Aunty Marmalade

by Ruth Ann Young

  “We’re both fine, spondoolucks really, thank you. Come in and have a cup of coffee you must be gasping after your drive,” said Aunty M linking arms with granny.

  After coffee, granny asked if she could see my room. She followed me upstairs and sat on the end of the bed.

  “Are you alright dear? Is anything troubling you?”

  “No I’m fine. I’m having a lovely time with Aunty M. She is so kind to me and never tells me off or anything. And we eat all the yummy stuff.”

  “Good, but are you sure everything is Ok?”

  “Why do you ask?” I said puzzled.

  “I phoned Madeleine the other evening and she mentioned that you had heard noises and she was worried about you. She doesn’t understand too well about young people. She thought you might be too scared to talk to her about it.”

  “I have heard noises and stuff, but Aunty M told me it’s only the wind and the old house creaking. Mum told me not to bother Aunty M and not to be a nuisance. I’m fine honestly. Mum and dad will be back soon anyway. But I love it here, really I do. Mum phoned the other day but she didn’t say much. She just wanted to know whether I was being good.”

  “Mum doesn’t mean to be so cold you know. She’s just so busy and she’s always put her career first. She should put you first we all know that, but that’s the way she is and I don’t think she’ll ever change,” said granny with an exasperated sigh.

  “I know she won’t change. I don’t mind. I just want to do the right things for everyone. It will be better when I’m at boarding school.”

  “That’s right. It will be better.”

  “Granny, have there ever been twins in our family apart from my great, great granny and her sister?”

  “Twins? Goodness me. Um, no dearie, oh dear. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason. I was just interested that’s all when I saw the painting of the twins. It’s amazing, isn’t it seeing your ancestors. I even have the same hair as them,” I replied. But as I did, I noticed the colour drain from granny’s face and she started to fidget with her cardigan.

  “You are a good girl Florence. I’m very proud of you.”

  Granny never spoke to me like this before. Her eyes were sparkly with tears and I couldn’t understand why. But over the next few days, I did start to understand as the pieces of the jigsaw started to fit together.

  Chapter 16

  The next morning, Aunty M and I walked Biggles along the beach. She stopped to talk to friends and neighbours so Biggles and I walked on ahead to the rocks at the far end. There were dinghies from the sailing club bobbing about on the sea and the fishing boats were coming back to the little harbour. Biggles found a huge piece of drift wood which he dropped at my feet so I could throw it into the sea for him.

  “Ok Biggles, but only if you promise not to swim out too far.”

  I threw the stick just a short way out, and he found it and brought it back to me. We carried on with the game until he got bored, and ran off to find a cuttlefish which he then devoured.

  “Biggles you are revolting. Naughty boy.” Just watching him made my stomach turn.

  As I looked out to sea, I could see one of the dinghies suddenly dip and turn, and capsize. I wasn’t sure if anyone saw what happened. I shouted to Aunty M and she came running towards me with one of her neighbours, Major Brunswick.

  “Good Lord, they’ve capsized. We must get help and quick,” shouted the Major.

  “I’ll run back to the house and phone,” said Aunty M.

  “I’ve got my phone with me, Aunty M.” I dialled 999 and asked for help. Within a few minutes, there was a roaring sound and a lifeboat came speeding out of the harbour heading for the sinking dinghy. It was so exciting. I’d seen a rescue on the television but never in real life. The lifeboat was going so quickly dipping up and crashing down in the waves. Overhead, behind us came a roar. The noise was deafening as a helicopter flew just above our heads in the direction of the rescue scene. The helicopter hovered above the lifeboat whipping up spray and foam. We saw the hook go down with a rescuer dangling from it, and then the figure of a small person was pulled up held tightly by one of the rescue team. The helicopter came back towards us and flew passed on its way to the hospital in Madingly. The dingy bobbed back up the right way and was fixed onto a rope to be pulled along back by the lifeboat to the safety of the harbour.

  Later that evening my mobile rang.

  “Hello is that Florence?”

  “Yes it is.”

  “Hi my name is Sam. Samantha Finn. I just wanted to say thank you for calling up the emergency services today. It was me that had to be rescued.”

  “Are you Ok?” I asked.

  “Yes, just a bit shocked and embarrassed,” came Sam’s reply.

  “I did nothing really. It was lucky I had my mobile with me.”

  “Yes, it was. But thanks for what you did. I owe you one. Where do you live?”

  “In London, but I’m staying here with my godmother for a couple of weeks.”

  “I’ll buy you a coke when I get out of hospital. I’ll phone you again. Bye and thanks again,” said Sam.

  Great, I thought. Maybe a new friend. I hadn’t met anyone since I’d been here and she might keep her promise and help me meet some others too. What an exciting day it’d been.

  After supper, I washed up and decided to read while I was listening to my iPod. Aunty M was watching a programme on the TV about the Egyptians and I wasn’t interested in it. I remembered I’d left last month’s Girl Talk up in the attic and I wanted to finish reading it. So I climbed the steps pulled myself up and walked towards the sofa. As my eyes got used to the dim light, I saw someone sitting where I had been, reading my comic.

  Chapter 17

  A shudder ran down my spine. I stopped, unable to move. As my eyes desperately tried to focus on the figure, the light became so dim that the only way I could see better was to move closer to the sofa. I felt my foot move forward and as I did so the figure started to fade until it disappeared. My comic fluttered on to the sofa and I felt alone. I let my breath out and felt light-headed. I reached down, picked up my magazine and slumped down where the figure had been.

  I rubbed my eyes. The light was dim up here. I must be seeing things. The wind was whistling through the gaps in the window. That must have been what moved the pages of my Girl Talk. That could be an explanation, I knew that.

  “Is there anyone there?” I whispered, hoping I wouldn’t get an answer and yet wishing in a strange way, I did.

  But nothing happened. Whoever it was did not return. A terrifying feeling of loneliness came over me. The figure had stared at me. The eyes seem to stare through me but the most worrying part was those eyes were blue like mine. But they were lifeless. Pleading. Desperate. Sad. The more I thought about the figure, the more I realised that it looked like me. It was like looking at me in the mirror, and yet it wasn’t me. Obviously, it can’t be me. The figure was dressed all in white.

  Suddenly I felt cold and I started to shiver. A feeling of absolute terror wafted over me like a wave and all I could think of doing was getting downstairs to my room and to safety. I backed towards the hatch slowly, slowly. Sudden movements might make the vision reappear. My heart was thumping in my chest. My mouth was dry. I stumbled over a pile of shoes, turned and as quickly as I could, I climbed down into my room. Relieved that I had escaped; my heart stopped pounding.

  When odd things happen, there could always be an explanation. Aunty M and granny made sense about the noises I heard, but this time, I really did think I saw a girl. I think I saw a ghost. The ghost looked like me and may have wanted to make contact with me, but for whatever reason this evening was not the right time. Omigod. The realisation of what I was thinking was really scary. I would have to wait until she felt she was ready to trust me or get to know me better. Well, she would need to know that I wouldn’t scream and run or rush off to tell Aunty M or granny. She needed to become my friend.

  That night,
I kept waking up thinking I could hear noises. At one stage I actually thought I saw a ghostly figure standing at the foot of my bed. I opened my eyes and rubbed them, but there was nothing there. There were no strange noises because the wind had dropped. Even the curtains didn’t twitch.

  In the morning, I jumped out of bed and tripped over my rucksack. I hadn’t put it there. It had been moved from the bottom of the wardrobe. It must be a sign that she was trying to contact me again. I went down to the kitchen.

  “Good morning Aunty M. How are you?”

  “You’re very chirpy today. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes I did,” I lied not wanting Aunty M to become suspicious. “What are we doing today?”

  “I must pop into town today to get some paints and paper. I need to get some serious painting done as four of my pictures have just been sold and I need to replace them. I wondered if you would like to visit Sam, the girl you helped rescue, at the hospital. We could ‘kill two birds with one stone’ as they say.”

  “I’d like to do that. I’d like to meet her. I think she’s a bit older than me and it would be good to have someone to chat to so I don’t have to keep bothering you,” I replied.

  “Florence, you could never be a bother to me you know that.”

  Aunty M put on her helmet and goggles. We got into the car and off we roared. Travelling in a car with the hood down is one way of getting your hair full of knots. My hair blew forwards, backwards, up and down and twisted itself around and around and by the time we got to town, I looked like one of those monsters in my Latin text book. I could just imagine my Mum’s face if she could see me now, and it wouldn’t be pleasant for her or me. Now I knew why Aunty M wore the helmet.

  After we bought her painting stuff, we set off to the hospital. It was a quaint building. It looked more like a pub than a hospital.

  “Could you please let us know where we could find Sam Finn?” Aunty M asked the receptionist.

  “Yes, she’s in room number 7. Down the corridor and turn right,” replied the receptionist. She smiled and we said our thank yous.

  Sam was in the bed by the window. She turned around to look at us. She looked about my age with very short dark hair. She was covered in brown freckles and had a big wide smile.

  “Hello, are you Sam?” I asked.

  “Yes,” came the reply, “Hi, there. Are you Florence?”

  “Yes I am. This is my aunt. Aunty Marmalade.”

  “How do you do?”

  “We were coming into town anyway and we thought you wouldn’t mind if we popped in to see you,” said Aunty M.

  I handed Sam a huge bar of chocolate that I bought her. Aunty M said she would probably prefer it to grapes.

  ‘No, it’s great to meet you and it gives me a chance to say thanks for what you did for me. I’ve been sailing for ages but that day, the sea was quite rough and I just lost control of my dinghy. It was the first time it happened to me. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t been there.”

  “When are you going home?” I asked.

  “Tomorrow. I can’t wait. The food in here is awful and there’s nothing wrong with me. They just wanted me to stay in for a few days ‘under observation’ they said.”

  “Would you like to come over for tea when you feel up to it?” I asked.

  “Yes I would. Where do you live?” asked Sam.

  “I’m staying at Apple Jack’s Cottage.”

  “I only live about five minutes walk from you. I’ll come over on Thursday then about four?”

  “Great,” I said. ‘See you then.’

  “Thanks, Florence. Nice to meet you Aunty M.”

  “You too, Sam” Aunty M and I replied together.

  We left and headed down the corridor.

  “What a lovely girl she is,” said Aunty M, “she must live further down the coast road from us.”

  “Yes she is nice. How old do you think she is?”

  “No older than you I would say maybe eleven or twelve. You’ll probably become firm friends. Then whenever you come to stay you can catch up with each other,” suggested Aunty M.

  “Yes,” I replied enthusiastically. I was really looking forward to Thursday. It seemed ages since I had chatted to someone my age. Not that mattered. I’d had plenty of excitement since I came to stay.

  Chapter 18

  Sam arrived at four bang on time.

  “Hi come in. Let’s have something to eat and drink and then I’ll take you up to my room.”

  “Great. Wow what a tea,” said Sam almost in disbelief.

  Sam looked at the table in the kitchen. Aunty M had laid the table and is was full of lots of delicious treats.

  “My aunt makes the best cakes ever. This one is lemon drizzle, this is chocolate with extra chocolate sauce and this is cream and jam sponge. There are scones if you prefer, or these are fruit and nut biscuits, or these are jumbo chocolate chips. There’s tea, water or juice.”

  “Stop. Do you have this choice every day?” laughed Sam.

  “Fraid so!” I responded. “Aunty M just loves baking and her cakes are really scrummy! What do you want to start with?”

  “Can we have more than one?” asked Sam.

  “Sure, she’d be hurt if we didn’t tuck in and try everything,” I said proudly.

  “Ok, I’d love to try the chocolate one with the extra sauce. Can I have orange to drink?”

  I cut two smallish slices and put them on plates and poured two glasses of juice.

  I pushed a plate and glass to Sam and watched. Her reaction to the cake was just like mine when I had my first slice. She closed her eyes and said, “Wow it’s amazing. I could eat the whole cake.”

  “Better not we’ve got two more to try after this.”

  We both laughed out loud and continued to chomp our way through the chocolate followed by the lemon and then the sponge.

  “I’m stuffed,” I said.

  “Me too,” groaned Sam, “My mum says, “I’ve had an adequate sufficiency,” but to be honest, I am stuffed too.”

  “Let’s go upstairs and you can see my room.”

  We went up the stairs followed by Biggles who was very excited that we had a visitor.

  “Cool room. You’ve got a really soft bed.”

  “Yes, it’s so soft. My one at home is hard like a board. My mum says it’s good for my back but to be honest I think it’s giving me backache.” We both laughed.

  “Parents can be a pain can’t they. Always moaning and nagging. You just think you’ve got it right and they change the rules again,” said Sam.

  “My dad is Ok,” I offered, “He’s away a lot so he doesn’t mind. I don’t think he can be bothered. He has loads to do when he is at home so as long as I’m quiet and my reports are Ok, he doesn’t say much.”

  “That’s funny he sounds like my dad too. He’s always away which means I only have my mum and my brother at home. I’m at boarding school are you?”

  “No, but I’m going in September.”

  “Cool. Which one are you going to?” asked Sam with interest.

  “St Maur’s it’s in…”

  “Never. St Maur’s in Deerling?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well there’s a coincidence as they say. That’s where I go. I’m in Year 7 so I’ll be going up to Year 8 in September.”

  “So I’ll be the year behind you. When is your birthday?” I asked.

  “I’ll be twelve on 14th March.”

  “I’ll be eleven on 28th March.”

  “How funny. We’re nearly one year apart. I’ll be able to look after you when you start. I’ll ask if I can be your ‘shadow.’ We have a really good system for new girls. You’ll love it there. I do. There’s plenty to do, the work’s not too bad and best of all, it’s far away from parents. What more could you want?” said Sam smiling.

  “I can’t believe you go there. I’ve been a bit nervous about starting, but my mum works and I am a nuisance to her. I have to stay late e
very night at school until she can get me, so it will be better for her and me if I’m boarding. I want to make new friends too. There’s a ‘cool gang’ in my class and I’m not part of it. I’ve been bullied and I’m too scared to tell my mum. It only makes things worse if you get the teachers involved.”

  “Poor you and you’re right about the teachers. It won’t happen at St Maur’s. The teachers and the tutors make sure we are ‘happy and thriving’ to quote the Head, Mrs Postlethwaite. She’s a dotty old bag but her heart’s in the right place. Don’t worry; you’ll be fine and even better now you know me,” said Sam smiling.

  “Would you like to go up to the attic? There’s all sorts of junk up there?” I said realising that I had very little to show Sam, only my comics and iPod and I was sure she would have them anyway. She seemed really grown up, much older than me, but she was so nice. Helping to rescue her had been lucky. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met her.

  “How do you get up there?”

  “Watch. By the way, going up here is a bit of a secret. You won’t tell Aunty M will you?”

  “Course not, not if you don’t want me to. Why is it such a secret?” asked Sam.

  “I don’t want her to know in case she stops me going up there. You know what grown ups are like don’t you? She’ll think I’ll fall or whatever,” I replied.

  I cleared a space on the shelves and climbed up. I pulled the ring and hauled myself up. Sam followed.

  “How cool is this,” she remarked, “sort a secret room.”

  “That’s what I thought the first time I came up here. I love it up here. Look.”

  I pointed to the rack of dressing up clothes. Then I took her down to the squashy sofa. My Girl Talk comic was still there but it was open at page three and I was sure I’d left it closed.

  “Do you come up here and read? It’s a bit spooky. Aren’t you scared?”

  “No. Well a bit I at first. I’m an only child so I’m always on my own. ‘Spose I’m just used to it,” I announced.