Joseph Delaney - The Spook

‘Mam thinks it’s all right,’ I protested.

‘Aye, Mam would,’ said Jack, his voice suddenly lower, but still harsh with anger. ‘How could she refuse her favourite son anything? And she’s just too good hearted, as well you know. That’s why you shouldn’t take advantage. Look, it’s me you’ll answer to if anything happens. I don’t like the look of that girl. She looks shifty. I’ll be watching her carefully and if she takes one step out of line, you’ll both be on your way before you can blink. And you’ll earn your keep while you’re here. She can help around the house to make things easier for Mam and you can pull your weight with the farm work.’

Jack turned and started to walk away, but he still had more to say. ‘Being so occupied with more important things,’ he added sarcastically, ‘you might not have noticed how tired Dad looks. He’s finding the job harder and harder.’

‘Of course I’ll help,’ I called after him, ‘and so will Alice.’

At supper, apart from Mam, everyone was really quiet. I suppose it was having a stranger sitting at the table with us. Although Jack’s manners wouldn’t let him complain outright, he scowled at Alice almost as much as he did at me. So it was a good job Mam was cheerful and bright enough to light up the whole table.

Ellie had to leave her supper twice to attend to the baby, which kept crying fit to bring the roof down. The second time she fetched it downstairs.

‘Never known a baby to cry so much,’ said Mam with a smile. ‘At least it’s got strong, healthy lungs.’

Its tiny face was all red and screwed up again. I would never have said it to Ellie, but it wasn’t the best looking of babies. Its face reminded me of an angry little old woman. One moment it was crying fit to burst; then, very suddenly, it became still and quiet. Its eyes were wide open and it was staring towards the centre of the table, where Alice was seated close to the big brass candlestick. At first I didn’t think anything of it. I thought Ellie’s baby was just fascinated by the candle flame. But later Alice helped Mam to clear the table, and each time Alice passed by, the baby followed her with its blue eyes and suddenly, although the kitchen was warm, I shivered.

Later I went up to my old bedroom, and when I sat down in the wicker chair by the window and gazed out, it was as if I’d never left home.

As I looked northwards, towards Hangman’s Hill, I thought about the way the baby had seemed so interested in Alice. When I remembered what Ellie had said earlier, I shivered again. Her baby had been born after midnight on the night of the full moon. It was too close to be just a coincidence. Mother Malkin would have been swept away by the river about the time that Ellie’s baby had been born. The Spook had warned me that she’d come back. What if she’d come back even earlier than he’d predicted? He expected her to be wick. But what if he was wrong? What if she’d broken free of her bones and her spirit had possessed Ellie’s baby at the very moment of its birth?

I didn’t sleep a wink that night. There was only one person I could talk to about my fears and that was Mam. The difficulty was in getting her alone without drawing attention to the fact that I was doing it. Mam cooked and did other chores that kept her busy most of the day, and usually it would have been no problem to talk to her in the kitchen because I was working close by. Jack had given me the job of repairing the front of the barn and I must have hammered in hundreds of shiny new nails before sunset.

Alice was the difficulty, though: Mam kept her with her all day, really making the girl work hard. You could see the sweat on her brow and the frowns that kept furrowing her forehead, but despite that, Alice never complained even once.

It was only after supper, when they’d finished the clatter of washing and drying the dishes, that I finally got my chance. That morning Dad had gone off to the big spring market in Topley. As well as conducting his business, it gave him a rare chance to meet up with a few of his old friends, so he’d be away for two or three days. Jack was right. He did look tired and it would give him a break from the farm.

Mam had sent Alice off to her room to get some rest, Jack had his feet up in the front room and Ellie was upstairs trying to grab half an hour’s sleep before the baby woke again for feeding. So, wasting no time at all, I started to tell Mam what was worrying me. She’d been rocking in her chair but I’d hardly managed to blurt out my first sentence before the chair came to a halt. She listened carefully as I told her of my fears and reasons to suspect the baby. But her face remained so still and calm that I’d no idea what she was thinking. No sooner had I spat out my last word than she rose to her feet.

‘Wait there,’ she said. ‘We need to sort this out once and for all.’

She left the kitchen and went upstairs. When she came back she was carrying the baby, wrapped in Ellie’s shawl. ‘Bring the candle,’ she said, moving towards the door.

We went out into the yard, Mam walking fast, as if she knew exactly where she was going and what she was going to do. We ended up at the other side of the cattle midden, standing in the mud on the edge of our pond, which was deep enough and large enough to provide water for our cows even through the driest summer months.

‘Keep the candle high so we can see everything,’ Mam said. ‘I want there to be no doubt.’

Then, to my horror, she stretched out her arms and held the baby over the dark, still water. ‘If she floats, the witch is inside her,’ Mam said. ‘If she sinks, she’s innocent. Right, let’s see…’

‘ No !’ I shouted, my mouth opening all by itself and the words just tumbling out faster than I could think. ‘Don’t do it, please. It’s Ellie’s baby’

For a moment I thought she was going to let the baby fall anyway, then she smiled and held it close again and kissed it on the forehead very gently. ‘Of course it’s Ellie’s baby, son. Can’t you tell that just by looking at her? Anyway, "swimming" is a test carried out by fools and doesn’t work anyway. Usually they tie the poor woman’s hands to her feet and throw her into deep, still water. But whether she sinks or floats depends on luck and the kind of body she has. It’s nothing to do with witchcraft.’

‘What about the way the baby kept staring at Alice?’ I asked.

Mam smiled and shook her head. ‘A newborn baby’s eyes aren’t able to focus properly,’ she explained. ‘It was probably just the light of the candle that caught her attention. Remember – Alice was sitting close to it. Later, each time Alice passed by, the baby’s eyes would just have been drawn by the change in the light. It’s nothing. Nothing to worry about at all.’

‘But what if Ellie’s baby is possessed anyway?’ I asked. ‘What if there’s something inside her that we can’t see?’

‘Look, son, I’ve delivered both good and evil into this world and I know evil just by looking at it. This is a good child and there’s nothing inside her to worry about. Nothing at all.’

‘Isn’t it strange though, that Ellie’s baby should be born about the same time that Mother Malkin died?’

‘Not really,’ Mam answered. ‘It’s the way of things. Sometimes, when something bad leaves the world, something good enters in its place. I’ve seen it happen before.’

Of course, I realized then that Mam had never even considered dropping the baby and had just been trying to shock some sense into me, but as we walked back across the yard, my knees were still trembling with the thought of it. It was then, as we reached the kitchen door, that I remembered something.

‘Mr Gregory gave me a little book all about possession,’ I said. ‘He told me to read it carefully, but the trouble is, it’s written in Latin and I’ve only had three lessons so far.’