The Doom Of The Hollow - Extra content
The Jumble - Sunday 15th November, 3 Days before Doomsday
Mason stood in the room that adjoined the rear vestibule thinking about where on earth he had put the CD with the church bells on. He checked his watch; it was 8:45am. The service was at 9:00am and he had to find the CD within the next five minutes otherwise there would be no bells at all. He rummaged again through the hymn books, the prayer sheets, the harvest festival leftovers, of which he was convinced were two tins of peaches short, and the children’s board games. He had even dragged the cupboards away from the walls to see if the CD had dropped behind them. As 8:50am arrived he decided it was a lost cause and had to give up on the idea.
A quick change in to his robes meant he wasn’t too late in arriving at the main doors to greet the small congregation as they arrived.
“No bells today, Vicar?” Major Dudley’s voice was deep and rasping.
Mason shook the Major’s short fingered, rough skinned hand. “Not today, Major. Technical problems.”
“You never used to get technical problems back in the day. You should never have taken the bells out.”
Mason smirked, “if I would have been here back in the day, Major, I would’ve petitioned to keep them.”
“Happen you would, lad.”
The Major walked into the church and before Mason could focus on the next person his hand was suddenly grasped by something soft, cold and clammy.
“Morning Vicar.”
“Mrs Bowman, good. Just the person I wanted to see.”
“We haven’t totted up the tea and biscuit takings yet, but we made four-hundred and thirty-seven pounds and eighty-three pence.”
“That’s not bad for a jumble sale.”
“Third highest in my life time.”
“Excellent work, Mrs Bowman.”
Freda’s wrinkled skin flushed a little. “You’re welcome, vicar.”
“Tell me,” Mason leaned over slightly, “you didn’t take the compact disc with the church bells on it, did you?”
“Is that why we’ve got no bells this morning?”
“It is.”
“I don’t know, where did you leave it?”
“In the side room, on top of the CD player, next to the harvest festival left overs.”
“Oh,” Freda lifted her hand to her mouth. Her worried expression told Mason everything he needed to know.
“Easy mistake, Mrs Bowman. Don’t panic.”
“I am so sorry, Vicar.” She clasped both hands around his.
“Did you sell it?”
“We sold all but two of the BDs.”
“All but two?”
“We had a collector come and he bought the lot for a fiver.”
“The lot? There must have been about two hundreds CDs.”
“Betty was on the stall, but she claimed there were two he said he would never listen to, and no one else bought them. I’m not surprised really, they looked really boring.”
“Seventy minutes of church bells, I’m not surprised. But that’s great news. What was the other one? Oh never mind, where are they?”
“Betty’s grandson took what was left to her house. I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” Freda firmed her grip around his hands and shook them; “I’ll pop them back on Wednesday morning when I come to do the flowers.”
“An excellent plan, Mrs Bowman.”
The extra content for 'The Doom Of The Hollow' continues here
"I found some wonderful descriptive lines and the chapter where one character re-visits 'The Eyes' was a standout 'squeaky bum' moment.”
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