Short story course 2014

The Right Place

Thom wasn’t one for moving unnecessarily, so sitting on the porch in the sun came easily to him. Which is how he came to be in just the right place at the right time.

The stranger came up the street slowly, staring at each house intently as if trying to trigger some long-lost memory. It took him a good ten minutes to reach Thom’s porch which gave Thom long enough to get his story straight. The man was only about thirty, well-dressed, educated-looking, with an air of enthusiasm that Thom has left long behind.

As he approached the porch, the stranger smiled and held out his hand.

            “James Roberts”

Thom chewed his tobacco slowly, nodded and reached forward to clasp the proffered hand.

            ‘I’m looking for my family- they moved here in ’27, to Main Street, Hammond. I’m hoping to find someone who remembers them”

            “Roberts” said Thom slowly, as if in deep thought and remembrance.

            “Mary and John”, added the stranger.

            “There was a Mary-Anne Roberts in my class at school – pretty thing she was, auburn hair, died of diphtheria in ’36.”

Another pause followed whilst Thom chewed and James waited with the eagerness of a puppy.

            “There was an Angel Robert worked at the mill on the edge of town – union guy, bit of a troublemaker. Killed in a fall there in ‘42’”

Another long pause, punctuated with chewing and a spit.

            “Mary and John Roberts had 7 children”, recited the stranger, “but I only knew my dad Stephen, and Uncle Dylan. They’d moved on to California after the war. But the others you name could be their kin?”

He seemed desperate for some real answers.

Thom chewed a lot more, and then pronounced,

            “There was a Roberts who was Mayor here in the late 40s, he had a look of yourself…..”

The stranger seemed almost overcome with emotions.

            “…and his son and daughter, they still keep house together here, over on North Road. She never married, and his wife and babby died in the birthing, so she’s always kept house for him. Abe and Abigail they be called.”

The strange could scarcely hide his feelings, and a tear seemed to be forming in his eye.

            “Which way to the North Road, please, I must go there at once”

            “Okay” said Thom slowly, followed by more laborious chewing.

“But there’s one thing you should know.”

            “Yes, yes, anything, everything, tell me everything”, the young man seemed about to expire with excitement.

            “This here town is Hamilton. Hammond is about 5 miles in that direction.”

Thom sat back in his rocking chair and smiled to himself with satisfaction. His day’s work done.

446 words