House of Pigs by Christopher Ritchie

Author:Christopher Ritchie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Novel, horror, thriller, illusory, paranormal, mystery, fantasy
Publisher: George Boughton Publishing
Published: 2013-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven – Summer in the country

A beautiful starry night gave way to a rich sunrise, witnessed then as on most mornings by a man and his dog. He led a simple life and he enjoyed life’s simplicities – the cycle of the Sun and the dim-to-bright shine of the Moon as it began a sliver and worked its way up to a full and resplendent orb; and on this morning, the dew atop crisp blades of grass, reflecting the beauty of nature all around. His dog, a warm, trusting and loyal female approaching nine years old, rarely left his side; they shared a sympathy and understanding that even long-married couples might not.

The view over Boldredown from the fenced border of their property was always magnificent, even if shrouded in fog or baked in sunlight like today. Jim and his wife, Polly, later joined by their faithful canine servant, Penny, had lived there for close to thirty years. Their nearest neighbour lived a good half-mile away, a not too dense forest separating them along the ridge of a valley in which the village sat, rolling hills leading from the residence down to a point at the village church, with the town then meandering in a rough triangle and with just one main road through it, heading out to the more built up realms of Hampshire in one direction and pointing back towards London – a good eighty miles away – in the other.

Jim looked down at his dog. ‘Beauty, ain’t she? A real cracker!’ He smiled broadly, gestured his thumb over his shoulder, turned and started walking through the soft, dewy grass towards his house. Penny offered a happy bark and galloped over to her owner, sticking by his side and following his feet.

‘Come on, sweetie. Let’s get some brekkie.’

Penny barked in agreement.

They reached the back of the house, feet wet but not unpleasantly so and stepped onto the patio. Jim stamped his feet to shake the wet grass off and Penny seemed to do the same, all the while looking up at her owner quizzically.

‘Let’s go see if your mum’s up, Pen.’

Shaking his boots a final time, Jim headed up to the back door, opened and went through it into a warm kitchen.

‘Hey, Pol.’

His wife looked up from her book and raised a mug in her left hand. ‘Want one? It’s hot.’

Jim smiled. He walked past the kitchen table, brushing gently against his wife’s arm. ‘What’s that you’re reading, honey?’

‘The usual, um...hokum.’ Polly winked at him. She turned her attention back to the book, flipping the page. Jim saw over her shoulder that the two pages facing upwards showed two large diagrams, or something that looked like diagrams.

‘Hokum, huh. Looks wild.’

‘Lovely day, is it? Just what we need, another lovely day.’ Polly reached her hand back and rested it on Jim’s leg. He reciprocated, leaning over to rest his head on Polly’s shoulder, nestling into the nook. He playfully ground his chin into her collar bone. She giggled.

‘What you doing today, Jimmy?’

‘Boring stuff.

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