Chapter 6
The Spitfire is flying over the village again, and Tom and Martin, on their way to the church hall, stop to watch it as it goes past.
“One day I’ll go up in it,” says Tom.” I’ll save up. I’ll fly over the house and you can wave.”
“You’ll be saving a long time,” says Martin. It costs thousands of pounds for a ride.”
“It’ll be worth it.”
They watch it as it goes out of sight, then turns and flies back towards them again, and then away over the hills in the distance. Tom calls to Nelson and puts him back on the lead, and they cross the churchyard.
“I wonder where the pilot’s grave is. Dorothy said it isn’t marked, and she wouldn’t tell me where it is.”
Martin replies, “I’m not sure she really wants people to go looking for it. It is part of her story, not yours.”
Tom hears something and looks around. A man is standing in the shadow of the trees in the corner of the graveyard, next to an overgrown grave, his back to them. He is wearing a WW2 pilot’s uniform, with the characteristic leather jacket. Tom starts to walk back towards him. Martin puts his hand on Tom’s shoulder as if to stop him, and they stand there.
“Stop Tom, leave him.”
Tom looks up at his dad, and then back to where the man was standing. The man has gone, but Tom can smell the faint linger of cigarette smoke in the air.
© Anthony Judge 2021