The Mysteries of Brambly Hollow

voice belong to, Meli wondered? Twisting to look over her shoulder she was confronted by someone who looked remarkably like her daughter, only this person was like a bubbly glass of champagne with her bright, smiling face, and Cass usually resembled a flat glass of day old cider.
    “Morning,” she beamed back, trying not to show her shock. It was only nine thirty, crack of dawn as far as Cass was usually concerned. In her hand she was holding a mug of tea.
    “Thought you might like a drink,” Cassie told her, handing over the hot mug. Meli nearly dropped her sandpaper in shock.
    “That was kind of you, thanks.“ Putting the mug on the workbench, she glanced over her daughter, who was wearing a short denim skirt and a tight pink tee shirt, low cut, emphasising a deep, plunging cleavage that put her own little crease in the shade. Her auburn hair was freshly washed, the daylight glittering off the natural red highlights as they tangoed in light springy steps over her shoulders, and she was wearing makeup. All of this told Meli that she must have been up for a couple of hours. Something special must be happening today. She quickly checked the date in her head, but no, it wasn’t Cass’ birthday, nor any other important date that she could recall.
    “You look very nice,” she commented.
    Cassie batted her eyelashes coyly, her eyes wandering away to glance everywhere but in her mother’s direction. “Just popping into town to meet some friends.”
    Meli guessed that the ‘friends’ had to include a special male. “That’s nice. What have you got planned for the day?”
    Cassie shrugged and played with a ringlet of hair, twisting it around a finger. “Nothing special. Taking my swim suit and towel, as we’ll probably go swimming.”
    Not wanting to put a spanner in her big day, Meli declined to ask whether the thickly applied layers of mascara were water proof. Besides, she had a sneaking suspicion that the closest her daughter intended getting to the water was to roast herself under a hot summers sun on a nice stretch of sand, close enough to enjoy the sound of the waves, but where there was no risk of actually being caught in any. You didn’t take that much care with your appearance to wash it all away in two seconds. “Do you want me to give you a lift?”
    “Oh no,” the words were almost spat out as a pair of huge, horrified eyes met hers. Quickly lowering her gaze, Cassie took a moment to adjust the neck line of her tee shirt. “I know you’re busy. I’m used to taking the bus now. Thanks though.”
    Meli watched her departure. Cassie had definitely been smitten by someone. She grinned broadly as she turned back to the half finished mouth. What a change love could bring. It could ripen even the most sour gooseberry.
    Leaving the boys in bed, Meli took herself and Quassi for a stroll down to the Post Office. She needed to stretch her legs; and her back, stooped over the mask clasped between her knees while she worked on it, was beginning to develop a permanent hump. Also, she wanted to do some digging.
    “Hello, Mrs. Noble,” Mrs. Barber’s voice greeted her, as she slid from the shadows of the doorway to the side of the counter. It was uncanny the way she did that, appearing the instant the bell sounded. Was she propped there, like an old faithful broom, in a permanent state of readiness?
    Keeping a straight face, Meli returned the greeting as she made her way to the counter, grabbing a copy of the Daily Mail en-route. Was it her imagination? Or had Mrs. Barber put on even more weight? Her facial features looked so grotesquely swollen that they resembled a hamster with a bad reaction to penicillin, chewing on two snooker balls; and, if she didn’t buy herself a bigger overall soon, well, all that nylon would surely burst, releasing mounds of flesh that would slide through the village, felling trees and burying cars. Maybe what she’d heard in the Fountains Head was true, that Mrs. Barber had a thing for Cornettos and could eat several in one day, several boxes that was.
    “I was speaking to the vicar yesterday,” Meli got in the first line of the conversation before Mrs. Barber. “I hadn’t realised that Elsa had been married and had had children.” Meli tried to add a touch of reproach for this omission. Although the comment was made to Mrs. Barber, it wasn’t intended to be entirely personal, as it was aimed at the village as a whole.
    Mrs. Barber’s twelve inch eyebrow shot