The CBB :: View topic - Home in the Hills [To St Agnes Please]

#1: Home in the Hills [To St Agnes Please] Author: Ray, Location: Bristol, England

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 7:47 pm

Very much inspired by Patmac's drabble series "A Village Boy" (if you aren't already enjoying the series, what are you waiting for? Go and read it!). Very grateful, Pat, to you letting me play briefly in your sandbox Smile

Home in the Hills

It had been years since he'd been here. School, then university, then work had all contrived to keep him away, and though he wouldn't swap a single second of everything he'd done in his lifetime, he regretted not being able to come back here more often.

Of course, everything had changed here. Time had marched on and what had been a working village had become a place of second homes and commuter dwellings. But the hills hadn't changed at all. They were still just as he remembered them and it was they that made this place still feel like home, even after all this time.

He stood, now, at the top of the valley he'd called 'his' and studied the view. The church still stood at the heart of the community and that, at least, hadn't changed. From this distance, he could almost imagine he was back here, as a boy, hurrying home in case Auntie needed him.

A gentle hand on his shoulder broke his train of thought and he turned to see the hand's owner.

He smiled. "Thank you," he said. "This was a wonderful idea."

She smiled. "We always said we'd come back here," she replied. "For good, if you like?"

He blinked, a little startled by the idea. "Really?"

She laughed, a sound he'd truly loved from the first moment that he'd heard it so many years before. "Yes, really. We've both retired now, so why not here, where we spent so much time when we were small and smaller?"

It was his turn to laugh. "Why not," he agreed.

"I mean," she continued, "the children are grown up now the family is scattered to the four winds...there's nothing to keep us where we were, so really, why not come back here?"

He nodded. She was right, but then, she usually was. "It'll take a little time," he pointed out, but before he could continue she extended her other hand and revealed she was holding a pair of door keys. "How...?"

She smiled. "Well, I've been thinking about it for a while," she admitted. "And then I was over here, seeing my sister, back in January." He nodded. "Well, we took a trip up here, because she'd heard that a house had just come on the market." He stared at her now, the way she was smiling suggested the house was special.

"Not..." but he couldn't finish that thought. Couldn't name it in case he was leaping to conclusions. Her smile broadened into a grin as she nodded.

"The Wichens it is. And I knew that was where we should come to." She dropped a light kiss on his cheek and pressed the keys into his hand. "Happy anniversary, my love," she said. "Welcome home."

And though Reg Entwistle had long since learned that home was wherever this remarkable woman was, he equally knew that he truly had come home.

Last edited by Ray on Thu Mar 10, 2005 1:15 pm; edited 1 time in total

#2: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 7:51 pm

Ok, I'd better go & read a village boy now. As i haven't, i assume the remarakable woman is Len?

#3: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 8:06 pm

Awwwwww!!! That was lovely!! Thank you Ray!!!

#4: Author: Mihiri, Location: surrey england

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 8:57 pm

Thank you Ray. What a lovely drabble

#5: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 9:02 pm

At the risk of attracting UTO, thanks for posting that Ray. It's so beautiful and moving.

#6: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 9:27 pm

Beautiful, thanks Ray.

#7: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:05 pm

That was lovely - thanks Ray Very Happy

Liz

#8: Author: Helen P, Location: Crewe, Cheshire

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:08 pm

Awww thankyou Ray - that was really lovely. *Breathes a contented sigh before going to bed*

#9: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 10:03 pm

Loved that Ray, wonderful.

#10: Author: LadyGuinevere, Location: Leicester

Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 10:17 pm

Beautifully touching Smile

Thanks Ray! ~LadyG

#11: Author: Josie, Location: London

Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 10:45 pm

Oh, how lovely! Thanks Ray Very Happy

#12: Author: Amanda M, Location: Wakefield

Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:17 pm

That was beautiful Ray, thank you. Star Wars

#13: Author: Rachael,

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 9:36 am

Oh how wonderful! I wasn't expecting that and have gone all teary-eyed!! Thank you, Ray!

#14: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 6:52 pm

Ray that was just wonderful - thank you

#15: Author: Kathye, Location: Laleham

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:17 pm

Thanks Ray I always love your drabbles Mr. Green

#16: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2004 4:17 pm

Thank you Ray a lovely heartwarming story. As has been said before you write Reg so well!

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