The Mysteries of Brambly Hollow

to living in the country. I’m sure they won’t bat an eyelid over a little cow muck. Nothing more natural.” She turned back to the pan of bacon and eggs while offering up a little prayer. Even she wasn’t convinced. By the time the fried breakfast was ready the boys had eaten their cereal and vanished out the door. Between SS and the birds the feeder needed filling. Placing the two plates on the table, she sat down. Cal had poured the tea.
    “Penny for them?” Cal asked between mouthfuls, when he noticed that he was half way through his plate, while Meli was only staring down at hers, knife and fork poised but unmoving, her expression resembling a vegetarian who had just found half a slug draped over a greasy mushroom, and wondering where the other half was.
    “Oh, nothing much, just a million trivial things. Like what are we going to do about Elsa? Whether the masks will be finish on time? What we’ll do with the kids when they break up for the holidays this week? Especially Cassie,” her grim voice emphasised this last comment, and whilst she used the ‘royal we’, she was really feeling that every ‘we’ should have been replaced by ‘I’: what will I do? Will I finish? As her misery peaked, Meli flicked desperate eyes at her husband, on this occasion, looking to him to give her some reassurance, some answers. To her amazement he was looking at her intently; something of a rarity when he had a plate of food in front of him. Her breath caught in her throat, waiting for the monumental response.
    “As you say, nothing much,” his oily mouth grinned at her. “Don’t worry yourself so, it’ll all work out, it always does. Are you going to eat that sausage?” When Meli shook her head, he stabbed it with his fork, and transferred it to his plate.
    Meli let the air ooze from her lungs slowly as her eyes slid downwards. Sometimes, Cal had the IQ and sensitivity of a baked bean.
    This was the first Saturday Cal had had off for months, and they had planned to go into Exmouth and do some shopping, and then have a pub lunch. They were all going, apart from Cass, who was waiting in as she had a friend coming this morning.
    “Have you seen the boys?” Meli asked later, realising that she hadn’t seen or heard anything from them for some time, and, having checked the garden, found it to be empty. They were little rascals, as they knew what time they were leaving. Cal only shook his head and shrugged, without looking up from the bills he was working his way through, something which was guaranteed to put him in an unfavourable mood. Meli decided that she’d best go and look for them. She’d shoot them if they’d got dirty. Taking Quassi, Meli set off, instinctively wandering down through the village.
    Ahead of her, a long-haired black cat appeared from a pathway, and ambled across the road. As if sensing Quassi’s hungry eyes lock on it, the cat froze as it turned a pair of cold turquoise eyes to regard him. Fleetingly, they traded looks, then they were both off. Quassi yanked so hard that the lead was torn from Meli’s grasp. “Quassi,” she yelled several times, only to be ignored. Meli was forced to run, cursing the stupid mutt as she stumbled along in her heeled shoes, which were definitely not designed for running downhill in. Fortunately the chase was short lived, as the cat leaped to safety up a tree, leaving Quassi to dance on his hind legs around the trunk, giving an occasional yelp of frustration as the cat grinned smugly down at him from the lower branches, waving its long tail teasingly, inches from his clashing teeth.
    “I’ve never known such a disobedient, naughty dog as you,” she scolded when she eventually caught him. Picking up the lead she pulled him away. Across a fence to her left, a middle aged man was watching with interest.
    Catching his eye, Meli forced a smile. She hadn’t met him before.
    “Morning.” He was grinning with amusement. “Is he always so obedient?”
    “He’s the most ill behaved, dumb beast I’ve ever known.” Meli, who would usually have been at least a little defensive of any member of her family in front of strangers, whether two or four legged, was too angry with Quassi to bite her tongue. “He just totally ignores everyone.”
    The man gazed thoughtfully at Quassi for a moment, observing him closely as he sat down and scratched frantically behind his ear with a hind leg. He called him, “Here boy, come here.” He too was ignored. “Maybe