Paul McCartney's Coat Page 23

  There I sat until dawn and the opening of the gates. I had been due another patrol before my shift ended that night, but I never shifted from the fire. I was too shaken and sat waiting for daylight before I dared venture from the lodge again. With my duties over I slowly made my way home and after placing my boots in the cobblers retired to my bed. I must say however, that sleep was terribly difficult to find. It kept racing through my mind. Trees can’t move. They really can’t.

  And yet. This one had.

  I had indeed seen it with my own eyes move not once, but twice. I could think of all the excuses, the egg in my sandwiches were perhaps off; I had been taken with a chill, but none of them made sense. The tree had moved. I had seen it do so with my own eyes.

  ***

  “I placed the notebook down and took another sip of my drink. Now this story had taken a turn in a direction I had not thought of! How strange! I paused to think what I had just read and smiled to myself. I did not have any more time to read this evening, but I would return to it tomorrow. However, I set myself thinking, my great great grandfather had been relatively precise in his directions. I knew more or less exactly where he was referring to, for it was my job after all, though I had never wandered amongst the trees before as such. Like everyone except perhaps children, I had always kept to the paths. As I was considering this I busied myself with various chores and the potential arrival of my husband a little later.

  The next day I resolved to leave for work a little earlier, and upon arriving at the park I attempted to follow the route my ancestor had taken. It was somewhat difficult at first, yet after a while I felt I was more or less on the right track and so wandered into the trees, garnering a few strange looks from a couple of people behind me who were following the path through the park. I ignored them. It really is quite a strange sensation when you wander into the woods as I did now. It seems as if you are leaving civilisation behind you. It was a glorious and bright sunny day but only thin beams of sunlight made it through to the forest floor through the canopy of leaves high above. Yet I would not say that it was gloomy or frightening. Quite beautiful, really, the sound of bird song echoing all around me.

  Then a clearing opened up. It was exactly as my great great grandfather had described it. Yet there was no elm tree here. Of that there was no doubt. I am, and have to be, something of an expert on these matters as during the course of my talks I am frequently asked. There was no elm tree in this clearing, or indeed anywhere near it as far as I could see. Nor should there be, for Dutch elm disease had seen to that some years previously, though I did know that they could regrow from roots left in the earth, but even then they could still fall to this terrible disease once again. I continued in vain to edge around the space in the forest attempting to find a similar clearing perhaps, or a stray elm tree. Nothing.

  I glanced at my watch. I had nearly half an hour to spare before I had to commence work, and so I took the journal out of my handbag and finding a large root to sit on, found my place and began to read.

  ***

  “After a day’s restless sleep I returned to the cobbler and collected my work boots, which he had seemed to make a good job of. I do not care to say how greatly my mind was in turmoil, but as the day began to turn towards evening, and the start of the night shift, I began to think about how odd my experience in the woods had been. I must admit that the obvious thing was to completely disregard what had happened as some form of dream, or hallucination. A fancy, nothing more. Yet as my wife prepared my sandwiches I waited until she was out of the kitchen and sniffed the eggs she was preparing. They were okay. Smelled perfectly normal. Not off at all.

  Not that then.

  Perhaps I was finally going mad! Apart from that, as I had spent the day tossing and turning in my attempts at sleep. I did feel rather tired, but beyond that perfectly fit and ready for work.

  I had decided to make an investigation into the previous night’s strange events and so left for work almost a full hour earlier than I usually did, making an excuse to my wife about some meeting with the Sergeant or the like. I cannot remember exactly what I said. I dislike lying to her, but I feared that the truth would be perhaps more disquieting! With my newly cobbled boots in a bag I made my way to the park by the nearest entrance to the lake and proceeded to the edge of the woods. I gingerly made my way into the trees and continued forwards in what I considered to be the general direction I had taken the night before and eventually found myself in the clearing, which I edged in to very nervously, I must tell you!

  I was greatly surprised however, for the elm tree was not there! I could recall exactly where it had been, even what it looked like, what with the large mark on its trunk. It was gone. I began to panic, thinking perhaps I was in the wrong place, but this was it for certain. I stood in the clearing for some time but there was no elm. I made a few incursions into the woods looking for it whilst at the same time feeling something of a fool, but I could not find it. It was gone. I was now running out of time and so reluctantly I left the woods and made my way to the lodge, and to work.

  As I dressed in my uniform Tom arrived and it was very apparent that he was still as ill as he had been the night before. Despite my attempts to get him to retire home to his bed however he said that he thought to do so would be pushing his luck and he would therefore remain on the job, as it were. I suspect perhaps that his missus had given him some grief about going home the night before. Regular employment was very scarce, and so I could not really blame him. He was terribly poorly though, coughing and sneezing almost constantly. I wondered in passing if I were to be next! Perhaps I already had it! That would explain my experience the night before, for sure! Perhaps a fever or the like? Yet I felt perfectly healthy. No symptoms of a cold at all.

  So night fell and our first patrol approached. To my relief I managed to persuade poor Tom to stay at the fire shivering whilst I undertook the beat alone. I had several reasons for this, of course, and it is with a little shame that I shall freely admit that Tom’s on-going health had very little to do with any of them! I wanted him to keep his distance, of course, so I would not catch his infernal cold, but I also wanted to continue my search for the strange elm tree. To this end I left Tom shivering in front of the lodge fire, wrapped in what appeared to be several blankets whilst I closed the lodge door behind me and turned on my torch. The weather this evening was much milder, though there was quite a stiff, cold wind blowing across the park. Mercifully no rain, though. And so off I went.”

  ***

  So that was why I could not find any traces of the tree, I thought. Not that it was likely that I would, of course. However, I now had to scurry from the woods and be off to work. I had just one talk to give today, concerning the statue of Peter Pan in the park and its history, and so I made my way to the information office. I must say that my mind was not entirely on the job at hand. I wanted to get it over and done with as quickly as I could so I could return to my reading. It was an unfortunate point to leave the tale, or story, or whatever it was. It had certainly got me intrigued!

  Some hours later I returned home and as it was yet another sunny day I retired to the garden and took the journal out of my bag. It was time to get reading again. There only seemed to be a little bit of it left, I noted sadly. Yet I also felt a strange tingle of excitement as I picked up the book...”

  ***

  “As I made my way around the lake in the dark once again the sky cleared somewhat, stars beginning to show overhead. As I may have said before, it really is a quite beautiful place and there probably isn’t a day goes by without me counting my blessings. Pulling my collar up against the wind I turned the end of the lake and began my way back towards the woodlands once again. I set my pace to be quite quick for I was determined to locate the strange tree I had encountered the previous evening. In my mind I was quite confused about it. I had obviously been delusional or the like about what I thought I had seen. A tree can’t move now, can it, for God’s sake! I therefore neede
d to find it if only so I could prove to myself that I had been mistaken. And so I quickly crossed the park ahead of me and entered the trees.

  I ploughed on through the woods but had to slow my pace accordingly as the trees became thicker, and the ground more tangled with roots and leaves. I swept the torch all about me as I went, though I found nothing out of the ordinary as I headed deeper into the woodland. Eventually I reached the clearing where I had seen the tree the night before. At least I considered this to be the case. It certainly looked familiar, yet it was after all just a small gap in the thickly planted woods, and I could not be exactly sure. The elm was not there. It had as I described earlier some quite distinctive marking about its trunk and was of a certain size and aspect. It most definitely was not there. I therefore moved further into the trees swinging the torch about me as I went. There were elm trees here, of course. Quite a few of them. None however as large as the tree I had encountered the night before. Eventually I caught sight of the Palm House framed by the beam from my torch across the grass, and so resolved to head south once again, where the trees were thicker. Turning around I made off to my left so I was not covering the same ground I already had. After some five minutes or so I came to halt and decided to light a cigarette whilst I considered my options.

  I leaned against the trunk of a large oak tree and peered up through the leaves. Overhead the sky had cleared sufficiently for me to just make out through the branches a few stars shining high above me. Just then the clouds blew clear, revealing a nearly full moon. All around me beams of moonlight fell through the trees onto the ground. To say that it was beautiful was an understatement. I think I shall take the memory of that vista to my grave. It really was that magnificent. Peaceful, beautiful and yet also humbling at the same time. I finished my cigarette and decided that I was wasting my time. Obviously what had occurred the previous evening must have been some form of daydream or illusion. It did not make much sense, but as I stood there attempting to rationalise it I found that I could draw a line under what had happened by thinking of it that way. I decided there and then to continue with my patrol and head back to the lodge, for if I left it much longer Tom may have begun to wonder what had become of me. Enough nonsense was enough. I was not overdue as of yet, but by the time I got back there I may very well be. Ensuring my cigarette was completely extinguished I headed west and began to trudge back to the path which was some way off in that direction. This coincided exactly with a loud, deep thump some way off to the south. My heart seemed to almost slow to a stop as I registered that the sound was exactly the same one I had heard the night before! It was almost as loud as the previous time that I had heard it too!

  Rushing from the clearing I began to rapidly pick my way across the forest floor in the direction I had heard the noise. As I gathered my pace I heard it again. A low, deep thump that seemed to shake the earth, as if something extremely heavy had placed a lot of weight onto the ground with considerable force. Then once again. Thump! I rushed onwards, eventually reaching a small rise that fell down gently before me into a little circular dell. From this vantage point my torch flashed across the trees that rose on the other side of the dip. As I swept the beam backwards and forwards I noticed a large set of branches behind the foremost trees suddenly lurch and move what must have been some six to eight feet to my right. This was followed by a further loud thump as the move was completed. Then some seconds later, exactly the same thing. I concentrated the light from the torch in that direction now, and as I did so there came a further thudding sound from that way. It was definitely nearer this time! Whatever it was, it was approaching the edge of the trees on the other side of the dell that fell down in front of me.

  There came another deep boom from the trees ahead of me across the way, and then another. Then there was a disturbance from the trees massed around the dell and the elm tree I had seen the night before burst through the woods, paused, and then strode once, then twice into the centre of the sunken clearing. That it was the same tree there could be no doubt. The long man sized markings on the trunk, the sheer size of it. Apart from that, I remember thinking in my now totally befuddled mind that it was the only tree that I had ever seen walking before! Yet it was not moving now. It stood alone in the precise centre of the dell, moonlight glancing down across its form. Then it seemed to shake itself, and turned slowly to face me. Or at least that is the impression it gave.

  Unfortunately, it was at precisely that moment that my my torch went out.

  Yet I was not plunged into total darkness. The moonlight above the dell seemed to become much brighter as the elm tree stood there, almost as if it was watching me. No. That is not what I mean at all. That it was watching me I had no doubt. It was actually more the feeling that it was waiting for me more than anything.

  Almost as if I were not responsible for my own actions I found my feet carrying me towards it, down the slight slope of the dell itself and then some six feet towards it. There I stopped. The branches of this great elm were hanging above me now, and I lowered my gaze to stare at the trunk of the tree. I noted somewhere in the back of my mind that the wind seemed to have increased, the moonlight seeming to be much stronger; brighter. As I stared at the markings on the elm tree I noticed two large knots in the wood. Green and surrounded by moss, they were almost a part of the tree itself, the lichen staining the elm, making patterns in the trunk. Small round shapes of green and beyond that a darker green still. Darker than I had ever seen before in my life. I was concentrating on these almost as if I was a man mesmerised when the knots seemed to gleam, flicker.

  Then the elm tree opened its eyes.

  I think I may have possibly tried to scream at that point but all that came from my mouth was a small yelp as I tried to move backwards, to take flight, but I found myself unable to move at all. The eyes were relatively small, and lidded by green moss, though the pupils were the brown of old, old wood. They glared at me as if the tree was trying to decide something. From somewhere beyond myself and beyond also any reason, I became aware that the night had suddenly fallen very still. Silent, in fact. Still the elm did not move. I felt as if I were being judged in some way. Slowly I became aware of a slight rustling in the air about me. Was the wind blowing again? The sound increased, leaves now spinning madly on the ground about me, covering my newly cobbled boots, rising around the base of the tree and myself too. The air about me changed in pitch, a low, deep humming beginning to shake the ground underfoot. Then as suddenly as it had begun it faded, yet then slowly began to rise once more, changing pitch until it became a high, reedy sound that seemed to fill the dell with music and stars and light.

  And it is then that the tree sang.

  Its music seemed to fill my mind, until that was all that there was. All that there could ever be. It was the sound of root and leaf, of branch and breeze, the sound of water rippling across cold stone, and the hot slow air of a summer night. I am not ashamed to admit that there and then, beneath the bows of that mighty tree, with moonlight seeming to dance all about me, the music filling all of my senses with joy and sorrow, melancholy and pain, that I wept like I have never wept before or since, and as I did so the tree continued with its song and I felt leaves falling down from above, falling onto my shoulders, into my hands. I remained unmoving, accepting its song with all of my soul and never wishing it to end.

  Yet it did.

  Slowly the music faded and I found I was able to move again. I staggered slightly backwards, yet no more than a footstep or so. Even the moonlight from above seemed diminished, darkness beginning to seep into the dell all around me. Then with what seemed to be a mighty step the tree moved away from me, crossing the dell in one great stride, then as the ground shook underfoot it strode up the side of the hill and into the trees and it was gone. I stood still, frozen to the spot almost as the sound of its passage shook the forest floor but eventually it became quieter and quieter with each step until it was gone altogether. As silence settled about me once again my torch sudden
ly came back to life of its own volition. I started to move backwards once again, and gathering my courage about me I raced from the dell and with the aid of my torch ran at full tilt back to the path and on to the lodge. I do not remember most of the journey back to the lodge to this day, but I suspect that once again it did not take me very long at all! I may have even bested my sprint of the previous night! I do however remember pausing to get my breath before I opened the wooden door. As I did so however, I looked inside and saw that Tom was still propped up in front of the fire, though he was now fast asleep. He was that far gone that I suspect he would not have noticed if I had never returned from my patrol at all!

  It was strange to be stood in such normal surroundings given what had just occurred. I took stock of my situation and made to draw a seat up to the fire to warm myself, though I do seem to recall that I was not sure if I were hot or cold, though my head was certainly spinning! As I made to move the chair I noticed for the first time that in my right hand I was clutching a small bunch of leaves. I had not noticed them before; such had been my panic in leaving the woodland behind me! I placed them on the table and drew myself up to the fire. Tom continued to snore in his chair and I thought it best to leave him to it. My reasons for this were somewhat selfish, though I did not doubt that sleep was the best thing for his cold. Quite simply I did not feel up to attempting to hold a conversation, and drawing my cigarettes out I sat and smoked as I tried to make sense out of the nights events. Yet I could not. When all’s said and done I still cannot to this day.