©️GeraldineBanks2024
The neighbourhood had really pulled together,thank heavens, they had got rid of those dreadful Smiths.
The Reverened Platney sat in his study,his head in his hands not quite knowing if what had happened over the last three days was a bad dream.
He had not realised how much hate could be generated against people deemed not “fit to live with” by a most respectable and thoughtful community.He had been an unsuspecting party to events ,and he felt ashamed.
He had not exactly been duped by the Commitees arguments,he had felt at the time that he could counteract the vitriol against Elena Smith,her husband and their children with his logic and a healthy Christian outlook,but events had overtook him and in the end he had been forced to vote with the Committee and had been one of the signatories on the expulsion order. His hands had been tied,and now the Smiths were gone.He realised what a fool and a coward he had been.
The Smiths had arrived in the village of Baysea on the South Coast of England about ten years ago.They had bought a small cottage with a bit of land and were very much welcomed by the village as “fresh blood” within the community,with their three young children who would boost the local school numbers and protect it from closure.
Elena Smith was a yoga teacher,her husband had been “something big” in the city,but now planned to “do something small” in agriculture in their little village.
It was the refusal of invites to coffee mornings and Church Council meetings that gave cause to the community to feel slighted ,and it was generally agreed that that the Smiths were a bit ” standoffish.”
However ,when it became clear that the Smith’s planned to home school their children ” for religious reasons” and that as a result of this and lack of numbers at that the Village school would have to close.The Smith’s were deemed “outsiders” and the “Welcome Mats” to the newcomers were no longer proffered.
Indeed , the parents of all those children who were forced to make the five mile a day bus journey to the new school in the town blamed the Smith’s entirely for the loss of their village school. It was a resentment that they harboured for many years to come and would have damning consequences.
Elena Smith had little to do with the community in Baysea.The cottage that her and her husband had bought mortgage free had been known in the village as “Wildflower Cottage”, for the obvious reason that the meadows surrounding it were indeed full of wildflowers in the Spring and Summer.
The Smiths loved the flowers and kept the meadows as they were ,but again , citing “religious” reasons the name of the Cottage was changed to “No.5”
It was the local postmaster who spread the word about the change of name to the villagers. Some thought it,an expression of witchcraft , confusing the word pentacle as a 5 sided figure when it was usually six or indeed a square.Others thought that Mr Smith was some sort of UFO enthusiast and perhaps 5 had a significance to him for reasons they could not fathom.They were all stumped when they were told that the reason for the change was “religious”. They asked themselves what was wrong with the name “Wildflower Cottage.”
Over the years, Elena had often walked or cycled to the village shop from the cottage. She needed necessities like milk ,eggs ,and sugar and occasionally had the odd letter or birthday card to send.No one spoke to her ,and she spoke to no one. Was it strange?Elena did not think so. She had no desire for idle chatter,it always led to trouble,so she was not in the least bit concerned as increasingly the village seemed to turn against her.
There were , however , her children,one of whom was now in her teenage years.Stella was a very beautiful and an inquisitive teenager.Mature beyond her years and having just had her sixteenth birthday with her extended family in London,returned to Baysea determined to integrate into village life.
She got a part-time job in a small arts and crafts business. It was there that she met the Reverend Platney’s son Josh, who was 18 years of age and about to head to university to study physics. Stella was Josh’s first serious girlfriend. It was a platonic friendship to begin with,but once Josh was at Exeter University,Stella visited him ,and the relationship blossomed and was consummated many times on her visits.They became an item.
The Reverened hoped that through Josh, he would find out more about the Smiths,but this had not been the case. Infact, Josh became increasingly distant from his father and when he graduated after three years at Exeter and moved to do a PhD in London,he lost contact with his son altogether.
Reverened Platney was hurt by this,but was always reassured when he bumped into Stella in Baysea .Stella lived with Josh in London but would occasionally visit her parents at Baysea and would tell him that Josh was fine, but that his thesis was proving very difficult and once he had got that out of the way things would get back to normal and he would be in touch.
Josh never did get back in touch and Josh and Stella disappeared from Baysea. As far as the Reverened was concerned, they had disappeared from the planet.
The Reverened Platney felt uncomfortable the night he knocked on the door of Number 5 and asked to come in.Elena answered the door and told him it was not convenient.
“Mrs Smith,I just want to know if you have heard from Stella,I miss my son so much.” He pleaded with her.
“No,no,you must understand,that children grow up,they have their lives to live.I’m sorry I haven’t heard from Stella either,but I don’t worry.They will get in touch when they are ready.It’s a very busy time for them in their lives. We must not be selfish Reverend.”
“But,I just need to know…..” Elena shut the door gently in his face.
This incident had made Reverened Platney very angry.Nevertheless ,if Elena Smith did not want to talk to him, what could he do?
The other two Smith children,who had reached the age of twelve and fifteen prior to their removal ,were often seen around the village and working on Mr Smiths smallholding.They were good looking, quiet and polite.They would occasionally speak when spoken to but on the whole said very little and seemed very happy with their own company.
Mr Smith grew vegetables very successfully and left any extra produce he grew on a cart for the villagers to help themselves to ,which they did.
One rainy Monday ,The Reverened Platney received a letter postmarked London one .His hands trembled as he hoped against hope that it was from Josh,his son.
“Dear Dad,
I am very sorry that I have not contacted you for such a long time.I’ve finished my PhD. and am now a Doctor of Physics.
I wanted to ask, have you seen Stella? Has she been back to Baysea?I haven’t seen her for six months now. She left with an overnight bag and said she had to attend a work course and would be back in a few days.She hasn’t returned ,she was three months pregnant.I’m out of my mind with worry.
Things here are very strange,the Police say they can’t help as Stella has no papers,passport, or anything. As far as they are concerned, she doesn’t exist.What does it mean?I’m worried sick about Stella and the baby.
I would have rang you,but as I said ,things are very strange here,I’m pretty certain the phone is being monitored, and I’m sure Stella felt she was in some kind of danger. Please write and let me know.
It’s getting really difficult to travel here,otherwise I would come and see you.There’s a lot of anti here,protesting and the like against everything on all sides,but mainly anything different from the status quo.Whatever the status quo is?
Anyway ,dad,let me know if the Smiths have heard anything?
Love Josh.
The Reverened Platney reread the letter and placed it on the table.
He thought to himself. “No papers,no passport.”With things as they are, that’s a very dangerous situation to be in. Being a member of a National Church,he knew about the new restrictions on people’s freedoms and the government’s plan to protect society from pernicious influences.He felt it was right,that the government should intervene to protect the moral fabric of the country.That is why he had been the third signatory on the removal of the Smith’s from Baysea.They were to be taken away tomorrow to a “holding facility”. It was too late,he had done what he felt right at the time, and now he was not so sure.It was too late to change anything.
The Police would take them away tomorrow, and Baysea would never see the Smith’s again. Whatever had happened to Stella,no one would ever know.
He would write to Josh and let him know what had happened,but not that he had been instrumental in the process of removing the Smiths.He didn’t need to say anything about that,he had not been the only one to want to get rid of them. He had advised the committee what was possible.
But,what about his grandchild?What had happened to his grandchild? ,He took Josh’s letter in his hand and crumpled it as the tears ran down his face.
The End
thenotsomightyom 