Ellen Blake Destined To Return

03 - Hay bales

The twins walked into the field and climbed on to one of the circular hay bales. The sun was rising in the morning sky and the bales, trees and hedgerows began glowing like a Van Gogh painting. In the distance they could see the spire of the village church and a few roof tops. Other than that there was very little sign of modern life.

'It's beautiful, isn't it?' remarked Ellen.

'What is?'

Aaron opened his eyes and looked at his sister. He'd taken advantage of the few moments of quiet and almost fallen back to sleep.

'This is,' commented Ellen. 'The field. The view. The warm weather.'

Ellen pulled her knees up to her chest and continued.

'It really is pretty. I don't think I've ever noticed the countryside in this way before. I guess that's why people enjoy walking in places like this.'

'Mum and Dad are always going for walks,' grunted Aaron. 'I don't get it, why do they like it so much, when most of the time they just walk around the block or up and down the street? It must be something about getting older because you see loads of old people doing it. What do they call it?'

'Rambling ... or hiking,' answered Ellen. 'I've never enjoyed going for long walks and the only time I ever walked through fields was during the Duke of Edinburgh expedition and even then I never took in the surroundings. That was just painful: carrying a heavy rucksack with a tent inside, having tired legs, sore feet and hoping to find a toilet. Boy did I need to find a toilet. There was no way I was doing it behind a bush.'

Aaron sniggered at the thought of Ellen badly needing a pee but not being prepared to be at one with nature.

'Do you think Mum ever did this?' considered Ellen.

'What? Pee behind a bush?' asked Aaron.

'No ... stand here and look across the fields to the village. When she was younger, when she was our age.'

'I wouldn't be surprised,' said Aaron. 'It was not as though they had anything else to do. She and Dad said they never had what we have. They only talked about having things like bikes, footballs, skipping ropes and dolls. They didn't even have computer games until they were older than we are now and then they were really lame.'

'What's weird,' added Ellen, 'is to think of Mum at our age standing here and seeing everything looking exactly the same as we're seeing it now. I bet it hasn't changed much. It could even have looked the same when her parents were younger and her grandparents, before them.'

'Does that mean it will look like this for our grandchildren?'

Ellen pondered the idea further and then turned her mind to her brother.

'What did you mean when you said that you came to see that I was all right?'

'What?'

'Before, you said that you followed me to see that I was okay,' said Ellen. 'Why?'

'You don't usually get up early, unless you have to ... and never go for a jog,' he replied.

'So, because I got up early to go jogging you also woke early and followed me. Do you expect me to believe that?'

'Yes ... well, okay it was Nan,' confessed Aaron. 'She heard you leave and woke me just before eight.'

'Why, what for?'

'I don't know. She was really insistent and said she was worried about you. I was going to throw on some jeans and rush after you, but she made a point of me getting dressed properly and cleaning my teeth. It was a bit odd, don't you think?'