Arty Alison spent two days working on the collage. She would spend an hour or so on it and then would relax for a while, or keep company with Susan. Sometimes the twins would help her, as she snipped and glued her carefully cut strips of cloth into an uncannily accurate depiction of the wellhouse. The sun continued to beat down from a hazy cloudless sky, while TV newscasters warned of stand pipes being introduced in Birmingham. It was, so the weathermen said, the hottest summer for many years, and there was at present no sign of any imminent change.
It was late in the afternoon of the second day that Alison suddenly became secretive about her collage, hiding it from passing view like some broody hen. Announcing to the assembled company that her artistic creation was now completed, and was ready to be unveiled, it was decided by one and all that a formally dressed supper should precede the viewing, after which everyone could get happily plastered on Susan's home made wine!
Thus it was that Alison forsook the yard to join Susan in the kitchen preparing the meal. By eight pm everything was simmering nicely, and everyone retired to their rooms to get ready for the soiree.
Tovey had removed the sweaty socks, anointed himself with the hated poncy smelly stuff his wife always insisted that he use, and was in the act of knotting up the equally hated tie when Susan came in and demanded his comments on her dress, giving him the obligatory twirl.
"Well love, what do you think? I thought I might wear this red satin dress tonight. I've not worn it since that do at Oldham Town Hall we went to last autumn. What do you think"
Tovey, not one of nature's gentlemen, obliged with his usual constructive answer. "Its alright love... if you don't mind your boobs looking like pups in a bag!... And I like the fashionable ventilation!"
"Ventilation? What on earth are you talking about".
"The strip of cloth that's missing from the back of your dress, demonstrating to the world that you wear black satin briefs, that's what I'm talking about!"
"Unzip me love."
"What! this early? What if someone comes in?"
"Don't be silly, help me get this dress off!"
The dress duly removed, Susan frowned angrily as she examined the neatly cut rectangle where once there had been only red satin.
"I know Alison is a bit weird- but I do think this is a bit much! I'm going to confront her with it, the rotten bitch!"
Tovey grabbed her arm. "Now wait a minute! You've no proof that Alison has done this. I mean really, do you think she'd actually go through your clothes with a pair of scissors in search of patches for her collage? Now come on... I know you two don't like each other very much, but I hardly think Alison would stoop to something like this!
"Well what other explanation could there be?"
"There's the twins. They've been playing upstairs and they've been helping Alison with the collage."
"The twins?"
"Well it's a kid's trick isn't it? I'll tell you what, keep stum about this and I'll pump them at the first available opportunity. You'll just have to put another dress on that's all."
"I still think we ought to raise the issue."
"I don't love. We can hardly go accusing our guests of interfering with our privacy can we? Just leave it to me. I'll get to the bottom of it."
".......And now for the highlight of the evening- the plates are empty, the table is cleared and we are now ready for the grand unveiling of this specially commissioned Alison Murphy collage! May I do the honours?"
Alison grinned as Tovey pulled away the cover to reveal her beautifully executed picture of the Wellhouse. A ripple of applause ran around the room. There was no doubt about it, the collage was good. In Susan's view it was rather too good, for there, standing outside the door was the figure of a woman- dressed in red silk!
Tovey wasted no time. "Why the woman at the door Alison? Who's she supposed to be?"
Alison Grinned. "It's Susan! She's the newly appointed keeper of the Wellhouse". Leastways that's what I am instructed to say!"
"How do you mean- 'instructed' ??"
Alison laughed. "The twins! It was their idea. Of course they said it was all down to their imaginary friend Lizzie. They even cut out your shape from some cloth and brought it for me to draw and stick on. Very impressive eh??"
Susan smiled weakly. "Yes, Alison it's very beautiful." Now she knew the answer to the mystery.'Bloody kids' she thought to herself. Then it was drinks all round and an end to the matter.
Tovey also had some thoughts too. But for him a mystery solved was a greater mystery deepened. Who was this 'Lizzie'? Could it really be the shade of Eliza Caldwell working out her strange destiny through the innocent fancies of two children? Tovey shuddered at the thought. Odd things were happening and he didn't like the feeling. Whatever he did, wherever he went, he couldn't help but feel that Eliza was not far away. It was an unwelcome feeling.
The Murphy's left the next day. The morning was spent in alarms and excursions, and by 11 am everything was packed and they were driving away , the twins waving merrily from the back window of the car as they headed off down the farm road, the sunlight slanting through the trees and a cloud of dust in their wake. Tovey and Susan stood on the drive and waved back. As they stood there it suddenly occurred to Tovey that the girls were not so much waving to at him as to someone else, someone behind him, in the yard, by the Wellhouse. Catching something in the corner of his eye Tovey turned round and promptly froze.
She was there. Small and raven haired, standing at the door of the Wellhouse. She was waving and smiling. A little girl of about seven, wearing a straw hat with a ribbon, button up boots and a long dress. Tovey gripped his wife tightly by the arm.
"What's the matter love? You look ghastly!"
Tovey pulled her round and pointed to the wellhouse.
"She's there! She's waving them off!"
"Who?"
"Eliza! Can't you see her?- she's there! By the door!"
Now it was Susan's turn to be concerned.
"John! What on earth's the matter? There's nothing there!"
Tovey's only response was to grip her arm even more tightly.
She became scared. "let go of me will you! Stop behaving like this!"
"But she's there I tell you! I can see her!!"
"John! Will you let go! You're hurting me!"
"Leave us alone! Go away! This is our house!"
"JOHN! STOP IT!"
Tovey spun round and grabbing his wifes other arm, stared her full in the face, a wild, terrified look in his eyes.
"It's to do with you isn't it? She wants you!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, just let go of me will you!"
"But she's over.....there." Tovey stared wildly at the Wellhouse. The small figure had gone. He fell into his wife's arms in a flood of tears.
Susan led him into the house and sat him on the settee. "You look ill. I'm going to ring up the doctor to come and have a look at you."
"No love, its nothing. I'll be alright in a bit. Just had a bit of a fright that's all. I must have been seeing things. I have been under a bit of stress lately."
"Stress? That's putting it mildly after your performance. Tell me Tovey, what am I supposed to do with you?"
Tovey held out his arms to her. "Love me" He said.
Lying there in the afterglow, Tovey felt better. He was still thinking about Eliza, but once more began to wonder if the whole thing might be but the creation of an overworked imagination. It was now late afternoon and the weather was still stiflingly hot. He was lying there on his back, bathed in sweat and staring at the ceiling, Susan snuggling in his arms. 'This is my my destiny' he thought, 'This is reality, not you Eliza Caldwell, whoever or whatever you are.'
Suddenly the train of his thoughts was broken.
"I'm going for a bath Love. I feel hot and sticky. I've also got your gooey mess to get rid of." She gave him the familiar 'knowing' smile.
Povey rolled onto his side. 'OK love. I think I'll lie here for a bit longer. I'll have a bath myself when you've finished".
His wife grinned. "I thought you might be joining me for a bit more! You're getting past it Tovey, two years ago you couldn't get enough!
"Huh!" Tovey rolled over and closed his eyes. His thoughts began to drift and he soon began to doze. He was just approaching that subtle boundary which lies twixt wakefulness and slumber, when he was suddenly jerked awake by a wild shriek!
It was Susan. Tovey jumped to his feet and ran to the bathroom, only to meet his distraught wife halfway on the landing. She fell into his arms.
"Oh Tovey it's horrible! Like blood. I got it all over me."
"What do you mean?"
"The water. I half filled the bath and got in. It was OK at first. It was when I started to run some cold water in that it happened."
Tovey looked through the bathroom door. His wife was right. The water had turned red. Red as blood. He turned on the cold tap. It ran red.
"The Wellhouse. Whatever it is it's coming from the Wellhouse. I'm going over to have a look."
Susan looked worried."Be careful Love".
Tovey crossed the yard and opened the door of the Wellhouse. It had changed since he had opened up the bricked up windows. Now the whole chamber was bathed in shafts of sunlight. It seemed serene, radiant, glowing with a wild, burnished fire. Tovey glanced at the water running from the stone head into the central cistern. It was red. The spring was running red. As he gazed into the trough he could see in the water white fragments of dancing light piercing a tangle of reflected boughs. Instinctively he looked up. High above him was the mossy cleft into which spilled the branches of the rowan tree. He gasped with surprise. The branches were now heavily festooned with shining red berries. But there was something else, something he hadn't noticed before. Tied to the boughs of the tree he could make out strips of faded rotting cloth, and on the lowermost bough, twenty feet up and way beyond the reach of anyone unaided by a ladder, was a strip of new red satin, from which had been cut the dark silhouette of a tiny female figure!
"Chalybeate." Tovey put down the phone. "That's what he says it is, Chalybeate. Of course it's taken him nearly two weeks of painstaking analysis to come to this amazing conclusion!"
His wife looked up from her knitting. "Do I detect a note of sarcasm?"
Tovey shrugged. "You could say that. When it all comes down to it seems that we've spent the last fortnight worrying over something and nothing!"
"So?"
"So what?"
"What is it ... this chaly.... what do you call it?."
"Chalybeate."
"What is it??"
"It's springwater love, very rich in iron and assorted minerals. It's the iron in it that makes it red."
"But is it harmful?"
"No. It would seem not. Leastways not in normal doses. In fact he reckons it's good for you. It's spa water. He says that two hundred years ago people would have paid to drink it. They used to believe that it could cure almost anything!"
"They must have been mad! It tastes bloody awful!!"
"The strange thing though is the way that the water has suddenly changed. He admitted that he was totally baffled by that."
"How do you mean?"
"Well apparently a mineral spring is a mineral spring and pure water is pure water. You don't usually get a change from one to the other."
"Well what did he actually say?"
Tovey shrugged, "Like I said he was baffled. He said he'd heard about Jesus turning water into wine, but he'd never encountered it in his line of work! The hydrology of this part of Lancashire is complex, he said, but you don't normally get springs that change their water. To be quite honest, I don't think he really believed me!"
"But it has changed, hasn't it? I mean it was clear as crystal up to that night. There must be some sort of logical explanation."
Tovey frowned. He was beginning to tire of 'logical explanations'.
"I suppose so, love. This water comes down off the moors. There's a lot of peat up there, and it hasn't rained for ages now. Maybe that's what has stained the water. That's what I think, anyway."
Tovey frowned once more. This wasn't a proper answer and he knew it. What else could he say? 'It's her again? Eliza what's-her-name?'. He had already caused his wife to doubt his mental stability. He dare not raise the subject again. Better to change it.
"Anyway the Murphy's seemed to like it well enough here. I think old Murf was quite jealous of us!"
"I don't see why. If he had to live in this godforsaken hole he might think differently. We never see anyone from one day to the next. Our friends live miles away and the locals shun the place. I don't see what he's got to be jealous of!"
" But its not that....."
"Yes it is LOVE!! Its bloody awful, and I'm fed up with it. You always were antisocial, you like being on your own, but, I can't bear it. I don't have any kids like your precious Murphy. I need an active social life. There's nothing here- just water and bloody trees. Look.... can we go somewhere.... what about a few days back home in Oldham? I'm sure Valerie would put us up. She did invite us last month you know. It'd be a pleasant change... if you don't like that, well what about Blackpool??"
Tovey frowned. "You know I can't leave. I've got four proofs to clear before the end of the month. You seem to think that I can just drop everything and go off and have a good time. I do have responsibilities you know."
"Huh! I remember when you used to drive for Rochdale Council. You used to come home shattered and fall asleep on the settee. You alway said that things would be different when you became your own boss. 'I could organise my life to suit me and not some bloody gaffer' Those were your very words! And now you say to me you can't break off your work- I thought being able to break off was the whole point!!"
Tovey was uninclined to argue. "Look this is our house, for better or for worse, and here we stay! When I clear off at the end of the month, we'll up and go somewhere for a few days. OK??"
Susan banged her fist on the table. This was the last straw.
"NOT OK! I've been through all this before! You said we were going off last month but we never did. We just spend all our lives cooped up in this miserable place! I'm getting sick of it and you!
Susan jumped to her feet.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Upstairs to read, out of your bloody way!"
"Now come on I haven't done anything!"
"No you haven't. That's exactly what you haven't done!"
"I'm sorry"
"You're always sorry- thats your way of getting out of doing anything. Being sorry won't get us out of this place!"
"Look.... end of the month we'll..."
"No we won't. I'll have left you by then. DO SOMETHING! DO IT NOW! or I won't be responsible for what happens!"
Susan slammed the door and stamped upstairs. Tovey was left sitting by the phone, a helpless little boy. Regaining some composure he tiptoed up the stairs and pushed at the bedroom door, It was locked. Beyond it he could hear Susan crying. Oh shit! what now?
He retreated to the living room, and, to take the heat out of the situation, began scanning through some proofs.
Complacency was soon at hand. 'She'll calm down, he thought, then we'll make up and get back to normal'. 'Bloody period again- that's what it is.' Tovey decided that the best thing to do would be to keep his head down, wait until it blew over and then kiss and make up.
Susan came down about 3pm, eyed him frostily and disappeared into the kitchen. Tovey was in the doghouse and he knew it. 'Be stoic!'he thought.
That evening he worked while his wife watched the TV. Few words were said, and no pleasanteries exchanged. Tovey sighed- you could cut the air with a knife. As he climbed into bed he could feel the cold frosty divide which lay between his side of the bed and his wifes'. Tovey was in the shit and he knew it! He wasn't deeply perturbed however. He had been here before. He knew his wife only too well. A good night's sleep and all would be normal again in the morning. Secure in this knowledge, Tovey sighed dejectedly, turned over and gradually drifted off into the untroubled sleep of the self assured. Yet Tovey's smugness was about to be cruelly shattered, he did not know it but for once in his life HE WAS WRONG!