Moonlight Magic

“In one hundred yards take the turning left, and then left again.” Said Sarah’s Sat Nav as she waited for the traffic lights to turn to green.

“You have reached you destination.”

The cemetery was on her right as she drove slowly up to it, angling her head sideways to try and see where the entrance was. There…there it was…a large cast iron gate that had two huge stone pillars on either side with a small black sign saying St. Mary’s Cemetery Bishophill Senior. The area was full of old streets, half-cobbled, half-tarmacked with terraced houses on both sides and due to the narrow width of the road, parking was limited to only one side marked with a dotted white line. Luckily there were quite a few spaces, probably because it was late morning and the majority of the residents were at work. Sarah pulled into a space only a few yards from the entrance between a large white van in front, which was in need of a wash with a hand drawn picture of a smiley face on the back doors, and a large maroon coloured 4x4 pick up behind her splattered with dried mud as if it had been on a rally somewhere.

Stepping out of her car and onto the street she couldn’t help but notice that unless you knew the cemetery was there it was very difficult to see. The entrance gate with its pillars was angled away from view on the corner, where this road met a narrow cobbled lane, making it very easy to miss. As she approached she could see the cobbled lane was much too small for vehicles and was more of a footpath than a lane which had quite a steep drop winding its way to somewhere further down. The boundary to the cemetery on the two sides, either side of the gate, was an old Yorkshire stone wall with tall black railings which had masses of bushes and trees intertwined with the cast iron railings meaning it was almost impossible to see the cemetery within.

Sarah took a deep breath, pulled her shoulders back and pushed the gate…nothing happened. She could see a black rusty lever about half way down the gate that looked as if it hadn’t been used in years so she pushed down on it…but again…it didn’t move.

A wave of disappointment swept through her body as she stood trying to peer through the overgrown vegetation escaping through the railings of the gate.

“You’ll have to put all your weight on the lever.” Came a somewhat shaky voice from behind her. Sarah spun round to be confronted with a short old woman, almost bent double pushing one of those wheeled tartan fabric-covered shopping trolleys.

“Oh…Ok…thank you.” Said Sarah as she turned back towards the gate. She placed both hands on the rusty old lever and really put all her weight on it…it moved with a creak and a clunk.

“Now put you shoulder to the gate.” Said the old lady not even looking up and walking slowly down the street.

Sarah leant against the gate with her shoulder and shoved with all her might making it move slightly. The moment she stopped pushing, the gate would begin to close again, so she quickly realised that the only way to get in was to push…push…push…and then jump through the opening…which she did.

Wow…she exclaimed. It’s like a secret garden.

There were huge trees and overgrown bushes in every direction with a narrow cobbled path that disappeared amongst the undergrowth and tangled plants. As she walked along the path, using both of her hands and arms to push away long tentacles of plant growth, she could just make out ancient, weathered stone tombstones, some upright, others at peculiar angles almost defying gravity, and some which had lost the fight against the relentless pull of the earth and were lying on the ground covered in grass and moss.

Suddenly, as she pushed her way through a huge Rhododendron bush that had completely covered the path, she walked out into a clearing with the morning sun shining down and glorious, blue sky above.

It was so beautiful it took her breath away.

Oh my God she said out loud as she walked further into the clearing marvelling at how peaceful it felt. This is amazing.

Under her feet was what appeared to be freshly mown grass…but how could that be? There was no way anyone could get in here with a lawnmower. The grass area was about fifteen feet square, except it was more of rectangle than a square with a solitary sturdy, but obviously old, wooden bench at one end that, oddly, didn’t face into the middle of the grass, which is what you would expect if there were any visitors here who wanted to look out onto the open space. No. It was facing another small open grass area about six feet in diameter surrounded by tall trees and bushes.

Sarah walked over to the bench and after giving the seat a quick wipe with her hand, sat down. It was lovely and quiet, the trees and bushes deadened the noise from the city and the street outside, with just the occasional sound from a passing bird or a small animal scratching around in the undergrowth.

It was perfect for a cemetery. Exactly what you would want for your loved ones who had passed away.

Peace and tranquillity.

As Sarah sat on the wooden bench in the almost perfect silence, she became quite emotional thinking about Charlie, the old man back at the hospital, no wonder he liked coming here it was so peaceful. Then she remembered what Brian, the old ambulance driver had said. Charlie, the old man, was just sat looking blankly out in front and he had said he didn’t want to leave him…whoever him was. As far as she could see, there were no more benches in the cemetery so this had to be the bench Charlie was sat on… what had he been looking at? She leant forward slightly with her hands on her lap studying the trees and bushes that surrounded the open grassed area in front her but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Her attention switched to the grass but again it all looked completely normal, apart from maybe a slight change in the colour of the grass. The centre was just a fraction deeper green than the rest with a deeper green on the outer edge but that was all…nothing you would write home about.

Well I can’t see anything she said out loud as she pushed herself up onto her feet and turned to make her way back out, which wasn’t as easy as it seems…where was the path? She chuckled to herself as she pushed aside branch after branch looking for the path…fancy forgetting which way you came in.

It didn’t take long to find the way back and before she got to the gate she could see the old lady who had told her how to open the gate, shuffling along the path ahead of her.

“Hello again.” Said Sarah with a smile.

“I come here every day dear.” Replied the old lady lifting her head from its downward tilt and raising her hand to point at one of the headstones in the bushes, “My husband is over there.”

Sarah turned to look where she was pointing and could see a small headstone that was obviously well cared for, with all the weeds and plant growth cleared away.

“Scuse me dear.” Said the lady as she squeezed past Sarah who had to breath in and lean back, almost falling backwards into the nettles behind her.

“Err…yes of course.” Replied Sarah trying to make herself as thin as possible.

The lady shuffled along the path towards her husband’s grave as Sarah breathed out twirling round towards the direction of the gate. She stopped suddenly and turned to face the woman.

“Err…excuse me.” Said Sarah in a slightly louder than normal voice. “Excuse me.”

The old lady was already at her husband’s grave.

“Yes?” She replied without even turning round.

“I’m sorry to bother you.” Began Sarah stepping slowly towards her, “but I don’t suppose you know anything about an old man that was picked up by the ambulance service a little while ago do you?”

Again, without even looking up from what she was doing the old woman replied.

“Yes dear…it was me. I called them. That poor man had been there all day and maybe even longer. He looked so cold I thought I’d better call them before he ended up in here for good…if you know what I mean.”

“Yes…yes…so…do you know him?”

“No not really dear.” Said the lady as she stood up trying to straighten her severely crooked back. “I’ve seen him many times over the years and occasionally we’ve exchanged words…you know…hello…how are you…but I don’t know him. I suppose he comes here like I do…you know…to tend to a loved one’s grave.”

“Yes…I suppose so.” Replied Sarah feeling a little deflated that the woman didn’t know him well enough. “Ok…well thank you…have a lovely day.”

“I will do dear. I’ve finished here now. I’m going to walk back for a cup of tea. I’m parched.”

Sarah smiled at the old woman and made her way back along the cobbled path to the old iron gate where she came in. It took a couple of attempts to get the timing right to open the gate and scramble through the opening before it either shut again before she had chance to jump through or before it closed tightly on her body trapping her forever…or at least until the next visitor to the cemetery arrived…but she eventually managed it, wondering how on earth the old lady coped. There was obviously a knack to it or the old woman was a lot stronger than she looked.