The Last Train Home

Chapter Fifty-Seven

"You don't have to come, Sybil. I'm sure Father Walsh will understand, as will everyone else," Barbara said, fastening the buttons on her coat.

"No, I can't miss another service. Besides, I need to start venturing back into the village.

"If you're sure."

"Leave the girl be, Barb. You were the one who said she needed to get out of the house a little more." Jonathan winked at me.

I smiled a little and grabbed my coat, pulling it on and trying not to think about having to face everyone at church. It had been almost two weeks since I received the news about Mum and I had yet to step foot off the farm. Eva, Enid, and Mark had all stopped by several times and tried to convince me to go into the village with them, but I knew everyone had been told about Mum. Jonathan said that Father Walsh bad mentioned me and Mum in the Sunday service I had missed so everyone already knew my business. I didn't want to face their pity.

Even though I hadn't seen too many people, I knew they were all likely to tell me how sorry they were about Mum and that they would act like they had to walk on eggshells around me. It was bad enough having to deal with Barbara who kept staring at me as though I would break down in tears at any given opportunity. Jonathan treated me as though nothing had happened, dragging me around the farm to complete chores and continuously winding me up. Alec was the same. He stopped by a few times to continue my work with Juliet and we only spoke about Mum if I mentioned it.

Once we were ready, the three of us left the house and started to follow the path down to the village. I wrung my hands in front of me, a little nervous to be seeing the entire village after so long. Although I didn't really know anyone besides my friends and their families, everyone else knew a lot about me. I tried not to think about it and instead focused on following the path and the landscape around us.

A cold wind had started to form as we approached the Autumn months. The trees were still green, but there was a crispness to the leaves as they anticipated the changing season. More clouds rolled by than before, reading rain and letting us all know what was on the horizon as we approached the end of the year. It would be my second winter with Jonathan and Barbara, but this one would be different. This time, there was no Mum to anticipate a present from.

"So, what are you and Alec planning on doing next?" Jonathan asked as we started down the hill to the village.

"What do you mean?"

"Your next big carpentry project. You've finished the treehouse, so what's next?"

I shrugged. "We haven't really talked about it. He's been helping me with Juliet so we didn't think we needed another big project."

"How about you build me a new chicken coop? I know we just repaired the new one, but I want more chickens and the coop we have isn't big enough for more."

"Why on earth do you want more chickens? The ones we have are loud enough as it is," Barbara said.

"More chickens, more eggs. We can sell the eggs and I just think chickens are great, what's wrong with that?"

"We're not getting any more chickens."

"I'm with Barbara. Our chickens are already menacing. If we get any more, they might turn on us."

"There's no need to gang up on me."

Jonathan pouted and hauled open the gate that took us to a small alleyway. Tall walls loomed over us as we moved through the darkened walkway, the roofs of nearby buildings blocking out the sun. We walked through the alley and emerged near the village square where people were starting to make their way up to the church for that morning's service. Children were dragging their feet and adults were engaging in polite conversation with their neighbours. Sundays were the only time the entire village was in one place.