John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893) Forge Valley, Near Scarborough, 1875

” Whatever you do Hendry Coin, don’t look up. I mean it. ” his Father told him when he was a boy. ” If for any reason, any reason at all you have to cut through the woods behind the house don’t look up into those trees.”

“Cause the Witch will get me right?” Hendry said.

” If you’re lucky she will only get you to cut her down and  then she will only chop you up and cook you in the big iron pot she keeps just for that reason in her kitchen. The problem Hendry is if you see her first. You will start screaming and you will keep screaming until every star in the heavens burns out.”

” That’s sounds like a long time Dad”

” It certainly is  Hendry.”

The grim story about the trees behind the Coin House is that they used to hang people from them. And the thing of it is, the people they used to hang were accused of witchcraft and out there in the town of Stonecrop, unlike in other towns were innocent people were hung or burned at the stake for witchcraft the people out in Stonecrop were witches.

That’s right.

These witches, however, were not wise old crones, they were the type of people who would cut deals with the Devil and in most cases they won.

And in the cases were they did not they would end up hanging from a tree behind the Coin’s house where they would swing from their ropes until one of the other witches got a hankering  for some  Witches bread and decided to save the trip to the town cemetery and head over to the woods to get the spice that gave their bread that something extra the witches enjoyed so much.

So Hendry, who was a good kid and did as he was told not because he was afraid of ending up in a cast iron pot slowly simmering over a fire  but because Hendry adored his Dad never would have never done anything to disappoint him. That was the reason he never had a bit of trouble back there in the Woods.

Over the years he saw weird things and heard strange sounds but nothing bad ever happened to Hendry or his kids ( he grew up to have seven of them ) or his Grandchildren ( 10 of those ).

One year Hendry decided to cut through the Woods to get to the new road that led into town when for the first time ever he found himself in a bad spot.

Hendry was walking along when he heard a creaking sound and then a little popping sound and somebody said ” hello there ” in a dusty sounding voice.

 Hendry turned around but he did not look up- however there was no looking away from what in front of his face.

There were feet hanging in front of his face, and the feet were encased in worn black leather boots and were tied together at the ankles with heavy white twine.

He reached out and grabbed the feet to stop them from swaying and turning which was creeping him out because there was no wind, no breeze in the woods.

There never was.

So Hendry was standing there holding the black leather covered feet in his hands when he heard a voice, a woman’s voice from above his head say:

” Cut me down Hendry Coin and I’ll make you a meal you will never forget. Well. One that I will never forgot anyway. I am so hungry Hendry. Cut me down. Cut me down and anything, your darkest wish your brightest hope I can give that to you. A pound of flesh Hendry, that’s all we’re talking about here. That is all it would cost you. I’m quite handy with a needle Hendry. I could even put together a little something for you to slip into once you’ve paid that nominal feel. The rewards Hendry- think about it.”

Hendry told the witch, ” You know, in all these years of walking- and to be perfectly honest in my younger days I would run through these woods- I never had any problems. I figured I never had any problems with the tree witches because I always did what my Dad told me. “

“Is that right Mr. Coin? And what did he tell you?”

” Don’t look up, whatever you do.”

” And why did he tell you that Hendry?”

” Dad said that if I saw the witch first something really bad, something worse than death would happen to me.”

” That is the dumbest thing anyone has ever said in these Woods Hendry. And let me tell you. Some very strange things have been said in these woods…but that is hands down the weirdest thing anyone has ever said to a hanging witch. Honestly old man, do you really believe there is anything worse than death? Because let me tell you. And I am speaking strictly from experience here, there is nothing worse than death.”

” I suppose you’re right. My Dad was a good guy, a very kind and practical man but he wasn’t what you would call overly educated.”

” Well. There you are.”

” Yes. Here I am and there you are and what the heck is that above you head?”

He felt the Witch’s feet push down she looked up and Hendry couldn’t help but smile a little when the screaming started.

John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836 – 1893) Near Hackness, a Moonlit Scene with Pine Trees , 1875

Republished for For Fandango’s Flashback Friday

First Published May 6th, 2009

Painting By Remedios Varo

Every Saturday Gavin Valentine goes five doors down from his house and buys something called a Cinnamon Splash and he walks back home, slowly with the ice cold drink in his hand.

He does that even on the days it snows.

Just before he gets home he sets his ice cold drink on a bench and watches for hours at a time to see who will move his Cinnamon Splash with the whip cream topping and the dusting of white chocolate curls from it’s place on the bench.

Sometimes he worries about his little cup of cinnamon and whip cream- will it be tossed behind the bench into the bushes, which has become a graveyard of sorts for Gavin Valentine’s plastic cups with the gold stars stamped along their rims? Will it end up in the trash can? Under the wheels of a bus or a fast moving car?

He wonders for hours and hours at a time five doors down from the shop that sells him his Cinnamon Splash.

But when the weather is nice, Gavin sits on the steps across the street from the bench, on the steps of a Church with his hands clenched together and watches his cup and wonders what cruel fate it will meet on that particular day.

It can’t be easy, Gavin always think to himself, to be a little cup of something sweet and fluffy and defenseless- just sitting there as the world goes by you- and when it does stop it’s pretty much a fact that something awful is going to happen to you.

Gavin thought that was just not fair.

So on one nice warm Saturday Gavin went five doors down and bought his drink, he walked back up the street and this time he left his cup on the steps of the church across the street and he took the seat on the bench and waited.

People walked by, they jogged by, they rode by on scooters and in cars and some even glided by on shoes with little wheels embedded in their soles.

And hours and hours later a man and a woman stopped right in front of Gavin and started to talk. Their backsides inches away from Gavin’s face-which made him a little angry because it’s not like there was not a lot of sidewalk to stand on.

Then the woman looked up and around and then she looked down and asked Gavin- without really seeing him- if the buses stopped here on Saturdays and Gavin said yes, but he wasn’t sure exactly which ones did.

” Yeah, thanks for the help Buddy ” the man said with his butt in Gavin’s face.

There was a little breeze as the cars started to fly- like they always did at that time of day- and as they did Gavin could hear the plastic cups in the bushes rattling together like a handful of small brittle bones all the way from across the street.

Gavin Valentine stood up as the man and woman turned away from him and just as they looked up the street and started to talk about finding a cab-Gavin reached out

and pushed them off of the curb.

For Fandango’s Flashback Friday I found a story I wrote for Mother’s Day In 2016.

It’s called Clouds

” You really burned me up Ava, but I I can forgive you.” Ava’s Mother, Violet Louise, pushed her glasses back up her nose and looked at her daughter and then out the passenger window. ” I just don’t like change, you know that. It’s time though. I know that.”

” Mom.” Ava looked into the rearview mirror and saw her Mom’s things, packed in old  trunks with faded trim  sitting on the back seat. ” It’s nice at Falcon Ridge. You can see the Ocean from your new place.

Violet Louise’s glasses rode down her nose again and she pushed them back up. ” I’ve always liked the Ocean. I almost gotten eaten by a shark once, and another time I swam to far out and almost drowned. But I didn’t care. I loved the Ocean and I wouldn’t have stayed out of it for anything.”

Ava pulled a stick of gum from her visor and popped it into her mouth. She worked the wrapper off with her tongue and teeth and spat it out the window.

” That is such a nasty habit Ava.”

” I learned it from you.”

” And do you know what else is a nasty habit? Contradicting you Mother.”

Ava tried to laugh but she couldn’t.

” You’re going to be okay Mom.” Ava said for the millionth time. ” You’re going to be ok. Falcon Ridge… I mean your new place is called Falcon Ridge, how cool is that?”

” I like the name just fine and I know I’m going to be ok. I survived a shark attack. Now spit that gum out before we get out of the car. It looks tacky for a woman of your age to be popping and snapping her gum in a situation like this.”

They pulled into the parking lot- the clouds were gathering on the horizon and the fog was rolling up from the beach.

The Receptionist from Falcon Ridge was waiting outside as promised.

Ava rolled her window down and the Receptionist leaned in and said gently, ” Hello Ava. If you would like to bring your Mom in now, we have her place all ready for her.”

Ava reached over and gently picked up the box with her Mother’s ashes encased in a pink marble urn from the seat next to her.

It was no where near dusk, but Daylight Fell and the clouds over head blocked out the Sun.