The old bus, leaving behind a faint smell of petrol as it rattled away, slowly disappeared down the lane, and the woman found herself alone. Glancing around, she saw that nothing had changed here as the years had passed. The familiar muddy road, thick with black slush, still stretched ahead, and the same hedgerows speckled with grey flecks flanked the verge. In the distance, the village unspooled like a narrow ribbon along the edge of the woods, squares of yellow windowlight glimmering in the dusk. Dogs barked, and the geese in the farmyard let out their disgruntled cackling.
“Six years gone, and yet nothing has changed,” thought Edith, “well, almost nothing.” On the hill to her right, the line of farm equipment, once lit by pale lanterns, was gone and in its place a patch of darkness yawned. She could only guess what became of Smithsons farmmost likely, the heirs sold it off long ago.
Edith walked along the main road of the village. She would not have been surprised if someone had hurled a stone at her from behind a hedge. It felt as though critical eyes peered at her from every window. Drawing her scarf close about her face, she kept her head bowed, wishing she could go unnoticed. What greeted her ahead she didnt know, nor whether there was anything left of her childhood home. Still, she had nowhere else to go but here, her village, even with all the bitterness its people now harboured. Most of them blamed her for losing their livelihoods six years before.
She had changed much in that timeinside and out. Gone was the bright, trusting beauty with flashing blue eyes who once made Mr. Charles Smithsons hard heart flutter. Edith had lived alone in a tiny house at the edge of the gorge, no family to speak of. Smithson was practically worshipped by the villagers; he gave most of them work. When Edith moved into his manor, she fancied herself the luckiest woman in the county.
It proved to be far from a fairy tale. Charles fancied himself a squire, a petty lord of the manor, and Edith became little more than his house-servant. Flattered, she didn’t realise his true nature until he banned her friends from visiting, forbade her to wear clothes he deemed improper, and even denied her so much as a dab of rouge. Her world gradually turned into one long litany of donts.
Her days were spent waiting for his return, making stews, and polishing the floors. The very notion of her taking a job was out of the question. Charles was certain she had some secret lover, his suspicions making him wild with jealousy. Edith pleaded her innocence, but soon saw she could not winno matter how much she gave, Charles was always discontented. Once things turned violent, Edith fled back to her little house at the edge of the gorge, desperate to shut out the nightmare. But the worst blow was yet to fall.
Charles appeared the day after she left him. She was scrubbing the kitchen floor, the doors wide open to the summer breeze that carried a fresh, clean scent through the cottage. Losing herself in the rhythm of her chores brought her calm. Suddenly, the thud of his boot sent her bucket flying and water flooded across the floor. Edith knew she would follow the bucket soon enough.
She could not recall the moments that followedher memory, mercifully, refused to replay them. She came to, dimly, to find policemen filling her front garden, shaking a plastic bag holding a kitchen knife as they questioned her. Over the fence, neighbours jostled for a better view. Inside, the furniture was overturned, curtains ripped from their rods, and Charles lay in the middle of the kitchen.
She drove the man to his grave! voices muttered beyond the fence. Fluttered her eyes once too often, she did! What didnt she have? She lived like the Queen! A fine man, and now look at us! Who will give us work now? The crowd mumbled and fretted: Whatll we do? How will we live?
Edith was sentenced to six years in prison, which she served in a standard womens correctional institution. Those years were hard, but not the disaster she feared. With her gentle way and her ear for trouble, she gained a few friends, and together they softened the sharpest edges of captivity. Outwardly, though, little remained of the girl with the sparkling eyes. Shed filled out, streaks of grey threaded her hair, and the urge to dress prettily had gone. Shed never thought her path would run behind bars, believing prison was for the truly fallen. But, as the old saying warns, You never know what fate holdsdisaster can strike at any time. Now, she was branded a convict.
Shielding her face with her scarf, she pressed on, her heart thumping wildly. Was her little home even standing? Or had they torn it down for firewood? But between two sprawling birches at the edge of the gorge, the old walls of her cottage came into view. The familiar chill drifted from the hollow below, where frogs croaked by the brook. How many times had she imagined this moment, dreamt of this return to her native land? Beyond the gorge, the woods beckoned, full of mushroomschanterelles, boletes, and buttercups. She longed to run off with a basket into their leafy gloom.
Like a shadow, she slipped through the gate, found the hidden key under the eaves, and opened the door. She steeled herself for the musty scent of long-neglect, but the air was fresh instead. She clicked the light switch and warm yellow flooded the kitchen. Everything was in order, a pot of pink geraniums bloomed on the sill. Edith stared at it, perplexed. She checked the roomsnaught was out of place. Someone must have been tending to the house in her absence.
Edith! Ediiith! came a voice from the hall. In bustled her neighbour, Mrs. Jenkins. Land sakes, said the woman instead of greeting, how much youve changed! Saw the light from across the shrubberyhurried right over. Ive brought you something to eat, likely not touched a bite since you started out. She set down a jar of fresh milk and a loaf wrapped in a linen cloth. Thank you, Edith managed, was it you looking after the cottage? Yes, of course, Mrs. Jenkins replied, an empty house is soon an empty shell. Couldnt let that happen. Thank you so much, Edith began to sob, tears trembling on her lashes. Well, Ill leave you to it, Mrs. Jenkins said, some still bear a grudge against you. If my husband learns Ive been here, hell be put out.
Ediths heart felt lightersomeone, at least, was on her side. She poured a glass of warm milk when there came a shy knock at the door. On the threshold stood a boy, thirteen or so, awkwardly holding out a package. M-Mum sent this for you, he stammered, then bolted when Edith thanked him. She couldnt place himchildren had grown and changed so much in six years. The parcel was fragrant with smoked ham.
Then Lucy swept in without so much as a knock, flinging her arms round Edith. Once, long before Charles, they had been close friends. Edith wept. I thought everyone would shun me! Nonsense, Lucy exclaimed, women must stick together! You did what you needed, whatever anyone says. Men dont understand our troubles, so they grumble about. Mrs. Jenkins said you were back, so I popped round. I’d brought you some food from my garden. Have a rest tonighttomorrow well catch up!
Edith was so moved she could barely eat. She realised she had misjudged her neighbours. The village women understood and stood by her. Sighing contentedly into clean linens, she had barely shut her eyes when there was an urgent tap on her window. Even in shadow she recognised the broad form of Tom Dobsonunofficial headman of the village, trusted and well-respected.
Stay inside, he called, well speak through the window. The menfolk and I have decided theres no sense in holding a grudge. Perhaps the women dont see the whole, but we know you werent to blame for what happened. Things are tight without the jobs, but Charles brought it on himself, truth be told. Ill not say more than that. Weve taken a collectionjust a handful of pounds, but itll see you through a spell. Here, take it! Embarrassed, Edith hesitated, but Tom tossed the envelope through the window and was gone, swallowed by the night.
As I recall it now, it seems both dreamlike and painfully realhow the world I knew collapsed in a single night, and how the kindness of those around me set the first stones for a new beginning.
