The Unanswered Prayer

Thank you so much for your messages. Don’t worry if your suggestions seem a little out of the ordinary. Just to hear from you is a comfort.

It is now three days since Whisper disappeared. All I can do now is wait. I haven’t put notices on the trees and lamp posts; I just wouldn’t know what to write – ‘Missing’, ‘Lost’? It can’t really be true, can it?

As I mentioned yesterday, before Whisper disappeared, she left two pictures that she was meaning to show you. The first, you have seen, the second is here at the top. It appears to be the same woman we saw yesterday.

So, again, if this means anything to you and if you can see anything at all that might shed some light on the mystery of Whisper’s whereabouts then please do get in touch. Every little detail might contain a clue.

However, there is something about yesterday's picture that I only noticed today. It is an old postcard and is postmarked 1908.

There is a message on the back but because of  time and the fact that it was written in pencil, the writing has almost faded away completely. But with a little effort I was eventually able to read it.  As you can see, the message has been written upside-down.

The message reads:

Thanks for Chronicle & letter forwarded. Shall arrive usual time unless I get snowed up. Rather warmer today though. They had a blizzard round Portsmouth yesterday & off the Needles. HMS Gladiator was run down & lost. An officer & 30 men are still missing – probably drowned. The remainder are saved.

Kind regards,
W

Whereabouts Unknown

It is now more than 48 hours since I last saw Whisper. I have searched for her everywhere and not a sign. She didn’t touch the food I left for her two days ago and she just seems to have vanished into thin air. As you will appreciate, I am upset.

I’m sorry - this is Jenny. I will tell you all I know.

Since we got back from Dorset, Whisper has been acting strange. She rarely went out and if she did, within minutes I would see her hurry back indoors. I would often find her at the kitchen window staring out at the garden next door and whenever Mr. or Mrs. Willow came out Whisper would duck down out of sight. I just don’t understand.

I hope this helps to explain why Whisper hasn’t been up to posting anything for a while. She had selected some pictures from her picture box to show you but I don’t know what she wanted to say about them. Nevertheless, I will put one of them here in the hope that it might help you keep her in your mind. She is in my mind every moment.

Can anyone please see any clue in this picture as to Whisper’s whereabouts? I just don’t know what else to do.

Secrets of the Night

I was going to call this The Night Journey 2, but I think this picture will explain why I didn’t.

The Cabinet of the Secrets of the Night

I kept getting up and walking around the house in the dark. I couldn’t remember it ever being as quiet as this before. It was like being in Dorset again; only there, creatures I never saw in the day kept talking to each other all night. But there was nothing here to stop me going out.

Although it was dark I could see that the windows were closed so I went to the backdoor and was just about to go through the flap when suddenly I stopped. I thought there was something on the other side waiting for me to put my head out. I didn’t hear anything but if there was something out there that’s where they’d be waiting.

The chair was in the wrong place again so it took a few tries before I could get to the kitchen window. At first I couldn’t see anything. It seemed even darker out there than it was inside. Then I could just make out the top of the tree next door; it looked like a ghost but that was probably because of all its little white flowers. I thought of going next door tomorrow and climbing up there just to see for myself.

I was about to jump down from the window when something outside caught my eye. It’s hard to explain how you could see a shadow in the dark, but that’s what I saw. I kept very still and waited. If the shadow moved again then the shadow or what was making the shadow must really be there. And if the shadow was prepared to wait then so was I. With the window between us I knew I’d have time to get down and get up the stairs.

Time doesn’t seem to know where to go when you’re keeping still, so I don’t know how long I was waiting there. Suddenly there were three taps at the back door.

Usually I know it’s Jenny before she taps on the door, but this time my mind must have wandered because it gave me quite a start. She was already inside when I got to the door and she laughed and said, “Where were you then?” But I thought it best that I didn’t say a word.

Sometimes I think we’re just not meant to enquire into the secrets of the night.

Here is another picture that shows I’m not afraid of what’s outside.

The Night Journey

Jenny came down late this morning. The sun was making the kitchen hot and she didn’t notice that the light was still on. I don’t know why I pretend I’m not waiting. I went to my bowl and drank some water but it was warm.

She said she didn’t feel well last night. She had to get ready to go out tonight and play her violin so I had to listen to the same song over and over. I could gone outside but I didn’t.

There was a moth under the table. I touched it and it didn’t move. I suppose moths die all the time but that’s the first one I’ve seen that looked like it was smiling. Then I noticed I was looking at the back of the moth. How that could be I just don’t know. Maybe a smile can seep through from one side to the other.

I looked around the floor to see if there was anything else and all the time I could hear the violin.

It’s night again and Jenny is out. I could easily go out into the back garden but I won’t. I’ll wait till Jenny comes home and then I’ll go out. She turned out all the lights when she left.

Three children who went out into the night without their mother.

Better and Better

Last night moths were coming in out of the rain. They kept fluttering up against the light bulb and hovering around it as though they were looking for a way in. Then Jenny went upstairs because she was tired and she left the light on. It was still on this morning.

All I remember is that hundreds of moths had gathered round and inside the circle someone was dancing.

This is what I saw when I was asleep.

The Discovery of Music

There might be rain coming, said the TV.  The TV doesn’t know anything about rain.  It shows the pictures but it didn’t take them.  It talks non-stop but can’t tell you a thing about itself.

Since we came home Jenny has only turned the TV on once. That was this morning and she turned it off again. She didn’t even bother to sit down. All we know is that rain might be coming, and I suppose that’s all we need to know.

Anyhow, Jenny now says that she is going to sell the TV. I have no problem with that. I can walk past the TV as though it isn’t there, even when Jenny’s watching it and people are shouting at each other. The worst thing is when you can hear it in the room all by itself. It doesn’t seem to care one way or the other.

For me, when it’s noisy it’s not really home anymore. And by noisy I don’t mean Jenny’s violin. She’s been practising a lot since we came back from Dorset and because she is upstairs when she is playing, I have the whole downstairs to myself. I like hearing her there.

But now that the TV is off we keep hearing Mrs. Willow next door. Even when we know she’s on her own we can still hear her laughing. I don’t know whether you’re supposed to laugh when you’re on your own but this sounds like something nasty just flew into her mouth and she’s trying to let it out again and it won’t come out.

Jenny said maybe some music will help. So next time Mrs. Willow was laughing, Jenny went to the upstairs window and played her violin. The laughing stopped and we heard Mrs. Willow close her window. That made us laugh but I don’t think anyone heard it.

Poor Mrs. Willow. She hasn’t been the same since her apron caught fire.

We never hear music from the Willow’s house. And of course the TV doesn’t count any more. Jenny says that they need to discover music. Mr. Willow sometimes whistles when Mrs. Willow is laughing. So I suppose if they heard it all on Jenny’s violin they might start being quiet for a change. Jenny can make her violin sound like whistling and laughing at the same time.

I am very happy to have my box of pictures again and I searched through them and found one that shows how music was discovered. So next time you hear your neighbour’s TV shouting at their empty room, just look at this picture and imagine what it would be like if they moved to another house, or if they sold their TV.

The Discovery of Music

The Dream Road Home

When I started listening, they stopped. It wasn’t because they didn’t want me to hear – what they were saying didn’t amount to much – but it must have been because they weren’t really there. Strange how listening can make things disappear.

This is what happened when I was asleep.

Then something woke me.

I was thinking of Walter and Dorothy. They were standing outside together. The light was on over the front door. Then we drove over the little bridge. I thought I could hear water, but Dorothy said there hadn’t been water there for as long as she could remember. It seemed to take forever to cross the bridge.

After that the lights kept passing very close as if they were trying to tell us something. The hissing and humming were there even with my eyes closed. Even in my sleep I had to keep letting it pass until it was forgotten.

Walter was the same as when I first knew him. We must have been very young, although it didn’t seem like it at the time. We were just standing there with our mother, Whispering Grass, and whatever we looked at it could be seen.

When Jenny asked the lost kitten, “Where have you come from?” I wanted to answer for the kitten, “I come from here”. I don’t know why I am thinking of that now, but it keeps coming back to me. The little kitten thought he had come home.

Missing

We’re leaving tonight. Because it is so hot, Jenny wants to drive in the night. When there’s nothing to look at through the holes, my travel box can be quite comfortable. I might even sleep some of the way.

I will miss Walter and Dorothy and this place. I’ve hardly given my worries a second thought.

For the first few days I followed Walter everywhere – that is, when I could find him. But in the last days he has followed me. You would think that living here he wouldn’t have much on his mind, but it’s surprising what jumps up in there when you think you’ve got it firmly under you.

I found out that Walter likes to stand on the table while Dorothy is looking at her computer and then when she closes the lid he goes to the cupboard first as though he is checking to see if it’s safe for her. I’m sure she doesn’t need him to do that but I think she likes it.

The spider’s web in the window was gone today. The window was so clean that I touched it to make sure it was still there.

Dorothy is often talking about dust; sometimes she even wraps her little computer in a cloth. I think she cut the cloth from an old dress; it has pictures of flowers and grass all over it.

Poor Dorothy, she thinks I only know when she touches me.

I think I will miss Walter too.

The Lost Kitten

This morning, Dorothy came into the kitchen carrying her big straw hat upside-down. She was carrying something in the hat and cradled it in her hands. I was under the table and I knew what it was. Jenny was already sitting at the table.

I wanted to get up onto the table and Jenny let me stand beside her on her chair. Then Dorothy lifted a little kitten out of the hat and put him on the table where he fell over and couldn’t get up again.

Jenny said, “You poor little thing. Where have you come from?”

Dorothy said that she found the kitten in the grass by the drive and her hands were shaking a bit and she said, “Just think, I could have driven over him.”

I don’t know any more yet, but I can tell you that kittens cannot look after themselves, and because people know this and because some people don’t want them they put them in the grass or near a road. It’s something all cats know about and it’s why we try to live with people who look for lost kittens.

I once heard Jenny talking to a friend and he asked her if she thought animals went to heaven. Jenny said, “Of course they do”. He didn’t think so.  I wanted to say, “Why else do you think we’re here?”

When kittens mew they are not just crying, they are also calling. Calling is different from crying. Some people can hear calling and some people only hear crying. But this little kitten didn’t mew once.

The Missing Bicycles of Dorset

Since I have been here I haven’t seen a single bicycle. Perhaps they haven’t been invented here yet. Although I suppose it would be quite reckless to ride a bicycle through all this long grass. There only seems to be one street and that would not be the place for a bicycle. There might not be a car for ages then suddenly one comes along at great speed and if there were a cyclist on the road she wouldn’t stand a chance.

At home, I never go out past the front gate because of the bicycles. I only ever go out through the back fence and even then I have to be on the lookout because they make the same noise as a bird stuck up a tree.

From the top window I can see part of a large building. It’s not a house because there are no windows. It might be that there were once bicycles in Dorset but because of the aforementioned hazards they were stored out of sight in the big buildings. It certainly makes sense to keep bicycles locked away.  There's always the risk of some foolhardy soul riding off with one only to be found the next day in a roadside bush crying and wishing he’d never even seen a bicycle.

The London bicycles have little bells but that wouldn’t be much use here. By the time anyone heard the bell it would already be too late. People seem to hear things a lot slower here.  Even if a bicycle surprised me in the grass a bell would be useless because the bicycle shouldn’t be there in the first place, so it’s very unlikely that a cyclist would dare to use one and risk getting caught. And we can’t be forever having to get out of the way of things.

Yesterday, I followed Walter up the side of a tree but I only got a little way before I had to fall off. I think it’s probably where Walter goes when Dorothy doesn’t know where he is. Poor Walter, he is my brother after all, and this morning I’m not even sure he remembered me.

Now if someone cycled into a tree, that would be something! Especially if Walter was up the tree at the time!

At the top you can see a picture kindly given to me by Dorothy.  It's from one of her books and is, she says, to show you what it’s really like in Dorset for bicycles. However, having no evidence whatsoever for their existence here, I will use this to illustrate the London bicycles. In fact I don’t think the book is about Dorset at all. London ladies can climb trees and struggle out of hedges with the best of them.  Although I dare not think what the poor dears would make of the Dorset cobwebs.

Thanks all the same, Dorothy.

Another Day in Darkest Dorset

Strangely enough, I completely forgot about the cow. Something that happened this morning reminded me of my plans to search for this mythological creature and I almost laughed at myself for even thinking that such a thing could exist.

Walter was looking for me upstairs and he found me at the window. I knew he was wondering what I was looking at and that made me wonder too. I suppose I wasn’t looking at anything really, more like looking inside the window as though everything was inside, and then something inside/outside moved and I remembered the cow.

It wasn’t the cow; a tiny insect had landed on the window and I reached out to touch it but it was outside and it didn’t even bother to fly away, although I know it saw me.

When I looked around I could hear Walter going back down the stairs. The stairs are made of wood, not like the carpet ones at home.

All around the window are spiders’ webs with little bits of things hanging in them. I try not to touch the webs because I know that spiders always come out to see what’s going on.