Temple Newsam
As Radley pulled into to the car park, after following the brown sign, she felt a pang of recognition immediately. By the time she was out of the car with her ‘go everywhere’ bag containing writing kit and refreshments, and Widget the beast on his lead, she didn’t need to see the name carved into the front of the house in gothic font from 1852 to know where she was:
TEMPLE NEWSAM
It would be 30 years this summer since she was last here, with a boy, sunbathing self consciously on the grass that stretched out like a soft green carpet in front of hers and Widget’s feet right now.
Well how about that, something had brought her here, but what, she wondered? She sat on the grass, just as a temporary measure, to let Widget have a little run around while she had a drink of lemon water from the bottle in her bag.
She wondered if she should move over to the covered wooden loveseat where they’d sat that summer, but then maybe that would unearth memories that were not so pleasant, memories she’d prefer to keep boxed away. Childish things that don’t affect her present life.
Ultimately the park bench facing the main house beckoned, and she moved there, staying several hours, with Widget sniffing around the general area while she wrote.
It wasn’t busy enough to be concerned about thieves, so she felt safe to leave everything out as it was while she took Widget back to the car. She was intending to settle him into his crate and opened the boot to let him jump in.
As she turned to her left to left to guide the dog into the car boot, Radley jumped as she realised that there was a small boy just under the crook of her arm. He was closely, intently, at Widget. How did he get there? He seemed to have come from nowhere. He must’ve crept up so quietly that she hadn’t noticed him there. The boy was holding a small yellow bouncy ball, which was making Widget quite excited, and he obviously desperate to pet the dog, who of course was even keener for that to happen! So of course Radley said he could pet Widget, and she talked to him a little about what kind of dog he was and how he liked to be stroked.
Just a little further away stood one or two boys who seemed to be with the boy she was talking to. They talking and sniggering as they looked over towards where she was standing, presumably mocking the little boy’s obvious interest and enthusiasm for dog stroking. He didn’t seem to care very much though.
She asked the boy if he would like to hold Widget on his lead while she went back to her park bench to collect her things. It crossed her mind fleetingly that the other boys were not necessarily to be trusted, but instintively she knew Widget would be in good hands with this boy, so she asked him. The boy’s eyes opened wide with excitement, and some trepidation, maybe.
“Really can I?” he asked, looking around as if worried about where she would go, how long she would be and checking what she had said about her things on the bench.
“Look, over there” she pointed to the bag and snacks, and the boy leaned forward to look around the thick trunks of trees that partially blocked his view of the area she was indictating towards.
“Yes, I will look after him”, he said with a serious tone, proudly.
Radley smiled and handed over the lead, giving the other boys a quick warning glance as well, just in case. She went back the bench and gathered her things, thinking what a perfect summers day it was, just like it had been so long ago when she was here last.
When she got back to the car, Radley found Widget in the boot, sitting upright and alert, clearly waiting for her and uncharacteristically well behaved to be sitting alone without finding any mischief to get into. Where was the boy? She had only been a couple of minutes and she couldn’t believe that he would have just left his charge here alone unless there was some good reason.
Perhaps he was had been at the park with his parents after all, and not the other boys, in which case his family could come to collect him. She hadn’t even considered someone could be looking for him.
She looked up and saw the boys still standing in a close knit little group together a little way over, no longer interested in what she was doing at her car, and totally engrossed in some game they were playing on the grass.
Radley walked over to the boys and asked,
“Did you boys see where the other boy went, the one who was by my car?”
The group looked bemused, like she was speaking a different language.
“He was here earlier, the one with the yellow stripey t-shirt, he was just watching my dog?”
The biggest boy, one she originally had thought looked like a bit of a bully, was very softly spoken, and surprisingly gentle way about him, and he said in a strong Yorkshire accent,
“I like your dog Missus. I didn’t see any boy though, and we’ve been here all day.” The other boys were staring at her with big eyes, shaking their heads and shrugging, so she thanked them left them to their game.
Walking back to her car Radley was confused, and her brain was flicking through all the possibilities, as if through a rollerdeck of ‘reasons for disappearing boy’. Before she could land on a suitable answer to appease her confused mind, she was at the car boot checking on Widget; She wished that she could ask the dog to speak and confirm what she knew, that the boy had been here and she wasn’t imagining things.
In answer to her query, Widget looked at her and let his jaw drop open. As he did, he let a small yellow ball fall onto the floor space of the boot, and gave Radley a look as if to say ‘that’s that then’. And it so was.
