mother said it was so, then it was so. And in al truth, that had only been a very smal fear anyway; he had 'known', been sure, that his wife and son were alive somewhere. But where?
His Ma heard his silent query, and asked him: Where would you go, Harry, if you wanted to hide yourself away? Where would Brenda go?
Surely you knew something of her secrets, her fantasies, her dreams?
Suddenly the Necroscope realized how selfish he must seem. Because he hadn't been thinking of it from his wife's point of view, not really, but his own. And now his mother, in her way, had brought it home to him that Brenda was a person in her own right, with her own secrets, fantasies, dreams. With feelings and emotions and passions, al of them damaged now, or contaminated by contact with Harry's world, until she had only wanted to 'hide herself away' from it. But:
That's not what I meant, son, his Ma told him. You know it isn't! It was simply my ... my manner of expression.
Except Harry knew that speaking to the dead often conveys more than is actually said; so maybe he'd read something of his Ma's true thoughts, after al. And certainly she had touched a raw nerve in him. Perhaps deliberately? Ah, but she had a way of bringing things into perspective, his mother - and ways of bringing him into line!
But at the same time her approach to his problem had set the Necroscope thinking. For of course Brenda was different, a person in her own right with her own ways of thinking, her own likes and dislikes. So that now Harry wondered where would she be likely to hide herself away, if 'hiding' as such had seemed the only course open to her? She had never been much of a one for the sun but always enjoyed the rain!
She'd loved gardens, the wind in her hair, dramatic, misted landscapes. To sit in a window-seat in their garret flat and listen to the rain on the tiles ... that had been one of her favourite things.
In which case, Harry's Ma chimed in, this place would seem entirely suited to her purpose! This very place!
'She never even saw this place,' he shook his head.
But a place like this one?
'Maybe, maybe not. Certain coastlines seemed to appeal to her, rugged cliffs and rainy skies ... and any garden; but more especially, a garden with a coiner run wild. Long grasses, wild flowers, and a place where she could lie on her back and watch the clouds. And the stars: the brighter the better. She didn't know a single constellation, but she liked them anyway. A place of wildness - a wilderness - and a lot of stars in the clear night sky: that would suit her perfectly.'
You're a poet and you don't know it! His Ma rhymed.
'I wonder where I get it? Harry said. And she sensed that his mood was lifting a litle.
I think it's about time you started checking on those million places, she told him. For after all, we must have narrowed them down a little by now. And Harry agreed.
They little thought or could ever have guessed that Brenda and Harry Jr were in just such a place as the Necroscope's Ma had suggested, which her query had brought into vivid definition in his mind. A place of dramatic scenery, however alien; of long, misted nights, slanting, sunlit days, long grasses and wild flowers.
And a garden quite beyond Brenda's previous expectations, her mundane imagination.
For the fact was that at this point of time it was beyond even the Necroscope's imagination, too, and would stay that way long after he'd given up any real hope of finding them ...
But for now: first Harry reconsidered the places he'd already checked out, starting with Brenda's old home with her folks in Harden, a coliery vilage on the north-east coast.
The mine ('the pit') itself had been worked out and shut down for some time now, so that the place had seemed even more souless than before, but the people were there as always. Of course, if Brenda or the baby were realy trying to avoid him, if they were actualy hiding themselves away from him - which he was forced to believe was true - then this would be the last place they'd go. Harry had known that from the start, but still he had looked. What he'd found had made him more miserable yet.
He couldn't simply