A strange thing happened at the coastal cottage that me and H.I. rented for a month in 1823, and I have never told a single soul about it until now.
She had retired to bed around a half an hour before I caught a glimpse of something dark, brown and fleet in the corner of my eye in the single candlelight of the kitchen.
It was too big to be a rat and too smooth to be a cat, so I did not know what to think of it until it reappeared at my feet and began to climb the outside of my right leg.
It had a strong aroma which I can only describe as a rich mix of unburnt tobacco and chocolate, and the not unpleasant stench became stronger the closer it came to my face as it climbed my leg.
It reached my chest and - clinging to me by my shoulders - stared me full in the eyes like a sort of nocturnal lemur. I am ashamed to admit that I began to worry that it would perform some sexual act of gratification against my body, but it did nothing but stare, and stare hard and long.
There came a knock on the door and it scuttled quickly and lithely back into the shadows as I arose to answer.
The night was dark, and the weather was wet and windy outside. When I opened the door, a hooded monk stood at the threshold. I asked him in, but he said that he had only come down from the Mount to tell me that the creature meant me no harm, and that I should show it forbearance. It would be gone by the morning he assured me, and with that he turned and left.
That's the last time I will be booking an Air B & B in Cornwall.
No accounting for 1823.
ReplyDeleteI remember it as if it were yesterday. It was the smell that came into my nostrils that reminded me.
DeleteI hear this morning that 65% of Brits believe in Ghosts. The country's gone bonkers.
ReplyDeleteAt last you have said something about your life that doesn't inspire me with envy.
DeleteI note you are still suffering from delirium and now you are hallucinating.
ReplyDeleteIs that what you note?
DeleteYes. And I noted that you worried that the animal might perform a sexual act off gratification on your body which I thought was a very odd thing to fesr when a strange furry animal is crawling on you. A bite would be my first thought.
DeleteWe are both obviously worried by very different things.
DeleteWas it the mushrooms?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the smell of the mushrooms.
DeleteI didn't realise you were that old Tom.
ReplyDeleteNeither did I until I looked through my old holiday scrap-book last night.
DeleteMad as a box of frogs but you write very well
ReplyDeleteYears of practice - since 1823.
DeleteExcellent story, have you reincarnated I wonder, what was the 'old' you like and what was the strange smelly beast that crept up.....
ReplyDeleteSince there is no question mark attached to this, I don't feel the need to answer.
DeleteA knitting friend told our knitting group about a time she and her then-husband were driving up to their flat. A face at the window peered at them, looking somewhat sinister, and sneered at them.
ReplyDeleteWhen they got inside, they had a good look round but didn't see anything. They both had seen it, were both sober, and it was daylight.
I wondered if it were a brownie.
They moved from the flat not long afterwards, and she never saw it again.
It's probably a Girl Guide by now.
DeleteI didn't know they had Air B & Bs in 1823...Learn something new every day...
ReplyDeleteThey were only 3 shillings per week in those days.
DeleteMaybe you have an acute sense of smell and the elf had Parkinson's disease.
ReplyDeleteOr the other way round.
DeleteDo you miss the creature?
ReplyDeleteIt still visits my nostrils during heavy colds.
DeleteA little furry whatsoever, a monk (my first typo was "mink" - always hoping for "the best") and a little time travel -- I knew I missed something on the narrow boat, Tom, and I wouldn't have wondered about that story if you had visited those wonderful Victorian pubs with us.
ReplyDeleteThe Mink, The Monk and The Lemur. It has a ring.
DeleteYeah, sounds quite sexy.
Delete