by Stan Mason
When Purdy returned home, he realised that he couldn’t get into the house because he had left the key at the bank. He broke a small window at the rear and climbed inside, leaving the front door on the latch so that he could get in whenever he wanted to enter. The house was freezing cold and there was a draught from the front door but it hardly mattered to him. In a short while, he would be on his way to Manchester in the heated cabin of his truck. If Wendy had been home, she would have fretted about the cold and that someone might come in through the front door to steal the furniture and the television. As far as Purdy was concerned, none of it mattered for it would all be auctioned off for a pittance or end up in a charity shop. He switched on the television to watch a programme and settled into his armchair with a mug of hot tea. Suddenly the programme switched to a different channel of its own accord, He stared at the screen blankly for it had never happened before. He moved forward to change it to the original channel before it did the same thing again.
‘Lady!’ he shouted at the top of his voice. ‘You may have put the fear of God in me once but you’ll not do it again! I’ve blocked out the yellow flashing in front of my eyes! And I don’t hear your voice any more! I’m sorry I hit you but it wasn’t my fault! Do you hear what I’m saying? It wasn’t my fault! There was the dog and... .shit! What the hell am I doing talking to myself? I’ve got to get out of here before I go round the twist!’
He turned off the television and went to the bedroom to pack some clothes, It wasn’t his intention ever to return to the house, especially if some paranormal force kept changing the channels on the television set. It wall too weird... too strange! Far better that he was free from the house and all its inhibitions for ever! However he was not to escape the last word from Jennifer Roach!
‘Shouting makes no difference at all,’ she whispered in his ear as he packed some clothes in a holdall. ‘You’re not free of me yet. If you want to be free, you’ll have to return to Cornwall to see my husband. Then I promise you won’t have to deal with me any more.’
He went downstairs to the front door and released the latch to free the lock. He had never thought about going back to Cornwall to find out what had really happened on that fateful night. He didn’t relish facing the husband, or making enquiries to find out the fate of the woman. He climbed into his truck, whistling as he threw the holdall into the back of the cabin. The big adventure was out there somewhere. All he had to do was to find it. There were no more shackles, fetters or limits. He would be with Katy Morrell and then come back for Brenda in Consolidated Stores. She had told him that she wanted to see him later. It was like the old days... women just couldn’t keep their hands off him! He started the engine and allowed the vehicle to move forward slowly. He touched his pocket which held the cheque from his previous run. He hadn’t given it to the bank manager. In his new life, he was already in the money... with another delivery on schedule... and no other worries. Yes... it was just like the old days!’
Wendy Purdy arrive home very late indeed. She was absolutely exhausted at having to change trains and wait for hours to reach Euston Station. She paid the taxi driver with gratitude as he took her suitcases into the hall and went into the front room. It was cold and quiet but it was home! As she entered, she called out her husband’s name even though it was clear he wasn’t there for the house was in darkness. He was on another night-time trip up north delivering goods from Consolidated Stores. Hopefully, it wasn’t Manchester again. She dreaded to think how she would react if he came home with the same perfume on his clothes and body. For the moment, such matters failed to have any impact upon her emotions. She was too fatigued to care. In fact she was so tired, she couldn’t find the energy to unpack her suitcases. After making herself a mug of tea, she climbed between the cold icy sheets, still wearing all her clothes, and fell asleep. When she awoke, her husband might be standing there holding a mug of hot tea for her with a cheerful smile on his face. After that, they could continue their lives together... perhaps with a little more understanding than before. She had no idea that he had gone for good!
Chapter Thirteen
Rhona Paphos collected Charles from his home at the appointed time and drove him to the airport. She appeared to be just as beautiful in the morning and her clothes were immaculate. She made a specific point of not mentioning her proposition and the banker admired her for her diplomacy and tact in avoiding the issue. He still suspected that she had contacted her mother to find out whether he would agree to join her company before she made any further approach. For much of the flight they discussed domestic economies of major countries of the Western world, markets, jewellery, selling techniques, margins and profitability. Then they settled back to read the morning newspapers they had bought in the airport lounge.
At the moment the aircraft landed in Cyprus, Charles fell in love with the country. The fist thing to strike him was the temperature which was far warmer than that in England and he felt comfortable bathed in the glorious sunlight. He had never visited the island before although fragments of Greek mythology triggered in his mind and he recalled that the setting had been chosen as the birthplace of the beautiful love-Goddess Aphrodite.
They cleared immigration and customs swiftly and he was pleasantly surprised to find a car waiting for them, It took twenty minutes to reach the main town of Paphos during which time Rhoma was in her element, telling him all about that part of the island.
‘There are lots of sandy beaches if you like swimming,’ she informed him brightly. We have the Yeroskipos Tourist Beach along the southern strip while a few miles north is the beautiful Coral Bay. But if you want deserted beaches, you’ll have to drive a few miles north to Lara. You can see them hatch turtles there. Paphos is really split into two towns which flow like one. There’s Ktima at the top of the hill and Kato Paphos on the coast. But you’ll learn all about it in due course, I’m sure. All around the countryside you’ll find carob, olive and pomegranate trees, green banana plantations, peanut and vegetable fields, and many terraced vineyards. There’s plenty to see and do here. Paphos has a fishing harbour overlooked by an ancient Venetian Fort. At one time it was the capital of Cyprus. You can visit the Rock of Aphrodite, the House of Dionysus with its mosaics. The Tombs of the Kings, and St. Paul’s Pillar where the apostle was tied and lashed by the Roman Emperor, Also you can tour the twelfth century monastery of St. Neophytos in the hillside among the rock chambers said to have been carved by him. In Greek mythology, Pygmalion, an ancient King of Cyprus carved an ivory statue of a maiden who was beautiful he fell in love with her. Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and beauty, brought the statue to life and called her Galatea. She and Pygmalion had a son named Paphos. Local legend has it that he was the ancestor of our family. How true it is I have no idea. But it makes interesting reading to say the least.’
‘Where are we going now? Only I need to book a room in a hotel.’
‘Hotel? You’re not staying at a hotel! Guests stay at our house. We live in Tala village set in the hills behind the town. We have a villa there with views of the countryside and the coastline.’
‘Thank you for your hospitality. It’s very kind of you.’
‘Not at all,’ she responded casually. ‘I’m the one who should be grateful to you. You could have had me arrested in London. It would have caused a nasty problem, however temporary it might have been.’ She took his hand into her own. ‘You’ll like it here. I know you will.’
He felt embarrassed by her precociousness but made no attempt to remove his hand. Apart from her natural beauty, which emulated Galatea herself, there was something warm, mature and loving about Rhona Paphos that pleased him. They passed a number of old houses in Tala village and he envisaged that her mother lived in a large cottage. He was stunned when they stopped outside a newly-built villa of mansion-sized proportions just beyond the edge of the village.
‘Wow!’ he exclaimed as Rhona pointed towards it. ‘It�
��s fantastic!’
‘Nice, isn’t it?’ she remarked modestly. ‘All made possible by Scintillant. Our island customs teach us to take care of our old folk, starting with one’s parents. That’s exactly what I’ve done. Do you really like it?’
Charles blew out his cheeks. Designed by the best architects on the island, it sported a number of Ionic columns in front with a large portico, topped by a coffered dome, In terms of space, it contained ten bedrooms, three bathrooms, and five large rooms downstairs, and there were expansive landscaped gardens at both the front and the rear of the property, In the foreground, a large verandah had been erected which held white tables and parasols with multi-coloured canopies and a long swinging settee, Its grace and elegance would allow the villa to be the noble home of an aristocrat, a wealthy ship-owner, or a grateful inheritor.
‘Magnificent!’ continued the banker in awe, ‘You could have sold this property to get the money you wanted for the business,’
‘The rules of the game are to move forward not backwards,’ she returned hastily. This was something bought in the past to act as an anchor for the future. We go on from here. That’s what life’s all about, isn’t it?’
He nodded in confirmation although he didn’t necessarily agree with her philosophy. He hadn’t been involved with polemics for many years... not since the debating society sessions at school in the senior grade. He lifted his overnight case from the boot of the car and followed her inside the building.
There were loud noises of celebrations as they met her mother and two brothers. Introductions were quickly made and then they went into a large room where one of the brothers poured out large glasses of Cyprus wine. Coming home was a good reason for celebration and Rhona was in her element. The banker was surprised to find himself an integral part of the warm, comfortable, happy atmosphere. .It had never happened to him like this in England... not even with his own family!
‘So you’re the banker Rhona’s told us so much about,’ declared Mama, raising her glass in the air. ‘Cheese!’
‘It’s cheers, Mama, not cheese!’ chided Rhona gently, with a smile touching her lips.
‘Cheese... cheers! What does it matter? The wine tastes the same either way,’ retorted her mother. She turned her attention to the banker and nodded to him. ‘What do you think of my daughter, eh? Isn’t she beautiful? A flower of Cyprus!’
‘She’s very beautiful,’ concurred Charles with embarrassment.
‘And what a business brain in her head. We struggled for generations to scrape a living from the land and, suddenly, we have someone who’s a star in big business. What do you think?
‘She’s a very clever lady. You’re obviously very proud of her... and very rightly so.’
Rhona raised her hands to stop the trend of the conversations. ‘Please, Mama, you’re embarrassing both of us!’
Her mother stared at him closely. ‘Where do you come from?’ she asked bluntly without taking her eyes off his face.
‘I come from London originally, then I went to live in the Midlands, now I’m in Cornwall.’
‘Is Cornwall near London?’
Charles was unable to control himself and almost choked on the wine with laughter. ‘Not really. It’s about two hundred-and-fifty miles away. It has lots of lovely beaches, surfing and sailing. Plenty of tourists... just like Cyprus. Everyone loves it. The only problem’s the English weather. It never seems to stop raining.’
‘You know, Rhona,’ said the woman turning to her daughter. ‘I like this man. He has a good strong face, honest eyes, and I like the way he talks.’
‘He should have honest eyes,’ laughed her daughter easily. ‘He’s a banker. Now will you leave him alone and let him drink his wine! You’re embarrassing him!‘’
‘Shush!’ uttered her mother blandly. ‘No one should get embarrassed when they’re with friends. I think he could be a good friend.’ She paused to stare directly into Roach’s eyes. ‘You want me to arrange a séance!’
‘Yes,’ he replied calmly. ‘My wife died in a car accident...’
‘Shush!’ she retorted, forcing him to tail off in the middle of his explanation. ‘I don’t want to hear any details otherwise you’ll say that I’m a fraud or a charlton.. That’s what you’ll say.’
‘You mean a charlatan, Mama,’ corrected her daughter.
‘Whatever,’ returned the older lady. ‘We’re honest people with the ability to contact the spirit world.’ She took his hand and led him aside, inviting him to sit down. ‘I knew you were coming here even before Rhona told me. My powers told me that you were. The reason is that Rhona asked me to find out for her. I know much more but it’s not right for me to say anything now. First we talk a few things before the séance. The world of the medium is very strange. Some people believe... some do not. It doesn’t matter. What it tells me is that there’s life after death and we are in touch with the people who pass over.’
‘Across the bridge, you mean.’
‘Across the bridge?’ She looked at him sternly. ‘You’ve been in communication with her, haven’t you? With your wife!’
‘Well it’s more that she’s been communicating with me.’
‘Shush!’ The woman was astonished. ‘Why do you want me to arrange a séance if she speaks to you already?’
‘Jennifer’s aura’s weakening fast. She Won’t be able to contact me for much longer. I know so little about life after death. This is the one chance I have to learn more about it. I don’t want to miss that chance. That’s why I need your help.’
Mama sat down slowly and took a sip of her wine. ‘You know there’s no absolute proof of another world up there,’ she told him frankly. ‘A medium’s like a telephone operator on a busy but poor-quality switchboard. Messages have to be deciphered because four or five spirits are talking at once. One asks why mediums are the only ones which the spirits contact. Why Isn’t everyone in touch with them? I want to say these things to you because you come to me not as a client but as my daughter’s friend.’
‘I appreciate what you’re telling me,’ commented Charles thoughtfully. ‘I understand the situation.’
‘I think you know more than most of us from the sound of it,’ she told him perceptively without taking her eyes off him. ‘It’s very interesting that a man with no psychic power receives messages from his dead wife in the spirit world. Very interesting! But what I want to explain to you is that I’m an honest medium who doesn’t put anyone in a trance or uses ghost-faking appliances or hidden microphones. I’ve never had any rapping in my séances, or moving tables, or apparitions or anything else. And there’s no ectoplasm made out of cheesecloth coming out of my mouth. Do you understand what I’m saying?’
‘Crystal clear. You run your séances with honesty.’
‘You a good man,’ she added with enthusiasm.
‘You said that you knew that Rhona and I were coming here and you knew much more. Why don’t you tell me about it?’
The woman shook her head from side to side ‘I have a big mouth. I should have said nothing. The trouble is I cannot tell you the future otherwise you might try to chance it. It’s happened before. I must say nothing. Just think of me as a talkative woman. I’ll arrange a séance this evening one hour after we finish dinner. Do you agree?’
Charles shrugged his shoulders with disappointment at her reluctance to tell him what she knew. ’Yes’ it’s fine,’ he said dismally. He felt that it would have been extremely useful to discover what decisions he would have made in the future. It would have saved him from having to weight up all the pros and cons and worry about whether he was doing the right thing. However he recognised that the woman was perfectly in order to refuse to tell him anything. She had obviously told someone else about the future once before and they had changed it by making alternative decisions. It appeared to him to be a very risky busin
ess to changes one’s future after it had been set out.
He returned to Rhona and her brothers in another room. They were speaking Greek and he felt like an outsider unable to understand what they were saying. In a short while, he went on to the verandah and she joined him there
‘I hope you’re not overpowered by all this,’ she began, with a smile touching the corners of her mouth. ‘She gives quite an impression sometimes especially when she likes a person. Somehow she reaches right down into a person’s soul. But she’s taken quite a shine to you, I can tell you that.’
‘But I haven’t said or done anything to impress her.’ he bleated.
‘Perhaps that’s the secret. The strong silent type. Nothing showy or false. He laughed at her cliché and she joined in with him, the ripples of laughter echoing in the warn Mediterranean breeze. ‘Now that you’ve entered the lion’s den, I have to ask you whether you’ve given any thought to my proposition.’
‘Not yet. I haven’t had time to weigh up all the advantages and disadvantages. I’m a man of commitment. I have to be fully sure about a project to make certain I can contribute. If I van’t I wouldn’t want to be part of it.’
‘I appreciate what you’re saying, Charles, but you have to know that I’ve got the greatest confidence in you. There’s a question put by Benjamin Franklin which seems apt. “Does thou love life? Then do not squander Time for that is the stuff that Life is made of.”’
‘Where were you educated?’ he asked. ‘You have such a broad knowledge of quotations and writers. I’m very impressed.’
She giggled before answering. ‘I went to a very ordinary school in Paphos. All the time of teaching here are different to those in England. It gets too hot in the summer so they close the schools. At other times, the lessons start at eight in the morning. I spent most of my time on Yerskipos Tourist Beach or Coral Bay listening to the tourists so that I could learn to speak English properly. I also spent time studying all the books I could lay my hands on. When I think about it, I read all the hours under the sun. And the right kind of books too. In the last two years of my schooling, I majored in business and commercial law. I was fascinated by it.’