The Big Shift. Part 21. Doctor Who?

The Big Shift
Chapter 21

Doctor Who?

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There was the sound of running water coming from somewhere near the old stone cottage. The front door was wide open but inside was total darkness. Queenie was gripped with terror. She clung onto Jerry’s arm and onto Captain Toast’s mane. ‘It’s just like in my dream!’ she whispered. ‘It’s the house! My mum was standing in the doorway there. I was standing by this tree.’

Jerry shone his torch into the dark doorway. ‘There’s no-one there’, he said.

‘We should get out of here’, said Queenie. ‘We shouldn’t be here. I’ve got a bad feeling about this..’

The knocking began again. Three loud knocks. Queenie jumped and let out a scream.

It sounded like it had come from the roof of the cottage. Suddenly a white light shone down at them from behind the roof. There was someone up there. ‘Wait there!’ called the man in his gruff voice. ‘I’ll be down in a minute. Electrickery’s out.. blasted stone stuck in the water wheel again. Always in the middle of Eastenders..’ The banging continued for a while, followed by a crash, then the sound of gushing of water and the clatter of wooden machinery. At the same moment, lights came on in the cottage and around the garden.

The scene of dark foreboding was instantly replaced with a magical and welcoming sight. Artworks and sculptures dotted around the garden and into the forest were lit up by little spotlights in the trees, giving the scene the feel of an outdoor art gallery. Wild roses were growing around the doorway of the cottage and jasmine around the windows. Smoke was drifting from the chimney. Nina gasped at the sudden transformation and the beauty of it.

Greta looked around, her mouth dropping open as a sudden realisation dawned on her. ‘This is the third time..’ she said. ‘Just like Granny Mae said..’

‘Third time what?’ asked Jerry. ‘What did Granny Mae say?’

‘The exact same situation repeated.. the first time was when we got to Shopping Village.. at Roop and Aretha’s place, remember? Aretha was on the roof, fixing the windmill, then all the fairy lights came on. Then again, when we arrived at your place.. the electricity was out.. it was all dark in the shop.. Jack was on the roof.. fixing something with the solar panels..’

‘Oh yeah, it was the transducer, I remember’, said Jerry. ‘So what did Granny Mae say? Is it a good sign? A bad sign?’

‘She didn’t say..’ said Greta. ‘She just said to watch out if it happens a third time because it’s a sign.’

‘Oh, well that doesn’t help us very much’, said Jerry. ‘I guess we’ll just have to find out for ourselves.. look out, here comes our destiny..’

The torchlight had descended from the hill behind the house and was now coming towards them, blinding them with its fierce white beam. Captain Toast growled and barked as the light approached. The man behind the light shouted, ‘Hold your dog. Tell him to stop the barking. Tie him up to this tree, I’ve got cats indoors.’

Jerry did as he was told. ‘How about you put down that massive floodlight a bit so we can see you?’ He said to the light, covering his eyes.

The man lowered his flashlight, allowing the others see him. He was tall and very thin, dressed in clothes which were shabby and torn. His hair and beard were wild and straggly, sticking out in every direction. Despite his ragged appearance, there was a certain good humour and intelligence about his eyes and his general expression and demeanour which made him seem somehow quite unthreatening. ‘Bit late for wandering about so deep in the woods isn’t it, kids? Are you by any chance, lost?’

‘Funny you should ask..’ said Jerry. ‘Actually, we are a bit.’

‘We’re going to Skyward Village’, said Greta. ‘Do you know the way from here? Is it far?’

‘Skyward Village? Oh yes, I know it well. I’ve got many friends there, even though I don’t go there much more than once a year, for the midwinter gathering usually.’

‘Say, I know you’, said Greta. ‘I thought you looked familiar. You’re Henry the Hermit.’

Henry the Hermit laughed. ‘Oh is that what they call me? Well, I suppose if the cap fits..’

‘I’m Greta.. River’s daughter.. I don’t know if you know her. She makes shoes. This is my sister Nina, from the big city. This is Jerry and Queenie, from Shopping Village. And that’s Captain Toast. He’s a good dog, you don’t need to worry.’

‘Oh, you’re River’s daughter? Yes I know her, she made me these shoes actually. They’re the best shoes I’ve ever worn. Look at that..’ Henry held out one foot. The shoe was indeed a work of art, practical and sturdy yet elegant. ‘I heard she’s been unwell. Lost her sight wasn’t it? How is she now? Has there been any improvement?’

‘What? I didn’t know that. I’ve been away for a month or more’, gasped Greta. ‘Oh, I knew it! I knew there was something wrong. Nina.. we need to get to her.. quickly!’

‘Is it far, Henry?’ asked Nina.

‘No, not far at all. An hour’s brisk walk, if you know the way’, said Henry, shining his torch into the woods. ‘..if you know the way, that is. A bit tricky to describe the way.. I could draw you a map I suppose.. oh but if you went wrong and took a wrong turn you’d end up in the swampland.. and if you went wrong the other way way, you’d need to cross Devil’s Drop, but the bridge is down.. I tell you what.. give me a couple of minutes to get ready and I’ll go with you. At least as far as the edge of Skyward Village. I think that’ll be best.’

‘Really Henry?’ said Greta. ‘Oh that will be wonderful. Thank you.’

‘Come inside, you can have something to drink in the meanwhile..’ Henry led them inside. ‘Excuse the mess.. I wasn’t expecting visitors..’

The front door led directly into the living room of the cottage. It was a small room with a low ceiling and walls made of whitewashed stone. There was an armchair and a two seater sofa, a small side table with two chairs. Opposite the armchair was an old black and white television set with an aerial on top made out of a coat hanger. On the screen, some men jumping out of a black van, to a rousing theme tune. The picture was grainy and distorted. The television seemed alien and out of place after what felt like an eternity of wandering in the forest, away from civilisation. Henry went over and switched it off. ‘Tsk. The A-Team again. I thought it was going to be Doctor Who next, but it’s always reruns of the A-Team.. missed the end of Eastenders.. now I’ll have to wait till next week to find out what happened to Dirty Den. Oh well. Load of nonsense anyway. Can I get you all something to drink? Some cordial?’

‘That would be lovely, thanks’, said Greta.

‘I’ll go and fetch some from the kitchen. Make yourselves at home..’ said Henry, going through to the kitchen.

Around the walls of the living room were several paintings, pencil drawings and charcoal sketches, all portraits of the same woman. ‘It’s the woman from the sculptures’, said Nina, pointing at a large painting of the woman in which she was staring, wide-eyed directly ahead, her lips pressed together into a thin line, holding her fingers against her temples. ‘Wow.. that’s a really powerful picture. It’s like the eyes follow you.’

‘Oh wow, that’s spooky’, said Jerry.

Greta and Queenie turned to look at the painting at the same moment and seeing it they both gasped. ‘It’s her!’

‘What? Who?’ Jerry and Nina both said at the same time.

‘It’s the fortune telling woman.. the one I met in the woods when I was a kid’, said Greta, staring into the eyes of the woman in the painting. ‘It’s her. I’ll never forget those eyes.’

‘Woah. Are you sure, Greta?’ said Nina, quite spooked. Greta nodded. Nina turned to Queenie who was staring at the painting and had turned as white as a sheet. ‘Queenie. Are you allright? What is it? Who is that woman? How do you know her?’

‘It’s.. it’s.. it’s my dream..’ said Queenie, as if in a trance, lifting a shaking finger and pointing at the painting. ‘I saw her in my dream.. here.. in this place.. in my dream.. I saw here.. she was here.. it’s my mum! It’s her!’ At that, Queenie’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed into the sofa, unconscious.

Jerry rushed over to her, shook her and slapped her cheek. ‘Queenie, wake up! Queenie! Bruce..’

Queenie turned her face but didn’t open her eyes. ‘No, mum, don’t. It wasn’t me..’ she mumbled.

‘Bruce, wake up!’ cried Jerry.

Henry came in holding a tray with four glasses of cordial. Seeing what was happening, he hurriedly put it down on the side table. ‘Lay her down. Put her knees up, it will send the blood to her head.’ Greta and Jerry manoeuvred Queenie into a lying position with her knees up. ‘Try pinching her earlobes’, suggested Henry.

Jerry pinched Queenie’s earlobes quite hard. ‘Bruce! Wake up Bruce! Bruce! Wake up!’

Queenie writhed around and flailed her arms about. ‘Ow! Ow! Stop it! Get off me!’ she shouted, opening her eyes. ‘Jerry! What are you doing? Get off my ears!’ Queenie slowly raised her head and looked around. ‘Where am I? What happened?’ she said groggily.

Henry leaned over Queenie and looked into her eyes. ‘Are you Bruce?’ he said after he’d ascertained that she was conscious.

‘Yes, that’s my name’, said Queenie, sitting up. ‘Now maybe you can tell me why you’ve got pictures of my mum all over your house and sculptures of her all over the forest?’

‘Amazing’ said Henry, smiling and shaking his head in wonder. ‘I can see the resemblance now. You’re a lot taller than her, but you’ve definitely got her cheekbones and the same jawline. Wow!’

‘Wow shmow!’ retorted Queenie, not smiling. ‘Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on here? How do you know my mum?’

Greta was staring at the picture again. ‘That’s definitely the fortune telling woman I met. I can’t believe that was your mum, Queenie. This is so weird. What does it mean?’

‘Fortune telling woman, you say?’ said Henry, turning to Greta. ‘That makes sense. When did you meet her?’

‘Oh it must have been about ten years ago’, said Greta. ‘She came through Skyward Village.’

‘About ten years ago..’ mused Henry. ‘That’s around when she showed up here. Maybe before, maybe after.. who knows? She stayed here with me for about three months and then one day she was gone.’

‘That sounds like her’, said Queenie. ‘It was about ten years ago that she walked out of my life. I was seven years old.’

‘I’m sorry’, said Henry, putting his hand on hers.

Queenie pulled her hand away. ‘I don’t need your sorry, I just want to know what’s going on. Tell me what you know, Henry. Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.’

‘Very well..’ said Henry. He handed out glasses of cordial to everyone, then went to a cabinet behind the TV, took out a bottle of brown liquor and a crystal glass and poured himself a generous dram, before settling down in the armchair to tell the story. ‘You know, I never even knew her name. She stayed here with me for a whole winter, but I never found out her name. She couldn’t remember anything, not even her own name. I called her "Bird" because she was like a bird’, said Henry, drifting off into memory.

‘What do you mean, she couldn’t remember anything?’ asked Queenie.

‘Her memory was gone’, said Henry, shaking his head sadly. ‘I don’t know what happened to her. From what I could piece together, I think she was involved in some of O’s implant experiments. I think that’s the most likely cause, but I really can’t know for sure.’

‘If she was so far gone that she couldn’t even remember her own name, how did you know my name? How did you piece anything together?’ asked Queenie.

‘She’d talk in her sleep’, said Henry. ‘She’d act out scenes from her life, while she was asleep. You used to feature in a lot of them. Over time, I got some understanding of some of the things she’d been through. Her dream talking is what inspired me to make all of those sculptures in the forest. I’ve never met anyone like her. I’ll tell you, it was the strangest condition she had.. I’ve met a lot of O’s casualties.. refugees and outcasts from the city.. they all come through here at some point.. at least a lot of them do.. usually lost, like you.. but I’ve never met anyone who had a condition quite like your mum’s condition. You see, she couldn’t remember anything at all about the past.. at least when she was awake.. but she could tell the future.’

‘Oh come on, you can’t be serious!’ snapped Queenie. ‘You must be as mad as she was. No-one can tell the future. It hasn’t happened yet. It’s unwritten.’

‘Well, you would have thought so, wouldn’t you’, nodded Henry. ‘That was certainly what I believed, until I met your mum. But she could do it. She’d know when a visitor was going to arrive, or if a storm was coming, or if a tree was going to get blown down, or if one of the chickens was going to die. It was the strangest thing, I can tell you but I’ve got no doubt, she had the power. She could see the future.’

‘That’s crazy’, said Queenie, shaking her head. ‘I can’t believe it. So what happened to her? Where is she now?’

‘I only wish I knew’, said Henry, sadly.

‘That makes two of us’, said Queenie.

‘Before she left, she gave me something.. something for you Bruce’, said Henry.

‘What? What do you mean? I don’t understand.’

‘She said you’d be coming here’, said Henry, getting up from his chair and going over to the little cabinet behind the TV again. He took out a small wooden box and handed it to Queenie. ‘She said these belong to you and I should give them to you when you arrived. I didn’t know it would take you ten years to get here..’

Queenie took the box and turned it over in her hands. It was made from dark wood and had a heart made out of some pink wood inlaid in the lid ‘It’s a pretty box’, said Queenie. ‘It’s not mine though. I’ve never seen it before.’

‘Oh, I made the box’, said Henry. ‘It’s what’s inside that she told me to keep for you.’

Queenie opened the box and looked inside. She gasped and her mouth fell open. ‘I don’t believe it. It can’t be’, she whispered.

‘What is it Queenie? What’s in the box?’ the others all wanted to know.

Queenie lifted out a string of beads, all different shapes and sizes, irregularly formed by a child’s hands, blackened and charred from fire. ‘It’s the beads I made’, said Queenie, tears springing to her eyes. ‘When I set fire to the kitchen, before they took me away. It’s the beads I made.’

‘What does it mean, Queenie?’ asked Nina who was crying herself, just because this was such an emotional and dramatic moment.

‘It means she came back’, said Queenie, holding the beads tightly to her chest. ‘It means she came back.’ And she cried all the tears that she’d held inside for all those years.

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Back at Malawack Castle, the papers were drawn up granting Sydney his royal pardon and free passage through the kingdom until midnight. Mabel was presented with a medal signifying her as a knight of the realm. They thanked Humpty for all his help and headed down to the castle garage.

The castle garage was a big old barn which was equipped with everything needed to repair and maintain all of the vehicles in the royal collection. All kinds of vehicles in various states of repair were scattered around the yard outside. There were cars, vans, buses, diggers and tractors. There were also piles of engine parts and stacks of tires dotted around. Frankie pointed to another barn across the other side of a hemp field. ‘Over there is where we keep the really special ones. The Bugatti, the Lamborghini, the Bentley, the Aston Martin.. I’ll show you around when we come back, Freddy. It’s an unbelievable collection. Motorbikes too. But the jeep should be here in the workshop. It’s just been in for an overhaul. Come on..’

Roop would have liked to see the collection, but it was clear that Freddy wanted to get moving. In the garage, engineers and mechanics were tinkering away under bright halogen lights fixing various motorbikes and cars. Freddy looked around amazed. It was as if the Big Shift had never happened and everything was still just as it had been, years before. ‘I.. I just don’t get it.’ he said over and over. ‘How can it be? You have cars? What do they run on? Where do you get petrol?’

‘We make our own’, said Frankie proudly. ‘Biofuel. See that field there?’

‘Amazing’, said Freddy.

‘Well, this is what you get when you’ve got fifty thousand people working together, Freddy. And that’s just here in Malawack. There are other places like this all over the country.. all over the world. Lots more. More people are waking up and joining all the time, Freddy. It’s a world movement. It’s a global network. You’ll see.. soon enough, all the free states will join together and take back the world. Now we’ve got television, soon we’ll have the internet. You’ll see. We’ll build it back better, Freddy. We won’t make the same mistakes again, not this time.’

‘Well.. if you say so..’ said Freddy.

‘You know, we could use someone like you here, Freddy. Someone who really understands science. We could use your skills, your knowledge. You could really make a difference here. I hope you’ll think about coming back here with River and the girls. It makes the most sense. Josie and me, we’re settled here. We’re too old to move to the jungle and live in a tree and there’s no way we’ll go to the city and live in a hive. But you can move. What have you got to keep you in the city? There’s a nice empty house just down the street from us.. needs a bit of touching up, but people would help out. You could move right in. When it comes down to it family is all you’ve got. What else really matters at the end of the day?’

‘That’s true’, nodded Freddy. ‘I’ll think it over.’ Could it really be that there might be a place for him and his family in Malawack, of all places? He wondered what it would be like to live in this crazy town with their mad king, their baseless conspiracy theories and their late twentieth century technology. He was surprised to discover that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. He found he didn’t miss the vip, virtual reality, augmented reality. He didn’t miss O. Not really. Somehow, he didn’t even miss his pills. What else did he really have? Only Nina and Greta.

The jeep was there by the big barn doors, all set and ready to go. Frankie complemented the mechanics on doing such a fine job fixing it up after Humpty had recently rolled it into a ravine. He promised to take better care of it. They bundled Sydney into the hold, wrapped in a blanket. Mabel, Josie and Aretha and Roop squeezed into the back seat, Freddie and Frankie in the front.

Josie wanted to stop by the house to pick up some supplies. There was no telling what there would be in the way of food or home comforts at Skyward Village. She’d never been there, but had heard that it was a wild and primitive sort of place. The house was close to the edge of town, a large, mid 20th century semi-detached at the end of a pleasant cul-de-sac with a neat and well tended garden. Apart from there being no cars in the street and that none of the street lights were working, it looked much the same as any suburban street would have looked before the Big Shift.

‘I won’t be a minute. Unless you’d like to come in for tea?’ said Josie, stepping down from the jeep. Neighbours came out from their houses when they heard the sound of King Humpty’s monster jeep driving up their street. Children came out to marvel at the incredible vehicle.

‘I think I’d like to get going as soon as possible, if that’s ok Josie?’ said Freddy. ‘We’ll come in for tea soon, I promise. It looks like a lovely place you’ve got here.’

While Josie was in the house, Freddy sat in the jeep, looking around through the windows. How long had it been since he’d sat in a car? He’d thought there were no such things any more. When had he last seen a street like this, where the buildings weren’t a thousand metres tall and made out of Earthcrete? He felt like Marty from Back to the Future, going back in time to visit a vanished world. ‘It’s like the land that time forgot..’ mused Freddy.

‘It’s a remnant from a world that was stolen. A fragment. A pocket of resistance. That’s what it is, Freddy’ said Frankie, sitting behind the wheel of the jeep, looking seriously ahead. ‘They’d prefer to destroy the whole of civilisation rather than just let people be free.. free to make out own life choices.. free to govern our own communities. It was all completely unnecessary, Freddy. The Big Hoax. None of it had to happen.’

‘Well, I don’t know about that..’ said Freddy. ‘I mean, I agree, we could have avoided it if we’d just taken climate change more seriously while we had the chance, but..’

‘Oh, do me a favour!’ spat Frankie. ‘Don’t tell me you still believe that climate nonsense! There’s no such thing as climate change! There never was. It was one big psyop, the whole thing. The biggest hoax in history. Telling us the world was going to end any minute. Did it end? Of course it didn’t. They wanted to make people believe it was the end of the world.. that the climate was changing, when all the time it was them that were changing it. Geo-engineering, Freddy. They control the weather. They can make hurricanes, droughts, floods.. anything they want.. at the flick of a switch. They’ve got space lasers, Freddy. Space lasers. They started the fires and then said it was climate change that did it. I was born on a Friday, Freddy, but not last Friday. ’

‘No, Frankie, sorry. There’s just too much scientific evidence. Literally mountains of it, to support the Multi-Tipping Point theory. We would have crossed all of them by now if we’d carried on the way we were going. It would have been the end of the world, there’s no doubt, or at least the end of us, if O hadn’t stepped in when they did.’

Frankie made a curse under his breath and shook his head. ‘Do you know the real reason why “O” stepped in when they did?’ He made inverted commas around the word O with his fingers. ‘It had nothing at all to do with climate change. That was just a smokescreen.’

‘So what was the “real reason”?’ asked Freddy with a sigh, raising his eyebrows sceptically.

‘Cables’, said Frankie. ‘Underground cables. Undersea cables. Do you know anything about them?’

‘Not much, I have to admit.’

‘There are millions of kilometres of them, all over the world’, said Frankie. ‘Communication cables. Telephone cables. Internet cables. It was only when the warring factions started cutting the cables that the powers that be decided to put the BS plan into action. The Big Shift was never about preventing climate change. It was to protect the internet, to maintain control of the flow of information. That’s what it was all about. That’s why they did it.’

‘They? Who is they?’

‘Look, Freddy, if you’re really interested, I can explain it all to you, but it goes deep. You’ve got to be prepared to go down the rabbit hole. A long way down. There are things you’ll find hard to believe. Things you won’t want to believe. Who are they? What are they called? You know, it doesn’t really matter who they are. You could call them O, you could call them the New World Order, the Deep State, Illuminati.. it makes no difference. It’s all the same thing. Different names for the forces of darkness.’

‘I see..’ said Freddy, absently gazing out of the window down at a group of children who were admiring the jeep’s suspension. He wondered what their world view would be when they grew up. People could be led to believe almost anything. Their reality was so different from the world Nina had grown up in, which was different again from the world Greta had grown up in, neither of which were anything like the world he’d grown up in. Who could tell which children would be best prepared for the world? Everything was changing all the time, always faster than the generation before. The sands were constantly shifting. ‘Well, I suppose somebody must me right.. or maybe no-one is. Who can really tell?’

‘The Truth will set you free, Freddy’, said Frankie, turning to Freddy and giving him a serious and knowing look.

‘Well, that would be something’, said Freddy.

‘Say.. I think I know where I’ve seen you before..’, said Roop, leaning forward from the back seat. ‘It’s a long shot, but were you at a party.. like, a ceremony.. about ten, eleven years ago.. up at the big house.. the castle. There was a giant talking owl? Does that ring a bell? I think you were there.. you were wearing a huge pair of antlers and a long black robe?’

Frankie turned around to look at Roop. He gave him a very long, hard look. Eventually he shrugged and said, ‘Possible, I suppose. I couldn’t really say.’

Josie came back with arms full of blankets. ‘I packed a hamper of food, Frankie. It’s in the kitchen, can you bring it? And there’s a case of clothes. Some for us and some for River.. Oh I can’t believe we’re going to see River!’ she beamed, tears in her eyes.

When the jeep was loaded with supplies, everyone climbed on board. All the neighbours came out to wave them off. ‘Ah, the internal combustion engine!’ cried Frankie, as the engine to roared into life. ‘Buckle up and hold on tight ! It’s going to be a bumpy ride..’

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‘Do you really think she could see the future?’ Queenie asked Henry, as they walked along the winding path through the forest.

‘Well.. let me tell you something, ok? You might think I’m just a mad old hermit, but I wasn’t always. Believe it or not, I used to work in a bank. Top floor. Risk management of all things! It was my job to advise managers and investors about the risks involved in complicated financial transactions. We dealt with very large sums of money. What did we use? We used the most up to date future modelling technology available.’

‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ said Queenie. ‘And I didn’t say I think you’re mad. A bit eccentric maybe, but you made a cool place there. Could use a bit of a tidy up once in a while, but I get it. You just don’t want to get involved with the outside world any more. Fair enough. Good for you! I don’t blame you.’

‘Thanks Bruce. I’m glad you understand’, said Henry. ‘My point is, the ability to know the future would have been very valuable in my line of work. Let’s face it, it would be very useful in lots of situations. Why do you think O is doing so much research into ESP, telepathy, premonitions, lucid dreaming? These things are the holy grail for O. Data driven future modelling using algorithms will only ever take you so far. Some things will always remain unpredictable, even if you have 99.9% of the variables and vectors.’

‘So you’re saying that O is doing experiments on people to learn how to see the future?’

‘Something like that’, nodded Henry. ‘Among other things. Look, I don’t know whether your mum had the ability already and O was studying her, or if it was somehow medically induced. I just sit out here in my little place in the middle of the forest, trying to piece together a picture of what’s going on out there in the world, from little snippets of information.. things I’ve seen and heard from the people I’ve met. But I can tell you this.. I know she could see the future. You’re the proof of it, Bruce. She said you’d be here and now you are.’

‘Well, if she knew I was coming, why didn’t she wait for me?’ said Queenie resentfully.

‘I don’t know, Bruce. I really don’t know’, said Henry, shaking his head sadly. ‘Maybe she just couldn’t be there. I don’t know why.’

They walked on in silence for the rest of the way until they arrived at the foot of Mama Bear Hill. Since Greta said she knew the way from there, Henry said he’d return home. He’d had his fill of human interaction for the day and didn’t want to chance meeting any more people.

When it was Queenie’s turn to say goodbye, Henry said, ‘You know, Bruce, your mum was very dear to me. I can’t say I ever knew her very well, or if I’ll ever see her again. For all I know, she might be dead. She might be halfway across the world with no recollection of this place at all, or how to get back here. Who knows? Maybe she’ll come walking down the path tomorrow morning, as if she just stepped out five minutes ago.. as if the last ten years never happened..’

‘What are you saying Henry?’

‘I’m saying that I loved your mum.. in my own way.. even with all the limitations.. with her condition and everything..’

‘Ok. That’s good. I’m glad to hear it’, said Queenie. She didn’t want to hear about Henry’s love for her mum. All she was feeling was abandoned all over again. The same old familiar pain, stirred up and brought to the surface. ‘Not sure if I do, or if she ever really loved me’, she added bitterly.

‘Sorry Bruce’, said Henry. ‘I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you. For what it’s worth, I think she did.. that she does love you. It’s just that for one reason and another, she couldn’t be there.’

‘Yeah, well, that’s too bad, I guess’, said Queenie, turning her face away, towards Mama Bear Hill.

‘What I wanted to say is this Bruce..’ said Henry, falteringly. ‘You see.. here’s the thing.. I never had any children of my own.. it’s just one of those things.. it just never happened.. and.. well.. you haven’t really got any parents.. so.. the thing is.. I just want you to know.. you’ve got a home here.. in the forest. You can come back any time you like. And if anything should happen to me.. I mean, when the inevitable happens.. death comes to us all, that much is certain about the future.. well, that house and everything in it is yours. Me casa se tu casa.. if you know what I mean, Bruce.’

Queenie smiled for the first time in what felt like an eternity. ‘Yes, I know what you mean. Thank you Henry. Thanks for looking after mum too. I don’t know how you put up with her, quite honestly.’

‘Well, there’s something to be said for having a woman around who can’t remember anything you’ve ever said or done. She never held anything against me!’ Henry laughed. ‘Being able to see the future was a bonus, but the best thing was her obsessive cleaning. You should have seen the place back then. Spotless it was!’

‘You chauvinist pig!’ laughed Queenie with tears in her eyes, elbowing Henry in the ribs. ‘So how will I find you again?’

‘Oh you’ll find me, like you did this time. I’m not that hard to find. Everyone round here knows me. I’m very famous, believe it or not. Just ask for Hermit Henry.’

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The old B420 leading out of Malawack was in a worse state of repair than any of the roads they’d ridden since leaving Shopping Village. In places, there were deep holes that looked like they had been purposefully created. In other places, floods had washed away the surface of the road. In places, big rocks had been dragged into the road as obstacles. Fortunately, with the huge tyres and raised suspension and with Frankie behind the wheel, they were able to navigate the winding mountain road at breakneck speed. ‘Slow down Frankie!’ cried Josie from the back seat. ‘I want to live to see River and the girls.’

‘What’s up with the state of this road?’ asked Roop, who was greatly enjoying the ride, as was Mabel, by his side. ‘It looks like someone’s intentionally tried to block it.’

‘It’s the Northwellians’, said Frankie, slowing down a tiny bit to swerve around a rock and bounce over a ditch. ‘The breakaway republic. They used to live in Malawack, until Humpty arrived.’

‘Then what?’ asked Roop.

‘Long story.. but basically, they didn’t like the colour he painted the castle.’

‘What? That’s ridiculous! So they formed their own separate state and destroyed the road?’ laughed Roop.

‘Well, there were a few more things, but basically, yes. It was mainly that’, said Frankie, shaking his head as they raced through a village who’s houses were all painted pale blue. Outside the village pub, a few people were hanging around. They all jumped up, waved their fists, hurling handfuls of mud and insults at the jeep as it drove past, with Frankie blasting on the air-horn. ‘Get out of the way!’ Frankie shouted out of the window.

‘Long live the King!’ shouted Mabel from the back seat. She had become a staunch royalist and defender of the Crown since receiving her knighthood.

……….. . . ………………… . . …………………. . . ……………….. . . ………….

Greta led the way up Mama Bear Hill. The West side was steep, so they followed the path up around to the North side. From there, there was a good path leading up, following the stream who’s source was a spring in Skyward Village. They came to an old disused road which cut across the footpath.

‘We’re really close now’ said Greta, standing in the road, surveying the forest and the hills.

‘What’s that noise?’ said Nina. ‘It sounds like some sort of rumbling in the forest.’

‘Oh yeah, I can hear it too’, said Jerry. ‘It’s getting louder. What could it be, Greta? What sort of animal makes that sound?’

Greta turned her head towards the approaching sound. ‘I.. I.. don’t know..’, she said, looking afraid.

Just then, in a blaze of high powered halogen headlights and with the roar of a thousand horsepower engine, the jeep came swerving around the bend. Nina, Queenie, Jerry and Captain Toast dived into the bushes, out of the way of the oncoming juggernaut, but Greta froze, like a deer caught in the headlights. Frankie slammed on the brakes and spun the jeep 180 degrees and almost off the road.

Freddy was the first to get out of the jeep. He jumped down and ran to Greta. ‘Oh my God, Greta. It’s you. Are you allright? Where’s Nina?’

‘Dad?’ gasped Greta, her jaw dropping in amazement.

Nina came stumbling out of the bushes and ran to Freddy. ‘Oh dad, you came. I knew you would!’ she threw her arms around him and cried. ‘I’m sorry for running away. I’m really sorry. It’s just.. we had a dream.. mum needs us..’

‘It’s ok’, cried Freddy. ‘I found you now. That’s all that matters.’

A tearful reunion was shared by one and all. Nina was almost as happy to see Sydney again as she was to meet her long lost grandparents. Greta told of the news they had just learned, of River losing her sight. There was no time to lose. The quickest way was to follow the footpath. The supplies were divided among everyone according to what they could carry. They were happy to discover that Sydney was able to easily carry the large suitcase of clothes on his back and was very sure-footed, even on the steep parts of the climb.

They came to a tall fence made out of long, sharpened sticks and branches of thorn trees. Occultish symbols and strange talismans fashioned out of wood, string and bones hung from the fence to ward off evil. Among these objects were also pieces of robots.. glass heads on poles, mechanical legs stretched between fence posts.

‘That’s inviting..’ said Freddy, looking ominously along the barricade.

‘There’s a gateway further along this way..’ said Greta, leading the way.

Sure enough, further along they came to a tall gateway made of heavy wooden beams hewn from whole trees. Standing in the middle of the entrance there was a massive black bear standing on its hind legs. It was holding what looked like a long handled axe in its front paw.

‘What the..?!’ cried Freddy, jumping back in fright. Josie screamed. Frankie set himself into a fighting stance. Nina, Queenie and Jerry hid behind a bush. Captain Toast growled in a very threatening way. Sydney also growled a surprisingly deep and fearsome warning. Captain Toast pricked his ears up and nodded towards Sydney, impressed, while not taking his eyes off the bear.

‘It’s ok’, said Greta. ‘Wait here..’ and before anyone could stop her, she walked over to the bear. She walked right up to it. It was about twice her height and towered over her, but she seemed completely unafraid.

‘Greta, no!’ cried Freddy, but it was already too late. Greta had walked right up to the bear and was now talking to it. No one could hear what she said, but the next minute, to everyone’s amazement, the bear and Greta were hugging each other.

As it turned out, it wasn’t a bear at all, but the Skyward Village night watchman, a man called Sparrow, dressed in a bearskin. Sparrow warmly welcomed everyone to Skyward Village, but put out his axe, barring the way when it was Sydney’s turn to go through the gate. ‘Sorry, you can’t bring devil dogs in here. It’s not allowed.’

‘Oh for goodness sake, not you as well!’ cried Freddy. ‘I’ve had enough of this. What on earth do you think he’s going to do to you? What are you people so afraid of?’

‘Sorry, it’s a no’, said Sparrow, unmoved. ‘You can tie it up here. That’s the best I can do. And that’s me being very tolerant. Ordinarily I would have chopped it into pieces with my axe by now, wouldn’t I Greta?’

Greta nodded. ‘Yes, you would, that’s true Sparrow.’

At that, Mabel screamed ‘No-oo-oo!’ and ran forward, grabbing the handle of Sparrow’s axe. ‘You won’t touch Sydney! As a knight of the Crown, in the name of King Malawack, I order you to let him pass! Here is his Majesty’s Royal stamp and here is my badge!’ Mabel proudly presented the scroll bearing Sydney’s Royal pardon and her medal to show that she was a knight of the realm.

Sparrow took a step backwards, quite amazed. He looked at the medal and at the scroll with Humpty’s wax seal and signature. ‘Well I’ll be..’ he whistled. ‘But it’s still a no. Sorry, the robot can’t come in.’

‘Come on Sparrow’, said Greta. ‘Just this time, eh? Sydney’s one of the family.’

Sparrow relented. ‘All right, if you say so. Just keep it on a leash and put a bag over its head. I don’t want it running around causing trouble.’

………………. . . . ………………………. . . ……………….. . . ……………….. . .

Sparrow had told them that they’d find River in the healing circle. She’d become very ill the day that Greta had left, deteriorating badly over the weeks that she’d been away. A few days ago, her eyesight had gone completely. Everyone was trying all sorts of things to bring her sight back, but as far as he’d heard, all to no avail, so far at least. ‘Maybe you being back here will be the cure she needs’, said Sparrow.
They made their way hurriedly towards the healing circle, along forest paths that Greta knew so well. She felt as if she’d been away for years, not just over a month. People called down from their tree houses, welcoming Greta back along with her family and friends.

Soon they came to the healing circle, a wide clearing in the forest, surrounded by ancient yew trees. In the centre was a fire with several people sitting around it chanting to the rhythm of drums and shakers. A little distance away, was a low tent. Inside, the tent was filled with steam. In the centre, there was River, lying on her back on a bearskin rug, her eyes open wide in fear and pain, staring upwards, unseeing. At her head, sat a woman making circles of smoke above River’s face, using a burning sage stick while muttering incantations.

The newcomers all rushed into tent.

‘Mum, it’s me, Greta. I’m back. Nina’s here too’, cried Greta, grabbing River’s hand.

‘River, it’s me, mum!’ cried Josie, grabbing River’s feet. ‘Dad’s here too..’

‘Oh River, I can’t believe it’s you!’ cried Frankie, breaking down.

Freddy stared at the wife he hadn’t seen for sixteen years, the mother of his daughters. ‘River! What’s that all over your face? Oh my God.. are those.. leeches?’

River put her hands out and felt all the hands on her while, through her fever, tried to understand what was happening. ‘Greta? Nina? Is that really you? Mum? Dad? How can it be? Are you really here? Freddy? Did I hear Freddy? What’s going on? Am I dreaming?’

‘No, we’re really here’, everyone said at once.

There were many tears, as you can imagine, at the reunion. Tears of joy, of course, but also tears of sorrow. How unfair could the universe be, that just when her loved ones finally return to her, she should be unable to see them? The parents she had given up for dead. The daughter she hadn’t seen since she was as baby. And Freddy..

‘You wait sixteen years to visit and then you show up now, Freddy? Seriously?’ said River, sitting up weakly and then flopping back down again. ‘Oh well, better late than never I suppose..’ she mumbled.

‘What medicines have you given her?’ Freddy demanded, turning to the medicine woman who had quietly retreated the edge of the tent to allow for the impromptu family reunion.

‘So far, she’s had leeches, as you can see.. also frog venom, mushroom, cactus, acupuncture, homeopathy, reflexology, shiatsu, light treatment, dark treatment, sound treatment, smell treatment.. well, that’s some of the things.. you know, aside from the usual..’

‘I can’t believe this!’ cried Freddy. ‘You people will try anything and everything before you take actual proper medicine.’

River shook her head weakly and rolled her eyes. ‘I may be blind, but I can see you haven’t changed, Freddy’, she said darkly before sinking back into the bearskin rug, closing her eyes, exhausted.

‘Well, it’s good to see you too River’, said Freddy, standing up and bumping his head on the low roof of the tent. ‘I’m going outside, there’s no air in here..’

Over the next hour or so, people went in and out of the tent to be with River and to greet Greta, Nina, Josie and Frankie, who stayed inside. The chanting around the fire continued. A big pot of stew was brought to the fire for anyone who wanted. Freddy slunk off to a dark corner of the woods, away from all the people and sat with Sydney who was tied up to a tree there.

‘Poor old Freddy’, said Jerry to Queenie, pointing over to where Freddy was huddled next to Sydney, looking like he was deep in conversation, pouring out his heart to the robot dog. ‘I think he’s lost it. Do you think I should go over to him and see if he’s allright?’

‘He’s allright’, said Queenie, shivering and huddling up close to the fire. ‘Stay with me, Jerry. Don’t leave me now.’

‘Ok, I won’t’, said Jerry, putting his arm around her.

………………………… . . . ………………………. . . . ………………… . . ……..

It was around midnight when Freddy crept to the entrance of the healing tent, wrapped in a shawl. River was sleeping now and the leeches had been removed from her face, the bleeding wounds they had left were covered in cloth bandages. Nina, Greta, Frankie and Josie were all sitting around her, looking on, tired, worried and helpless.

‘Hey’, said Freddy, putting his head in. ‘Why don’t you all go out and get a bit of fresh air. There’s food on the fire. I want to be alone with River for a bit, is that ok?’

The others agreed and vacated the tent. Freddy made sure that no-one else was in there and that the tent’s opening was closed so that no-one could see in. He took out Sydney from underneath his shawl and put the robot down next to River’s head.

He put his hand on River’s shoulder. ‘River? Are you awake?’ River mumbled something but didn’t wake up. Freddy nodded to Sydney who then leaned his head towards River’s. The glass of Sydney’s face became a nozzle and out of that nozzle there came a fine, aerosol mist, sprayed above River’s unsuspecting nose.

‘What’s that?’ mumbled River. ‘What’s that smell?’

Sydney nodded to Freddy and Freddy nodded back. ‘It’s just some reviving spray, River’, lied Freddy. Actually, it was a psychotropic substance which put patients into a trance like and suggestible state, but this was no time for strict medical ethics, Freddy had reasoned. ‘Listen, it so happens that a friend of mine came with us on this journey. We’re part of an expedition of scientists actually..’

‘What? Really? I don’t understand..’ said River, still half asleep.

‘River, I’d like you to meet Dr Sydney. He’s actually one of the foremost eye specialists in the world. How about that?’

‘Mmm.. ok?’ mumbled River, opening her unseeing eyes.

‘Hello River’, said Sydney in a very kind, distinguished and doctorly voice. ‘Lucky I came along when I did with my dear old friend Freddy here’, Sydney chuckled. ‘Now if you don’t mind, I’ll just need a tiny little drop of this blood.. it’s ok, I’ll just take a bit that the leeches left, I won’t need to make any new holes, don’t worry, hahaha’, Sydney chuckled amiably again.

‘What? Dr Sydney? Where did you come from? You weren’t here before..’ said River, sitting up, confused.

‘Dr Sydney just arrived from.. er.. from.. the base camp’, said Freddy, putting his hands gently on River’s shoulders to lay her down again. ‘I sent for him when I heard about your condition..’

‘Oh.. ok..’ said River and closed her eyes again.

Sydney stood up on his hind legs, stuck out his little tongue straw and sucked up a drop of River’s blood from her cheek. ‘Now, let me just analyse this and.. ah yes! Just as I suspected. Foxpox! Luckily it’s not too far developed and should be easily reversible. That is good news!’

‘Can it really be reversed, Doctor? How?’ asked River.

‘Actually, very easily indeed. Just give me a minute and I’ll prepare you some eye drops. That’s all it will take. One drop in each eye’, said Sydney expertly. ‘Here we go.. almost ready.. yes, here we are.. just the remedy! Now Freddy, if you’ll just help by holding River’s eyelids open while I administer the drops.. there we go, this won’t take a minute.. very good.. well done, River, and now the other eye.. jolly good, there we go.. and.. that’s all! Finished! That wasn’t so bad now was it? There, you can close your eyes again now if you like. Give them a little rub, that’s it.’

Sydney’s face straw melted back into smooth flat glass and Sydney sat back down on his hind legs, looking once again, just like an ordinary robot dog. River rubbed her eyes. ‘What was that? It feels.. it feels.. something’s happening! Oh wow.. I can see something.. I can see stars.. stars.. all around.. oh! It feels good! It feels like.. light. Like light washing all over me.. Oh Freddy! It’s amazing! It’s wonderful. What did you do? It’s coming back! I’m starting to see! I can’t believe it! Yes.. yes.. yes! It’s coming back! Freddy, let me see you! Oh Freddy, I can see you.. look at you! I can’t believe it! I can’t believe this is happening! It’s a miracle. Oh Freddy, I can see again.. where’s Greta and Nina, I want to see them. Where’s Dr Sydney? I want to thank him. What’s that next to you..is it a dog..?’

‘Hello River, I’m Doctor Sydney’, said Sydney, nodding his head. ‘Pleased to meet you. I’m glad to see the eye drops worked.’

The scream from the healing tent resounded up to the treetops and all through the ancient forest.

………………… ……………….. . . ………………………… . . ………… . . .. .. .

Everyone slept around the fire that night, too exhausted to climb trees. Greta and Nina slept either side of River, tight in their mother’s arms.

Freddy made his bed at their feet, keeping one eye open to make sure that they didn’t catch fire, now that they were finally reunited. He hoped that River would forgive him one day for so deceitfully tricking her into taking O’s medicine. Forgiveness seemed unlikely to happen any time soon. River was already convinced that she would have got better anyway without Sydney’s eye drops and whatever gene-altering evil they might contain. It was Greta and Nina coming back that had cured her blindness, as far as River was concerned. And the leeches. Freddy was too tired to argue. What would have been the point? He hadn’t missed arguing with River. Let people believe what they want to believe. They always do anyway, it seemed.

Jerry and Queenie shared a blanket. Jerry silently holding Queenie as she quietly cried herself to sleep. On Jerry’s other side, Captain Toast was fast asleep, deep in a dream, nuzzling into Sydney’s neck with his nose. Sydney didn’t mind. He liked Captain Toast and besides, Sydney never really slept anyway.

………………………. . . . ………………………………. . . . . …………………… .