by RD Le Coeur
CHAPTER FIVE
It had taken a while for Jen to cool Sunshine down with the revelation that she had told her parents that he was a girl. It was all part of the master plan of deception she had planned for her parents to cover up what she was doing. She had decided that a 'new' girl friend would go down well at home and not raise any suspicions.
They talked for ages and ages about everything under the sun. They could both talk to one another about absolutely anything and it was a great feeling. It was nice to confide in someone once and again. They had two days to wait until the date of the bogus treasure hunt. Jen was not sure what to do about that in the Internet Cafe, and thought it would take a couple of days for her to lay the seeds back at home. She would say she was going on it with Sonia and hope that would suffice. All this deception was tiring but it was also exciting and she was loving every minute of it.
They had agreed to meet at nine-ish again the following morning. Sunny could not believe how simple the clue had been now that he knew what the answer was. He didn't like that Jen had told her parents that he was a girl, but he could see the cunning in it and had no option but to go along with it, It was going to be very difficult to keep away from the great oak though. Tonight would be no problem as it had clouded over at about seven thirty and you could not even see the moon or any glow from it. He tried to picture the oak in his mind. He had been there often but just could not remember where any of the crippled branches pointed or if they pointed at all. Then he had very serious thoughts about the validity of the clue.
The earth moved, the moon moved through the heavens, those were incontrovertible facts. It would all depend on where the moon and earth were, as to where the shadows would be cast. Not as easy as it sounded, or was he just trying to complicate things as usual?
He fell asleep with these things playing on his mind.
He met Jen at nine as agreed and Jen had told him that she could spend most of the day with him as Mother had decided that today she
would do the washing and potter about the site if that did not upset Jen's hopes. Not at all Jen had replied, she would go and find Sonia and spend the day with her beach combing and mooching around.
Sunny was delighted at the news but was also a little perplexed at what they would do all day. He had expected that Jen would have to do some family thing and he would be left to his own devices all day and possibly see her for an hour in the afternoon.
"What would you like to do?" he asked.
"I think we should both visit the great Oak and get our bearings. See the lie of the land and see if we can guess what it's all about."
"The weather does not look promising Jen and it's a fair walk from here."
"Better get a move on then."
Sunny and Jen moved off north down the beach at a very slow ambling pace.
The winds were freshening and the cloud base getting thicker. It was not cold, but the atmosphere was heavy and a bit humid. They had just reached the end of the beach when they first saw the lightning. The thunder that followed it was so loud it made them jump.
"That storms nearly on top of us, Jen. If we run we can just make it to my place before the heavens open and we get soaked." He did not wait for a reply and broke into a trot across the fields and headed towards the wood and 'Home Meadow'. Jen kept up as best she could behind him.
The rain hit as they left the woods and following Sunny at full speed, they raced into his tepee. It had all happened to quick for Jen to take in the sights smells and peculiarity of her surroundings. He offered Jen a towel for her hair and face. They were both quite wet. Jen dried herself a bit and looked around. Her Mother would have had a fit. It was a mess. There were books piled everywhere. The four sides of the tepee had books piled on small pallets to keep them off the ground. They formed an almost impenetrable wall around the base of the tent. It smelled of old books a little of dampness and wood smoke. Despite all that it was cosy and actually quite roomy.
"Sunshine, is that you?" came a squeaky voice.
"Yeah, got a pal with me."
"Cool, I'll come and say hello."
Sunny was not looking forward to this. His mother had a peculiar effect on most folk.
It was a very black and white effect. They either thought she was mad or not. She entered the tepee having waited for a few moments for the rain to ease.
Jen looked startled at the apparition that was stood before her. She took the offered hand and shook it.
"I'm Moonbeam, Sunshine's Mother. Nice for him to have a new friend. Are you boys in the same class?"
"Mum, this is, Genevieve." said Sunny quickly.
Moonbeam did not seem in the least surprised at her own faux pas and replied as if she had not made any mistake at all.
"What a beautiful name."
Jen was bewildered. First this woman had thought she was a boy and now she thought that she had a beautiful name. Why hadn't Sunny introduced her as, Jen?"
"I prefer to be called Jen," she said as assertively as possible.
"Do I need to cook for three? Sunshine."
"Would you like food later, Jen?"
"That would be nice."
"Why only three, where's Dad?"
"Uncle Pete picked him up half an hour ago and he has taken him to London. He thinks he has found a retro gallery that will take Geronimo's earth paintings. Should be back in a few days. I'll catch up with you two later." She smiled broadly and left the tent.
Jen's head was absolutely bursting with questions. Sunny offered her a seat and gave her a drink of home-made squash. It was very fruity and to be honest more of a fruit salad than a squash and it still had the odd pips and bits in it. It was, nevertheless, deliciously refreshing.
"Sorry about that, she gets a bit confused some days."
Jen decided to let it lie but still had a barrage of questions for Sunny. She fired them all off at once and settled herself to listen to the explanations, amid the pitter patter of rain upon the canvas. Sunny was a bit confused as to where to start. He explained that his Mother was caught in a time trap and she still dressed as if it was 1969. Her long blonde locks ran down her back to her waist and were mostly unkempt. The batik tee shirt was home made and the tattered jeans were from some boot sale and her made up flowers that adorned them, really only covered the holes that were in them when she bought them.
Geronimo was his Dad. It was not his real name; in fact Sunny had been twelve before he had discovered this. His real name was Pugin, so Geronimo was an improvement on that, he thought. When they had first occupied 'Home Meadow' his dad had specialised in jumping into the sea from the rocks shouting "Geronimo!" and the name had stuck.
His father had always painted and specialised in psychedelic abstracts, his were different to most. He made as much as possible, his own colours, and he repainted over old pictures picked up for a few pence at local sales. They were certainly unique and as with all styles, if you wait long enough, they come back into fashion.
Uncle Pete was not really an uncle. He was one of the founder members of 'Home Meadow' and it was his family that really owned the land. He was a bigwig in the city now. He laughingly called himself an entertainment's manager for a merchant bank.
He was proud that he could out drink and out party any client the bank put before him and was thus a very valuable member of the team, who was always ready to entertain a client.
When Uncle Pete's father had died he had made sure that 'Home Meadow' was kept safe. He viewed his time there as the happiest in his life and was adamant that the experiment in alternate lifestyles, should continue at all costs. Sunny had often heard him say that Geronimo and Moonbeam could stay there forever at no charge and not to worry about a thing, Uncle Pete would take care of it.
They were fairly self sufficient. They grew crops and barter exchanged with locals for other things that they might need. They had a goat, they made their own goats cheese and kept a few scrawny chickens rescued from battery farms for an irregular supply of small eggs.
They did not need much money really as they had little to spend it on.
They did have a regular income from boot sales though. Mostly it came from 'sea sculptures', which was a posh name for driftwood and there was always a ready market from holiday makers for the unusual sea sculpted shapes. Moonbeam also did well with her herbs and natural potions and although they never spoke about it she did very well from her huge collection of 'magic mushrooms' and of course her handmade candles.
They did not want for much and Geronimo had once said that if he won the lottery he would put a windmill down by the stream. Fat chance of that Sunny had always thought, as he never ever bought a ticket. They brewed their own liquor and Geronimo's Elderberry wine was as good as vintage port according to Uncle Pete.
So there it was, a potted history of the family. What did Jen think?
Jen had taken in so much information she was lost to know how to think. It was all rather weird. It was so opposite of her own lifestyle that she could not quite comprehend it.
No telephones, no computers, no telly, no money and yet they were all as fit as fleas as far as she could tell and their alternative lifestyle seemed to work. It was intriguing and needed more thought.
"Well I think it's neat." she said. "What would the world be like if we were all the same?"
Sunny had relaxed a bit now. He was in his own domain, with his first real friend, and she had not freaked out at the outlandish way in which he lived.
"How far from here is it to the great oak?" she asked.
"About twenty minutes. We'll go when the rain stops if you want."
Sunny had fought with his conscience since they had met regarding the other clue, and about the ancient spell book. Should he tell her now that he had her all to himself and could actually show her, or not? He could see her staring around at all his books trying to discern the titles and to get a flavour of what he liked reading.
He decided against it for the minute. One shock at a time with his family was enough. He would let this little episode sink in first before revealing another one. The rain was easing and Sunny got up to have a good look at the sky. "It'll be all done in a few minutes Jen then we can go."
"We'd better tell your Mum we're going and will be back later or she'll wonder where we are or maybe cook too early."
"True, we'll call into her pad on the way out and tell her we'll see her later."
The rain finally stopped and although it was still dripping heavily from the trees, it was bright again and suitable for continuing on to the great oak. They stopped outside Moonbeams' and Sunny shouted in that they were going to Parson's wood and would be back later. The ground was well damp underfoot, but it had been so dry previously that most of the rain had either been absorbed by the thirsty earth or had simply run off.
They scrambled over hedges and pushed through tight gates until they came to Parson's Wood. As Sunny had pointed out, it wasn't far if you were a bird, but the convoluted way you had to get there on the ground made it a bit of a trek. It was a small tightly knitted wood of mixed trees, clearly defined edges and it looked well kept and free of tangled undergrowth. Jen was impressed, it looked a pretty wood if such a thing existed. They had arrived on its southern most boundary and Sunny had told her that the great oak lay close to the cliffs on the far west boundary. It was easier to skirt around the edges to gain access to the old tree. They had to go through some long grass which was still damp and made their legs and feet wet. At last they arrived and Jenny saw the old oak for the first time.
It was a magnificent old tree. You could see that it was old on first sight and because of it's position close to the cliff edge all the branches were pointing east, due to the continual winds that came in off the sea.
Sunny suddenly remembered it now. That's how the gnarled branches lay. He knew there was something about it last night, he just could not remember the configuration.
Jenny went right up to the old tree and stroked it and felt the ancient bark. Lightning had hit it at some time in its history, but even that had not killed it. You could see the dead branches but you could also see the vibrant new branches that spread eastwards and were covered in a green carpet of leaves. The base of the tree was quite dry and looked totally unaffected by the rain.
"Let's sit by here and have a look at those clues again Sun, she said.
Sunny pulled the clues from his pocket and sat down beside Jen.
It was very quiet and for some inexplicable reason it felt very warm and safe. They studied the clues again.
They had the first bit, otherwise they would not be here.
moonlights shadow shows the way.
"You can't really tell where the shadows will fall when the moonlight is on it, Sun," said Jen, "but I wanted to see it anyway."
"It's not only that Jen. The Moon moves through the heavens all through the night. If we don't have a specific time we will never get it. I was thinking about it all night. The other clues were simple enough but this one has too many variables."
Sunny had come prepared with a sheet of drawings. He showed it to Jen. It was a simple schematic to show where the shadows would fall depending on the position of the moon. He already knew the cycle of it's path for hereabouts at this time of year and explained in some detail to
Jen who had lost interest a bit when he got too technical.
"Whoa! Sun. That's far too much information. The other clues were not as complicated. We must be missing something. I'm sure of it."
She looked at his diagrams again, looked at the tree and used her logic.
"It stands to reason, Sun, that all the shadows based on your projections, will be over there to the east. Now I agree with you that we can't guess the length of the shadow but it will be some where over there to the east and that's all about it."
"I can't fault the logic, Jen, we'll go have a look over there then, see if we can see something obvious."
"What's over there anyway?"
"It's all part of the old Rectory grounds. You've got Parson's Woods here, just over there beyond the stone boundary wall is Parson's Field, beyond that is the old church and to the far left the old rectory."
"Does the vicar still live there?"
“No. It was empty for years. I'm sure I heard that a new guy bought it about six months ago."
"Do you think he'll mind trespassers?"
"I'm also sure I heard he was in a wheelchair. He's hardly likely to come hurtling down the field in one of those shouting at us is he?"
"No I suppose not. Poor old man."
They followed the line of branches eastward and discovered that the canopy actually overhung the old stone boundary wall.
"There's a lover’s gate just up there, Jen." said Sunny.
They made their way along the wall to the gate and went through to Parson's field and then doubled back on themselves to where the oak tree overhung the field.
Underneath the furthest reaches of the branches was an ancient wooden marker, it was all green with mildew and looked as if had been part of the old oak tree at some time and had fallen off. It was very roughly hewn and if you looked carefully it had some carving on it in old writing.
"Look at this Jen, there an old inscription." He scrubbed away as much lichen and mildew as he could so as to get a better look.
Here lies Moonlight
My favourite mare.
17?? He couldn't make out the rest of the date. The enormity of the discovery hit them instantly. Moonlight had nothing to do with shadows
from the tree it had something to do with this horse's grave. This clue was getting tricksier and tricksier.
"Who'd have guessed it had something to do with this?" asked Jen, the incredulity resonating in her voice.