Wandering…

It is stupid o’clock and I can’t sleep. The throat still feels like I’m swallowing red-hot golf balls and my ears as if they have been skewered. After ten days, it should have cleared. So much for the early night. In spite of the chill of autumn, I have already thrown off the covers in my sleep, so I decide to give it up as a bad job and get up. Maybe a hot drink and some painkillers will help…

I flick the kettle on and wander through to greet the dog. Regardless of the ludicrous time, she still wants to go out into the garden. I wander out there with her to cool off and look at the sky. The world is silent and sleeping and, with my back to the darkened house, all I can see is the dark expanse of the fields… no lights, no sign of life.

Except, there is a noise, coming from the side of the house. Stupidly, I send the dog back inside before going to investigate. I notice the gate is not as it should be… which ought to have alerted me, but for some reason my mind slid over that fact.

Peering into the darkness, I see strange shapes move into the shadows and another coming towards me. For a moment, I panic.

Then I recognise the unmistakable silhouette of my younger son. He is carrying something…

Grinning proudly, he shows me his newborn baby, handing me a round pendant with a lace agate as a grand-mothering gift. I wonder how his partner has managed to hide the baby bump and conclude I haven’t seen them anywhere near often enough lately, what with the various viruses…

I mention the noise and the retreating shadow I had seen. He tells me that would just be the shaman who was still playing about with time at the side of the house. My son says some pretty random things, but this one I understand… I clearly remember the incident he is referring to…the shaman who looked like he had come from aeons past and the two ‘windows’ he opened in the side of the house that led through something like a wormhole.

My attention came back from that pictured memory and I looked at the clock, disoriented. It was stupid o’clock, I’d thrown off the covers and I felt ill again…

But first thing in the morning, my younger son will be getting a call… just in case there is anything he needs to tell me.

Maybe I should call the doctor on Monday too…