Last Crossing

Life is a seesaw, up and down.

 

 

LAST CROSSING

 

The crowd was quite thick that stood outside the church. Everything was grey or black. The sky was grey and the age old walls of the church were black from everything that had touched it since the day it had been built. The pavement was also dirty grey and there was a light layer of wet over it, making it at once shiny and slippery for the unwary. It was not obvious why such a group would be standing outside a church on a very dull day. It was not to celebrate a wedding, nor a funeral, this could be seen by the way the people were dressed. Then why were they there?

 

Dara walked along the street wearing what she considered her best dress. She had been invited to the church, as had all those waiting outside, to hear a concert of organ music on the recently restored organ. The organist that would be playing in that early evening was famous who, in spite of his old age, from time to time would make sporadic appearances, just to remind the public that he was still alive and playing as well as he always had done. It wasn’t necessary to have an invitation, as the concert was being held in a church, everyone was welcome.

Those standing around waiting in the street were talking, and it was obvious that they knew one another well, from the familiar way they greeted each other. Dara didn’t know anyone there. She was nearing the entrance when a gap appeared between a couple. Dara gasped aloud. A girl who looked very much like her came into view wearing the same dress: cream with fine wine coloured dots, and a large wine bow at the neck. The other girl didn’t see Dara, who was grateful for this. However, it didn’t help Dara feel any easier.

Dara was an only child, and had never met anyone who resembled her in the slightest. Dara felt mortified and went straight into the church and sat down at the back of the church at the end of the last pew. She wondered who the other girl was, and how they came to be wearing the same dress. She heard the sound of people entering the church, and saw the other girl escorted by a young man who was guiding her with his hand under her elbow.

 

The organist appeared and sat down on the organ bench, and the concert began. Everyone present was facing ahead, with no one looking in any other direction. Dara heard the side door open and then closed, and then something was placed on the pew beside her. The side door opened and closed. There was a large buff envelope lying on the bench. Dara picked it up out of curiosity, and put it inside her hand bag. She got up and surreptitiously left the church by the same side door. As she exited the church she saw a man get in a car and drive off.

 

Dara took a taxi home, and after changing her clothes and putting something comfortable on, she lay on her bed and opened the envelope. The contents were poured onto her bed, and they turned out to be a large wad of bank notes and a small bag containing small diamonds. Dara had never seen anything like it in her life. What to do? If she went to the police, chances were that they would share it out amongst themselves. On the other hand they might even consider her a thief and lock her up. She could hardly put an announcement in a newspaper, as how would she know if the person who answered was the real owner of the money and diamonds.

Dara had never been in a permanent job and her finances were always in a parlous state. Dara decided to keep it all. Meanwhile, as she was sitting staring at the goodies on her bed, she was aware that to remain undetected changes would have to be made. After replacing the money and the diamonds into the envelope, Dara went into the bathroom and cut her hair in layers all over her head, giving it a different shape. That done, she got hold of the dress that had been the cause of the situation and cut it up into small pieces, which she put into a rubbish bag that would eventually join other rubbish in a bin in another district. Dara was intent on staying as anonymous as possible.

 

After the concert, Maisie had dinner with her boyfriend, Kelvin. She was not as attentive as she would have been on any other evening. Maisie was puzzled, something had gone wrong. What could it have been?

At her front door Kelvin asked, “Can I come in?”

“Not tonight,” Maisie said, making an effort to close the door.

“Don’t I even get a kiss?” asked a disappointed Kelvin.

“No, not that either,” declared Maisie, closing the front door.

Maisie stood by the front door listening to Kelvin get into the lift and go down. She went to the window in the living-room and looked out onto the street, and watched as Kelvin got into his car and drive away. Maisie was not a happy person. She picked up her phone and rang a number she knew from memory. A voice answered, “Hello. Who is it?”

“Hello, it’s me, Maisie, here. Where’s my money?”

Andy, her contact, answered, “What are you talking about? I went to the church, and the envelope with the payment was delivered exactly as you had said. It was placed on the last pew at the back of the church - right beside you.”

Maisie couldn’t believe her ears, “I was sitting near the front of the church because my companion wanted to. Why do you say you put it beside me?”

“You were sitting where you said you would, and you were wearing the dress you’d described. A cream dress with tiny wine coloured dots and a bow at the neck in the same colour.”

Maisie was unable to believe her ears. “That wasn’t me.”

“Well, it looked like you, and was dressed like you, and the envelope was put where you’d told us to put it. I can say no more than that.” Andy rang off.

 

Andy then rang the gang organiser and told him the story, that Maisie said that she hadn’t got the money and the diamonds.

“She’s trying to pull one over on us, and making an attempt to get more than her fair share. I just don’t believe her, she knows the score, and now she’s dreamt up some kind of scam with us. Well, she’s out! And that’s final! She’ll have to go and get herself another job,” the organiser declared angrily.

“Yes, Boss, you’re right,” and Andy rang off.

 

Maisie had been a member of an organised gang of delinquents for some time. She had never had regular employment and had enjoyed a good life with the minimum effort. Her job was to skim people’s credit cards and steal others in department stores. It had never proved to be difficult and at times she had an accomplice to make some sort of distraction while she operated. Now she understood that someone, another girl looking very much like her, was out there and had her money and the diamonds which she, Maisie, had been going to sell.

Maisie had never saved any money in her life, and after every job she would pay off her bills and buy herself something new. She lived from robbery to robbery. Now it seemed to be over. She couldn’t go to the police, as they would ask embarrassing questions. She could hardly put an advertisement in the papers. No, none of that would do, she would have to find the other girl.

That evening, Maisie rang round her friends that had been at the concert, and asked them if they had seen another girl wearing a similar dress to hers. Nobody remembered seeing Dara, nor any dress like Maisie’s.

 

The following morning Maisie paid a visit to the boutique where she had purchased the dress. Maude, the sales lady, opened the door, “Good morning, Madam, how can I help you?”

“Do you remember me? I bought a cream coloured dress with tiny wine dots and a large wine bow at the neck”

“Yes, I remember the dress. There are no more left. I sold the last one about a week ago.”

“Did the girl look like me at all?”

Maude stared at Maisie, “I don’t remember. It was a cash purchase.”

“Have you got an address or a telephone number for her?”

“No, I haven’t, and anyway, I’m not at liberty to give details like that to strangers.”

Maisie said, “Of course not. Excuse me. I just wondered, that’s all.”

“If you object to someone else wearing the same models as you, perhaps you should design your own dresses.”

Maisie replied, “Goodbye. Sorry for any inconvenience I might have caused you.”

 

Maisie left the shop, closing the door behind her. It was at that moment she was aware that her life, from all angles, would change and that she had absolutely no idea in what direction it would lead her. Then her age-old sense of self-protection set in, and she rang Kelvin.

 

Dara had thought long and hard about what she wanted to do, now that she was in the money for the first time in her life. How would she be able to explain her sudden wealth without ending up in a mess. No jeweller would accept the diamonds, so she needed to leave the country. No problem, she had wanted to do something like that for as long as she could remember.

Dara packed her casual clothes and threw the old ones away. She coloured her hair lighter and changed her make-up to match.

She scrolled through the web and booked herself on the six minutes past seven a.m. train from Paddington to Plymouth on the thirty-first of July, which would take three hours thirty five minutes. This would mean a long wait for the last ferry to Santander, Spain, which would leave at nine fifteen p.m.

 

Kelvin received Maisie’s phone call with great pleasure, as he had fancied her from the moment he had seen her. That night was the beginning of the steady relationship between Maisie and Kelvin. She pulled out some of the stops, but managed to save some for after she had hooked him. Which of course she did.

Maisie had come to the conclusion that as her delinquent life was over; she would have to make a change. And as she had never worked in her life, why start now? Kelvin earned more than enough to maintain both of them, so, why not?

 

On the morning of the last day of July, Dara dressed casually. The money and diamonds were stored away in a pouch which hung from her neck under her T-shirt, to add to the look she had a fine cotton scarf wound around her neck. She left her flat and took a taxi to Paddington station where she boarded the train for Plymouth. At exactly six minutes past seven Dara began the first step of her unknown journey.

 

Dara stood on the deck of the ferry as it left Plymouth and made for the open sea, full of excitement at the thought of the new life that awaited her.