Timeless(12)

"You're new to town," he said, making an odd little wheezing sound as he returned the spectacles to the tip of his nose. "Everyone knows how to find Raven. Her family has lived in these parts for years."

She nodded. "Yes, I'm new." The lie was easier than going into detail about who she really was, and how she had been born in Ferntree Falls.

"The name's Billy Bob. I own this place," he said holding out his hand. "Have we met before? You look strangely familiar."

"I don't think so," she replied, giving his hand a warm shake. "I'm Alexandria."

The old man's eyebrows arched above his spectacles, as though pulled by a puppeteer's string, creasing his brow even further. "Well, I'll be. You're Felicity and Alexander's kid." He shook his head and chuckled. "I heard you came back to Ferntree Falls, just didn't believe it. Good for you. Good for you." He dragged out an old wooden stool from behind the counter and placed it down next to her. "Now I insist you have a cuppa with me, princess. Sit," he said in a manner that did not allow any wriggle room for her objections. "Violet," he called to his wife. "Get your fat ass out here. We have a visitor."

An old woman with gray hair pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck popped her head out comically from behind the door at the far end of the store like a wise little owl. "Sweet Jesus," she exclaimed from the doorway, as though she had just seen a ghost. Rubbing her hands on her red and white checkered apron, she almost flew to Alexandria's side. She was a little woman, no more than four feet tall, and although her husband had insinuated that her posterior was on the large side, the little woman was actually as thin as a reed. Her eyes sparkled with an equal measure of both enthusiasm and surprise as she stared up at Alexandria. "Sweet Jesus," she said once again, her finger reaching up to tap Alexandria on the tip of her nose. "Quite real, too, I see. Not a ghost at all."

The old man nodded beside his wife, his hands on his hips.

"My dear child, did you know that you are the spitting image of your grandmother, Savannah, at the same age? Your grandmother was a timeless beauty, too."

Billy Bob snatched his spectacles off his nose again, briskly polishing them on his shirt before depositing them back on his nose. He studied Alexandria even more closely. "Ahh, yes," Billy Bob exclaimed, seeing the impossible resemblance. "I see it now. I knew I had seen you before." He looked at his wife. "How many years has it been, you know?"

Violet thought for a moment. "1991. If memory serves me well, Felicity was just a wee lass of twenty-one when her mother died. Savannah, your grandmother, was a dear friend of mine, and I still miss her dearly."

"The two of you fought like cats and dogs, old woman," Billy Bob said, rubbing his chin keenly with his knobby fingers, and thinking about his wife and Savannah arguing over whose cooking was better.

Violet gave her husband a sharp slap on the arm, startling him, pulling him from his reverie. "Woman," he snapped, "keep those vicious little hands to yourself."

"Then stop filling the girl's head with lies. We did not fight. We merely engaged in passionate discussions, is all."

"Savannah's home-baked bread was always so much nicer than—"

Violet slapped him again. "Shush, old man, or I'll make you bake your own bread, see how much you like that. Make yourself useful, and go make Alexandria a cup of lavender tea."

The old man waddled away, mumbling under his breath and pulling up his trousers for the umpteenth time.

"Oh, and bring some of those scones with you, the ones with the vanilla glazing. They're sitting on top of the oven," she called after him.

He shook his head, waving his hand about. "Is it your intention to make everyone around you fat, woman?" he asked, disappearing into the rear room of the shop.





Chapter 6 – Pretty Horses.





Alexandria drank lavender tea and ate scones with Billy Bob and Violet for well over an hour before she gave them warm hugs, kissed them on the cheeks, and promised to visit the next time she was in town. Unfortunately, Raven Wing was visiting friends out of town, and would return in a few days’ time. "I'll come back to visit in a couple of days," she said, waving goodbye to the friendly old couple standing arm in arm on the footpath.

Alexandria walked briskly to Circular Park from the Newsagency, found a park bench and sat down. She stared in silent contemplation at the carousel with all its pretty horses, their unseeing, black eyes staring blankly ahead. A sign hanging on a post nearby read, 'CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE'. There was something eerily peculiar about a carousel that was broken, she thought, as though the absolute stillness of the horses was a sinister warning, a prologue foretelling that something evil was on its way. From out of nowhere came the wistful cry of a wolf, and she shuddered. Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she pushed the sinister thoughts from her mind, preferring to think about happier times when she had ridden the carousel as a child with her mother, her father waving at them from the sidelines.