Seven for a Secret Never to be Told

At lunch time Mia and Safi played Warriors of Albion and decided they’d rescue the Thistle Magician without waiting for next week’s episode. They couldn’t stop laughing when Jake, who was playing with them kept saying the Witch of sardines instead of Sardeeni.

Time went quickly and when the bell rang at the end of the day Mia hurried out to meet her Nan and Bear her dog at the school gate. Bear jumped up and nibbled her sleeve.

That night it was the history group meeting. Mia’s Nan held the meetings in her cottage and the members came to talk about people who used to live in the village a long time ago. They found out things about the manor house and the church and looked at old maps and photographs. Mia liked the history group night because her Nan let her have a pot noodle with thick slices of buttered bread for tea. Tonight it was barbeque beef flavour. Mia’s favourite.

Mia’s jobs on the night of the history group meeting were to put the cups on a tray and arrange biscuits on a willow patterned plate ready for when everybody wanted a cup of tea or coffee. Mia’s Nan had bought jaffa cakes and chocolate digestives. Mia ate a digestive with her glass of milk before bed. Bed time was always early when it was history group night and Bear who wasn’t allowed upstairs was confined to the utility room.

Mia’s Nan’s cottage had two small downstairs rooms and members of the group would gather in the back room next to the kitchen. They sat around the old oak dining table on an assortment of mismatched chairs and stools. The stairs went up from this back room and Mia would sit on the top step unseen. She liked to listen to everyone talking. There was Tommy Jones the retired vet and his wife. John from the bowls club, Sam who lived at the end cottage and Paul Gregory one of the teachers from Evercombe Academy. Not everyone came every week. Mrs Hewitt who investigated family histories wasn’t there and Robin, the history student from college was on holiday.

Miss Jaggers was there. Mia liked Miss Jaggers. She was quite a bit older than Mia’s Nan and had dyed orange hair, red varnished fingernails and a loud laugh that came out quick like a bark. She was born in the village and was always telling stories about the ‘old days’. They were just talking about the back garden and Mia’s Nan was saying she’d lost her ring while she was digging broken bricks out of the flower beds.

‘You’ll find a lot of bricks out there. That field out the back of your cottage was the old brick works Meg,’ Miss Jaggers told Mia’s Nan. ‘They dug up so much clay to make bricks it left a great big hole, then when the war started the brick works was abandoned. That big hole filled up with water and it didn’t drain away so there was a permanent lake out there. When I was a nipper every sunny day of the summer holidays we’d be swimming in it and every winter it would ice over and we’d be skating.’

‘Where’s the lake now then?’ asked Mia’s Nan. Sam who lived at the end cottage answered.

‘It was used for waste. Bottles, wood and ashes. Back in the sixties. You’d never know now because it’s all grown over.’ Mrs Jones, who very rarely said anything added softly.

‘But wasn’t there a boy who…’

‘Mia page!’ Mia’s Nan was peering up the stairs. ‘Into bed.’

‘Can I have a drink of water please?’ asked Mia. Her Nan smiled and gave her a wink. ‘Get into bed and I’ll bring it up.’

Mia reluctantly got into bed and minutes later her Nan was there with a glass of water.

‘What was Mrs Jones saying…about a boy?’ Her Nan gave her a kiss.

‘I’ll ask her when I get the chance. Mr Gregory’s going to give us a talk about Evercombe in Roman times first.’ She walked out of the room and whispered sweet dreams.

Mia curled up on her left side. Her Nan had told her that East was in that direction. East of England was Germany and her mum was in Germany. ’Love you mum,’ she whispered.