The Mysteries of Brambly Hollow

Reaching his side, she stared down, her eyes like plates. It was worse than anything she could have imagined. “I don’t believe it,” her stunned words echoed her husband’s. Down below, was a herd of cows! Crushed together, they formed a winding snake of black and white, flattening the grassy verges, mooing for all they were worth, as they wound their way in the direction of the farmhouse.
    “What are they doing here?” she cried aloud.
    The twins came bursting through the door. “Have you see them?”
    “If you mean the cows, then yes, we’ve seen them,” Meli murmured, as Cal woke from his reverie and covered his nakedness with a hastily grabbed dressing gown, which happened to be Meli’s. Struggling to wrap himself in the tiny pink satin gown that barely reached around his barrel shaped stomach, he did look a sight, but his self respect was preserved as no one noticed; they were all four of them pressed together, peering through the glass. The procession of cows seemed endless, like a queue for a Prada half price sale. Eventually though, the last stragglers waddled past, with two men bringing up the rear. Several huge, steaming cow pats, littered the trail.
    Struggling into his trousers, Cal’s cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink than the silky gown when he noticed what he was wearing. To the background giggling of the twins, Meli had to help strip it off him before he could race downstairs when they saw the two men heading back towards them. “No, stay here,” Meli restrained the boys when they went to follow their father. Opening one of the biggest windows, Meli listened to what was being said. Elsa had rented out the front field to them. The cows would make this trip twice every day as they went to and fro from milking.
    “But there must be a law against what Elsa is doing, with the cars, and now this,” protested Meli furiously when Cal returned. “And you kids, back to bed,” she sent them scattering.
    Cal’s face was glum as he shook his head. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do. The track belongs to the farm, we only have access rights. I think Elsa can do whatever she likes out there.” There was a moments broody silence, before he added, “And if we tried to take it any further, just think of the legal cost.”
    His words caused Meli to collapse on the edge of the bed, her slim shoulders sagging despondently. “I really get the feeling that she doesn’t like us living here. At least, not since our friends came to stay. It’s beginning to feel like a vendetta.”
    “Pity no one warned us about how funny Elsa got about parking. We could have avoided all this. Now we are going to be woken at the crack of dawn every day, not to mention having to negotiate that mine field of dung, as well as the wrecks,” Cal growled.
    Shuffling her body up the bed, Meli leaned against the headboard before wrapping her arms around her knees and hugging them comfortingly. Pity things like barking-mad neighbours didn’t show up in the surveyors report. “All we can hope is that Elsa soon comes to her senses, and stops all this nonsense.” Her sentiment did little to improve her maudlin mood as Tim’s words came back to haunt her: that Elsa’s persecution could last a whole year. How many more wrecks would arrive before then? Worse still, would the tank make a return? She was trying not to imagine Cassie’s reaction to this latest turn of events. Maybe she wouldn’t notice, she taunted herself inanely.
    It was less than an hour later that they faced the wrath of Cassie. Cal, Meli and the twins were assembled in the kitchen when Cassie stormed in.
    “Have you see what’s out there?” She spat the question across the kitchen. Anger was never a pretty sight, and on Cassie today, it was positively grotesque as her face twisted, her lips curling like yesterdays stale sandwiches as she shot Meli a look as though every disaster on the whole planet was directly her fault. “How can I bring any friends here with that shit outside?” No one even attempted a reply. There was no answer to that. Not that Cassie appeared to think there would be, as pivoting on her heels, she stormed back upstairs, her black towelling dressing gown swirling around her legs like flapping ravens wings, having succinctly made her point.
    Shrugging off the verbal onslaught, Meli exchanged looks with Cal. “She’s just overreacting,” she waved aside their daughters melodrama. “Most of her friends are used