THE HONKEYMOON CAFE

Episode 2 of the Dawsons where some of their history comes to light and the research done by Sir Mordant Fitzneatly into the story of King Alfred and the burning of the cakes.  Could the Dawsons be involved in that? Jack Dawson, the head of the Dawson clan residing at Brimstone on the outskirts of our village, can trace his family history back to the dark ages and beyond. Whenever, or wherever there has been a disaster the cause of which can be apportioned to human error, interference or involvement however well intended, the Dawsons search for a predecessor is seldom wasted. In the forthcoming edition of the ‘Dawsons Miscellanea of Mishaps’, it features several events that occurred while he was at his preparatory school, an elegant institution sited amongst rolling hills on the south coast. With several other boys Jack was in the games field preparing for their forthcoming sports day. The school could not have been aware of the Dawson history and particularly their inclination tow...

This follows on from ‘Whistling Jack’ and is the investigation into how Jack came to the village, and took up residence in the woodman’s hut.  It covers his young life and an accident which would affect the rest of his life  and how he would be treated. If you remember it was Paul our shopkeeper who told me that the discomfort I had felt up in the wood was what some call ‘Whistling Jack’. Not wanting to appear too affected I had made little of an experience, the memory of which still terrifies me. Being drawn towards that ‘inhabited darkness’, an old man’s tuneless whistle and the dread helplessness still makes me shiver and disturbs my sleep. If it wasn’t for Lola, Paul’s Collie cross, I may not have lost my life, but I may have lost my mind. It was her urgent barking that had pulled me away from whatever it was she could see, and I was lost in. It became a mission to discover more about Whistling Jack, not only out of curiosity but to reclaim some power by understanding what...

A disused path leads the storyteller to where a dog he walks looks fixedly, but nothing appears unusual.  The dog is right and the storyteller regrets his wandering into something terrifying.  On the brink of being lost he is drawn back by a familiar sound. An animal’s senses of hearing and smell are phenomenal, what other finely tuned senses they possess we can only guess at. If you’ve ever had a pet, particularly a dog, you can get a feeling they are sensitive to things about which we have little or no knowledge.What I have found disconcerting is how a dog will sometimes look fixedly at something which they can apparently see, but we cannot.  I no longer have a pet, my dog died some years ago, but as a favour I take Paul’s dog ‘Lola’ out for a walk. Paul has the village shop and gossip exchange, his description not mine. He seldom has the time to take Lola out for a good run so if I’m in the mood for a walk up onto the common and the woods beyond, I call in and see if L...

A predecessor of the current Lady Blythe makes a discovery that she cannot allow to become public knowledge. Only now after many years can the events leading up to the annual Guy Fawkes celebration, and the disappearance of Creak, the butler, be shockingly revealed. Preparations were under way for Blythe Hall’s annual celebration of the gunpowder plot. It was thoughtful of Guy Fawkes to stage his event at that time of the year when there was always a surfeit of combustable material. The stack always grew alarmingly and the villagers would have been in high spirits looking forward to that evening when it would be set alight. Standing the height of a small cottage the bonfire would have been a splendid sight. Like the haystacks at the time it would have been covered with oil cloths to keep it dry.  Nearly a century would pass before the events of that morning would come to light. It all started when Creak the Butler, a faithful old retainer was absent from his morning duties. Lord Me...