The Mysteries of Brambly Hollow

sounds, the sharp yip yap of an owl, the gutteral kaarr of a carrion crow.
    Meli threw herself through the door, mouthed a thank you to God for her safe passage and slammed the door shut. Gasping, glistening with cold sweat, she staggered into the living room.
    “Hi Mrs. Noble.”
    “Hello Meli.”
    Meli nearly had a seizure. Ken and Dean were sitting in the living room. The way their eyes rolled up and down her body, instantly confirmed her fear that she must look like Alice Cooper on a poor hair day. Politely though, they didn’t make any comment about this. Whatever must they think of me, she groaned inwardly? Quickly pulling herself together she mustered a smile. “Hi, how nice to see you both.” She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her shorts, hoping to conceal that they were shivering like slabs of meat in a freezer.
    “Hi mum,” Cassie emerged from the kitchen. “Just in time for a cuppa.”
    “That was good timing,” she affirmed with a dry smile, wondering how she could disappear without making more of an impact. Deciding that she couldn’t and she’d only risk compounding matters if she tried, she said. “I’ll give you a hand.”
    “What have you been up to?” Cass cast her critical eyes over her mother when they were out of earshot of Ken and Dean, taking in the glistening, lobster pink complexion, the foliage that was woven intricately into her hair and resembled a crow’s nest sitting on her head.
    “Why?” Meli enquired sweetly, as she snatched the milk from the fridge, and slammed the door shut with a well aimed hip.
    “Why? Because you’ve got half the forest in your hair and you look like you’ve just run a marathon.”
    “I have,” thanks for the idea she thought, leaping on the suggestion. “I decided I needed some exercise, so I’ve been for a jog.”
    Cassie’s eyes widened and she threw her mother a disparaging look. In unison they both glanced down at her open toed, heeled sandals. “Yeah,” Cass puffed the word from her sneering mouth. “I can see you’re dressed for a jog.”
    Deciding not to dig the hole any deeper, Meli refrained from replying. While the tea was brewing, she excused herself and rushed upstairs to change her sweaty top and wipe herself down. She inspected her image in the mirror. Yep, she definitely resembled Alice Cooper on an exceptionally bad hair day. Cassie had actually been quite restrained in her summing up of her appearance, probably because Dean was there, and she didn’t want to show her true colours. Splashing cold water on her face and giving it a good scrub, along with a swift and violent assault on her hair with a brush, helped restore her usual sleek, owlish look. Picking her way carefully over the prickly carpet of twigs and leaves underfoot, she made a mental note to come back later and clean up. By the time her feet hit the last step, she was feeling quite composed and more presentable in a clean, crisp lavender coloured tee shirt.
    “Is everything all right?” she enquired on her return, sliding gratefully into an arm chair and casually crossing one long leg over the other.
    “Everything is fine,” Ken grinned, the grey flecks in his brown eyes twinkling like finely shredded silver. He looked extremely pleased about something. “Hope you didn’t mind us popping in unannounced.”
    “You’re both always welcome,” she told him honestly. Cassie deposited a mug of tea beside her. “Thanks,” she told her.
    “We’d been down to the farm, to check how things were going. Well, I had, Dean came straight here to check out your daughter,” he corrected himself with a teasing smile aimed at his son. “And so I thought I’d pop in to tell you the good news. It looks like we won’t have to sell the farm after all.” He was positively beaming now, the silver strands in his eyes shimmering like the northern lights as he raised his mug in the air like it was best champagne. This was a dramatic change from the Ken of last week; the Ken who had morosely told them that he would probably have to sell the farm and land unless there was a miracle, as he didn’t have enough money to pay for the repairs. Even selling their little two bed-roomed cottage wouldn’t bring in anything like enough to cover the outlandish costs. He had been devastated about this. He had wanted the farm to pass to Dean, so it remained in Elsa’s family. It would have meant so much to Elsa.
    Although everything Ken was saying was terribly