Milly jumps on her suitcase once more and is pleased when the clasps finally spring shut. It has taken her most of the morning to pack her clothes and gather together her spider collection. Milly is so excited because today is the day when she and her mother are going to start their new adventure, living with Aunt Patsy in the big old house on the edge of the woods.
“Are you ready Milly?” her mother calls from the kitchen where she has just finished making holes in the jam jar for Milly’s spiders.
“I’m coming, mother,” she calls back.
“I can only see eleven spiders, I think Itchy is missing,” calls her mother.
Milly gets down on her hands and knees to look for Itchy. She finds him in the corner by the window.
“Come on, Itchy, I promise to release you as soon as we get there. All the others are ready. Now come on, stop being a pain.” Milly holds out her hand and Itchy climbs on. Milly carries him into the kitchen and places him in the jar. It’s a tight fit and his legs get in a tangle. Milly puts the lid on tight and looks through the jar.
“It won’t be for long, I promise,” she says with a smile and places the jar in her coat pocket. She then returns to her room to collect her suitcase. As she enters her room she hears a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it, Milly, hurry along now,” her mother calls.
“Good morning, are you ready to leave now?”
Milly shudders as she hears the familiar voice of Billy who has been visiting the flat for several weeks now. She knows Billy is not alone; he always comes with two other men, Eric and Harry. They all work for Captain Cow, the man who has bought this block of flats and forced them from their home. Milly has never seen Captain Cow but she has seen his steak house adverts on the buses. She feels upset that the Captain is going to knock down the flats to build yet another steak house.
“Come on lady, we ain’t got all day,” she hears Billy shouting at her mother.
Milly knows that he is trying to look menacing in his grey checked suit and his tinted glasses. She also knows that he will smile at her as she walks to the door, unlike Eric whose feet she can hear tapping impatiently in the corridor. Eric never smiles and he always wears faded T-shirts with masked faces on them. Harry won’t smile at her either, but he always smiles at Mother. Milly doesn’t like the way Harry smiles at her mother, but being only eight there is little she can do about it.
“We’ll be out in a moment, gentlemen,” she hears her mother saying as she carries her suitcase down the hall to the door.
Billy does smile when he sees her. “And about time too.”
Milly’s mother picks up her case and hand in hand they leave the flats for the last time. The three men watch them leave and Eric begins to laugh. Billy slaps him on the head and Harry has to step in to stop them fighting. Milly’s mother doesn’t look back. Instead she smiles at her daughter and with heads held high they walk the short distance to the edge of town. As they reach the motorway that separates the town from the woods Milly shivers. The woods look dark and the traffic is fast.
“It’s not all bad Milly, I’m sure you’ll enjoy exploring the old house, just as me and your Aunt Patsy did when we were your age,” says Milly’s mother as they wait for a gap in the traffic.
Suddenly a limousine stops beside them and the back seat window slides down. Captain Cow’s grin is almost hidden by his large hat as he calls, “Nice day for a stroll ladies.”
Harry leers at Milly’s mother from the driver’s seat while brushing his hand through his curly, ginger hair. Milly grips her mother’s hand as they cross the street into the woods.
The trees are packed together as if guarding a secret, yet the grass grows tall, bathing in a pale light that penetrates the dense leaves of the trees. Down the centre of the woods runs a narrow, twisting path, which leads to Aunt Patsy’s house. After five minutes walk Milly stops and puts down her suitcase. She picks a bunch of wild flowers from the edge of the path and gives them to her mother. Then she picks a second bunch.
“I shall give these to Aunt Patsy. Do you think she will like them?” she asks.
“I’m sure she will, dear. Now pick up your case, she will be waiting for us,” her mother replies with a smile.
When they reach the far end of the woods, Milly sees the old house. It has many windows shining in the sunlight, its tall chimneys pointing heavenward like statues. Though her new home seems huge compared to her narrow flat, Milly feels safe in its shadow.
“Will there still be spaghetti growing in the basement?” she asks her mother.
“It has been growing there ever since I was a child, Milly,” her mother’s replies.
“And will it taste of apple pie?”
“It always has, Milly.”
Milly runs up the path to her new home. As she reaches the steps the big oak door creaks open and her Aunt smiles down at her. Milly doesn’t smile back because she had wanted to ring the bell. Seeing the look of disappointment on her niece’s face Patsy closes the door again. It is made from large square panels and the centre panel has a small button in it.
“Can I press it?” asks Milly.
Her mother smiles and lifts her up so that she can reach the button. Immediately the centre panel slides back and a small wooden man stands on its ledge.
“Welcome to your new home, Milly. Mrs Walker please come in,” he says with a bow. The large door creaks open once more. Milly and her mother walk in and place their cases on the wooden floor in the hall.
Milly runs back to the door and rubs her hands across the smooth surface.
She turns to her mother and her Aunt, “Who was that and where did he go?”
“That was Mr Knot and he lives in the door,” her Aunt replies.
“That’s knot with a k,” calls the little man from within the door.
They all laugh and Patsy leads them into the sitting room. Milly notices a tea tray on a large glass top table supported by two blue dolphins.
Milly looks around the room. There is no television, just a long wooden radiogram, balancing on four slender legs against the far wall. Milly is surprised by the number of plants in the room and to see shelf upon shelf of books, everything from Peter Pan to a WI cookbook, from Jane Eyre to The Jungle Book.
“I love to read dear, it broadens the mind,” Patsy smiles.
“Me too,” Milly replies as she watches her Aunt pour the tea. She is pleased to see that Aunt Patsy still dyes her hair red, wears her glasses on the end of her nose and
that she still wears flowered blouses and purple skirts covered with a brown checked apron.
Patsy notices Milly looking at her clothes. “I like what I like and that’s that,” she says as she hands Milly’s mother a cup of hot strawberry tea and a yoghurt and raisin sandwich.
“Me too,” says Milly, “but I don’t like strawberry tea.”
“That’s alright, dear. I have some honeyed milk for you and some jam and banana sandwiches.”
Clinton, Patsy’s dog, walks over from his place by the fire and sniffs the air around Milly. He soon realises that there is no meat on offer and goes back to the fire. Milly notices how slow he walks and looks at her Aunt.
“He’s not much of a guard dog, Aunt Patsy. Aren’t you afraid living out here all by yourself?”
“My dear Milly, I don’t live by myself. I have many friends here with me,” says her Aunt.
“That will do,” says Milly’s mother, “you promised not to mention that.”
Patsy shrugs, “Your mother’s right, Milly, I promised. But should you see any of them, don’t be afraid, they wont harm you.”
“See who, Aunt?” asks Milly, but her Aunt doesn’t reply.
“Why don’t you go and release your spiders in the basement, Milly dear. I’m sure Itchy is very cramped in there and I need to talk to your Aunt,” says Milly’s mother.
With the mention of the word “basement” Clinton stands up and shakes himself. He saunters across the sitting room, into the hall and sits down at the basement door.
“He likes to go and chase the mice,” explains Patsy.
“That’s cruel,” says Milly and she heads for the basement and Clinton.
“Not really, my dear. He’s far too old and slow for them and all that running around keeps him fit,” her Aunt calls after her.
Milly looks down at the hopeful Clinton and slowly opens the basement door.
Clinton makes no attempt to move, until Milly has felt along the left side of the door for the light switch and turned it on.
“Scared of the dark Clinton?” Milly asks mockingly.
Clinton shakes his head and walks down the stairs, looking from left to right and back again. Milly sees the spaghetti hanging from the ceiling and rushes down to taste it. Standing on tiptoe Milly pulls off a piece of the spaghetti and slowly chews it.
“Apple pie, I knew it!” she cries and offers Clinton a piece.
Clinton smells it and walks away. Milly looks up at the spaghetti and remembers the last time she was here. Her father had brought her down to the basement to taste the wonderful spaghetti. She hadn’t believed him when he had told her about it, so he had carried her down on his big shoulders and helped her pick some. Milly wipes a tear from her eye and removes the jam jar from her pocket. She places it on the floor and unscrews the lid. Itchy and his friends untangle themselves and crawl out.
“About time too,” complains Itchy.
Milly jumps up and looks around the room.
“Who said that?” she asks.
“I did,” says Itchy from his place on the floor.
Milly sits down on the floor and looks at the spider.
“Did you speak?” She asks in a whisper.
“I’ve always spoken to you, Milly but you’ve never heard me until today, I’d almost given up hope that you would ever hear me,” he replies.
Milly shakes her head, stands up and climbs the stairs without looking back.
“I must be going mad,” she says to herself.
Clinton follows her up the stairs. He’s disappointed because he couldn’t find the mice. They are all upstairs discussing the new arrivals with Bengi. It’s a difficult process, holding a conversation through a closed door, but the mice are not stupid. They know Bengi will eat them all up without a second thought, promise or no promise.
© Tina O'Neill, 2007
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