All Albert had ever wanted - after working almost all of his
life in a dead end job - was to spend his old age sitting in a swinging
chair on a piece of land with the witch floating right(move your cursor left to make her disappear). A piece of land with no strings attached,
that he owned outright with no loans and no mortgages. He had paid cash
for everything he had ever bought in his life and he'd never taken on
any debt.
At fifty-five, his dreams come true and he was offered an early
retirement/redundancy package from the Plastics petrol-chemical
company. He was happy as a pig in shit.
As soon as the cheque had cleared from the plastics company he was out
looking for his dream home. He could now full fill his life-long dream
of living in the countryside and going self-sufficient. When the sale was agreed he became the proud owner of the aptly named Albert's End, ten acres of mixed woodland and Rolling Meadows,
containing a large lake heavily stocked with fresh trout.
A freshwater stream, flowing from the Ash mountain range famous for its
purified water, fed the lake.
Albert decided to move in immediately and
lived in a single berth caravan as temporary living quarters until the
council at Goldshawbooth sanctioned planning permission.
After six months of anxious waiting, planning permission was granted
and the builders got to work on Albert's dream house. The build went on
all summer and finished just as the leaves turned a goldenbrown and
started to fall in great big bunches cluttering up the roads and paths.
Albert's house stood on the side of the lake encircled by a roughtrack, that shot off at a tangent west to the main highway some two
milesaway.The track was dug out and filled in with gravel to make a
suitable road, for the lone vehicles that passed along it but they were
few and far between.
Albert had given up driving as soon as he had
arrived at Albert's End. He'd never enjoyed driving and thought the
stress was an unnecessary evil. He got about by bicycle or train, much
better for the environment. But he didn't care much for the outside
world or it's environment, now he had his own little valley.
He grew lots of veg in summer, had fruit in the autumn and eggs from
his chickens all year round. Living self-sufficiently most of the time
of the land, he shopped only for emergency provisions usually in winter
and when his scrounging relations had dropped by for a visit.
On the first anniversary of moving in, Albert received a visit from a
person he thought he'd seen the back of some twenty years ago, that
being his ex-wife Doris Duff. She turned up claiming that he still owed
her alimony for his two rogue son's Albert junior and Rupert. Both
hadn't worked since leaving school and family rumors portrayed a pretty
bad picture of what had been going on in Duff family, as they were now
called. Albert listened to her sympathetically but did not owe her any
money and was not in a position to pay anything. Doris stormed from the
house cursing him, saying he'll never see another sunrise. Albert felt
a bit shocked, he'd always been decent with her and the kids.
Doris sped from Albert's little dream home only to stop just yards
down the exit road from the lake. She got out of her vehicle and
produced
from the boot of her car, a small black bag. She placed the bag on the
floor
and rolled the contents onto the gravel. The fleshy rancid smelling
remains petrified the air, she quickly withdrew a hanky and placed it
over her mouth. She then opened a second bag from which she dropped
into the rancid mess, a compass and watch. Where the watch and compass
fell she smashed them with her boot wiping the rotting flesh from her
boot with a hanky, then dropping the hanky to the floor. Produceing a
slip a paper from her pocket she read the Latin sounding words out
loudly! After this she scurried with a smirk on her face back into her
car and quickly accelerated down the track.
It was Halloween night and with a vile witch fleeing his home, Albert
decided a drop of strong spirit was in order to finish of the evening.
He opened a bottle of his famous 'Curse of Damson' wine and poured
himself a large glass. The heavenly tasting ruby red liquid
anesthetized his senses as he walked to the swinging seat.
Relaxing in the garden he watched The bright full moon shining, still full and still sitting in the
center of the sky in the fading light.
It was such a still night, no wind and no sound.
Albert felt a shiver go down his spine - you know the old wise saying -
"It's
like when someone or something has just walked over your grave".
Halloween used to be so much fun, when Albert was young. Kids were
running wild in the streets playing trick or treat. Pumpkin lamps
glowed in dark windows, flickering shadows silhouetted across deserted
rooms. People merry with drink and everyone in fancy dress at or going
to a Halloween party. All these memories seem a million years ago.
Albert dragged the bottle of wine over to his empty glass, recharged
the glass and drank deeply. He quickly dismissed all thoughts of the
past.
He repositioned himself in the swinging seat and continued to finished
the bottle,
falling asleep.
It seemed like hours had passed and Albert woke up, his
eyes blurred, he looked up at the
bright full moon shining, still full and still sitting in
the center of the sky and staggered to bed.
Sleeping heavily for what must have seemed like hours he awoke, feeling
the
urgency to go for a piss. Passing by the landing window, Albert notice
the moon, His reaction was one of pure shock, the bright full moon
shining, still full and still sitting in the center of the sky.
This
can't be he thought. I've been asleep for hours. He had a strange
feeling of déjà vu, and he remembered when he had had it
- it
was mushy season 1984.
During his youth he had experience many kind of
drugs and in the eighties it was magic mushrooms. His old buddy Arthur
had introduced him to a crowd of mushy heads and he had experienced the
powerful effects magic mushrooms had on the sight and mind.
It was like that now, that feeling of timelessness, but he wasn't on
mushies. The terror unfolding, he fell to the floor holding his head,
as his brain seemed to melt trying to cope with apparent perplexity of
the whole situation. The piss ran hot down Albert's inner thigh, he
walked crab-like to the toilet and turned the cold-water tap on,
splashing water over his face. He cooled down and thought deeply about
how he'd got in such a state, was he totally rat arsed and experiencing
some sort of weird hallucinations brought on by the dodgy damson wine.
Maybe he had got the Halloween adventure he'd always dreamt of, either
way he didn't like this feeling anymore and he wanted it stop. Stop
right now!
He decided a walk around the lake and down the road might tire him out,
whereupon he could return and go to sleep. It was chilly out and the
bright full moon shining, still full and still sitting in the center of
the sky. Albert walked around the lake and before long had reach
the two old oak trees that should have marked the exit road to the
highway,
that's strange he mumbled to himself "the roads gone, it's suppose to
be right here between these two tree's". But the road wasn't there and
Albert headed back to his dream house, not noticing the fleshy rancid
mess and broken metal parts lying in the gap between the trees on the
road.
His short stumpy silhouette could just be seen heading round the lake
as the bright full moon
shining,
still full and sitting in the center of
the sky glowed down at him indefinitely.
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