Damned Folly

Someone punched the neighbour today. It was a fairly surprising event, to say the very least.

Lucy was in the garden with her partner and their two children. The lot of them were a little distracted by the autumn barbeque they were trying their best to kindle. I was out on the front stoop, watching Pen cover our garden path with strange chalk drawings. As I looked around, I noticed that a woman was walking down the road, looking rather haggard. I'd never seen someone such as her in town before so I kept an eye on her. The woman stopped just off of our street, and then broke into a run. She leaped over the neighbour's fence and ran straight at Lucy. This strange woman barreled into Lucy, easily knocking her and the barbeque over. The stranger was tall and heavy set, and though Lucy is no delicate flower herself the stranger was quite a formidable force! The woman kept punching her, and the neighbour was bleeding profusely, attempting to fight back. The stranger was oddly serene in her rage, even laughing-- it was really very surreal how calm everyone was.

Lucy's partner-- I believe his name is Jordan-- came out of the house, and with a cry, picked up the stranger and threw her over the fence. She landed on the ground painfully. Then she got up, staring intently at the house, then retreated out of sight. She was only just out of sight, though, as I saw her when I went to pick Penny up from school half an hour later.

If she's still there tomorrow, I may go out and talk to her.

Lucy was a bit traumatized, to say the least. She was oddly blase about it, though-- she said she was "expecting it." Apparently the woman who attacked her was one of the people who 'corrupted' her son. I feel like anyone that far off the path of spiritual health is in need of aid. Lucy smiled, and said that she didn't think anyone who took her son from her deserved help. She said she'd rather be an avenging angel than a kind, forgiving one. I didn't really know what to say. I felt a little sorry for her, at least. I can't imagine what it must have been like for her to lose her son. Well, I can, but I'd rather not dwell on it, for my own sanity.

Hooey

"That's just a lot of old hooey, Grandad!" Penny doesn't believe in faeries. At all. She is also the only child I've ever met who would use the phrase "hooey"! Pen loves adventure stories from the fifties, and our older neighbours have a plethora of Enid Blyton books and Nancy Drew. She spends a lot more time reading than most of the children around here, not that that's a bad thing! I had a talk with her therapist, a Miss Smith from the next town over, and apparently she needs more socialization. Which means it's a good thing we went on that nature walk! And that brings me back to my first point. Penny doesn't believe in faeries! I'm sure it's okay for a little girl to have a skeptical mind but even I believed in faeries when I was a child, and my father sought that I wouldn't be cut out for that nonsense!

The nature walk was lovely, though I did wheeze quite a lot-- a gammy leg and a pair of old lungs aren't the best for such excursions! Lucy is pretty darn good at naming birds and trees and the like. She has a lot of experience with animals! Pen ran ahead with the two boys and a couple of other kids. She seemed to have a grand old time, though when we came to one of the Lesser Malkirk Circles she seemed a bit perturbed. I tried to be empathetic, but I really wasn't sure what was wrong! I tried to make her feel better and I told her a story about how the Lesser Malkirk Circles were meeting places for faeries.

Her response? "That's just a lot of old hooey, Grandad!" Shocking stuff! Poor Pen was nervy until we left the forest. Ah, well!

Giddiness

Pen is getting along here quite well, methinks. She's been "babysitting" the two youths from next door on a regular basis whilst their mother and I have a cup of tea and a chat. They have a large hilly, marshy field out of the back of their house which is perfect for children who wish to play such un-PC games as "Cowboys and Indians" outside of the prying eyes of fusty adults. Pen was acting rather huffy about having to look after the two youngsters, but she really rather enjoyed it I think.

I had a good talk with Lucy, the neighbour I mentioned in my last entry, as the children played. About 7 years ago she moved here with her second husband, desperate to get away from London, just to start over again. She's a charity worker, and invited me to the High Tea that is being put on for a charity mission into Africa! As well as that, she's a cat lover and so volunteers in a local shelter. She loves dogs as well, and often brings sick ones home and attempts to nurse them back to life. Lucy has also been teaching children about birds and the like-- they go on weekly nature walks, and invited Penny and myself on their next excursion. She also invited us to her church, though I politely declined-- I'm already obligated to the Anglican church two towns over!

Penny has been doing fairly well at school, despite her frustraiton and the remedial status of many of her classes. The teachers are kind, and really quite involved in the development of the children. They give out some very engaging assignments and incorporate local folklore into their lessons (including a future class trip out to the Malkirk Circle-- I'll go into more detail about that later!) I get good, well written status updates about Pen's progress every few days. I do think Pen enjoys being at school, though it's only been a week. When the work starts getting harder, I wouldn't count on that continuing!

Bunk

The title today being in reference to Penny's new set of bunk-beds. She says they're necessary for sleepovers, but I'm fairly certain they're a reference to one of the shows she watches on the telly. We've moved into our house at Malkirk! It's a lovely little thing, with enough bedrooms for Pen to get one of her own. She's going through some phases involving "stuff" I'm not too familiar with. Hopefully soon she'll make some friends with which she can discuss ponies. I haven't had a companion with which to discuss my interests since I last had contact with an old editor friend, Marcus. It's half the reason I have the government hire me assistants-- the company.

Anyway, the move went rather more smoothly than I was expecting, though I doubt that my finances shall recover any time soon. We're in a little copse of 6 or so houses, about a ten minute walk from the main town. Everyone seems very friendly. Our neighbour is a 40-or-so-year-old woman with two children under the age of six, both of them boys. She told me over a cup of tea that she has an older son who was a bit of a tearaway, and went off the rails at an early age, so she moved to Malkirk for a new start. Our neighbours on the other side are a lovely old couple, almost my age! They've been in Malkirk for over 50 years-- the town had them hooked, they said.

Penny has been hanging around with the two boys next door, but she says she's sick of playing with "little kids" because she is, after all, "a grown-up." She starts school next week, which I hope won't be too much of a shock to her. The kids across the street from us go to the same primary school, and are willing to escort her. Pen has her uniform laid out already, the sweet dear. She's as ready to get back into a regular schedule as I am. We made some cuppa soup earlier, and she went to bed early. I'm going to bed much later than usual, but I still have multiple forms and applications to finish. At least I know that I'll have a handicap assistant by Saturday. I'm sure I'll be able to get her to introduce herself at some point.

Malkirk is a lovely place, and I'm sure I'll fill this blog with more detail once I get a chance to explore it.