Little Eden Page 11

“It would be better we hear it from you rather than on the grape vine,” Sophie suggested.

  “Look, for god’s sake!” Robert said, exasperated. “If you really want to know - my brother and my mother have decided to sell Little Eden, lock, stock, and barrel. That’s what has happened!”

  They were all aghast for a good few moments and nobody spoke. They all looked at each other in turn as if hoping someone would break the shocked silence. Cedric awoke from his snooze and looked around. He looked as stunned as everyone else!

  “But, that’s not possible!” Lucy eventually exclaimed. “Little Eden is in Trust! They can’t sell it!”

  “You got that right!” Robert replied, pacing up and down in an agitated manner. Cedric jumped off Mr T’s lap and followed him up and down at heel, as if coming out in sympathy. “That was the point of the Trust, yes - to stop the future generations cashing in or gambling it all away. It also meant that we avoided high death duties and could keep the place intact!”

  “I don’t understand!” Sophie said, bewildered. “I need some chocolate!” She opened a box of Devlin’s handmade chocolate truffles which was on the coffee table.

  “Since Lilly died, and having lost Aunt Elizabeth a few years ago, we are down to three trustees. The Trust can be disbanded if a unanimous decision is made by all of the trustees,” Robert explained.

  “But that’s not unanimous!” Jack said. “That’s just two against one. Just don’t vote with them!”

  “I don’t really have a choice!” Robert said. “They can take me to court apparently, and claim I am being unreasonable! And they will probably win. According to Lancelot, they have the best lawyer in England.”

  “Don’t tell me!” Lucy said. “Not your mother’s ‘boyfriend’, Robin Shaft?”

  “The very one!” Robert replied.

  Sophie couldn’t hold her emotions in any longer and burst into tears.

  “You see!” Robert said, going over and sitting with her. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you. It’s too much for you all. What with Lilly dying and you being so ill. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  “Sorry, old boy,” Jack said. “We shouldn’t have badgered you when you said you didn’t want to tell us. We just wouldn’t let it lie!”

  “This is serious!” Sophie said, wiping her eyes. Cedric bumbled up and sat on her knee, licking away her salty tears. She cuddled him close and buried her head in what was left of his soft fur.

  Lucy looked dazed and thought for a moment. “This is really serious!”

  “I mean,” Lucy said out loud, “We will all have to move out! We couldn’t keep the Café or the Bookshop! We couldn’t afford to buy the flat! We would lose everything!”

  “So would everyone single person in Little Eden!” Robert sighed angrily. “No! You just wouldn’t let it lie!” Robert said, trying to smile. “You must promise not to tell a soul outside this room about it. There might be riots in the streets, people leaving and even some attempted suicides.”

  “Good grief!” Lucy said. “I hadn’t thought of that! What about Mrs B and all the staff?” Lucy exclaimed. “What about Linnet and Minnie? Sumona, Devlin, Stella? They couldn’t afford to keep their shops without the Trust! All our friends and neighbours? People who have lived here all their lives, inherited their shops and homes from their ancestors? All their hard work! Their dreams! All down the drain.”

  Lucy could see in her mind’s eye everyone she loved packing their bags and walking, tearful and grief-stricken, out of Little Eden, pushing trolleys packed with their belongings. Cars, queuing up to leave through the gates, filled with suitcases and precious things. Everyone having to leave overnight, never to return. It felt almost like an exodus to her.

  “F**k, you’re right!” Jack said. “I couldn’t afford to buy my apartment, none of us could! What, with rent control and financial support from the Trust, I doubt there’s anyone living in Little Eden who could afford to buy their own place? I mean, I presume all the buildings would sell for market value and London prices?”

  “Oh, I assure you they would!” Robert replied. “The estimate of selling the whole of Little Eden is currently at eight billion pounds!”

  “How much?” Lucy said stunned.

  “It’s the charities I feel worst about,” Robert said, with a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  “They can’t sell the charity buildings as well can they?” Sophie asked. “I mean the refuge, the hospice, the retirement home, Heroes Palace - where are they supposed to go? What would happen to them and all the people they help?”

  “All to be sold from under them!” Robert replied. “The charities don’t own the buildings. The Trust does. I’ve managed to give them a peppercorn rent over the years, but I won’t be able to save them from being turned out now.”

  “No way! This isn’t fair!” Lucy exclaimed angrily, and she burst into tears. Mr T handed her a tissue and held her hand. He sniffed a little himself, but no one was sure if it was his cold or if he was crying too.

  Cedric didn’t know who to comfort first, so he made his way around everyone, snuffling into each of them in turn.

  “Can’t you save any of it?” Lucy said, patting Cedric’s head. “The chateau? The World Peace Centre?” Sophie said, concerned.

  “Gone!” Robert nodded.

  “The new school?” Sophie asked.

  “There will be nothing left. Nothing!” Robert repeated. “None of the buildings have a preservation order on them or listed status. We never needed to protect them with a law - everyone just knew preserving them was the right thing to do. But, once they are sold to arms and drug dealers, nothing will remain except a few facades. Nothing, nada, nil...all gone!”

  “OMG!” Sophie exclaimed. “I saw it!”

  “Saw what?” Jack asked.

  “Oh god, yes!” Lucy exclaimed. “What you said on the roof last night - after the funeral! You said it might be the last New Year anyone spends in Little Eden!”

  “What did you see?” Robert quizzed Sophie sternly. “What and when?”

  “In the crypt, after the funeral, I got a feeling of dread!” Sophie explained. “I felt sick and just for a moment I saw dead bodies everywhere. I saw Little Eden razed to the ground as if a nuclear bomb had been dropped and everything was burnt to ruins. The vision was just for a millisecond and then it passed and Jack yelled out about Melanie and, well, I wasn’t sure what it meant.”

  “What does it mean?” Lucy asked.

  “I can tell you exactly what it means!” Jack said. “Arma…f**king…geddon. That’s what it means!”

  Chapter 9

  ~ * ~

  The friends sat in silence for a while. Each one was letting the news sink in, and its far-reaching consequences took root in their minds. They realised that the idyll of Little Eden was about to be lost forever. It was the end of the world as they knew it. Where would they all go? Where would they all live? The future held nothing but bankruptcy and poverty for most of the residents.

  The beautiful historic buildings of Little Eden would be razed to the ground to make way for skyscrapers and multi-storey car parks. The ancient woods would be burnt down; multinationals would sweep away the quaint artisan shops. Perhaps, part of the 9th Century walls might remain in ruins, as a little nod to a long forgotten past.

  “I suppose we should have seen this coming,” Sophie said, breaking the lingering silence at last. “This place was too good to last forever. It’s been like living in a dream world. It’s not the real world.”

  “If Little Eden isn’t the real world then I don’t like the real world!” Lucy replied. “Pass me the chocolate truffles, Mr T. I need a box load right now!”

  “Community never wins over individual greed,” Sophie mused. “Only in fairy stories do we really get a real happily ever after. Little Eden is the last place on earth where l
ove still comes before money, but that is not the way of the world. A few mega rich people own us all and what they say goes. No one will support us, I can see the fat cats all waiting to pounce.”

  “Don’t get too sentimental - it’s just bricks and mortar!” Jack said.

  “Little Eden isn’t just bricks and mortar!” Lucy retorted. “It’s who we are! It’s our home! They don’t just want to sell the land; they want to sell us!

  “It’s not just the buildings - it’s people’s lives that are at stake,” Robert agreed. “But, we are powerless if there is money to be made. It is a miracle we have lasted this long.”

  “Jennifer has no shame!” Lucy said. “She’s never understood how important Little Eden is, and now she’s shown that she never will!”

  “Dr G always says that any form of security is a temporary illusion created by humans,” Sophie mused.

  “That doesn’t seem to comfort me right now!” Lucy replied, biting into another truffle.

  Robert nodded, but said nothing for a few moments. “We need to find out more from Alienor,” he said finally.

  “What can a ghost do for us now?” Jack asked. “We need to act legally! Get Lancelot on the case. Not go looking for spooks!”

  “I think Robbie’s right,” Sophie said. “Perhaps the spirits can help us? They may have more to tell us.”

  “Yes.” Lucy agreed. “Aunt Lilly can still help us from beyond the grave. If only we could find a way to communicate properly with her. God, I wish she was here. She’d know what to do! Shall we go back to the crypt?”

  Jack frowned. “I was thinking about the crypt, and to be honest, it all seems too fantastical in the clear light of day. I think we were all carried away by the atmosphere and the emotions of the funeral, and I’m not even sure what happened now - if anything happened at all!”

  “You did see the spirit of Melanie though,” Lucy chided him. “You were the only one who did! You saw a woman in white nearly pass straight through you!”

  “Did I?” Jack replied half-heartedly, as he went back to the kitchen area to refill his coffee.

  “Yes!” Sophie, Lucy and Robert all chimed together.

  “Well, if I was the only one who saw her - maybe I didn’t see her!” Jack replied in a huff.

  “Are you saying you lied? That you made it up?” Lucy quizzed him.

  “No - not exactly!” Jack frowned. “I just mean that, maybe, in that atmosphere and with all the talk of ghosts, I may have been suggestible! It was frightfully dark and gloomy and actually rather spooky, remember?”

  “It wasn’t!” Sophie rebuked him. “Once all the candles were lit it was beautiful! And if you are that suggestible I wish I’d known before. I could have gotten you to do all sorts of things with a little light hypnotherapy over the years!”

  “Very funny!” Jack replied. “All I mean is, there were shadows and candle light, and you were talking about seeing things…”

  “What about the cold spot?” Robert interrupted. “You felt that!”

  “The temperature down there must be always changing,” Jack said emphatically, and was about to hand a cup of coffee to Mr T, when he realised that he had nodded off in his chair, with Cedric snoozing on his lap. “There are bound to be drafts and breezes in a place as old as that.”

  “What about the smells?” Lucy suggested. “I smelt Lilly’s perfume and you smelt smoke remember?”

  “I was thinking about that too,” Jack responded. “There were probably just wafts of incense coming down from the church above.”

  “There wasn’t anyone in the church above!” Robert replied.

  “Well, maybe we were standing underneath where they keep the incense,” Jack argued. “I don’t know! Maybe they keep it in a cupboard in the vestry or somewhere like that.”

  “Are you going to deny the whole thing just because it was supernatural?” Sophie sighed.

  “All I know is - there is always a rational explanation for the paranormal or supernatural, if one looks hard enough, old girl!” Jack said with conviction, as he sat on the arm of the sofa. “And, I don’t think the supernatural is a helpful line of enquiry when we are all facing eviction!”

  “I definitely smelt Lilly’s perfume,” Lucy said, offended at the suggestion she was lying, and she poked Jack in the ribs. “I may not be clairvoyant like Sophie but I often smell spirit odours, don’t I Sophie?”

  Sophie nodded and agreed with her sister. “She does!”

  “You are the only one who smelt Lilly’s perfume, so maybe it was all in your head. Maybe, you just thought you could smell it because you wanted to,” Jack responded.

  “I don’t have the start of dementia if that’s what you’re implying!” Lucy remarked.

  “I’m just saying that maybe this woman in white was just in my head!” Jack continued. “And maybe, the cold spot was just in Robert’s head, and as for the rest of it, sorry old girl, no disrespect, but maybe the rest of it was in Sophie’s head.”

  “That’s a lot of maybes, and a lot of heads,” Sophie giggled. She was finding it amusing watching him tie himself up in rational knots.

  “Charming!” Lucy exclaimed, and shoved him off the arm of the sofa. “Listen here, buddy boy! I felt the change in temperature! I felt Lilly hug me! I smelt her perfume and I don’t appreciate you saying me and my sister are lying!”

  “I didn’t mean it like that!” Jack said, picking himself up off the floor.

  “Then what other way do you mean it?” Lucy demanded indignantly.

  “It’s alright!” Sophie said, and smiled. “I told you he would start to rationalise it! It’s the classic behaviour of someone who is sceptical and doesn’t want to believe.”

  “So, I have to agree with you two, do I?” Jack replied.

  “No, of course not!” Sophie said. “The human brain is designed to block out sound and light frequencies outside of the range of the five senses. It keeps us sane. The brain naturally snaps back into place after a psychic experience. If it didn’t, you’d be seeing auras and ghosts all over the place; and you’d not know what century you were in, or even what planet you were on; and you’d have a mental breakdown! Even for a seasoned psychic it can be hard to remember what happened during an episode a few days later. The weirder the experience - the harder the brain fights to forget it and rationalise it.”

  “I suppose,” Jack mumbled and went to find something to eat.

  “You believe though, don’t you Robert?” Lucy asked him.

  “I suppose the more it happens, the harder it is to come up with other explanations,” Robert replied. “I would trust Sophie whatever she said, even if I didn’t feel or see it myself.”

  “My rational mind tells me there has to be a different and rational explanation,” Jack called from the kitchen area.

  “Your ‘rational’ explanations, so far, seem to be cupboards full of incense that don’t exist and that we are all doolally!” Lucy retorted, throwing a cushion at him, but missing him completely and hitting Cedric on the nose, who yelped in surprise, waking Mr T from his reverie!

  “F*ck it! Alright!” Jack acknowledged. “I don’t have any explanations - rational or otherwise!”

  “It’s easier to dismiss it than to believe it!” Sophie agreed. “Don’t be too hard on him Luce.” She turned to Jack and added, “Just think of a dog whistle!”

  “Eh?” Jack replied.

  “A dog whistle!” Sophie repeated. “A dog can hear it, but a human can’t. Does that mean the dog whistle isn’t making a sound just because a human ear can’t pick up that frequency?”

  “I suppose not!” Jack said, starting to get a bit tired of arguing. “But even that doesn’t mean one can’t have a healthy degree of scepticism!”

  “Of course we should all keep common sense as our first port of call,” Sophie replied. “You can only trust
those people you can trust! If you believe any Tom, Dick or Harry you can be led up the garden path. Some people who get into ‘so called’ spiritual stuff become mentally unstable, having lost all grasp on this reality.”

  “I need something to eat!” Jack said, changing the subject. “There’s nothing in your cupboards!”

  “I haven’t felt like going shopping,” Lucy told him, unwilling to get up from the sofa. “There’s pizzas in the freezer - put them in the oven for us? That’s if you believe the pizza is real and not just a figment of our imagination that is!”

  Jack smirked and went to find the pizzas. He was confused, which he didn’t like as it felt uncomfortable, but he couldn’t really be bothered to figure it out either! It made his brain hurt when he tried to make sense of things. He wanted to believe his friends, but he just couldn’t get his mind around how the paranormal/supernatural could work. He shrugged and decided to just trust them. If his three closest friends in the world understood it, then that was enough for him! He relaxed and began to feel at ease again.

  Robert still wanted to talk about what had happened in the crypt. He waited till everyone had taken a loo break, and then broached the subject again. “Can we talk about the message Alienor gave us, without getting sidetracked as to whether it was a real message or in our heads? I need to get some clarity on it. If I can find out more about why Alienor said what she said and who this Melanie is, I will feel better.”

  “I can’t remember word for word,” Sophie replied. “As usual the whole experience begins to fade nearly straightaway, but it was something like: Dark forces are gathering. We are at a crossroads. In 2012, the planets will change their course to reshape the future. Or something like that.”

  “I think she actually said, reshaping the future of mankind!” Jack interjected.

  “Who said that Jack?” Lucy giggled. “There was no message, according to you - it was just in our minds, remember?”

  Sophie nudged her sister and looked over at Robert who was pacing the room. “Be serious. I think Robbie is a bit distressed,” she whispered.