LADY ANN'S FOLLY: Chapter Ten - Part Seven

Ann dozed for a couple of hours after Burt left and her dreams were shallow, despondent affairs full of vague regret and foreboding. When she woke again she lay stretched for some time, dwelling on her situation gripped with anxiety and a certain level of grim acceptance.

Two nights she’d spent in this body now and she knew the glue that bound her to it was slowly setting, cementing the new aspects of her life to her: her mode of speech; her education; her intellect. She tried to think back to when she became Ann originally, attempting to gauge at which stage the differences occurred. Could she predict what would happen to her next; how much further she would drop down the ladder of propriety?

She got up and sullenly dressed, wondering what she was meant to do. She would be expected to tend bar once the pub was open for certain and Burt was busy working. She felt at a loose end.

Should she go back up to the hall and try to see Hattie? Did Hattie have the pendant still or had the imposter Ann taken it with her to Nockton Vale? Going up there seemed like a dead end with only the potential of reaching disaster.

Ann stood at the window looking down at the road and was surprised to see Burt ambling along with old Harry. She went to bang on the glass eagerly but stopped herself. She didn’t want Harry to see her. She couldn’t abide the way people looked down on her now after she’d been regarded with such esteem by all in her life as a posh lady. And Burt wouldn’t be able to tarry. He had chores to get done.

She made her way downstairs and went through to the bar area. It was empty of course, dingy and dark with a rotten stench of stale beer. She slumped into a chair, dreading the night’s work ahead.

“Mavis!” The shout came from the back room and she recognised it instantly. “Mavis! You down?”

She rubbed her forehead. “Yeah. I’m in ere!”

Was he voice worse now than it had been the day before? Did the changes occur more quickly through the night time hours?

Her new father came through looking surly. “What are ye sittin around for girl? You should be cleanin up in ere. I’ll not ave you shirkin yer duty. Get that mop and bucket and get to work!”

Ann sighed and got up, following his instructions. She fetched the cleaning equipment and set to work, cleaning the floor in the bar. It was filthy, degrading work. The mopping stirred up the lingering, pre-existing stench and soon she could smell nothing but that fetid odour.

“And clean out that fireplace when you’re done girl!” bellowed the innkeeper from out of sight.

Ann grumbled to herself, wishing Burt was still with her then resenting herself for thinking that.

What she had to do was focus her mind. The silent hands of an unseen clock were ticking toward a time when it would be too late for her to ever change back to being Ann Neville. Going along with her life as Mavis was the absolute last thing she should be doing.

She thought about the pendant and the likelihood that it was still at the hall. Surely it was. Hattie had seemed to know about the pendant’s power but surely she couldn’t know about the exchange. If she had she would have restored them to their rightful bodies. She could be mischievous at times but even she had her limits.

It mattered that Mavis had left the village but with Hattie’s help it wasn’t an insurmountable problem. All Ann had to do was secure and audience with Hattie and persuade her of the truth. With Hattie on her side they could travel to Nockton together and sort this whole mess out.

Yes. Ann stopped moping and rested her elbows on the top of the handle. She had to get away from the pub and go directly to the hall. That was her only option.

It was dangerous in the extreme but any other action was a dull acceptance of her fate and would fulfil the worst possible outcome.

She had to go immediately.