by Linda Finlay
As Jago had predicted, the day-trippers and holidaymakers arrived with money to spend, and eager children swarmed around the stall, clamouring for sweets before making their way onto the beach, brightly coloured cones clutched in their hands.
Before Colenso knew it, the evening before Litha – or the summer solstice, as Mara insisted on calling it – had arrived.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Jago asked as Colenso scooped up her basket and made her way out of the stall.
‘I told you, Mara and I are going over to the Mount for the summer solstice.’
‘But there are still some people milling around and they might want to buy sweets,’ he frowned.
‘Then you’ll have to serve them yourself, Jago. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon as usual,’ she said, trying not to laugh at his indignant look. Having been rushed off her feet all afternoon, he wasn’t going to make her feel guilty for leaving a couple of hours earlier than usual. ‘I’ll dock it from your wages.’
‘What wages?’ she asked.
Excitement bubbled up inside her as she hurried over to Mara’s tent. She was pleased to see the woman was in fine spirits as they made their way down to the beach. For the past week or so she’d been withdrawn and preoccupied, spending her mornings looking out over the island or chatting earnestly with Sarah before taking herself off to her little tent. After supper she went straight to bed. Mara hadn’t once teased Colenso about her choice of sea plants for their meal, and she missed their bantering.
‘We’ll walk over the causeway to St Michael’s Mount and climb up the pilgrim’s path to the castle. It’s the best place to watch the sun rise,’ Mara told Colenso as, shedding their boots, they stepped onto the cool sand. With the water lapping over their feet, they made their way towards the island.
Despite her earlier excitement, when she saw the outline of The Lizard in the distance, her spirits plummeted. She’d visited the post office earlier that morning and there was still no letter from Kitto. Despite Mara’s assurance, she couldn’t help wondering if he’d succumbed to the schoolmistress’s charms after all. But she couldn’t stay gloomy, for they’d reached their destination.
‘Well, here we are,’ Mara said, sinking down onto a rock and slipping into her boots. ‘I think we’ll take a little rest, it’s a steep climb to the top,’ she added as Colenso bent and tied her laces.
‘I’ve brought us some of Jago’s confections,’ she grinned, extracting a cone of bullseyes from the basket and holding it out to the woman. They sat sucking the striped, lemon-flavoured sweets while watching the activity going on in the harbour. Colenso was sure she’d never seen so many boats.
‘Could bloomin’ break your teeth on these things,’ Mara moaned, taking the sweet from her mouth and throwing it into the water. ‘Come on, let’s get moving.’
‘Goodness, they’ve got cows here,’ Colenso exclaimed, staring at the small black animals in amazement.
‘How else will they get milk and butter?’ Mara snorted as they joined the throng of people wending their way up the steep path. The views from the top were breathtaking, a carpet of green meeting the azure of the sea. Although Mara looked tired, she was adamant they secure their spot on the eastern side ready to see the sun rise.
The sky was just darkening to grey by the time they settled on a rocky crest along with all the others who had come to keep vigil together for the rising sun. Colenso pulled a blanket from the basket and gently covered the woman.
‘If things had been different, I’d have liked a daughter just like you,’ Mara murmured. Colenso turned to the woman in surprise, but she’d already closed her eyes and was snoring gently.
Colenso sat in the gathering shadows, watching pale lights flickering on the mainland, listening to the lowing of the cattle and the gentle lapping of the waves, and thinking of all that had happened over the past months. She could hardly believe that only a short time ago she’d had her life all mapped out and was planning her handfasting ceremony. She wondered what Kitto was doing on this special night, and then, when the image of him with the fair-haired Mary Anne surfaced, wished she hadn’t. Her eyelids grew heavy and she must have slept, for the next thing she knew Mara was prodding her side.
‘Look,’ she whispered. There was a collective gasp around them as a trace of light peeked above the hills. They watched in silence as it grew bigger, rays of red and gold spreading wider across the sky. ‘Sol Invictus,’ Mara whispered, rising to her feet. ‘Let us draw strength and energy from the triumphant sun and concentrate on our outgoing energies.’ Colenso stared at Mara in surprise, for it could have been Mammwynn speaking and, not for the first time, she thought what friends they might have been had they met. ‘Attune to the energies of the waters, the origin of life,’ Mara murmured, stretching her arms out wide to the sea and closing her eyes.
‘Now you must discover the magic of the rock,’ Mara said, her eyes shining as she turned to Colenso. ‘Come on,’ she said, leading the way to an old church. ‘This is where the highest point of the bedrock is seen. It’s a mystical place but to fully benefit you need to touch that stone. Go on,’ she urged. ‘Now close your eyes and make a romantic wish.’
‘Really,’ Colenso protested.
‘Go on. It has to be romantic, mind.’ Seeing the woman wouldn’t be satisfied until she did, Colenso closed her eyes and wished.
‘You don’t really believe in that myth, do you?’ she asked as they made their way carefully down the path.
‘If a romantic wish is made before marriage, it will be granted,’ Mara insisted.
✳
Colenso remembered the woman’s words each time she visited the post office. But by the end of the summer, when the had sun lost its heat and the leaves on the trees had turned from green to gold, she still hadn’t heard from Kitto and gave it up for the myth she’d suspected. As for the reason Kitto hadn’t responded, well, it didn’t take a genius to work that out.
‘The tourists have gone home and it’s time we moved on,’ Mara said, returning from her discussion with the kumpania.
‘Are you sure?’ Colenso asked, noting the woman’s pallor. Not travelling over the summer had done her good but she was still frailer than she’d been when Colenso had first known her. ‘Wouldn’t you rather stay here?’ The woman shook her head.
‘No, we always visit the fair at St Just for Samhain.’ Samhain! Colenso’s heart flipped, but Mara was continuing. ‘The festival’s important, marking the end of the year and …’ her voice faltered, her eyes taking on that faraway look that had become more prevalent of late.
‘Mammwynn said it was also the beginning,’ she ventured.
‘And she was right,’ Mara sighed. Then her voice became brisk again. ‘We’ll be meeting up with Big Al and everyone. Jago’s gone for more stock and says he’ll join us there. Did he pay you before he left?’
‘No, he didn’t,’ Colenso frowned. He hadn’t paid her since Truro and she was down to her last few coppers. Hoping to tempt Mara’s appetite, she’d been buying potatoes and fish, although it was indicative of the woman’s increasing frailty that she hadn’t noticed. Now the weather was getting colder and she needed to buy a shawl. She’d tackle him as soon as she met up with him in St Just.
As they made their way out of Marazion, Colenso looked out over the sea. What a lovely summer it had been. She’d met so many people, explored the shore, visited the Mount. All too soon, they were turning away from the place she’d come to love and were making their way slowly up the hill. It wasn’t long before Mara began to tire and Colenso insisted she rest in the van. Unusually the woman didn’t protest, and even when they turned along a lane that was flat and ran parallel to the coast, she remained inside.
As they passed through the village of Heamoor and onto the road to St Just, Colenso stared around at the changing countryside. Here the land was mainly cultivated, with a scattering of tumbledown houses which, despite their sad state, appeared to be lived in.
; Further on, the working tin mines with their leats and reservoir reminded Colenso of the works at Poltesco. Her thoughts turned to Kitto but she pushed them firmly away. He’d had all summer to write and hadn’t. She felt as abandoned as the old mines up on the moor.
‘Right, jump up, we’re turning off here,’ Mara said, jolting Colenso out of her reverie as she emerged from the van.
‘But the others are continuing this way,’ she protested, gesturing to the vans ahead.
‘Well, we’re not.’
Hearing the firmness in the woman’s voice, Colenso knew better than to argue and climbed onto the seat beside her. Although she looked refreshed from her rest, Mara seemed thoughtful as they plodded higher up a narrow lane with bright-green boggy moorland spreading out on either side. Finally, they came to a tiny chapel and Mara pulled on the reins.
‘Stay here,’ she ordered as she clambered down.
‘But …’ Colenso began.
‘A few moments privacy, that’s all I ask,’ the woman interrupted, and there was something in her expression that forbade further argument.
Colenso watched as Mara slowly climbed down and made her way inside the granite building. It was a few minutes before she emerged, then instead of coming back to the van, she seemed to disappear behind it. Colenso was about to jump down to check she was all right when the woman popped up again. To her astonishment when she climbed back up beside her, the woman’s face and hands were soaking wet.
‘Blessed by the holy water and left a cloutie on the tree,’ she grinned, holding up her ripped scarf. ‘Probably too late, but it made me feel better. The veil is lifting.’ Although Colenso looked askance, Mara ignored her, calling instead for Ears to walk on.
They eventually rejoined the road and, after travelling a short distance, saw the tall granite tower of a church rising above the rooftops of St Just. After passing through the triangular market square they turned into the Plen an Gwarry where, to Colenso’s relief, she saw the kumpania was already camped with other vans and wagons alongside them. Mara had been strangely jubilant after her visit to the chapel, and Colenso wanted to discuss her peculiar behaviour with Sarah, who she hoped would understand these things.
But she didn’t get the opportunity, for Mara was strangely insistent that Colenso sit with her after she’d retired to bed.
‘Hold my hand,’ she whispered.
‘Are you all right, Mara?’ Colenso asked, worried she’d overdone things.
‘Never better,’ she replied. ‘Thank you for today and for your company.’ Colenso turned to her in surprise, for the woman was not given to sentiment, but Mara had already closed her eyes, a smile of contentment on her face.
Pulling the cover over her, Colenso felt a rush of tenderness for her friend and was glad she’d conceded to her wishes to visit the chapel. Knowing Mara, after a night’s rest she’d be rushing around getting things ready for her dukkering, Colenso thought, climbing into her own bed.
✳
When Colenso woke in the early hours of the morning, everything felt unusually still. She glanced over and saw Mara lying in the same position, the smile still on her lips.
It was then she realized the woman wasn’t merely sleeping.
‘Oh Mara,’ she wailed.
Chapter 25
With tears streaming down her cheeks, Colenso watched as the orange flames licking at the wood turned into a raging inferno, devouring the beautiful little van that had become her home.
‘We should have stayed in Marazion,’ she wailed. Sarah shook her head.
‘It wouldn’t have made any difference, it was her time, love. She should have let go weeks since but she made herself hang on till Samhain. Seen the veil in her ball, see. Knew it was a sign.’ Colenso nodded, remembering that evening when Mara, upset after consulting her crystal, had fled to the water’s edge.
Colenso looked back at the fire. It was dying down now, a blackened pile of wood the only testament of a life lived.
‘But why did they have to burn her van with her body inside it?’ she cried.
‘’Tis our way, love. Come with nothing, leave with nothing. The remains of ash will be returned to the ground. Her old body ain’t no use where she’s gone, and it was her wish that she be set free under the trees. Fancied thinking of her earthly form as a bluebell swaying in the breeze.’ Sarah’s laugh came out as a sob and it was Colenso’s turn to comfort her.
She stared around, noting for the first time that it wasn’t only the kumpania that had turned out to send Mara on her way. The whole of the fair had gathered, heads bowed as they paid their respects. As the fire gave a final crackle, Titan’s wife bent and laid a nosegay beside it, and Colenso had to bite her lip from crying out loud when she saw it had been fashioned from Mara’s favourite herbs and flowers.
‘Everyone loved her,’ Sarah murmured.
‘They did,’ Solomon her husband agreed.
‘Oh look,’ Sarah grinned, pointing to a ray of sunshine breaking through the thick cloud. ‘She’s letting us know she’s arrived safely.’
At that precise moment, Ears, who’d been standing watching, gave a distressed whinny before keeling over beside the burnt remains of his mistress. ‘Even old Ears,’ she sighed, pulling Colenso back as she moved towards the pony. ‘He’s gone too, faithful to the end.’
Titan, who’d been standing with his wife, signalled to a couple of the men.
‘Better cover him over before some wise guy sells him for glue and pet food.’ He turned to Colenso. ‘She was the best,’ he muttered, his eyes bright with tears. ‘Let us know if you need anything.’
‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t know what I’ll do now.’
‘Well, for a start you’re coming with us for a hot drink,’ Sarah said. ‘Ain’t that right, Sol?
‘I’ll be along soon. Best help the others,’ he replied, limping over to where the men had begun digging. With a final look at the burnt remains and the loyal pony lying beside them, Colenso let herself be led away.
She sat in Sarah’s van, which was similar though slightly bigger and more cluttered than Mara’s had been, sipping her drink whilst trying to come to terms with events. Everything had happened so quickly.
‘If only I’d done more for her,’ she cried.
‘Oh love, if you only knew how much joy you brought her these past few months. Said when she first saw you, she recognized a lost soul, just as she’d been. Helping you blossom lent purpose to her life,’ Sarah said. ‘Especially once she’d seen the veil and knew her time was coming.’
‘But she looked so happy and was smiling, I …’ her voice trailed away.
‘Expect her lover came for her,’ Sarah nodded. ‘She were ready and waiting.’
‘But she was acting so strange on the way here, insisting we stop by a chapel, even though I’ve never known her visit one before.’
‘It were the blessed well she really wanted to see, to leave a cloutie and make one last wish for her heart’s desire. Not many people know where that well is these days and she wanted to respect that by letting the rest of us go on ahead. She made her peace and it would appear her wish was granted. You helped her do that, so be thankful not sad. It was her heart’s desire to pass at Samhain and she did. Said it would befit the ending of this life and the starting of a new.’ Colenso felt warmth begin to seep into her body, for wasn’t that exactly what Mammwynn had wanted too? She took another sip of her drink, almost spluttering when she saw the crystal ball on the shelf.
‘That’s Mara’s,’ she gasped.
‘It is,’ Sarah smiled, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. ‘She gave it to me before we left Marazion, along with her cards and little tent. Knew she hadn’t long left and began dishing out her things.’
‘You mean she gave her things away before she … before …’ A lump rose in her throat, she shook her head.
‘That’s the way we do things. Give our prized belongings to those we love and leave the rest to be burnt alo
ng with our earthly body. We don’t carry any worldly possessions into our afterlife, see? She gave Titan her best cups and saucers, Al her glasses, Tinks her sloe gin, and this she left for you,’ she said, lifting up Mara’s basket.
‘Oh,’ Colenso gasped, taking it from her with trembling hands and staring at the items piled neatly inside it. ‘I … I’m …’
‘Not ready to look,’ Sarah finished for her. ‘Well, no hurry, love. Wait until you’ve come to terms with things a bit. Look, you’ve had a nasty shock so let’s have something a bit stronger,’ she added, jumping up and pouring pink liquid into their empty mugs. ‘She gave me some of her gin as well, so let’s drink a toast. To Mara, my best friend in this world and hopefully the next,’ she said, raising her mug.
‘To Mara,’ Colenso echoed. They sat for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts. ‘How did you get to know Mara?’ she asked, realizing she really didn’t know much about the woman she’d been living with.
‘We met when she took to the road after losing her beloved. She was bereft, as you can imagine, and came to me for comfort. I have the sight too, you see. That’s why she wants me to carry on her dukkering. She were very good at it.’
‘She didn’t always get it right,’ Colenso murmured, thinking of her prediction that Kitto would continue corresponding. A loud rapping on the window interrupted her musing.
‘Come in, Al,’ Sarah said as his head appeared through the open top of the stable door.
‘We’re just toasting Mara, want some?’ she invited, holding up the bottle.
‘Later perhaps. Just thought you should know we won’t be opening the fair today out of respect. We’ll start up tomorrow, then stay an extra day to keep the locals happy. Sol says you’re moving on today.’ Sarah nodded.
‘We’ve no heart for the fair here now so we’ll start making our way east. Sol likes to spend the winter somewhere drier. The Cornish mist gets into his bones and then we both suffer,’ she said, raising a brow theatrically.