Bye-Bye Baby on the Treetops

© 2019 Elizabeth Muir-Lewis. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/28/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-8860-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-8861-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019911351

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Epilogue

Chapter 1

O K, I should have hurried past. But come on—could I have known that my life would change? No bells rang. Nothing came to worry me. Glory to God, Jean, did you not sense something? I could hear my Irish godmother say. No, I didn’t. Why on earth would I?

Turning into the old strangely familiar road, I saw the same bungalow standing well back from the road. On my left was a big grey building advertising Fine wrought iron for sale. I didn’t remember that. The farm opposite seemed deserted. Just a soft lowing of cows from their stalls said it was still in business.|

I’m a town girl by choice. Being back was a shock. Why? I’ll tell you. It was the silence, as if humans had gone, leaving just a whisper that they were ever there.

After about a mile, I came to the entrance to our drive, leading to the house. Two cottages on my right lay beside a steep hill where my sister and I would push our cycles up to Sunday church, held in a hut near a farm where the farmers and their wives gathered. Two old posts still stood on either side of the entrance. The oak tree still had the same notice board hanging off its nail, the names now faded into nothing.

Bumping over ruts and stones, I continued up the driveway. Sheep in the field looked up as I passed. Then, round a bend, there it was—our old home. It was a tall, gaunt building, almost black against the sky. Looking at my watch, I saw it was nearly midday, the hottest time of the day. My dress stuck to the car seat as sweat ran down my back.

At the base of a wall, poppies stood out, splashes of deep red in the shadows. Parking my car in the shade under a tree, I slammed the door, locking it instinctively. Goodness, it was sultry. The air was moist and heavy, with silence all around me. Even the birds no longer sang. Looking up into the branches, I saw sunlight filtering through the leaves. A sudden wind turned them into frenzied patterns of dazzling light.

In a strange way, seeing where I had been as a child, I felt like a little girl again, not a thirty-eight-year-old grown woman. I was transported by time, as if the years had never been.

I walked on. Across the courtyard lay the old mill. When I was a child, it had been a noisy, busy place: saws and lathes humming, hammers thudding, men shouting.

Now, there was only silence. Gaping holes yawned in the roof. Broken logs lay where they had been thrown long ago, just visible among the nettles and weeds. Decay lay in the deathly quiet, like the pall of time stopped.

The mill door was ajar. Should I go in? Memories, half forgotten. Two little girls dancing in the shadow of the mill, while in the doorway, a man watched. The mill boss? Why did he watch? Be nice to him, Mother would say.

We never would. Not with his red face and hands reaching out to touch. We didn’t like him, not one little bit.

I went on, but I had to watch my time, as I must go down to the river, my river, or so I thought then, where I sat and played for hours—the passing of the flowing waters my orchestra, dreaming, watching the stream meander past.

Finding the path, I heard the familiar roar of foaming water from the weir. The sun glinted and shimmered through the trees, creating kaleidoscopes of fragmented dancing lights. Looking up, I shaded my eyes. I caught sight of something high up, almost lost to sight among the thick branches. My God, it can’t be, I thought. It had to be, though. It was the swing my father put up for my sister and me one summer, where Elizabeth and I would sit and dream. After so long, it had grown upwards with the tree and was now so high I could only just see it. Would Elizabeth and Jean still be carved into the seat? I’d never know. And I had to go, as it was a long journey back to London.

Chapter 2

H e knew what was wrong with him. Always had. He saw it in people’s faces—the horror, the disgust.

But he’d learned to live with it, long ago deciding to make the mill a refuge from the world outside.

Today, with the winter over, it felt warm for a change. This morning he’d gone out early, catching a trout from the river. He’d have that for supper, something to look forward to.

He fell asleep in the sun that flooded through the window. He awoke with a jolt by the sound of a car door slamming—probably the man in the big house. He sometimes came home early from work. But something was different. He listened. Footsteps coming towards the mill.

No one ever came. He didn’t like it one little bit.

Peering over the windowsill, he saw a woman walking towards him. She was pretty, blonde, petite. Looking intently, something in his memory stirred. He knew her somehow. But who was she?

No, surely not! He recognised her. He couldn’t believe it. After all this time? He slipped onto the floor. Sweating and trembling, his heart pounded. Why was she here? What if she came in? What would he do?

Peering out the window again, he saw her standing there looking undecided. He looked around desperately. Where could he hide if she came in? Then he saw her turn and, with a smile, walk on down to the river.

He slumped onto the floor again. He couldn’t move. Why had she come back? He had to know.

The man got up and went outside. He guessed she would go and find her old places by the riverbank. Then suddenly there she was, meandering along the river path, looking up into the trees. She had spotted the old swing.

Longings he thought forgotten arose as he watched—old fears and terrors. But she’d grown up well. That he could see. And one thing he knew: his peace, such as it was, was gone forever.

Chapter 3

W hen I was eighteen, I went to London to study music.

The decision about what I wanted to do was easy. Mother bought me a flute for my tenth birthday. Just as a hobby, she thought, but I was hooked straightaway. My flute and I became inseparable.

I had a good teacher. Soon I was her top pupil, winning prizes, playing in local festivals. Music made me happy. I was good, so no contest.

London was exciting, student life challenging. And I was lucky. As soon as I left college, I was asked to join a top orchestra as first flute. Guess I never looked back.

Now I sat in an underground train on my way to rehearsal. Hurtling miles underground, we were like earthworms criss-crossing the darkness. A train passed in an explosion.

Times had changed since I was a student. People were wary these days. They avoided eye contact. There was fear in the air.

My station arrived. After pushing and shoving up the escalator, we emerged out into the daylight. A hazy sun warmed my face after the cool darkness of the station. I closed my eyes. It would be good to be back by my river.

Get a move on, dearie, a voice behind me said. We ain’t got all day.

Chapter 4

H e’d lived in the mill for so long that he never saw the emptiness, the dripping roof, and the rusty machinery lying in the sawdust where it was thrown long ago.

There was just silence, a heavy, overwhelming silence. Only the sound of the wind in the trees and the rushing of the river reminded him of a life outside. Sometimes when the solitude became unbearable, he banged his head in frustration against the walls, especially during the long dark winters, his shouts echoing round the room.

He never saw anyone. No one ever came. No one knew he lived there. He made sure of that.

Every so often, he hitched a lift to London to do a bit of burgling. That was all he knew. Last time he was caught. It took three police officers to handcuff him. He was thrown into a place where everyone seemed mad and told him he was a menace to society.

He wasn’t stupid. It didn’t take him long to see that they were the idiots, easily conned. Yes, I’ll take my medicine. Yes, I’ll behave. Yes, I’m sorry. Yes, I feel less violent. They were lies. If anything, he was worse. But they let him go, on probation. After that, it was easy. He just disappeared again, back to the mill.

He had no illusions. He knew what was wrong. Was he mad? He felt mad.

After seeing that woman the other day, a paralysis gripped him. Torment and sick despair made him want to kill, purge his hate, anything. He paced day after day, up and down, muttering, voices hammering in his head.

One morning he came face-to-face with a broken piece of mirror leaning on a shelf. There, in the chipped glass, his image glared out at him. With a scream of rage, he smashed it into pieces that fell to the floor.

Exhausted, he sat down. He must do something. Anger was eating him up inside. He’d read the paper, have a mug of tea … anything.

He picked up the local paper and turned the pages. He didn’t read very well; he usually just looked at cartoons or photos. Then, on the third page, covering the arts, he saw a photo. The caption read, International flautist in concert. He looked closely. It wasn’t a very good photo, but it was her, no doubt! Short blonde hair. He imagined her hair down to her waist. Pretty, very pretty. How like her mother she was. How long? Must be twenty years. She’d be in her late thirties now.

So you’re famous, are you? he asked the photo. As he devoured it, a plan, an idea of how to find her, came to him.