PART 15

You’re still here? Well done. No doubt you are expecting the most striking part of my story to end here, with the conclusion that you already know: the scene of the lamppost in front of the graveyard, the family man who tries to help me, and my hasty retreat to the safety of home. Think again, friends. The strangest part was yet to come…

That night, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t sleep for a single second. I tossed and turned constantly, ignoring the protests of my tired mattress. The tingling in my spine had come back, stronger than ever, as if I had laid down on a column of fire ants, and my brain was in overdrive. What had I seen exactly? What did it mean? And why had it happened to me? The same questions came back over and over in my feverish head, and the only answers I could think of nearly made me mad.

At nearly six o’clock in the morning, I couldn’t take it anymore. I leapt out of bed and went down to the kitchen. Breakfast would do me good and would occupy my jaws, if not my mind. I thought I would find the room empty, but a big surprise – another one, I hear you say – was ready and waiting for me.

Aunt Maud was sitting at one end of the table, busy sipping one of her favourite teas. She had prepared a tray that seemed to be waiting for me. She gestured towards the empty chair in front of her and I sat down, confused.

– So Charlie, you had a good night? she asked between two sips.

There was something different about her, I sensed it immediately. It didn’t come from the different colour of her flowery bathrobe, nor did it come from the curlers stuck to her head instead of her eternal night cap. No. It was something else, something more subtle. It took me a moment to realise: she had abandoned her condescending tone and was speaking to me – I couldn't believe it – as if I were an adult.

I didn’t know what to answer, so I simply croaked out a:

– You… you’re already up?

– I know where you were last night, she announced. And I also know what you did.

Aunt Maud could have hit me on the head with one of her frying pans, but that sentence hit me harder.

– Par… pardon? 

– I saw Childeric Zac talk to you yesterday afternoon, as we were leaving the graveyard. I acted as if I hadn’t seen anything, of course. I was waiting to see how you would react. Now I can reveal to you that he made the same offer to me, before he made it to you.

There are times in life when you must know to be quiet, my mum often says. For once, she was right: one of those famous moments had hit me without warning. So I held back any and all comment, and Aunt Maud continued:

(Go to PART 16)