Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke by Peter Benson

Author:Peter Benson [Benson, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Crooked policemen, Working on a farm, Murder, Somerset countryside, Rural magic, Rural superstition, Farm labourer, Ashbrittle, Hippies, Growing cannabis, Cannabis, Hot merchandise, kidnap, Long hot summer, Cows, Somerset, Cat-and-mouse, Drought, A village called Ashbrittle, Growing dope
Publisher: Alma Books
Published: 2012-02-20T11:00:00+00:00

‌17

Milking was tough. I sweated, and my mouth was dry, and every time I let a cow out and a gate slammed shut I jumped. I didn’t know what Dickens would do next, but I did know he could do anything he wanted. As he’d left the farm he’d looked at Mr Evans’s gun, but there hadn’t been fear in his eye, just the look of someone who’d recognized a friend in a pub and wanted to say hello. “This is a gun; it can kill me, but it won’t. I could have it off the old man, but I won’t. I could come back any time, but I won’t. I’ll wait. I might be mad, but I’m patient. I’m as patient as the fucking hills and as patient as a fucking river. I’ll wait. I’ll wait some more. I’ve got all the time I need, and I love time…” These were the sort of things I imagined he thought as he drove away, but maybe he didn’t. Only he knew. And when Mr Evans suddenly appeared in the parlour and shouted, “Don’t forget the cat!” I almost pissed myself.

“I never forget the cat!”

The cat was sitting on a window sill.

“Good for you.”

He left me to it, and as I carried on, the fright and worry stayed with me like a itch in my eye. However hard I tried to push it away, it came back, tweaking my mind and whispering stuff I didn’t want to hear. “You’re dead… feel the pain… die in a heap… lose your head… the dogs will catch you… the dogs are mad… we’ve sharpened the dogs’ teeth… we’ll push you through a window… you’ll fall off a bridge… you’ll eat your own heart…”

“Shut up!” I yelled to the ceiling.

“We’ll snap your fingers one by one… we’ll stick pins in your eyes… we’ll stick pins in your tongue…”

“Quiet!” I yelled to the ceiling.

“We’ll have you swallow glass… you’ll bleed from the inside out… you’ll split like a plum…”

“No!”

The whispers didn’t quieten so I turned the radio on, loud music with a loud DJ, and I talked to the cows as I let them into the parlour. That almost did the trick and, by the time I’d finished, my head had almost returned to normal. When I say “normal” I don’t mean normal like it used to be, like it was before Spike stole the smoke, but the panic was nothing more than a light ache, and the whispers had stopped.

I packed some stuff into my rucksack, and as I was tying it onto the back of the bike Mr Evans came out. He’d calmed down, his face had lost its redness and he almost smiled. He said, “When you’ve sorted this mess out, give me a ring. You’re a good lad, and I don’t think you need to be this stupid.”

“I’m not stupid.”

“I never said you were.”

In all the excitement I think he had. But maybe he hadn’t. I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t contradict him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.