Chapter1 part3 (and still not finished)

Well I know I have been severly lax in updating. but it won't happen again. I am writing again, and to prove it I have a mini update for you. If anyone is still willing to read it that is.

Part 2
http://the-writings-of-lady-laughalot.blogspot.com/2006/07/ghost-town-chapter-1-part-2.html

Part 1
http://the-writings-of-lady-laughalot.blogspot.com/2006/05/ghost-town-chapter-1-part-1.html

Chapter 1 part 3

‘It’s exactly as I imagined it.’ Rachael said, her voice almost a whisper.
‘Is this place ours Mummy?’ Abigail asked, evidently forgetting her nerves as she let go of Rachael’s hand and took a step away from her mother.
‘Yes baby it is,’ she replied with a smile, pleased by her daughter’s reaction.
‘But where do we sleep?’ Abby asked all wide-eyed innocence.
Rachael laughed, ‘Mr McMillan was just about to show us that.’ She replied turning back to the Real Estate Agent who had been watching the interchange between mother and daughter with evident pleasure. ‘Weren’t you Mr McMillan?’ she asked.
He smiled broadly, ‘Yes I was, now if you’ll just come through this door here I’ll show you the residence and the yard.’

They all filed through a door behind the shop counter into a long narrow corridor filled with light from sunlights in the ceiling.
‘Immediately on your left here is a toilet, obviously not the main bathroom but convenient for when your minding the shop out front.’
He led them a few more paces down the corridor, ‘and here we have the laundry it has access to a small side section of yard that is fenced off from the main yard, I imagine because the previous owners had several dogs that they didn’t want to have access to their washing.’
‘We’re getting a dog too, aren’t we Mummy!’ Abigail squealed excitedly.
‘Once we’re settled in.’ she agreed smiling at her daughter’s excitement.
‘Well that will be nice,’ Garry agreed, ‘Now just down here at the end of the corridor, is the main the main living space of the house. As you can see you’ve got your large entertainers kitchen here facing the decking and grassed area, This room gets heaps of natural light and is great in summer when your having a barbeque.’
Rachael smiled and ran her hand over the old granite benches imagining sunny days filled with the laughter of friends dining on the deck and the squeals of small children as they ran through the house and out into the yard.

Garry noticed her distracted smile, ‘would you like me to show you the rest of the house or do you think you can take it from here?’
Rachael looked up at him and smiled, ‘I think we can take it from here, thankyou so much for meeting us.’
‘It was my pleasure, but I’ll just show you one last thing before I go.’ He led her to a door on the other side of the lounge room with a small tiled area in front of it, ‘When you have guests, you don’t have to walk them through the shop, because you also have,’ he paused dramatically and opened the door with a flourish, ‘a front door.’
Rachael laughed, ‘well that just makes it perfect, doesn’t it.’
‘It does,’ he agreed, ‘and since that’s my car parked there in front, I’ll leave you too it.’ He got halfway down the yard before he stopped and turned back, ‘You’ve got my card, don’t you?’ He called back.
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Excellent, if you need anything at all..’
‘You’ll be the first person I call.’
He smiled, ‘Great, I’ll see you then.’

Rachael closed the door and leaned against it, she was going to have to tread carefully with him. Sighing she pushed away from the door and went to move the truck around to the front of her new home, seemed senseless to traipse all of her belongings through the shop and down that long narrow corridor if she didn’t have too. She only had small items with her on this trip, she’d brought airbeds and sleeping bags to sleep in, beanbags to sit in, her microwave, an esky full of food (including microwave dinners), t.v & stand and everything that could be put into a box. The rest would be arriving with the removalists the following day. She smirked involuntarily, she should be glad really that her husband had been unfaithful, if he hadn’t the divorce settlement may not have been good enough for her to afford little luxuries like removalists.

With a little help from Abby they got all of their belongings moved into the house before it was fully dark. They had just put down the last of it when it and put on the house lights when there was a sudden unexpected nock on the door.
Rachael swiped her sweaty hair out of her face, ‘Don’t answer that, Abby!’ she called as her little girl rushed at the door, ‘let me get it.’
Stumbling over what seemed like one million boxes that stood between her and the doorway, she finally reached the door just as the chime sounded again. An unfamiliar old woman stood before her and she couldn’t help but bite back a laugh at her comical appearance. She looked as though she was auditioning for the part of the scary old gypsy woman in the local amateur theatre company play and she’d gone overboard on “getting into character”. She was complete from the woollen shawl to the mole on her cheek, the only things missing were the head scarf and dangly earrings.

‘Hello, can I help you?’ Rachael asked at last trying to keep the amusement out of her voice.
‘New, yes?’ the old woman asked at last with apparently great difficulty. It seemed that English was not her native language.
‘Ah, Yes I’m new to this to town,’ She indicated the boxes behind her, ‘We’ve only just arrived today, I’d invite you in but you see we’re still in a bit of a mess.’
‘Curse.’ She said suddenly panic in her eyes
‘I’m sorry I don’t understand, is there something I can help you with? I really do need to get back to unpacking what I can.’
‘NO help! Curse, leave!’ the woman was shouting now, her eyes wide and terrified.
‘I can’t leave, we only just got here…’ she trailed off unsure of how to respond, ‘what’s cursed?’ She said at last.
Suddenly the woman grabbed her by the shoulders, ‘Curse, leave, Curse!’ she shouted repeatedly as she shook her as violently as her elderly frame would allow.
‘NO! I can’t!’ she yelled back trying to get her grip on the doorway, ‘Get out!’ she screamed as the older woman continued to shake her.

Then just as suddenly as the shaking had started it stopped, it took her a few moments for her world to stop spinning and when she did she saw that her rescuer was a middle aged woman who looked to be the daughter of the older woman, a fact that her next words confirmed this supposition.
‘Mother, you cannot go around shaking people and yelling at them. You are not a crazy old lady, no matter how much some people think you are, and I refuse to let you behave like one.’ The other woman then turned to her.
‘I’m so sorry for my mother’s behaviour, she has these episodes from time to time, but she’s lovely really.’
‘I’m sure she is.’ She lied openly through the wooden smile on her face.
‘Anyway my name is Sandra, Cassandra actually, but everyone calls me Sandra. I just came over to welcome you to the neighbourhood and bring you a casserole for dinner.’ The woman said awkwardly transferring the hot dish held with two tea towels to her.
The smile on her face now felt a little less wooden, ‘I’m Rachael, thankyou for the Casserole Sandra, and you really didn’t have to.’
‘Oh it’s my pleasure, I know moving can be such a pain, not that I’ve moved in years of course,’ she laughed a jittery, nervous little laugh, ‘and even when we did move it wasn’t far, I’ve lived in this town all my life. Still,’ she said with a sigh, ‘I know it can be a pain, so I thought you could use some real sustenance for dinner, better than take out!’ She finished brightly.

Rachael smiled, ‘Well, thankyou I do appreciate it. If you just want to wait a moment I can transfer this to another dish and give you yours back.’
Sandra shook her head, ‘No, no, don’t worry about the dish. You can bring it back another time, and perhaps stop in for a cup of tea when you do? Besides I really ought to get my mother home before she causes any more problems.’ She laughed a little self-consciously.
‘Ok well thankyou again for the casserole, I’ll return the dish as soon as I can.’
‘Oh no rush,’ Sandra replied now shepherding her wayward mother down the path to the front gate, ‘It was nice meeting you Rachael.’
‘Yes it was nice to meet you too.’ She replied surprised, despite the harassment she had received at the hands the woman’s mother, and the slightly odd way Sandra had conducted herself, that her words were sincere. They waved one final time before she closed the door behind her and sagged against it, ‘well at least that solves one problem’ she said to herself.
‘Abby, come here sweetie, Dinners ready’

There is no more to this story at this stage.