ Elder glanced from Iona to Zak and Aisha and then to Red and her puppies and sighed with pleasure, drinking in the scene before her.
‘A happy ending for Elder, full of light and life.’
‘What do you mean?’ Iona asked.
‘Sleep now, go to sleep.’ Elder sighed, attempting to blow out the candle closest to her but her breath was not strong enough. She gestured for Iona to help her. ‘Time to let the spirits rest,’ she whispered. Her voice was so weak now that she seemed unable to raise it above this wisp.
The three of them lay together on the carpet of leaves that covered the floor, in the pitch black of Elder’s home listening to Elder’s words echoing through their heads . . . ‘Time to let the spirits rest.’ Her words from their dreams fused with the small shifts and surprising little sounds that Red’s puppies made in their sleep . . . and, as if under a spell, one by one they too drifted off into the deepest of sleeps.
Above them the breeze blew through the great trees of Home Wood. As the night went on it slowly built in force and began swirling around the den roof, whipping itself up into a storm.
Red whimpered loudly, making Iona jolt awake. She listened to the wind howling around the den and sat up. Now there was just enough light to see by. Her first thought was that Red might be in pain, but the puppies were snuggled contentedly into her, their tiny hearts beating visibly beneath their thin skins. Red’s head lay on Elder’s chest, as if protecting the old woman as well as her puppies. Elder’s face looked puffy and her breathing had changed from a wheeze to a rattle. Iona placed a hand on Elder’s forehead and felt the heat rise out of her. Iona turned to see Zak and Aisha sleeping and the puppies curled against Red like three little commas. It was as if they had all shrunk to the size of miniature models in a dolls house, so insignificant that the whole den could be picked up by the wind and lifted off the ground.
‘What did you mean by a happy ending? Why did you bury Crystal?’ Iona’s voice woke Aisha and Zak. ‘You can’t die, Elder, not like this.’ She clasped Elder’s hands, but the old woman’s breath was becoming more laboured by the second.
‘We’ll go for help,’ Zak placed a hand on Iona’s back, and Aisha nodded her agreement.
‘Go to Mrs Kalsi, bring her here. But no one else. She’ll know what to do.’
Red’s hackles were raised as she nuzzled up to her puppies. She was whining constantly now.
‘It’s all right my girl, it’ll be all right.’ Iona stroked her dog’s head to calm her. ‘Please hurry, run!’ she urged the others.
Zak pulled the door aside, and the storm ripped through Elder’s den, raising her bed of leaves off the ground and propelling it outside. Hundreds of red leaves with golden writing swirled around their heads and out among the great trees of Home Wood. Outside the den it felt to Zak as if the whole wood was charged with Elder’s magnetic energy, alive with a driving storm, the wind wheeling and wrenching through the branches. Aisha was blasted backwards by a powerful gust. Zak grabbed her arm and they held each other upright, bowing their faces against the force of the storm. Above them the great oaks creaked and groaned as their branches bent to the will of the wind. Zak and Aisha called out to each other as they tried to find their way out of the sealed-off area. No matter how hard they shouted to be heard above the storm, their voices were as light as the leaves being blasted and blown about the wood. It felt as if a million wild spirits had been released in flight.
Zak climbed over some low fencing and saw the conservation sign that he had not read since the day he’d entered the wood. They were now on the path that led back to the road. The overhanging trees were less dense here, but still the buffeted branches continued to shed their leaves. As soon as they reached the upper path Aisha and Zak began to run again, ducking away from the loosened debris of fallen branches that flew like furies around them. In the distance a deep groan rumbled from somewhere in the heart of the woodland. Zak and Aisha slowed their pace, stopped and listened to the sound of their own breath followed by a violent thud that made the earth shudder. Then a final last squall of wind before an eerie calm settled upon the wood as if all the strength had suddenly drained out of the storm. Zak took Aisha’s hand and they walked slowly now as they approached the railings. The entrance to the wood was carpeted in a sea of red leaves and the metal gates were open.
The street lights shone through the dawn gloom and a lorry trundled past. How weird it felt to step out of the cocoon of the wood back into the early-morning city, as it rumbled into life.
‘Do you think she’s going to be all right?’ Zak asked as they picked up their pace again.
‘I don’t know. I preferred the storm,’ Aisha said, as they looked back into the wood that now felt still as death. Zak knew exactly what she meant.
Over their heads a raucous flight of geese crossed the sky in the perfect point of an arrow.
‘Wild night. Still, no real damage done.’ Mrs Kalsi surveyed the front of the shop and picked up the table and chair that had blown over in the wind. She paused and looked up to admire the stately journey of the geese crossing the silvery sky.
‘How do they stay in such formation?’
Mr Kalsi came o
utside and wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist, patting her ample tummy and peering sky-ward. ‘In perfect shape! Like a Red Arrow fly-past!’ He smiled.
‘They sound like Elder! With her chanting!’ Mrs Kalsi laughed, but then furrowed her forehead. ‘I wonder where she spent last night.’ She sighed, unaware that Zak and Aisha were even now making their way up the road towards them, with nothing but Elder on their minds.
‘Mrs Kalsi!’ Zak called out to her.
She paused on the pavement and her hand rose up to her mouth as if she was witnessing a mirage.
‘Oh-hoh, oh-hoh. Quickly, Ashok, find my phone . . . our prayers have been answered! Don’t be so slow. Call Liliana, call Shalini, tell them to come straight away – tell them children are safe!’ Mrs Kalsi’s feet were dancing with happiness. She hadn’t run in years, but she was running now towards Zak and Aisha, her arms outstretched, shouting for joy. They slowed again as they saw her approach.
‘Please, Mrs Kalsi, Elder’s ill,’ Zak explained urgently.
‘What? What about Elder?’ Mrs Kalsi asked, but didn’t wait for a response. ‘So you’re OK, both of you safe, fine, not hurt? Where have you been all this time? We have all worried so much about you!’ Her arms were flailing about and she struggled to catch her breath.
‘Ashok, get food, some tea. You must be hungry. Look how thin they are, Ashok. We must give them food straight away.’
‘Take a breath, Mala, be calm! My eardrums are going to burst with all these women screaming at me,’ Mr Kalsi said, laughing as he came back out of the shop still on his mobile phone.
‘We don’t want any food. Please, call an ambulance,’ Aisha begged. ‘For Elder.’
‘Why are they talking of Elder?’ Mrs Kalsi was shouting in frustration now, but Mr Kalsi ignored her. He nodded at Aisha, dialled and waited.
Mrs Kalsi was looking from Zak to Aisha to Mr Kalsi in total confusion. ‘But you have called Liliana and Shalini?’ she asked him.
Red Leaves Page 21
