113 Put it Down
It’s always nice to come home after a holiday Body mused, especially if you have left the place clean and tidy. It’s familiarity is welcoming, placements are remembered even if you couldn’t physically see them. Like someone without eyesight remembering the layout and placement of items in their own home specifically to avoid harm and accidents because they have no vision, but their body has an internal map that helps them navigate their way around. It works well for them until another person moves an item, a jug or kettle, a knife or a piece of furniture, and then it can cause havoc.
Body felt a sense of ‘havoc’ as if items had been moved in their house, on their return after the holiday Body remembered with hindsight. Hindsight within this dark Pumphouse.
Brain had put it down to the fact that Body was overtired from her travels with Friend back to the UK. Brain put it down to being over emotional and stressed since Noswads final departure and Friend had encouraged Body to go away to the UK for a break. Brain put it down to the fact that it’s own memory wasn’t as good as it used to be and Body was getting old.
Brain was good at placating and ignoring Body’s orientation and senses, and it annoyed Body. Hell even the bed had smelt different! which Brain logically assumed was down to the new fabric softener Body had bought, and that Body was being oversensitive again. Body was not so sure.
You know the feeling one gets when you feel like you are being watched. It’s a tiny sensation and unexplainable should one be asked to describe it. Nevertheless it’s there and one’s body knows it.
On Body’s return from the UK as she put the key in the front door and walked in she felt it. Body felt it. Body was being watched and not only that, there were placements that were wrong. Items in the wrong place, and her internal map of her own home had gone awry. The eyes double checked, all the main items were in the correct place. The furniture was where she had left it, the windows shut or vented as she had left them, the bathrooms as clean as she had left them but something was wrong, something was moved.
Body went about the business of unpacking, putting the kettle on for a much needed cup of tea..oh that was odd she always left the kettle empty but the weight of it told her it was half full, and so she emptied it to get fresh water.
Body sorted the clothes into into washing piles. She decided to do the white washing first so scooped up the dark clothes off the floor to put in the linen basket…oh she must have left the cotton lining of the linen basket hanging on the outside, and with a sigh dropped the dark washing back to the floor and proceeded to poke the lining of the linen basket back inside. It was very annoying which is why, precisely why she never ever left it like that. The lining was always returned to the inside of the basket every time she emptied it.
Whilst the white washing was whining in the machine she sipped her tea. Urgh! she had forgotten the sugar. Body got up from the table to fetch it from the kitchen worktop and put out her hand to get it. The garden needed tending as she glanced out of the window, and it was such a lovely day, Body decided that would be her next job and one she would enjoy. The hand did not find the sugar, so eyes left the garden to look. The sugar was found, but odd that it had to be found! Body knew where it usually was.
Time in the garden was always lovely. Body loved being outside even if it was in pain. Todays tidying wasn’t too much work after two weeks away and she was grateful that she felt able to tackle it. Body was always thankful for feeling Ok enough to do a specific job. It meant she could relax and enjoy it. Pain would come later, that was a given, but Body knew she had no plans for later so she could soak in the bath and go to bed early. Pain management, all good. The sun was bright, but not too hot as Body worked consistently and enjoyed the sensation of the sun on her skin, a cool subtle breeze and all the noises of bees on the lavender, birds swooping and chattering from shade to shade between the lemon and the pear trees, and the smell of the dark, fertile earth that was testament to it’s previous gardeners she had never known.
Body felt at home. The renovated house and garden was starting to feel like home even without Noswad. A little more work needed yet, but she never thought she would get here. The arrival of ‘home’ had snuck up on her. She was starting to feel a sense of peace. Body heard the alarm on the washing machine. The washing was done, good there was still plenty of drying time left in the day so she hung it out and felt a sense of satisfaction as the clean washing blew in the tidy garden.
Later as Body soaked in the bath, muscles rolling and twitching from a days work created ripples of their own within the bath water. A strange sensation as if the muscles were still working even though she was stationary, warm and resting. She would never get used to it. Her body had intentions of it’s own that Body could not control.
Body need to go to bed and hopefully sleep would take over and the muscles could do what the hell they liked. Body turned down the bed. Why was it so tight? Eyes looked down, she didn’t tuck the bed in here? She only did hospital corners at the foot end of the bed and liked the side loose, smoothed and positioned to hang to but not on the floor. Why was it tucked in?
Just go to bed. Switch off the phone, put it on charge and go to bed. It was good to be home.
And as Body snuggled her head into her favourite flannelette pillow case there was a different smell on a tiny gust of air as she billowed the duvet around her. She couldn’t place what it was. “The different fabric softener” Brain told her.
I guess so. It must be, before at last some sleep within her ‘home’ instead of a house, near completion instead of worry and at peace instead of alone even though Body’s hand reached out across the bed to an empty space.
“You are never alone” a voice had said.
© 2025 Jennifer Harris. Free And Alive 555
