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Short Fat Stubby Finger Stories PRESENTS:

Episode 30 Part 1

The little green Mini slowly made its way past the gates at the entrance to the farm and continued at the same speed along the narrow dirt road until it reached the rise of the long hill that led down to the farmhouse.    Mary felt a strange mixture of pleasure and disappointment at not seeing the Mercedes anywhere in sight.    Never-the-less she reversed back a few yards and pulled over into the heavily wooded area that existed between the rise and the front entrance to the farm, then drove forward between the large trees to the edge of the rise to get a better view of any sign of movement inside the farm-house, hopefully without being seen herself ….   From where she had parked she could see the entire front of the farm-house and she wondered for a moment if it had been their car that had passed her earlier.   As the seconds ticked by without any thing apparently moving inside or outside the farm house, Mary found herself in two minds as whether to go back to town to cool her heels for a few hours before meeting up with Frank and Old Laurie, or to take a look around this farm that offered so much intrigue.

   After her recent hallucination excursion through the extremely long grass that had been growing at the side of the road half a mile back, Mary really felt that a few drinks and a shower would do her the world of good … and a long bath would be even better.   She considered formulating a new plan while she had the chance, in case she accidentally ran into Joseph when she arrived back in the village, but she instantly decided to simply modify her current one and mention the farm and her intention of going there the next day and watch his reaction.   ‘After all, her reason for going there was quite justifiable, or at least it was in her mind‘ Mary decided, ‘and she was the one that needed to convince Joseph and his friends that her cover was legitimate.

   Thinking of Joseph took Mary’s mind back to the strange dream that she had had earlier.   It had made her feel a bit weird; waking up from a nightmare in a car at the side of a road in the middle of nowhere.   And she was surprised at how much impression the dream had made on her.   She seemed to remember every violent, frightening minute of it as if it had been embedded in her mind to remember forever.   Yet she couldn’t remember anything relating to how she managed to actually take the car into the long grass before going back on to the road, and then pulling off to the other side of the road where, presumably, she fell asleep and let hell run amok inside her dreams.

   And when she saw the condition of the car, with all of the long grass wrapped around it, the filthy windscreen and the twisted windscreen wiper, it made her entire body quiver.   She knew then where some of the details of her nightmare had originated from, but couldn’t remember how she had managed to drive through the long grass and end up where she did on the other side of the road.   However she speculated that she had fallen asleep at the wheel for a minute or two and wandered off the road and into the long grass, before snapping back awake again long enough to get out of the grass and back on the road where she then got a chance to pull over in a reasonably safe place.   And at that stage she had either fallen asleep, or passed out.   She was uncertain which had occurred, or how long she had been in that condition; however, it had appeared to have done her the world of good.   She felt far fresher than she had earlier, and was now eagerly impatient for her play acting to commence.   But not seeing Martin’s car anywhere around it seemed to indicate her academy award winning performance was not going to take place at the moment.

   Curiosity finally got the better of her and Mary decided to give the farmhouse a once-over.   However, even though she thought the place to be devoid of all life due to there being no car to be seen, to be on the safe-side she parked the car behind the large barn that stood between her and the farmhouse.   She locked the car doors and began, albeit cautiously, to walk around to the side of the huge building and head down to the farmhouse when she noticed the hose hanging on the wall and the tap it was hooked up to.   Mary thought about it for a second and decided to give the car a quick wash so there would be no questions asked about its current condition when she arrived back in the village.   Fortunately there was a fair bit of pressure in the hose and the weeds, and the seeds that they had splattered and battered across the window, washed off quickly.   In less than two minutes Mary recommenced her cautious trip towards the farmhouse, keeping a close eye on the small building for any movement that might occur inside or outside because her eyes didn’t have access to the front of the barn at  the present time … ‘and you never know’, she thought to herself, ‘you never know’ … ‘

   And, as if she had the gift of premonition, as she began to make her way down the narrow driveway, Mary swore that she could hear noises coming from inside the barn and she stopped to listen.   Suddenly a woman’s scream pierced the air so loudly it gave Mary a start and she almost lost her balance.   Then a noise that seemed closer to her caught Mary’s attention and as she turned her eyes towards the direction of the noise she could see a slight gap in the wall where a panel had come loose, and went up to it to take a peek inside the building.   She got there just in time to see somebody running down the stairs from what appeared to be a loft and straight across the room – in her direction.

Go to Episode 30 part 2