Even though I would have been fine working on the farm, Mr and Mrs Goodwin had other ideas.

Before I had even woken up on Monday, Mr Goodwin had ridden down to the Thompson farm to ask if Alec would be free for the day. He had arranged with Mr Thompson that Alec would take his horse to our farm after breakfast so Alec could show me around some of the farms and give me a riding lesson at the same time. Although I did appreciate the offer and didn't want to turn down another riding lesson, in more of an open space, I didn't think I needed to know my way around the other farms.

Mrs Goodwin had promised to take my letter down to the Post Office whilst I was out with Alec which meant it would only be a week until Mum got it. I hoped she would read the letter and immediately send a telegram or something to let them know that I could go home. There would be no need for me to know my way around the village or the surrounding farms if I wasn't going to be there long enough for it to matter.

Still, when I found out about it I could hardly back out since the wheels had already been set in motion. Instead, I had to suck it up and come to terms with the fact that I would be spending my day on the back of a horse in the middle of nowhere rather than doing something useful. Mum had pretty much drilled into me that if I wasn't doing something useful, then it wasn't worth doing and it was a philosophy that I had lived with. Spending the day riding a horse with Alec didn't feel all that useful.

"We'll have to get you some more pairs of slacks," Mrs Goodwin said when I emerged from my room. "You only have one pair and with all the work you've been doing on the farm, they barely get a chance to be washed. I'll see if I can pick some up in the village, it shouldn't be too hard to guess the size."

"It'll be a good investment, those have got mud on them," Mr Goodwin gestured to the light splatter off mud up the legs off my slacks.

"That was your fault, you put the bucket down too hard yesterday and it soaked me."

"Excuses, excuses." He laughed. "Those will do for today since you'll be out on a horse, but for a life on a farm, you'll need more than one pair."

"My mum is going to love that, she was reluctant enough to buy me these."

"I'm sure she won't mind, not when she finds out about all the work you've been doing for us."

"If you want to eat something before Alec gets here, I suggest you get a move on. Although knowing that boy, he'll be here at mid-day," Mrs Goodwin said, shaking her head and glancing at the now clean windows.

I laughed and slid into my usual seat at the breakfast table before Mrs Goodwin slid me a plate of scrambled eggs alongside some slightly charred toast. Every now and then, Mrs Goodwin would glance over to the window and stare out onto the farm. Since we had cleaned the windows on Saturday, Mrs Goodwin sometimes just stops and stares out the window because she could. It certainly made the house a lot brighter now that we had sunlight streaming in rather than the strange yellowish glow from the electric lights.

We ate breakfast in silence with Mr Goodwin occasionally turning the pages of the newspaper to catch up on the latest news from the war. The paper said that the Polish were still putting up a fight against the Germans, but it didn't look good for them. Still, the fight was on the Continent and didn't look likely to travel here if our Navy had anything to do with it. Even with young men signing up to fight, life still went on.

After breakfast, I went down to the stables with Mr Goodwin so we could tack up Jigsaw for my adventure out with Alec. We had managed to squeeze in a brief ride the previous day, once the windows had been cleaned and they had been given the nod of approval from Mrs Goodwin. When we tacked up Jigsaw, Romeo kept knocking on the door of the stall to show that he wasn't pleased that Jigsaw was being taken out and he had to stay inside. Again.

In the end, Mr Goodwin decided he would take Romeo out for a trot at least, just so he could get some exercise. Once Jigsaw was tacked up, I stood with his reins in my hand, lightly stroking his neck as I waited for Alec. It started to feel like Mrs Goodwin was right and that I wouldn't see him until midday at the earliest. Perhaps he wouldn't turn up at all and I could do something else.

I heard the sound of hooves on the grass and looked up to see Alec emerging over the top of the hill. He sat on the back of a white horse that looked like it was wearing black socks. When he came down the hill, I could see a black patch near the back.

"You need to work on your timekeeping, lad," Mr Goodwin said.

"I know, we had a little bit of an emergency on the farm." Alec paused. "Mabel left the gate to the chicken coop open and they took their chance to escape. I've spent the past forty-five minutes chasing chickens, I didn't even get to eat breakfast."

"Chasing chickens sounds like fun," I said.

"You'd think so until they go to peck your eyes out. I am starving, though."

"Here, I was going to give this to the pigs, but you might as well have it." Mrs Goodwin appeared out of nowhere with a piece of burnt toast in one hand and a wicker basket with a red and white gingham cloth on top. "You can carry this as well. Probably for the best since Sybil is so new to riding. It's just some sandwiches and ginger beer for your ride."

"Nice one, Mrs G," Alec said with a mouthful of burnt toast. Mrs Goodwin glared at him. "I mean, thank you, Mrs Goodwin."

"Nothing above a walk, please and no going off the paths," Mr Goodwin said.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine. She'll be with me, after all."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Mr Goodwin took the reins off me and held Jigsaw steady as I clambered onto his back, shifting my weight so I sat better in the saddle. He then triple checked everything was right with the saddle and the reins before handing them back to me.

"Be careful, and be home by supper."

"We will."

"Good, have fun."

He smiled at me and I turned to look at Alec who nodded his head and gave a light tug on his reins so the horse turned back the way he came. With the light squeeze of his legs, he started forward with me behind him, trying to keep myself balanced. I followed behind him as Alec moved up the track and past the newly-repaired fence. He hadn't told me where we were going so all I could do was follow close behind on Jigsaw and make sure he didn't go too fast for me.

It took a little while of riding before I grew comfortable to be on Jigsaw so far away from the safety of the paddock where I had practised. The trail was a lot bumpier under Jigsaw's hooves and whenever we came to a slight incline, I found myself gripping the reins a little tighter to make sure I didn't fall off. Jigsaw didn't seem to mind all that much and seemed to take complete control of everything, including following Alec and his horse.

Even though Alec most likely wanted to go a little faster, he kept to a slow pace so I could keep up and didn't complain about it once. He just walked ahead, whistling lightly to himself and seemingly having quite an enjoyable time. The further we walked, the more I couldn't believe that people actually lived there. There was very little noise apart from birds in the trees and, after riding what felt like half an hour, we didn't see another person. It almost felt like a dreamland.

"Dad gave me an errand to run up by the Brady farm, you don't mind, do you?" Alex asked.

"I don't have much of a choice," I said, laughing slightly.

"True enough." He laughed. "Mr Goodwin seems fond of you, he was rather adamant about me taking you out and bragged about the work you've done on the farm to Dad."

"He seems to like having me, she tolerates me."

"Mrs G? She just takes a little bit of time to warm up. You'll see."

Although I knew he was trying to be reassuring, much like Mr Goodwin, it had been over a week and she still hadn't warmed to me and it didn't look like that would change. Since it had been her idea for me to go out with Alec, I couldn't shake the feeling that she had done it just so they could talk about me and what happened next. I knew they probably had the same thought as me and that I would only be there for a week or so rather than the two weeks I had already been there for.

Whether they would write to Mum to ask if I could go home, or talk to Mr Tate to find me another place, I didn't know. Either way, I didn't think me being with them any longer would help Mrs Goodwin to warm up to me. She had probably reached her maximum warmth when she took me into the village on Friday and I doubt she would extend it any further than that. Alec didn't live with Mrs Goodwin so he had no idea what she was really like.

We continued to follow the trail through a wooded area before eventually, we emerged on the other side. In front of us sat a large, fenced off paddock filled with sheep lying on the grass or having a walk around. Alec led me down what looked like tire tracks in the dirt, past the paddock, and towards a small farmhouse. He dismounted his horse and tied it to a nearby fence. I followed suit, but just stood by Jigsaw whilst Alec went to deal with the errand.

I stood beside Jigsaw, lightly stroking his nose as Alec knocked on the door and waited for it to open. Although I heard the door open, I didn't look up from Jigsaw until I heard a rather familiar voice. I walked away from the fence and closer to the doorway until I saw someone standing inside.

"Alright, stranger?" I called. Mark looked over and laughed.

"Well, well, well," he said, "if it isn't Sybil Vaughn. Long time no see."

"It's been a week."

"For us, that's a long time." Mark laughed and slipped past Alec to give me a hug. He was right though, a week without seeing each other was unusual, for our entire friendship group. We had grown up together and been in each other's company since we could walk, a week felt like forever to us.

"I take it you two were evacuated from the same school?" Alec said, looking between us.

"We grew up together. Me, Mark, Eva and Enid-"

"The Four Muskateers."

"Have you seen Enid?" I asked, although I already knew the answer to that one. They had probably seen each other the most out of all of us. I got the feeling that it was just me who hadn't been able to see everyone as much as they had.

"Yes, she's with some rich couple and is back at school, much to Mr Martin's delight. Eva goes twice a week as well."

That didn't surprise me. Enid had always been the most studious out of all of us so it made sense that she would go back to school full time even though we were old enough to legally drop out. Eva hadn't mentioned anything about her going back to school at all when I had last seen her, but we hadn't really had the time for a real conversation. Like Enid, it didn't really surprise me.

"So we're the two who didn't return," I said

"Let's face it, neither of us were that good at school and you're probably in your element on a farm."

"Of course."

Mark turned to Alec. "Sorry, what was it you wanted again? Got a little way-laid there."

"Oh, I just came to pay off the work Mr Brady did on our tractor. Dad was going to do it himself, but he's dealing with a rogue chicken problem."

"I'll make sure he gets it." Mark accepted an envelope and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket. "It was good to see you, Sybil."

"You too. We need to get the old gang back together. A week without seeing your lovely face is too strange."

"Definitely."

Mark smiled and offered me a small wave as I untied Jigsaw's reins from the post and climbed on, with Alec doing the same. I followed him up the dirt track and away from the house, turning around briefly to catch Mark disappearing into the house. 

~~~

A/N - We are back with Chapter Thirteen! I don't know how long the story is going to be overall, I've finished Chapter Thirty-One recently xD

Question time! How do you feel about Alec and Sybil? Do you think we'll see Eva and Mark in the future? Let me know!

First Published - June 9th, 2021