Ellen Blake Destined To Return

02 - Field of greens

A few hours earlier......

Ellen Blake climbed down from the stile and continued jogging along the track around the edge of the field. This was a first as Ellen didn't jog, run or anything physical and usually had to be nagged to do so.

Today was different. She needed something to do, something to distract her. She was awake early and had a number of frustrations and worries. One was merely that the summer holidays weren't living up to her expectations and, if she was completely honest, some of it was pure jealousy.

Almost all of her friends were having exciting holidays: Rebecca was spending three weeks at her family's apartment in Portugal; Amy was lost in France for ten days; Rachel was on a fortnight's trip to the Turquoise Coast; and at the current UK time, Bonnie would have not long settled down for a good night's sleep on a queen-sized bed in a luxury hotel just off Times Square.

Ellen was delighted for Bonnie and her family having the holiday of a life-time, but due to a simple misunderstanding, between the two friends, it had left a bitter taste in Ellen's mouth.

One morning, before a physics exam and in the melee of the school corridor, Bonnie had thought Ellen had said she was spending her summer in New York. In fact she had said she was spending it at her Grandmother's, near York. The irony being that New York City was the destination for Bonnie's family holiday and the excitement of thinking her best friend would be there, at the same time, prevented Bonnie from realising her mistake. In the meantime she trumpeted fate and destiny over and over, which irritated Ellen. Whilst Bonnie was a romantic, and frequently spoke of fate, Ellen preferred logic and rational thinking. In the two days it took for Bonnie to realise the truth she had planned out several adventures the pair would have around the tourist traps of Manhattan.

Putting a brave face on this new morning, Ellen had pulled on her favourite purple leggings, new hooded sweatshirt and thought jogging would help put some life back into her dampened spirit. It also gave her an excuse for immersing herself in her new third-generation Ivory-C MP3 player. The device and flashy new headphones were both birthday presents.

The sparrows and blackbirds excitedly composed their morning songs in the hedgerows. Ellen jogged past and failed to hear them. She was lost in a selection of her favourite tracks, all pre-loaded by her father. She loved her Ivory-C. It was one of her most expensive presents and one she had craved after for months. However it was not her favourite gift. She was overjoyed with the three presents Aaron had bought for her: the black hooded sweatshirt, the headphones and a protective cover for the Ivory-C. What made these more special was that Aaron had designed an image and had it printed on all three gifts, in a vibrant blue.

Although the MP3 player masked the sounds of the wildlife, Ellen couldn't ignore the rural smells. Surveying the field closely, she could see it was bursting with green leafy plants and wondered whether they were brussels sprouts or small cabbages. Her gaze returned to the track, around the edge of the field, and she suddenly let out a howl. She tumbled off the track and into the vegetables.

'Aaron, you git!' Ellen shouted, sitting up and rubbing her arm. 'What the hell were you doing? You frightened the life out of me.'

'Yeah ... sorry about that,' uttered her twin.

Like Ellen, Aaron picked himself up from the warm earth where he had fallen.

She brushed off the dirt. Both her arm and leg felt sore.

'Well, go on!' Ellen barked.

'It wasn't my fault,' declared Aaron. 'I didn't mean to frighten you and I definitely didn't mean to up-end you.'

Aaron brushed himself down and assessed whether he too had been hurt by the tumble.

'I came to see that you were all right,' he continued.

'See I was all right? In what way?'

'Well, you left pretty early ... and I wanted to check you were okay. So, I ran after you.'

'How'd you get here before me then?'

'I saw you in this field and shouted but you didn't hear me, which made sense as I could see you had your headphones on. I had wondered whether to run up behind you and pat you on the shoulder.'

'Why didn't you?'

Aaron continued.

'I thought that would scare you.'

'Oh, yet you thought jumping out from behind a bush would be less frightening, did you?'

'All right, I said I was sorry,' huffed Aaron, as apologetically as he felt was necessary.

Reaching the end of the field they climbed the stile, crossed a small trickling stream and emerged into a recently baled field.

Aaron tried again to explain as they walked.

'You know ... I wasn't trying to scare you. But when you turned the corner to run around the edge of the field, I saw the gate leading to the field behind.'

Aaron pointed vaguely behind him in the direction of the field they had left, assuming Ellen was interested. She wasn't.

'I ran along the edge of that field, behind the hedges, which is why you didn't see me and then popped out in the other corner. I didn't expect to beat you but you must have stopped for something.'

'It was Dad,' responded Ellen. 'He's loaded some of his music on my Ivory-C. I had to skip on a track because it started playing some rubbish from the seventies or eighties, something about jacking my body.'

'Anyway, as I said I got there ahead of you and stepped out to join you,' continued Aaron.

'You call that stepping out? You launched yourself at me.'

Ellen walked across the stubble rubbing her aching arm.

'I must have tripped over something in the ground and fallen into you. To be honest, all that crossed my mind was that with my luck I bet I'd broken your new Ivory-C.'

Ellen whipped the headphones over her ears, from around her neck where they had fallen. She stopped the song that was currently playing and sighed.

'Luckily for you, it still works.'

'And what about you?' asked Aaron. 'Do you still work, you're not cut or anything?'

'No, I'll probably just be bruised.'

Copyright © Dean Constable 2016