Christmas in the
Pepperstock Hills National Park stretched from the bare, and often barren crags
of Oxley Ridge in the North to the dense wooded southern slopes on the fringe
of the Finchbottom Vale and from Quarry Hill, and the Pits in the West to
Pepperstock Bay in the East.
It is an area of stark
contrasts and attracted a variety of visitors.
The quarry hill side
of the park to the west, as the name suggests, was heavily Quarried over
several hundred years, though more extensively during the industrial
revolution, the Quarries had been un-worked for over fifty years and nature had
reclaimed them and former pits had become lakes and were very popular with
anglers and the sparse shrubbery and woodland made it popular spot with
courting couples whereas the northern crags and fells were popular with
climbers and more hardy folk.
To the south and east
was an extensive tract of magnificent mixed forestry and was rivalled only by
the ancient woodland of the Dancingdean Forest, but our tale begins at the
Black Swan Hotel in Springwater.
Reece stead was
staying at the Hotel for Christmas, it was his brother Owen’s idea, a short
break in the Pepperstock Hills with family for Christmas, his parents had the
good sense to go to New York for the holidays.
Christmas in
Springwater with a collection of cousins, Aunts and Uncles, was not his idea of
a perfect Christmas, he preferred his own company, and liked nothing more than
a good whisky, luxury chocolates, a nice cigar, and an unending diet of old
movies.
Owen on the other hand
preferred Christmas frivolities, forced fun and silly games, and that was not
Reece’s cup of tea at all.
He was in his early
thirties and having been brow beaten into spending his Christmas break in the
back of beyond he resolved to spend as little of that time being forced to
enjoy himself.
So, he got up bright
and early on Christmas Eve, before any of his family had surfaced, well early
at least as it was still dark, but according to the receptionist it was going
to be a bright morning.
He grabbed a backpack
and set off for a walk in the woods in the early sunshine, he did think about
having the full English at the Hotel before he left but he didn’t want to risk
running into the family.
When he got onto the
woodland trail, he noticed another walker ahead of him heading in the same
general direction.
He wasn’t convinced,
but he assumed it was a woman, because of the way they moved.
The figure was wearing
stout walking shoes, carrying a backpack much larger than his own, had on a
drab shapeless three-quarter length coat and what appeared to be a trapper hat,
flaps up.
It was difficult for
him to be sure as he/she was walking much faster than him and was in and out of
the shade.
It wasn’t long before
they were out of sight and presumably well on their way to the hills, it was a
mild morning, so he thought the stranger was somewhat overdressed for the lower
altitudes.
Reece felt confident
that his choice of clothing was more than appropriate for his destination.
Reece stood on the
edge of a lake looking out across the water shimmering in the sunshine, before
he sat down and opened his pack, he ate the sandwich he’d bought in the village
before he left and washed it down with the drink he got at the same time and
when his lunch was finished, he really wished he’d had the Hotel breakfast.
He'd found himself a
nice sunny spot so after having finished his meagre lunch and being in no hurry
to return to the bosom of his family he took out the only remaining item from
his pack, his book.
Reece had been reading
for about an hour when he noticed the temperature was dropping, but carried on
for another half an hour, before he looked up at the distant sky, full of dark
foreboding cloud and he suspected it was
coming his way, so he decided to make his way back to the village as quickly as
possible.
The weather in the
Pepperstock Hills was always unpredictable, so it wasn’t really a surprise,
despite the bright sunny start to the day, that the blue sky would be consumed
by leaden grey.
He hadn’t even managed
a mile before a chill wind caught him up, and the dark cloud was overhead, then
the snow was swirling all around him.
He tried to phone
Owen, but couldn’t get a signal, so he pressed on with head down and followed
the trail as best he could but with the swirling snow falling faster and faster
and with his unfamiliarity with the area, he didn’t have a clue where he
was.
“You
should just sit it out” a soft voice
said and startled him
“What?” He said
turning around abruptly and saw a frumpy looking woman sitting on a large tree
stump.
“You should sit it
out” she said again “Before you disappear up your own backpack”
Reece just looked at
her with a puzzled expression
“This is the third
time I’ve seen you in the last 20 minutes” she explained
“So, you should just
sit it out”
“Is that wise?” Reece
asked
“Yes, this band of
snow is due to blow through in a couple of hours” she said confidently
“Is it? He asked
“Didn’t you check the
weather forecast before you set off this morning?” she asked
“No” he admitted “A
bit of an oversight on my part”
“No harm done” she
said “This time, but don’t make the same mistake tomorrow”
“Why is that?”
“Because wherever you
are tonight when the big snow hits, is where you’ll be
for at least two days” she explained in a sympathetic tone, and he sat down
next to her.
“I’m Reece by the way,
Reece Stead” and offered his hand
“Abbey
Barr” she responded
Abbey Barr was 32
years old, single and happy to be so, she had studied English Literature at
University and graduated with a 1st in English Lit and Creative Writing and was
looking to do her masters and follow an academic career, but after her four
year relationship ended suddenly and unexpectedly, she decided to follow a
different path and took on freelance writing assignments, it suited her as she
could work from home and didn’t have to interact with people.
It meant that she
spent a lot of time on her own, which she didn’t mind as she was happy in her
own company.
The only cloud on her
horizon was her failed relationship which still tormented her, so she decided
to write about it in order to understand it, and it resulted in a successful
romantic novel.
The success of her
novel and the subsequent follow ups allowed her to continue to live in
seclusion, but it also allowed her to buy a converted farmhouse just outside
Springwater in the beautiful Pepperstock Hills National Park.
As they sat on the
large flat tree stump in the snow Reece hadn’t made the connection between
Abbey and the figure in the drab coat, he’d seen early that morning.
“Do you have anything
useful in your pack?” She asked after noticing him shiver
“It’s empty now I’m
afraid” he replied “Apart from a book and my phone”
“You did come well
prepared” she said sarcastically and dragged her pack into view, which was when
the penny dropped.
He felt such a fool,
she was actually sitting there wearing a trapper hat, and now the oversized
pack.
“Now I’m a stranger in
the area and it was remiss of me not to check the forecast, but if you knew the
snow was coming, and when, what are you doing here?” he asked “Not that I’m not
pleased that you are”
“I’m here on purpose”
she replied “I love sitting in the forest in the snow, most people don’t
venture out, which is why I love it”
Luckily for Reece,
Abbey’s backpack was filled with a wealth of useful stuff, a thermos full of
coffee, another of soup, Sandwiches, snacks, and a blanket, all of which she
generously shared with him while they spoke candidly about their past.
She wasn’t sure why
she opened up to him, she was normally a very insular person, maybe it was
because they were in the peaceful forest shrouded in snow and insulated against
the world that she felt at ease.
“So, you set off into
the woods, with a drink and sandwich and a book, and I’m intrigued to know what
the book is”
“It’s the latest
Alexandra Shannon” he said and fished it out of his pack
“I wouldn’t have put
you down as a lover of Romantic Fiction” she responded
“I’m not” he said “But
I’ve been commissioned to adapt it for the screen”
“Wow a screen writer,
and what do you think of it?”
“It’s very good
actually” he said as he flicked through the pages “I’m….”
He stopped in
mid-sentence because he was looking at the flyleaf and in particular the
author’s photo
“It’s you” he said
accusingly “You’re Alexander Shannon”
“How on earth can you
tell that when you can literally only see half my face?” she asked in amazement
“Your eyes”
“My eyes?”
“Yes, you have
stunning eyes” he replied “they’re quite dazzling and almost hypnotic”
“Oh” she responded and
smiled
It was an instant and
honest response, perhaps a little too honest, and when he realised, he blushed,
so he changed the subject.
“I don’t mean to pry”
he began “But why you are dressed like a….”
“Frump?” she suggested
“I was thinking more
along the lines of, unflattering” he agreed “I’m sorry”
“Its fine” she said
“it’s quite simple really, I like to be, incognito”
“I see”
“However, I forgot
about my stunning, dazzling and hypnotic eyes” she said and smiled
“But why Springwater?”
he asked, and her smile disappeared
“Well, that’s because
of something that happened after graduating University” she said “I had my
heart broken, very badly”
“I’m so sorry to hear
that” Reece said sympathetically
“We had been together
for 4 years and I couldn’t get over it, I was tying myself up in knots trying
to figure out what I’d done to deserve having my heart broken” she explained
“That’s why I wrote
the first novel”
“But why hide away in
Springwater?”
“Well, I resolved to
have no more truck with love, other than writing about it”
She said without
emotion
“I am single and glad
to be so”
She paused for a
moment and Reece spoke
“So that’s why you
wear the shapeless coat and the hat?”
Abbey nodded
“I have found that men
tend not to give me a second look in this coat”
“What a waste” he
thought to himself
“And what about you?”
She asked
“Well, I’ve also had
my heart broken” he confessed “just the once, but once was enough”
“Once was enough for
me too” She mumbled
“I’ve not given up
hope completely” he continued “But I’ve not met the “one” yet”
She nodded
“I’ve not found my
soul mate yet” was what he meant, Abbey thought
“In truth I use work
much the same way you use your disguise” he said
“My brother Owen says
I work too hard and should get out and have some fun”
“It’s nice that he
cares about you” she said
“His idea of fun
differs greatly from mine” he said, and they both laughed “it was his idea to
drag me and the family up here for a family Christmas”
“And you don’t like
family Christmases?” she asked
“Yes, but it’s the
enforced fun I don’t like” he explained
“I would have
preferred to be at home drinking whiskey, eating chocolates, smoking my annual
traditional cigar and watching classic movies”
“And by classic movies
you mean something ghastly from the 80s or 90s I suppose” she scoffed
“No, I don’t” he
snapped indignantly
“I mean classics from
the 30s and 40s”
“Such as?” she asked
“Where do I start?” he
said “Ball of Fire, Philadelphia Story, It Happened One Night, Holiday, Shop
Around the Corner, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Lady Vanishes…”
“Ok ok I’m convinced”
she said and laughed “How long would you have gone on if I hadn’t stopped you?”
“Hours” he replied,
and they both laughed
By about two thirty in
the afternoon the snow began to abate.
“Right on time” she
said, though she was a little disappointed, as she was rather enjoying herself
“Perhaps we should wait
for another half an hour or so”
“Good idea” he agreed
as he was also in no hurry to leave.
“No more than that
though” Abbey said “otherwise we won’t get back before dark”
By 3.15 they couldn’t
really delay it any longer the light was already starting to fade as Reece
began handing the remnants of their impromptu picnic to Abbey which she packed
neatly away.
“Thank you” he said
“For what?” She asked
“Sharing your lunch
and your blanket” he said “and for your company”
“Oh, there’s no need
to thank me” she responded and gave him a smile
“I think it would have
been very dull had you not happened along”
As they walked down
the trail back towards the village he asked
“How do you remain
anonymous in the summer?”
“That’s easy, I wear
sunglasses to hide my stunning, dazzling and hypnotic
eyes” she replied, and they both laughed
They were still
laughing when his phone pinged
“Ah civilization” he
said and a text exchange with his brother followed.
“That was chatty” she
said as they pressed on down the trail crunching through the virgin snow
“My brother was
telling me all about the Christmas fun he has lined up for me the evening and I
was telling him how I’d rather stick pins in my eyes” he explained
“Oh dear” she said
before suddenly asking
“Shop Around the
Corner or It’s a Wonderful Life?”
“Do you mean which is
my favourite?” he asked
“Not exactly” she
replied
“What then?”
“Well, if you really
don’t want to go back to the Black Swan, I thought you might prefer to come to
mine to watch a movie” she said
“So, I meant which one
would you like to watch first”
“I’d love that” he
said “but if the big snow hits you could be stuck with me for the next two
days”
“I think I’ll take the
risk” she said and smiled as she put her arm through his.
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