by Olivia Swift
“Isolated with no road links,” Declan added.
“What about Henderson tartan items in the shop as well?” Magda asked. A sudden gust of wind whipped around her face.
“Say that again,” Merle said.
“Henderson tartan items in the shop,” Magda said, as the wind whipped her long, plum-colored hair around her face.
5
“What if it was Atholl tartan?” Merle asked the air in general and said that she felt a warmer breeze cross her face.
“Do you think the Hendersons were not the real owners of the area and it should still be yours?” Magda asked and felt a slight warm sensation across her brow.
“He’s listening,” Merle said, “but not showing himself.”
“So, he whips a wind when he’s angry and a warm breeze when he agrees,” Sam observed.
“I think I’ll forget about the tartan items. It would be hard to get them anyway,” Magda said.
“Artwork and natural-themed items have done well so far. We should stick with that,” Rula added.
There were no signs that the Viking had heard or reacted.
“Do you think he knows that he’s a long way from home?” Katie asked. Then the wind whipped around the room and swirled particularly close to Magda.
“Whoa,” Sam said and put his arm around Magda. “Leave her alone.”
“He doesn’t like you either,” Merle said with her eyes closed again. “He’s around somewhere and listening.”
“How do I get rid of him?” Magda wondered aloud, then the wind swirled really hard around the room causing two of the potted plants to fall over.
“Hey,” Magda shouted and stood up. “Listen to me, you Viking man. Just stop being stupid. I never wanted you to come here. You must have got in the box yourself. So just stop it.”
There was a stillness in the room and then the coffee table fell over.
“Oh, my Lord,” Rula whispered. “He is not a nice man.”
“What should we do?” Katie asked and looked to Declan. Declan looked at Merle and asked what she thought. She shook her head.
“I can try and send him away, but I’m guessing that he won’t go.”
“I think he follows the wood,” Declan added. “If we move the wood we can see if he follows.”
“Then eventually put the wood somewhere a long way away?” Magda asked. “Wish I’d never thought about the whisky flavor.”
“The truffle is great. It’s the Viking that’s a pain,” Branston told her. “Pity we can’t get him into an old-fashioned gun battle.”
“The bullets would go straight through,” Merle smiled. “I think Declan is right. Let’s try his idea.”
“Let’s all go to the café and see if he comes with us,” Sam suggested.
“The addition is wonderful,” Merle told Sam. “Thanks for letting us see it.” They picked up jackets and boxes that had contained food and Sam went to retrieve the box from the garage. They set off in convoy to the café, then opened up to sit around in a circle and see what would happen.
Merle said that if Sam opened the box again, she would call out and see if the Viking responded. Declan said he would watch for any signs. Sam checked that everyone was ready and opened the box. The same wind swirled around the kitchen and Merle called out to ask if anyone was there and to come forward. Nothing happened and she called again.
“Are you there, Viking?” she called. “Bang once for yes.” There was a pause and then a bang that seemed to come from under their feet.
Magda could not keep quiet.
“Show yourself, you stupid man,” she cried out. “I am sick of you causing trouble.”
“He just did,” Declan said calmly. “He’s beside the chocolate vat behind Katie”. Katie gasped and looked around her but could see nothing. She crossed the room and sat beside Declan. He smiled and said it was okay. “He’s not moving. Just standing there, but he looks angry.”
“I don’t want to draw him anymore. He’s scary,” Katie answered.
Sam addressed the apparition: “You are a nasty piece of work. This is America. You just cannot get away with this here. Keep away from Magda, or I’ll burn the piece of wood.”
This produced a wind that seemed like gale force and a roaring sound that they all heard. It sounded like a fire that was being drawn up a chimney. They all looked about but nothing was destroyed and the sound died away.
“That took all his energy,” Merle said. “He was furious but had to fade away.”
“Yes, he’s disappeared,” Declan added.
“So, he follows the wood and is attached to it. How can we get rid of it?” Magda asked. “I don’t want him ruining the café.”
“It seems to keep him away when the wood is locked in the box,” Branston remarked. “Lock it and leave it somewhere until we can think what to do with it.”
“What if I take it to the yard where I keep the shovels and things?” Sam asked. “I can lock it in one of the sheds.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Merle answered. “Let’s all take it and make sure that everything is okay afterward.”
“Come on then,” Branston said and pulled her up to a standing position. The convoy of vehicles set off again and Sam led the way to his workplace. He opened up then made his way to a cabin behind the office. They put the box inside and closed the door.
“Back to the café and see if he appears,” Branston grinned, and the group followed each other all over again. There was mercifully no response when Merle called out again, and Magda found she was holding her breath and gripping Sam’s hand so hard that he winced.
“Done. He’s not here,” Sam said.
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, and Rula fired up the drinks machine.
“Truffles or cheesecake on the house,” Magda told them, and suddenly the feeling was cheerful, relaxed, and comfortable.
“I wish,” Merle said to Declan, “that I could see the figure the way you do.”
“It can be a bit of a nuisance sometimes. Over the years I’ve learned to block them out if I want to.”
“I don’t want to draw the Viking any more but I would love to do any others that you see,” Katie told him. “It’s like a glimpse into history.”
“People ask me to help them sometimes, but I have never really studied any of it,” Merle added, and Magda smiled.
“Tell her about the turnoff for the ranch.”
“My ranch?” Merle queried, and Declan nodded.
“It’s just like a flash snapshot that I see and then it’s gone—but when I turn the car into the trail to the ranch, I see a wooden cabin and a woman working in a vegetable garden. She seems happy. Nothing awful there at all.”
“Wow. That is amazing,” Branston said. “You’ll have to go and stand there and see if anything comes to you,” he added to Merle.
“There has always been something special and a little bit magical to me about the ranch. There was a community of some sort there. I did know that but not exactly where.” She looked at them. “Maybe a picnic and we can see if anything happens?”
“That would be superb,” Rula said and the others were nodding enthusiastically.
“Thanks for helping us deal with the ill tempered Viking man,” Magda said. “A woman working in her vegetable garden sounds more my sort of thing.” Then she added that she was going to look for wild raspberries on the camping trip in a few days time. “I like using natural ingredients.”
“If I wasn’t needed at the café, I would have asked to come along,” Katie told her. “I need to get some new photographs of leaves, bark, shapes of branches and things. Going out in the wild on your own is a bit scary.”
“If we have Josh and Branston and the stock is up to date, we should be okay. What do you think, Magda?”
“Your call, Rula, because you will be the one to cope. I would be happy with a bit of female company. The two men will be climbing trees and hammering pieces of wood together.”
&nbs
p; Katie looked from one to the other with enthusiasm in her eyes.
“Of course, it’s okay,” Rula told her, and Katie moved in for a hug.
“Thanks, guys. I’ll work my socks off before we go.”
The group cleared away the remains of their extra little meal and Merle turned at the door.
“Next week, camping trip, and the week after, the picnic.”
“And one other date you might like,” Magda called out and took Sam’s hand. “Twenty-first of August—a wedding.” Rula screamed out loud and ran to dance her friend around.
Everyone joined in and said they would be delighted. As the others continued to depart, Magda held on to Rula.
“Will you be bridesmaid, please?” That produced an even louder scream and then tears.
“Women and weddings,” Declan said.
“Wait a minute,” Sam added. “I need a best man.”
“But there is no woodwork involved,” Declan answered. “I would be useless.”
Magda went and held on to his arm, as Sam held out a hand.
“Shake on it. We need you.”
“We do,” Magda added. Declan glanced at Katie who smiled and said he would be a great best man. He shook Sam’s hand and then said he would worry all the time now until August twenty-first.
“Camping trip, ghost hunting and new truffles as well as this complicated tree house. You won’t have time,” Sam said as they locked up.
“Thanks for letting me come on the trip,” Katie told them. “I can hardly wait.”
They went their different ways and Magda found the cats waiting impatiently at home for their dinner. She settled their anxious meows and Sam made coffee.
“They all liked the hard work you guys put into the addition,” Magda told him. “It does look impressive.” They sat back and talked about the camping trip when Crystal looked at Magda’s cell phone. Two seconds later it rang. By the time Magda swiped it open, there was no one on the other end. She put it on the coffee table, and Crystal promptly knocked it onto the floor.
“If you are worried about the Viking man, we’ve locked him in the shed,” Magda said to the cat and looked at the screen. It was showing a Viking longboat as the historians thought they would look. Magda had been doing some research. Crystal looked at the door and a sudden breeze wafted around the room.
“Oh, Lord,” Magda said and shivered. “Has he got out?”
“The cats don’t look frightened,” Sam said. “Let’s take them into the bedroom and see if they settle for the night. It gives me the excuse to stay and keep you safe.”
“Come on then, my lord and protector and my furry friends. Let’s hope the warrior is still in the shed.”
There were no scares through the night. Sam and Magda had a leisurely breakfast and then departed in separate vehicles to start work.
The café was undisturbed and gave her the same thrill as ever when she opened up. Rula and Katie arrived and they fired up the equipment.
Magda’s phone rang.
“Hi, Sam. Everything okay?” she asked as she went on lifting truffles with her other hand.
“If you consider that the shed is absolutely flattened to the ground . . . okay, yes.”
6
“What?” Magda exclaimed and the other two girls stopped what they were doing and waited to see what was wrong. She took the phone away from her ear and told them that the shed housing the wood was flattened to the ground.
“Good Lord,” Rula said. “Is the box and the wood still there?” Magda relayed the question, and yes, the box was untouched but everything else was demolished.
“Could somebody have come to steal anything?” Magda asked, but Sam told her that there were only old scaffolding boards in there and they were scattered about. “Do you want me to come over and see if I can help?” she asked but Sam said that he had a couple of men to collect the wood and he had put the box in the trunk of his car.
“I’m taking the truck. The box can stay here,” he finished. “I’ll take some photos and send them to you.” She hung up and told the other two what he said, just as her phone went ping. The others looked over her shoulder and saw the collapsed shed.
“It’s like somebody laid it out in the right places but never put it together,” Katie said.
“That Viking is really annoying me now,” Magda added.
“But how do we get rid of him?” Rula asked, but none of them knew.
“Maybe if we left the wood out in the forest, he would feel better and stay there,” Katie wondered.
“He can cause damage. He’s demonstrated that,” Magda observed. “Maybe the wilderness would be a good place. We’ll see what Sam and Declan think.”
Sam sent the photos to all of them and the phones rang back and forth but nobody could think of anything to solve the problem, and the café was so busy that they had to forget the Viking and get on with the work.
Josh arrived and began to learn the ropes. Rita zoomed around all of them and the stock of truffles and cheesecakes began to mount up in the chiller. Mikey came in for his usual beverage and asked Rula if they had noticed a wind blowing through the café.
“I was beginning to wonder if I was going a bit crazy, but others felt it as well and there was no wind outside.”
“Oh, Lord,” Rula said and brought him around the counter. “Tell Magda what you just asked me.”
“Have a seat and drink your hot chocolate because this is a strange story. Do you believe in ghosts, Mikey?”
“Sort of,” he said. “My aunt saw one once and she was a very down-to-earth woman.”
Magda told the tale of the whisky to her neighbor from the shop next door. Katie and Rula added bits as they passed by. By the time she finished, he sat back and looked a bit distressed.
“What are you thinking, Michael?” Rula always used his proper name and never ever called him Hikey Mikey, which he hated. It usually brought a smile, but that morning it didn’t.
“I thought the shop had been broken into, but nothing was missing. It was just a mess.”
“And you felt the wind?” Magda asked.
He nodded. She handed him her phone and he saw the pictures of the shed.
“What can we do about it?” he wondered out loud. Magda answered that they had just asked the very same thing.
“Sam is coming to rent a tent from you because we’re going out to the wild for a couple of days. You can talk to him about it. We thought maybe take the wood out into the forest and perhaps the ghost would stay there as well.”
“I don’t know if I feel better for finding out about the Viking or not,” Mikey said and took the covered cup that Rula offered. He walked away and Magda stood looking after him.
“I really wish that I had never started this truffle,” she said. “If it doesn’t work in the forest, I might try sending the wood back to Scotland and scrap the whole idea.”
“Don’t give up on it yet,” Rula said and came to put an arm around her. “Tell me what I am going to wear for this bridesmaid gig.”
Magda smiled and asked the girls what they thought the dresses should be like.
“I am thinking that dressing up in kilts and tartan is out of the question,” Katie called across the room.
“Definitely,” Magda answered. “Along with anything to do with Vikings.”
“I like dark-colored bridesmaid dresses,” Rula suggested.
“Makes a nice contrast with the bride,” Katie agreed. “Find a day when the two of you can go and choose dresses together.”
“I do like traditional things,” Magda told them. “We’ll try and get a day after the camping trip to go and look for them.”
Josh proved to be a very useful addition to the staff and Rita seemed to get on well with him. In fact, he was a very pleasant young man, and everyone made him welcome.
“Have you noticed how the female customers actually love having Josh serve them?” Katie asked, and Magda said that if it was good for business, she was happy about
that.
Sam came by in the late afternoon and heard about Mikey and the wind in the camping shop. He went away to rent a tent and anything else Mikey thought they might need. When he came back he looked thoughtful.
“I’ve put the tent in the truck,” he said. “I didn’t realize that he had started on the wall behind the café. I bet that’s when our nasty spirit visitor latched on to him.”
“I had forgotten that as well,” Magda agreed. “I hope it doesn’t apply to others.” She looked stricken. “What about Merle and the ranch?”
“Give her a call,” Rula suggested.
Magda spoke to Merle and listened to the reply.
“I am so sorry, Merle. You and Mikey have been dragged into this as well.” She listened again and asked Sam if they could drive over to the ranch. He nodded and she told Merle they would drive over straightaway.
“I’ll leave you to finish off, Rula,” Magda said. “They are experiencing a wind disturbing everything in the shop and Branston thinks it’s maybe spooking the horses.”
“Oh no,” Rula exclaimed. “Go and see how bad it is.”
“What can we do, Sam?” Magda asked as he drove them to the ranch.
“I don’t know, Magda,” he answered and reached over to take her hand.
“I’ll not make the whisky truffles, give away the bottles, and send the wood back to Scotland.”
“If we can get him in the box at the same time, that might work,” Sam answered and turned off the road at the point where Declan claimed he saw a cabin.
“This is a lovely place,” Magda said. Merle and Branston were both waiting on the steps of the main building. Magda didn’t even remark on her cousin’s fancy cowboy clothes but started to apologize to Merle all over again.
“Stop the apologies,” Merle told her. “I can deal with it. I’ve sent everyone else away because I thought we might get him to react to us. Maybe we can find out a bit more that would help.”
Magda explained about trying to send him back to Scotland. They made a small circle in the shop, then Merle called out to see if the spirit would join them.