Page 125 of Hope and Happiness in Bluebell Wood
‘Can I take a look?’ I ask, sitting down on one of the pews.
Callum passes me the heavy Bible and I rest it on my lap. Then carefully I flick through the pages. ‘I’m not really sure what we’re looking for,’ I say, looking up at him. ‘Maybe I got a bit over-excited with the eagle link and the photo turning up today.’
‘Once I got a book from the library and when I took the outside cover off I found a five-pound note inside,’ Robin says, watching us. ‘Mum told me I had to give it back to the library, though,’ he says regretfully.
‘Can we remove the Bible from the cover?’ I ask, looking at the inside of the book.
‘I don’t know if anyone has ever taken the cover off,’ Callum says. ‘If they have it’s not been for a very long time.’
‘Do you want to try?’ I ask him.
‘You do it,’ Callum says. ‘I trust you.’
As carefully as I can, I try to remove the heavy cover, but it won’t budge. The outside is a heavily engraved metal, but the inner part is a taut leather that has thinned and worn over the years so it’s like a tight skin covering the Bible inside. Instead, I try reaching my fingers in between the cover and the front of the book. But there’s nothing, my fingers reappear with only dust on them. The back, however, is a different story. ‘I can feel something!’ I say, trying to force my fingers that little bit further into the tight space. ‘No! I can’t get to it,’ I cry in frustration.
‘My fingers are smaller than yours,’ Robin says, looking at his hand. ‘Shall I try?’
I look at Callum, who nods.
‘Be very gentle,’ I say to Robin as he sits next to me and pushes his small fingers in between the leather and the book.
‘I can feel something,’ Robin says, wrinkling his face up as he wriggles his fingers. ‘It feels like thick paper.’
Very slowly, and very carefully, Robin begins to pull something from underneath the book jacket until it’s visible for us all to see.
‘Shall I do it now?’ I ask, desperate for him not to tear whatever it is.
‘Yes, I think it might rip,’ Robin says, turning the book back towards me.
As gently and as carefully as I can, I ease the paper slowly from the book until it’s all the way out.
Then I look at the other two watching me.
‘Shall I open it?’ I tease, knowing exactly the response I’m going to get.
‘Yes! Yes!’ Robin shouts.
‘Of course!’ Callum encourages.
I open up the first page of thick yellowing paper and try to read what it says.
‘The writing is tiny,’ I say, squinting to decipher the ornate script. I pass it to Callum. ‘Can you do any better?’
Callum takes the paper from me. ‘It’s like parchment,’ he says, feeling the paper. ‘If it is parchment, then this writing might be in old English. Try opening up the other paper.’
Again, as gently as I can, I slowly open the folds of the second piece of paper.
‘What is it?’ Callum cries in torment as I silently stare at what’s inside.
I turn it towards him.
‘It’s a map,’ I say quietly. ‘A map of Bluebell Wood. Only it says at the top it’s a map of King’s Wood and it’s dated 1165.
Epilogue
Twelve months later . . .
Callum, Merlin and I snuggle together on the sofa in the cottage while we watch the birds through the window, as they feed on the table outside.
