Homeward Bound

Homeward Bound Chapter 38

'How long now?' I asked Gideon, who was laid down on the straw bails where we'd sited ourselves for this long wait.

We had a drawn the short straw, no pun there, so Gideon had assured me, although I thought we'd come out of this rather well when our little hideaway gave us the view of the driveway, right up in the rafters of the first storage shed. The down side was the straw tended to prick and while I had a great view, me being picked as look out for this one, it wasn't what you'd call warm.

'How long is a piece of string,' he quoted back.

'Dad used to say that to me and that I was too bloody impatient,' I grumbled.

'He's right, everything comes to those who wait,' he quoted again before he added, 'how's the head by the way?'

I looked at him confusingly but then it dawned on me that he had left me long enough to check on Matthew, who'd spent time dozing tied up in the office chair.

'Matthew told you,' I guessed.

'No, I guessed, why do you think I want to smash the hell out of the shit,' he retorted. 'I saw the mark so I knew he must have smacked you one.'

I let it go and turned my attention back to keeping an eye on the driveway. Noting had moved from the last time I'd look. Gideon used the two way radio thing that Isaac had got from somewhere, I'd not asked and he'd not offered it up. It crackled as Isaac, who was in another outbuilding with Rosie, who'd turned up a few hours ago, parking her car well out of sight, this was followed by more crackling from Sam, who was elsewhere with David, while the rest were locked in the house.

'Do you think this will work?' I questioned him.

'It has to,' he sighed before he picked up the radio and confirmed that all was quiet here too.

I fell silent and just used the field glasses that Gideon had given me to watch the driveway and surrounding area. If I almost hung off the edge of the stacked bails I could just see the front of the house.

Gideon lay waiting like he'd done this before, while Meg lay down not far away, not staying in the house with the others. In the distance the cockerel still went for it, a cow bellowed out and a black bird began to give is some song.

Then as I swept once again, I thought I saw a small moving blob in the far distance of the driveway. I knew it wasn't the milk lorry as they didn't have a milking herd here. It was beef only, as the pastures didn't produce lush grass.

Gideon must have suspected I'd seen something because he moved closer to me, or as close as one could get while almost lying next to me and with Meg the other side of me for now. I watched the blob through the field glasses moving slowly, getting bigger. The blob was a car, a modern up to date four by four, the kind that those living in Chelsea had been acclaimed to drive. Yes it was a Chelsea Tractor, moving with care over the potholes, a good choice of vehicle for this terrain. It was still approaching with care though and I couldn't make out much inside just then due to the tinted windows. What I could do was make out it was black and the registration number that made it rather new.

It stopped short of the farm yard, possibly because they were over cautious and I didn't blame them for that, or they were scoping out the area, like Isaac assured us they would do. the waiting seemed to take all day, almost unbearable.

'What are they doing?' Gideon whispered out.

'Sitting there,' I whispered back, just before the driver's door opened but no one got out.

At that moment, Meg began to growl and tense, like she was working up for an attack of her own. Gideon reached over me and grabbed her muzzle in his hands. The connection quietened her down, but the tension in her didn't settle as the drive got out, an unknown.