Seven for a Secret Never to be Told

Inside there was a small room. Sunlight flooded through the window. In the corner there was a neatly made bed covered by a red crocheted blanket and next to it a bedside table on which was a lamp, a jug of water, a framed picture and a pair of glasses. There was a chest of drawers in the other corner. On top was a small wooden box and pile of documents weighed down by a heavy snow globe. Within the globe was the model of a willow tree with heavy branches. An arm chair had been drawn close to an open patio door and although the chair was facing away from them they could see that there was someone sat in it. Just outside there was a bird table on which was a lone magpie, the sound of its familiar ‘chakka chakka’ chatter drifted into the room.

Mia and Safi tentatively walked in and closed the door behind them.

‘Mr Bassett? Mr Bassett?’ Mia enquired. There was no answer. They approached the chair.

‘Beautiful. Isn’t it?’ a frail voice said. Mia walked forward and looked out into the garden.

‘The magpie? Yes. I love that bluey black colour and the long tail feathers.’

‘…they’re clever little buggers,’ he added. Mia turned and looked at the man.

‘Are you Bobby Bassett?’ The man didn’t take his eyes off of the magpie on the bird table.

‘They call me Robert these days. That’s what it says on all the forms. My friends used to call me Bobby…and my brother…my brother used to call me Bob.’

‘You mean your brother Tommy?’ asked Safi moving closer.

‘My brother Tommy….’

Bobby Bassett was a thin, small man and the large chair seemed to swallow him up. His face was long and deeply creased and there were heavy, dark rings under his piercing blue eyes. He had a good head of short, grey hair and wore a long sleeved blue cotton shirt and a pair of neatly pressed trousers. On his feet were tartan slippers.

‘Hello Bobby, my name’s Mia. I live in one of the cottages near the bather. Just a few doors away from where you lived when you were a boy.’ Bobby was silent for a moment, taking in what Mia had said.

‘The bather’s gone. The bather’s not there anymore.’

‘It has gone now. The bather’s not there anymore Bobby, but look what we found. Look what we found just where the bather used to be.’ Mia rummaged in her purse looking for something specific. ‘Look,’ she moved forward and held out one of the magpie tokens for him to see.

At first Bobby ignored her. He looked straight ahead into the garden, but eventually his eyes turned to the token. He looked more closely.

Suddenly he took it from her and gasped – ‘Get my glasses, get my glasses.’ Safi saw some glasses on the bedside table, fetched them and gave them to the Bobby. He clumsily pushed on the spectacles then held the magpie talisman close to his eyes to examine it.

He looked at the roughly carved magpie then turning it over traced his finger over the letter T scratched on the back.

‘The magpie was Colin’s idea.’ His feeble voice was shaking. ’If we’re calling ourselves the Magpie Club then we should have a magpie on our membership token’, - that’s what Colin said.’ He smiled to himself. ‘Den and Bernie had penknives and we had to take turns to use them. I think Den did most of the magpies, he was good at that sort of thing, but we carved our own initials.’ He gently stroked the initial T on the token he was holding. His eyes became watery. ‘This is Tommy’s token…’ his voice became unsteady, his words disjointed. ‘My….brother…he wasn’t a bad lad…if only….if only…’ Mia noticed a tear running down his cheek.

‘If only what?’ she asked. Bobby’s face crumpled up, holding back the tears. ‘If only what?’ Mia insisted… ‘if only what?’ Bobby turned to her, he sighed deeply.

‘If only he hadn’t played those silly games…silly, silly games he played…trying to fool us into believing…he’d be alive now. With me…he’d have had a life….oh Tommy. Silly games…’

‘What silly games?’ Safi asked. Bobby held his hands to his head. His words were desperate and disordered. ‘I can’t tell…no, no. I can’t, I made a vow not to tell.’ He sounded choked as tears caught in his throat. ‘We all did. We all made a promise to each other.’

‘What promise?’ asked Mia.

‘I can’t say…we promised we wouldn’t tell anyone what happened.’ Another tear ran down his cheek. ‘We promised.’ He sounded hysterical and began to sob.

Just as Mia was bending down to Bobby the door opened and Mia’s Nan stood there looking stunned and puzzled.

‘What’s going on? What are you two doing here?’

‘Nan. We had to talk to Bobby.’ Mia’s Nan walked into the room.

‘Is this about that stupid photograph?’ She turned to Bobby. ‘I’m sorry Mr Bassett, this is my granddaughter Mia and her friend Safi. They’re trying to find out about a photograph she found of you and some boys in the field at the back of our cottage.’ She put her arm around Bobby to comfort him. ‘They shouldn’t have come in here. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry my love.’ She threw a dark look at Mia. ‘You should know better young lady. Go back to the dining room and don’t let me hear another peep out of the pair of you.’ And then as if to make her point absolutely clear she added. ‘I’m very disappointed in you Mia.’

Mia and Safi began to walk to the door, they looked at each other in desperation. This had been their only chance to speak to Bobby Bassett and they’d blown it. Safi hesitated then stopped.

‘Mrs Page, we’re sorry. But, well…it’s not just the photo…there are other things…things we can’t explain. Things we’re trying to find the answer to. Bobby, he’s the only one who knows. He’s the only one who can help us.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Bobby stopped crying and Mia’s Nan placed a protective hand on his shoulder.

‘There’s a mystery surrounding Bobby’s brother’s death,’ said Mia. ‘Something that no one knew about except the boys in the Magpie Club. Something that hasn’t been spoken of for over 60 years.’ Mia’s Nan was confused.

‘Mia, a little boy died a long time ago. He drowned after the ice he was playing on broke. It’s very sad, but it was an accident. You coming here bringing it up after all these years… it will only cause upset and pain to Mr Bassett.’

‘But he knows what happened.’

‘Mia!’ her Nan spoke sharply. ‘Stop it now.’

‘Mrs Page, please believe us. The boys from the Magpie Club know what happened. They made a vow never to tell anyone but it’s time to find out.’

‘Look Safi, I know how persuasive Mia can be. You don’t have to get pulled into all of this.’ She turned to Mia, ‘Your imagination’s got the better of you young lady. There is no mystery.’ Mia took out her purse.

‘He’s not getting pulled into anything Nan. I’m not imagining anything and I can prove it. Ask Bobby about these.’ Mia emptied the tokens onto the bed.

‘What’s that?’ Asked Mia’s Nan walking over to look at them.

‘These appeared one day in my bedroom. They belong to the boys of the Magpie Club, the boys in the photo. Bobby’s holding the one that Bear found by the bather, that’s his brother’s - Tommy’s! Each token has an initial on the back and each token belongs to a boy that is now dead. A boy that no longer has to keep the secret.’ Mia’s Nan looked shocked. Bobby stood up and shuffled towards the bed, Mia’s Nan helped him sit down on the crocheted quilt. He picked the tokens up to look at them one by one.

‘This doesn’t prove anything Mia.’

‘There have been so many things Nan that made no sense by themselves. The crying in the night, my wet swimming costume, the magpies, the boy in the mist on the field, the writing on the mirror. There’s been so much I haven’t told you.’

‘I’m still waiting for you to prove something to me,’ said Mia’s Nan.

‘Just ask Bobby, he’ll tell you.’

‘Mr Bassett is in no fit state to be trying to remember such upsetting things.’

Bobby suddenly spoke…

‘Where’s Bernie’s token? Is Bernie still with us? Is he still keeping the secret?’

‘Well, thank goodness, some common sense at last. This secret you keep on going on about…well Bernie Jaggers is still alive, let’s ask him about it.’ Bobby looked aghast. But it was Safi who spoke.

‘Today I found this in my pencil case.’ He pulled the magpie token from his pocket. Mia’s Nan took it and looked at both sides.

‘So you’re telling me this B scratched on the back is for Bernard? You’re telling me that Bernard is dead?’

‘We don’t know Nan, but Bobby is alive and the only other person it could be with the initial B is… Bernard.’