Below the Rock

Revenge is bitter and sweet.

 

BELOW THE ROCK

 

Juliana received the letter before leaving for work. She didn’t open the envelope till she arrived back at her flat that evening when she remembered it. The short letter was from her sister, who still lived in the small village in Cornwall, where Juliana had lived till she had moved away, many years past in her youth. Although it was nearly forty years since she had set eyes on the place of her birth, Juliana could see it as clearly in her head as if it were yesterday. She had taken a small suitcase of clothes, and had taken the train to London, where she had stayed till she had enough money to buy herself a small restaurant. Now, here she was, a middle aged woman staring at a letter that to her seemed to have come out of a page in her own personal history.

The letter was a plea for Juliana to go back to sign some papers to do with property that their father had left them, and was now being sought after by Fabian Hershey & Partners. Marcia, Juliana’s younger sister, had not put anything else in the letter except that.

Juliana sat down on her bed, and thought about what her life had been like before she had abandoned the village for ever. Fabian had been Juliana’s boyfriend since they were at school, and when they had actually become engaged, everyone in both families assumed they would marry and form a family; but then Fabian had gone away to study, and had met Harriet, whose father had more money, and with it, more possibilities for Fabian to get on in life.

Juliana never saw him again. Fabian had sent her a letter breaking off the relationship, saying he had met someone else. Juliana, feeling like the laughing stock of the village, packed her bags and left the day after getting the letter.

 

Since that day, Juliana kept herself to herself and had never trusted a man again. Her life had been dedicated to running her small restaurant and living a discreet life. Now her peace and anonymity had been invaded by her sister, on whom she hadn’t set eyes in so many years.

 

After organising who was going to run the restaurant while she was gone, and settling up bills to suppliers, Juliana felt she could be on her way to find out what really was going on. The train pulled out of the station and Juliana sat back in her seat and fell asleep. Meanwhile the train pushed the passengers further and further out into the harsh-looking countryside. On waking up, Juliana saw what she thought was familiar countryside. It was windy and rainy, and to eyes not used to it, looked very hostile through the train windows. The sea was more than just rough, it was positively violent. Juliana shivered at the thought of getting off the cosy train and facing the coastal climate.

 The railway turned inland and then the train stopped and Juliana got off. Marcia had sent her daughter to pick her aunt up. “Hello. You must be my aunt Juliana. I’m Helen. Mum sent me to collect you.” Helen was a pretty girl and was blonde, whereas both Juliana and Marcia were dark-haired.

“Thank you, Helen. You look just like the photos your mother sent me. Where’s your mother? Not ill, is she?”

“No, she’s been busy getting the house ready, and cooking for your visit.”

 

Helen drove a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and Juliana wondered where she got the money from. During the drive to where Helen and Marcia lived, Juliana was aware that the village was suffering from extreme abandonment. Houses had torn curtains at the windows and the gardens were overgrown. Not one building had decent paintwork on it. Many were uninhabited and the small gardens were overgrown. Stray dogs were roaming around the dirty streets and cats were eating out of rubbish bins. Juliana wanted to make a comment to Helen, but thought better of it, after all she was her niece not her sister, who would be a better informant about the state of the village.

Helen stopped the vehicle outside a small house, saying, “Aunt Juliana, this is where my mother lives. She’s waiting for you inside.”

Juliana stared hard at her niece, and said, “Don’t you live here, too?”

“Not often. I’m a singer and spend a lot of time away from home. Didn’t Mum tell you?”

“Sorry, but it seems she left that piece of information out of her letter. How are you getting on in your chosen profession?”

“Not too bad. In fact I’m doing quite well. Look. Here’s Mum.”

Juliana saw Marcia in the open doorway and walked up to her. For one long moment the two sisters looked into each other’s eyes, the years rolled away. They embraced and kissed.

“Come inside, it’s cold out here,” Marcia said, leading Juliana into the house.

Juliana saw to her amazement that many of the pieces of furniture had come from their parents’ old house. The carpet was also from the living-room, as well as a large table and accompanying chairs. “I’m surprised you kept so many things from the old house. Did your ex-husband leave you nothing?”

“That freak! He left me a load of debts, and I let him keep the furniture from the place he had bought, and got this house. As Dad died after the divorce, I got all the old stuff and brought it here.”

Juliana realised on hearing her sister’s words that she had missed out on a lot of the family experiences. She remembered why she was back in the village. “Why did you write asking me to return when I’ve been away for so long?” she asked Marcia.

Helen came into the room and placed a tray with tea and cakes onto the table, “I’m off now to rehearse. I don’t know the exact time when I’ll be back. See you later or tomorrow morning. Bye.” And with those words Helen left the house.

Marcia poured the tea and pushed the plate of cakes towards Juliana. “As you know we both own our parents’ house and the land surrounding it. It isn’t much, but it’s important enough. In order to sell it, both our signatures need to be on the documents.” Marcia explained.

“Who on earth would want to buy a tumbledown village house. It can’t be worth anything much and the land isn’t all that, is it?” Juliana asked.

“Did you notice how deserted the village is? There are very few of us left living here. We’re hanging on as a kind of protest, but it’s getting harder all the time.”

“Would you mind telling me the whole story, please?” Juliana was getting worried about what she had wandered into.

 

“For some years there’s been a plan to bulldoze the village and build a whole new town, with fancy houses and blocks of flats. That’s the reason the village has been left to fall apart. Nobody had bothered me till now, but the day before I wrote to you I was approached by a member of the group, who want to erase anything of the past and turn this into a commercial proposition. They say the area needs livening up and that if nothing is done, this part of the county will die. In the end it’s all about money. They may be right about the county dying. I don’t know. All I know is that many of our ex-neighbours felt under threat to leave.”

“Where are our old neighbours living now?”

“They have gone to live in different parts of the county. As far as I know, they have managed to settle down, although they miss the village a lot, as they had the sea not far from their doorsteps.”

Juliana sat thinking about what Marcia had just told her. Something had to be done, that was for sure. But what could be done?

 

The next few days passed by, walking round what was left of the village. The abandoned houses were a sad and sorry sight. Juliana then understood that some dark and dirty things had been carried out since the day she had left forty years before.

 

Sunday came, and with it Juliana’s first sight of Fabian and Harriet. Fabian went up to Juliana and said, “Hello, Juliana. You look very well, I must say.”

Juliana looked Fabian up and down and saw the ravages of time in his once handsome face. He looked as if he had had two drinks too many. His hair, that had been fair, was now obviously artificially coloured, and his face was salon tanned. He had gained weight around the middle. Superficially he looked well, but to anyone who had known him when he was young and dashing, he was rather like any other middle-aged man who was desperate to hang onto his youth. Harriet, the woman whose father’s money had seduced Fabian away from Juliana, was hanging onto his arm as if he were a prize possession.

“Hello, Fabian. Still hanging around here, I see. Don’t tell me what interests you in this dump. I already know. Marcia told me, you and a group of like-minded men want to pull this down and build a new town on the land. Tell me how much do you expect to get out of this?”

Harriet pulled at Fabian’s arm, and said, “Who is this female? She doesn’t know what she’s talking about?” Turning to Juliana, Harriet said, “This place is dead, and soon will be buried too. Our ideas will bring wealth and money and make this a thriving area once again.”

“If you say so,” Juliana said, and then, “Do you two live around here, or are you just making sure your investment is coming along nicely?”

Fabian said, “You don’t have to be like that. We were friends once, or don’t you remember?”

“You might like to think that, but I have different memories. I must go now. I’ve got things to do.”

“Juliana, when will you and Marcia sign the forms so that we can remunerate you for the house and the land?”

“I haven’t given it much thought yet, but I suppose you’re in a hurry. Don’t tell me we’ve been keeping you all on tenterhooks about the sale of the property and the land. I’ll speak to Marcia and we’ll let you know.”

Juliana was relieved that Harriet hadn’t preserved her looks as well as she had. Must be down to all that sunbathing on her father’s yacht.

 

Marcia was in the kitchen when Juliana opened the front door to the little house.

“You don’t look very happy. What’s up?” Juliana asked her sister.”

“Helen’s singing at a music concert this weekend. She’s just rung to let me know.”

Juliana thought to herself that Helen’s absence might be what they would need in order to carry out what she had in mind, if it were possible, as she had been led to believe by their father.

 

There was an enormous rock that hung over the village. Nobody knew how or why the rock was there - except for Juliana and Marcia’s father, whose family had been one of the oldest in the village. One Sunday Andy, their father, had taken Juliana out for a walk and had taken her up to where the rock was perched. “Do you know that if that rock were to fall onto the village, first it would crush all the houses in its wake, and secondly it would release a torrent of water. The rock lies over a spring, that if freed from the weight of the rock, would pour out tons and tons of water, causing the village to disappear under the water. When we get home, I’ll show you a map of the layout of the subterranean river. Andy kept his promise and showed Juliana the map with all the details of the rock, and the underground river that was only a supremely thin line. Juliana had never forgotten her father’s words, and now she knew that more than ever, something had to be done about Fabian and his cohorts.

 

“Come on Marcia let’s go for a walk. It’s been so long, I need my memory freshened up.”

Marcia, who would have preferred doing absolutely nothing, said, “Oh, all right. I’ll come with you.”

Juliana knew where her father had kept the map, and had taken it to bed with her so as to memorise it. She wanted to go on the walk to see how big the rock really was.

 

There was a time-worn path that led up to the rock, that some villagers had always given supernatural powers. There were many superstitions surrounding the rock, about how a giant had put it there, but Juliana had never heard anyone mention the underground spring that her father had told her of. Juliana didn’t say why she wanted to visit the rock, only that she fancied the idea. The walk wasn’t easy, and by the time they had got to the rock they were both puffed out and sat down on a plastic they had with them.

Juliana got up onto her feet and walked around the rock to see if any of what her father had said could possibly be true.

“Why have we come up here?” Marcia asked Juliana.

“The reason is because of something Dad told me when I was a child. He said that there was a subterranean spring, that if the rock were to be shifted would spurt out so much water that it would flood the village. We can’t let Fabian get away with such a money-making scheme, and I’ve been waiting a long time to wreak revenge on him for the way he treated me. He never apologised to me for leaving me, just letting me know by letter. That’s not the way to do things. So what do you say? Are you with me, or not?”

Marcia was happy with having Juliana back in her life, and said, although with trepidation, “Of course I’m with you. You want to shift the rock, don’t you? I don’t know how we’re going to do it but at least we can try. We’ll need ropes and tools to remove the earth around the base of the rock in order to loosen it. We’ll use Helen’s vehicle, it’s perfect for our needs.”

The two sisters hugged each other at the decision they had taken. If the village couldn’t be for the villagers, then it couldn’t be for anyone else, and certainly not for the likes of Fabian and company.

 

As Saturday was the day when Helen would be singing at the concert, Juliana and Marcia decided to try and have a go at shifting the rock. They went shopping in neighbouring towns for the necessary tools. Juliana had looked up the climatic conditions for the weekend, and seeing it would be dry, felt it was the correct moment, when they wouldn’t be slipping and sliding around in mud.

 

Juliana had signed her share of the money over to Helen, as she knew she had very little time left to live. Fabian had been delighted with what he called their sensible response. He had expected problems with Juliana, but his wife had said that she was too long in the tooth to give them any problems.

 

Now the village was empty of villagers, except for the sisters. The last ones had gone during the week, and now it left only Juliana and Marcia to go. Huge machinery had been arriving on the edge of the village for the last few days, in preparation for bulldozing the houses, public buildings, shops, restaurants, and social clubs.

 

The countryside was lit up by a very pale crescent moon, when Juliana and Marcia got into Helen’s four-wheel-drive and quietly drove along the road that led up to the rock. Marcia parked it in a discreet spot near some bushes. Juliana got out, and the two of them began to haul out of the back, the equipment to help them remove the rock. Juliana, being the taller of the two, began digging around the base of the rock, and when she was satisfied with her work, sat back and said to Marcia. “We need to put those heavy wooden blocks we bought under the gap I’ve created, to get it started on its way out of the ground.”

Using all the strength they could muster, the two women pushed and pushed until they had got some of the wooden blocks under the rock. The weight of the rock was proving too much for them, but they were determined to do what they had promised themselves. Juliana dug deeper and deeper, until there was an even deeper gap around the base of the rock.

They got the chains and heavy ropes, and wound them around the rock and then attached them to the back of Helen’s vehicle. Marcia got inside behind the steering wheel and started it up. Juliana stayed outside to make sure everything went to plan. The engine started to rev up but nothing happened. The engine had stalled. Juliana prayed as hard as she could that all would go well. Marcia turned the ignition key again and pressed down as hard as she could on the accelerator. Juliana closed her eyes and wished that the rock would just begin to budge. Marcia tried time after time, and then the longed-for sound came to Juliana’s ears. The creaking sound of the rock rising. Juliana waited till she saw the rock begin its descent down the hill towards the deserted village, and then the spring began a soft gurgling sound.

Juliana got into the passenger seat beside Marcia, who started up the engine, and drove off into the night.

 

The sisters were silent in the car. Both of them would love to have seen Fabian’s face on seeing that his plans had been scuttled. Juliana lay back in her seat, and then fell asleep. Marcia who was intent on driving in the dark, felt the sudden silence. She reached over and touched Juliana’s arm and said, “Hey, are you all right?”

Juliana’s head rolled to one side, and Marcia screamed out, “Juliana, you left me once. You can’t do that again.” She lost control of the vehicle which crashed into a metal barrier.

Juliana and Marcia were never separated again.

 

Helen had finished her number at the concert when the police informed her about the accident. She was taken by police helicopter to identify the bodies of her mother and aunt.

 

The flooding of the ancient village was reported in the national newspapers. Fabian and his wife Harriet were enjoying breakfast when they saw the report on the television. It wasn’t long before he received phone calls from his fellow investors. They all wanted to know why he hadn’t known about the danger, should the rock fall onto the village, and the existence of the spring.

 

Now the whole area had become a vast lake, most certainly unfit for building on.