The Mysteries of Brambly Hollow

wings, Meli gasped at Cassie. “Where on earth did they come from?” Cassie just shook her head. It took some encouragement to get Cassie back into her room.
    “I can’t sleep in here now,” Cassie whimpered, her horror-stricken eyes peering over the top of the pillow pressed to her face as she squatted on the bed.
    “Don’t be silly, they’re all gone now, you’ll be fine,” Meli told her firmly. She did not want any unnecessary dramas. However unpleasant it was, the flies were definitely history. But it was a mystery. Meli thought about the farmhouse and the flies scrabbling at the window panes to get out. She was glad Cassie didn’t know about those flies.
    From below came the ringing of the phone. Dashing down the stairs, Meli leaped on it. “Hello,” she answered breathlessly. As soon as she heard Roy Peters voice, her heart began to pound, and her stomach performed a series of skittish somersaults. He was offering her the commission. She had thought the interview had gone extremely well; he had appeared enthusiastic about her presentation. Hanging up the phone moments later, having gone over some of the details again, Meli danced around the living room and kitchen, her feet carrying her on a springy, silver cloud.
    Gradually, as reality set in, the clouds around her feet solidified into polystyrene chunks, and they eventually became so cumbersome that she was forced to slump down onto the sofa. Eight weeks. Eight weeks to complete twelve masks. Picking up a cushion she hugged it to her chest, heart clapping with half joy, half terror. Could she do it? Of course she could. It wouldn’t be easy, it was a tight
    timescale , but she could do it. Besides, with the school holidays coming up soon, she would have more time, as she wouldn’t have to make the school run twice daily.
    She could barely wait for Cal to get in to share her news. As soon as the front door opened, she hurled herself across the room and leaped on him. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it,” she sang into his ear.
    “Got what?“ he asked, disentangling himself so he could stare at her. “Have you seen that, that new monstrosity?” Meli could almost see steam jetting from his ears.
    “Forget about that for a moment.” He’d almost burst her bubble; how could he have forgotten? But then she remembered her own response to the Citroen. “The commission,” she prompted gently.
    Recollection flooded Cal’s face. “Oh Mel, that’s great.” His expression totally changed. It was as though someone had pulled a cord, and now he was standing in the light, not the darkness. “Well done,” he congratulated her, planting a kiss on her soft lips. “How much?” he asked, pound signs glinting in his eyes.
    “Oh, you,” Meli admonished him for being so mercenary, before purring. “Fourteen hundred pounds.” His eyes widened. It was more than they’d dared hope for. The money would make so much difference to them. Over dinner, Meli brought him up to date on the details, including her niggling worry about the narrow timescale, but Cal, true to form, dismissed these, expressing his absolute confidence in Meli, confident that she would rise to the challenge, without any concrete base for this. Meli hoped she would. To fail would not only be a disaster financially, but would be a personal failure too.
    “I also met our mysterious Grim Reaper today, alias Tim Meaker,” she told him, with a mischievous grin as she poured them both a cup of tea.
    Cal hoisted an eyebrow questioningly. “And?”
    “And, he’s okay. Scary though. His face is like one of those mummified skulls, topped by a rim of shocking white hair, and he’s got to be at least six foot eight, and thin!” she expounded, all in the same breath. “He looks like a reed gone to seed with all the white gumming sprouting from its head. But the most important thing is that he seems harmless enough.”
    Cal took Meli out to the pub that evening, partly to cheer them up, about the Citroen, but mostly to celebrate the fantastic news. Doug was already there, leaving Blue Bells and their guests to Barbara, so they learned when they joined him at his table. Meli was disheartened that Barbara couldn’t join them, as her effervescent persona was just what she needed. But there was someone else she recognised. Tim Meaker. Nudging Cal, she pointed him in the direction of the giant stooped over the bar. Even sitting down he was heads higher than anyone else. There was no mistaking