by Agatha Frost
“Maybe I should cancel my birthday dinner?” Julia thought aloud as she drummed her fingers on the counter. “I don’t want people driving up that winding lane to my cottage in the rain.”
“But you’ve spent all morning baking that cake,” Jessie called from the kitchen as she emptied the contents of the dustpan into the bin. “The fruit cake that you said was full of fruit but isn’t technically fruitcake.”
“It’s a fruit cake for people who don’t like fruitcake,” Julia called back. “One of my mother’s old recipes. It’s a cinnamon sponge with pieces of crystallised dried fruit, spiced apple cream in between the slices, with hidden strawberry jam in the middle. Top it off with chocolate cream and cinnamon powdered raspberries and blueberries, and you’ve got something that’s hard to hate.”
“Exactly,” Jessie said as she popped her head through the beaded curtain. “You can’t let it go to –”
Before Jessie could finish her sentence, a deep rumble of thunder cut her off. It boomed through the village, echoing around the small café.
“Please tell me that was your stomach?” Julia asked hopefully.
A second rumble of thunder moaned above the café. They looked up at the ceiling as sudden rain beat down on the slate roof.
“Cool!” Jessie exclaimed with a wicked grin. “It’s bouncing off the road!”
They hurried over to the window as the sky turned a deep shade of purple, only illuminating when a crack of lightning ripped through the clouds, followed by another ominous growl of thunder. Through the golf-ball sized raindrops, Julia was sure she saw her gran’s curtains whipping shut.
It only took a matter of seconds for the village green to clear of people, and for Julia to realise that her café would be completely empty for the rest of the day.
“Maybe we should close early,” Jessie suggested as the air began to thicken. “Just this once.”
“It is my birthday.”
“Exactly.”
“People will understand.”
“They’ll think you’re bonkers if you don’t.”
They looked at each other with devious smiles as they glanced back at the kitchen where their coats were hanging. Julia could not remember the last time she had closed her café due to the weather conditions, but she could also not remember the last time she had seen the road in front of her café turn into a river in a matter of minutes.
They headed into the kitchen without another word. Julia locked the back door while Jessie made sure all the equipment was turned off. Even though fewer than a couple of minutes had passed since the rain had started, it beat down heavier with each new drop.
“I’ll write a note,” Julia said before pulling the pen lid off with her teeth. “Just in case the storm passes.”
She quickly scribbled down ‘Closed due to adverse weather – Sorry for the inconvenience’, and stuck it to the glass panel in the door with a piece of tape. The condensation dampened the paper and made the blue ink bleed, but it was still legible.
Jessie took off her apron and pulled her black hood low over her face. Julia pulled on her pink pea coat, which was missing a hood, but her car was only parked in the alley between her café and the post office. They flicked off the lights, casting the café into such darkness, Julia would have sworn summer was over, and Mother Nature had skipped autumn and gone straight to winter, despite it only being the middle of September.
“I’ve got my crystal,” Julia said, clutching Evelyn’s sapphire in her palm. “She said it would ward off evil.”
“Did she mention anything about rain?” Jessie replied as she wrapped her hand around the door handle. “Ready?”
“No.”
“Tough.”
Jessie pulled open the door, and it became obvious neither of them were prepared for what was waiting for them. The door flew out of her hand and hit the wall behind it, the glass rattling, and the piece of paper fluttering. The wind poured into the café, bringing the heavy rain with it. A puddle formed around Julia’s feet in seconds, but it was too late to turn back.
Julia thrust her car keys into Jessie’s hand and pushed her out into the rain. Her young apprentice stumbled backwards for a second, the wind threatening to blow her away, before ducking into the alley. Holding her breath, Julia stepped out and closed the door.
Despite the stuffy air, the rain was freezing and soaked her through in seconds. She stabbed the brass key at the lock, desperate to find the hole. She battled to keep her eyes open, but the rain was so heavy, it stuck her curls to her face. She swept her wet locks out of her eyes and squinted through the water, relieved when the key slotted into where it should.
After locking the door, she ran around the side of the café. The wind battering against her almost knocked her clean off her feet, but she fought back; even though it was a completely flat surface, she felt as if she was trying to climb the steepest hill.
She slipped down the alley and to the driver’s side of her vintage aqua blue Ford Anglia, but Jessie was the one sitting behind the wheel when she opened the door.
“Not a chance!” Julia cried over another rumble of thunder. “Move!”
“But I’m retaking my test soon,” Jessie protested, her fingers tightening around the wheel. “Barker said I need the practice.”
“I doubt Barker wanted you to practice during a monsoon!” Julia cried, her teeth chattering. “I’m soaked to the bone!”
Jessie sighed and rolled her eyes before yanking off her belt and climbing over the gearstick to the passenger seat. She slumped down and glared at Julia from under her hood.
“I didn’t want to drive your crap car anyway,” Jessie mumbled as she wiped her damp hair out of her face. “It’s probably going to wash away and kill us before we get to the cottage.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Julia yanked the belt across her chest. “She might be vintage, but the old girl has got me through a lot. Besides, I have Evelyn’s crystal, don’t I?”
They both shared a little smirk before Julia bravely slotted the key into the ignition and reversed the car down to the opening of the alley. She rested her arm on the back of Jessie’s seat as she attempted to look through the back window, but all she could see was the cascading water.
Julia flicked on her headlights, which illuminated the falling rain ahead. She could barely see more than a couple of metres in front of the car, but she could see her cottage in her mind’s eye, and she was confident she could get there. She pulled the sapphire out of her pocket and placed it on the dashboard.
Tightening her fingers around the steering wheel, Julia crawled forward, her eyes focussed on the little she could see of the road ahead. She gasped as a bolt of lightning fractured the black sky, illuminating the village for a brief moment. A rumble of thunder followed almost immediately; Julia felt it in her bones. Jessie looked at her with a wide grin, but Julia did not share her companion’s enthusiasm. She tried to look back at her café in the rear-view mirror, but the rain had already swallowed it up.
“Look out!” Jessie cried.
Julia instinctively slammed her foot on the brakes before her eyes re-joined the narrow beams of light ahead. A man in a floor-length black trench coat had appeared inches in front of her car. Julia’s heart pounded in her chest as she stared at the man she had almost hit, and it only intensified when the stranger looked up from under his hood, the headlights illuminating his face.
“Barker?” Julia mumbled, a mixture of relief and dread circling in her chest.
Barker hurried around the car and jumped into the backseat as another bolt of lightning and thunder happened simultaneously.
“Nice weather we’re having,” Barker said through chattering teeth as he yanked down his hood. “I should have known it was the wrong time to grab lunch, but the thought of your chocolate cake was too tempting to resist.”
“I could have hit you.” Julia glanced back at him through the mirror. “Why were you walking on the road?”
�
��I saw your headlights and figured it must be you. I wanted to attract your attention.”
“It’s a good job some of us are looking out for hazards,” Jessie said firmly. “I’m going to ace my test with my eyes closed.”
Julia continued to crawl forward and rounded the village green before driving to the opening of the lane that led to her cottage. As the road steepened, her car struggled against the flowing stream. With the extra weight in the back seat, she changed down a gear and pushed her foot hard onto the accelerator.
Even though she knew the lane’s twists and turns by memory, she drove as slowly as she dared. Lightning cracked periodically above them, illuminating the road ahead for a brief moment before darkness descended again, bringing the thunder with it.
“We must be in the middle of this thing,” Barker mumbled as he peered out of the window. “I read that something was coming, but I didn’t expect it to be this –”
Barker’s voice trailed off as bright headlights raced towards Julia’s car, blinding her in an instant. She swerved out of the way, but the lane was narrow. She felt the front of her car crunch into the low stone wall as a car sped past them, rocking her tiny vintage car.
“What a moron!” Jessie cried, twisting in her seat to watch as the headlights vanished. “If it wasn’t raining I’d get out and chase the idiot!”
Julia stared ahead at the lights as they hit the wall and bounced back at her. She twisted her key in the ignition, the engine coughing and spluttering back at her.
“At least things can’t get any worse,” Barker said with an awkward laugh.
As though to mock him, the heavens opened to send down the biggest crack of lightning Julia had ever seen. The thunder shook the road beneath as the purple streaks leaked across the dark sky. They soon faded away but were replaced just as quickly with fresh bolts. A slither of lightening fractured away from the network of neon lights, cracking against a wooden telegraph pole metres from Julia’s car. The power lines sparked and fizzed, snapping away from the wooden pole as it began to fall. Julia held her breath and turned her engine over again, but it was in vain; her car was dead.
Like a tree falling in the wilderness, they watched as the heavy pole drifted through the rain, its descent illuminated by more lightning. Julia let out a small sigh of relief when the pole began to fall away from her car, but it was short-lived when she realised exactly where they were on the winding lane.
Julia closed her eyes and listened to the almighty crunch of stone and wood as the pole found its target. When she opened them, another show of lightning treated her to the mess ahead. Even through the heavy rain, she could see the damage the fallen pole had caused.
“My cottage,” Barker mumbled as the thunder swallowed them up. “It’s destroyed my cottage.”
Chapter Two
The sun shone brightly the next morning, but it felt like dark clouds were still circling Barker’s cottage. Julia hung back with him on the other side of the garden wall as the large crane attached to the fire engine lifted the pole from where his sitting room used to be. She supportively looped her fingers around his as more of the thatched roof crumbled away.
“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” the lead firefighter said as he walked away from the cottage, pulling off his yellow hat. “Best thing to do now is to start documenting what happened from out here for the insurance people.”
Barker nodded, his hand tightening around Julia’s. They watched as the crane lifted the pole over the side of the wall and onto the road. They unclipped it, retracted the crane, and headed off down the winding lane, leaving the charred chunk of wood on the side of the narrow lane. Despite their advice, Barker pulled his keys from his pocket and unclipped the garden gate.
Julia followed him to the front door, her eyes trained on the giant hole in the front of his cottage. A mess of bricks and glass covered all of his ultra-modern furniture; it was barely recognisable.
The part of the cottage that was still standing creaked as Barker unlocked the door. He swung it open in its frame and peered down the hallway before stepping inside. Julia followed him in, her shoes squelching against the soaked carpet. She looked up through a hole in the roof, the cloudless sky mocking them from above.
Barker forced open the door to the sitting room, and Julia’s hand immediately drifted up to her mouth. The entire front wall and half of the roof were completely missing. They climbed over the splayed rubble and stared through the large hole at the bright blue sky. Somehow, it looked even worse from the inside.
“Your dining room is okay,” Julia said as she walked through the intact arch to the next room. “There’s a little water damage, but it’s still standing.”
She traced her finger along the wet glass table, her eyes landing on the typewriter in the corner. The sheet of paper that Barker had been working on had been completely saturated and now hugged the keys of the ancient machine. Barker followed her in and picked up an equally soaked stack of papers.
“The whole book,” he cried. “It’s ruined.”
“Didn’t you make copies?” Julia asked as she peeked into the kitchen, which looked entirely untouched.
“No,” he said, tossing the stack onto the table with a splatter. “Nor do I have home insurance. It was on the to-do list when I first moved in, but I kept putting it off. Everything is ruined.”
Julia peeled back the top page of the crime novel Barker had been working on. The sheet tore down the middle under her touch, the ink bleeding together even more.
“It’s just stuff,” Julia said hopefully as a pigeon flew through the hole and planted itself on the pile of rubble. “You can start the book again.”
“And the giant hole in my cottage?”
“I’m sure it’s not as bad as it looks,” Julia mumbled, the wobble in her voice letting her know she did not believe that any more than Barker did. “You can stay with me while we figure it out.”
“I don’t want to impose.”
“It’s only temporary,” she said reassuringly as she walked around the dining room table. “I already spoke about it with Jessie last night, and she agreed. You’re there half of the week anyway. What other choice do you have?”
“I could stay at Evelyn’s B&B,” Barker said, giving her the first smile she had seen from him all morning. “A free tarot reading with breakfast might be fun. If only she had foreseen this and warned me. It would have reminded me to buy some damn insurance.”
Julia pulled the sapphire crystal from her pocket and turned it over in her fingers. Between crashing her beloved car and witnessing the destruction of Barker’s cottage, she was beginning to wonder if Evelyn had cursed the birthstone.
Julia followed Barker into his bedroom, which was in perfect condition. Two large bikes, one with a pink bow wrapped around the handlebars, rested against his wardrobe.
“Your birthday present,” Barker said, pinching between his eyes as he sucked the air through his teeth. “I forgot all about them with everything that’s happened. I thought it would be nice to ride them out into the country together on Sundays and have picnics.”
“It’s almost like you knew I was going to crash my car.” Julia tiptoed up to Barker and kissed him on the cheek. “I love it.”
Barker wrapped his arms around Julia and pulled her into a tight hug. For the first time since she had met him, she could sense that he was scared, and it unsettled her. She could not begin to imagine how she would have felt if the telegraph pole had fallen through her cottage.
After bagging up as many clothes as he could carry, Barker set off up the lane to his new temporary home with his typewriter wedged under his arm. Julia waited until he was out of view before she wheeled her new bike out of the destroyed cottage. When she was on the road, she unravelled the pink bow and looked down at her birthday present. The last time she had ridden a bike was as a little girl, but hers had not been as pretty as this one. Its twisted metal structure was a similar shade of blue as her car. The wheels were so
ft cream. The handlebars and seat were covered in camel coloured leather with cream stitching, and there was a little metal basket at the front, which was lined with floral printed fabric. She had never expected such a gift from Barker, but she was pleasantly surprised he had picked a bike that seemed to match her tastes down to the smallest detail.
Glad she had opted for jeans and a wool jumper instead of one of her usual dresses, Julia mounted the bike and headed slowly down the lane towards the heart of Peridale. The warm air licked at her hair; it was nothing like the gale that had battered her cottage throughout the night. It was almost easy to forget how bad the weather had been the day before, but when she exited the lane and reached the village green, it became obvious Barker’s cottage was not the only one to have been affected by the storm.
As she weaved in and out of the fallen slate tiles from the shops’ roofs, she waved to Malcolm Johnson, the leader of the Peridale Green Fingers, as members of the club attempted to clean up the scattered litter and destroyed plants on the green.
Julia reached her café and was relieved to see it was still standing. She rode down the alley between the café and the post office, the firm wheels bouncing against the wet cobbles. She dismounted the bike and walked towards the back of the café, her relief disappearing when she saw a fallen tree draped across the lane, its trunk having smashed through the wall surrounding the yard behind her business. She opened the back gate and pushed her bike inside, the leaves of the tree casting a shadow across the back of the café. Sighing heavily to herself, Julia beat her fist down on the metal door.
Jessie yanked on the heavy door, her brows arching when she saw Julia with the bike.
“Birthday present from Barker,” Julia explained. “Have you seen this?”
Jessie stepped out of the café, her jaw dropping wide when she saw the giant tree resting against the wall, which had dispersed most of its bricks across the tiny yard.