Stranger on a Stormy Night
Darkness fell like a length of black silk over the countryside. All the day’s work had been done and any activity was hidden behind the solid stone walls of the poky, lamp-lit cottages which lay dotted throughout the grassy hills like scattered pebbles.
Outside one cottage, a chill wind blew through the leaves of an ancient oak tree that stood on guard to one side of the sitting room window. Its leaf-laden branches swept against the shingles of the roof it had towered over for decades. Tall hollyhocks and fragrant stocks with spikes of delicate flowers waved wildly outside the window as they peeked inside. Elsewhere in the blackness a wide-eyed bird set free a haunting cry before taking to the wing and disappearing into the night.
Inside the cottage, Tobias, a
