A Mystery Tour

This lighthearted short story by Teresa Ashby takes place in the countryside.

It had been a long time since they just got in the car and took off ...

LET’S go somewhere amazing,” Marcy said. She whipped Ian’s phone out of his hand. “Stop checking Facebook. Let’s be daring, like we were when the boys were little, and go on an adventure.”

“We could go for a drive, I suppose,” Ian said, glancing out of the window. “It’s not raining. Yet.”

“Yes, a drive,” she agreed. “Brilliant. We have all day so we can go as far as we please. It’s supposed to brighten up later, too.”

She crossed her fingers. The forecast had actually said they might get heavy rain – or they might not.

“I’d better go and get changed, then,” he said, taking his phone back. “We could eat out.”

“Or take a picnic.” He glanced out of the window again.

“It’s not picnic weather.” While he went off to get changed, Marcy found his satnav. Ian rarely went anywhere without it.

Handy, he said, if there was a diversion and you needed to find an unfamiliar way home.

As he’d moved into his forties, Ian had slipped easily into his comfort zone, and once he’d settled in, there was no getting him out of it.

“Not today,” she said to herself as she popped the satnav in a drawer.

She wasn’t sure when he had become so dependent on technology. It must have been a gradual thing.

When the boys were small, they’d often pile in the car at the weekend and go on a “magical mystery tour”, as Ian called it.

“Let’s follow our noses.” They used to have such fun. Sometimes Marcy’s mum would join them.

“Remember that time we came across an old ruined abbey?” Marcy said when he came downstairs. “You and the boys had a great time chasing each other round the ruins having swordfights with sticks.” He laughed.

“And you sat with your mum on a bench admiring the view,” Ian recalled. “I could tell you would rather have been chasing round the ruins with us.”

“I wanted to be a knight of old, too,” Marcy said. “But my mum would have thought I’d gone mad, and it was nice to find a quiet time to chat.

“It was amazing, the treasures we used to find within a couple of hours of home, wasn’t it? Places we’d never even heard of.”

“I twisted my ankle leaping round those ruins,” Ian recalled.

Marcy had forgotten that. He’d had to borrow her mum’s walking-stick and Marcy ended up driving home. She’d taken a wrong turning somewhere along the way and they’d all ended up arguing.

The boys had been in the car together too long and her mum said she wished she’d stayed at home.

“Now, where did I put that satnav? You haven’t seen it have you, Marcy?”

“Not recently. Not in the last ten minutes, anyway.”

“What about the time we followed that winding road down to a riverside village?” he said as he hunted round.

“You and the boys were pirates.”

“And you and your mum were chatting up a fella who lived on one of the houseboats,” Ian said.

“Mainly my mum.” Marcy laughed. “She was fascinated by him. I don’t reckon he’d spent a day at sea in his life, but he was full of tall tales.

“Then we went on that long walk along the riverside through the country, remember?”

“How could I forget? I got stung by a wasp.”

“Your hand swelled up like a balloon,” Marcy agreed.

Ian hadn’t been able to drive home that time either. She’d forgotten that.

“You’re not driving, are you, Marcy?” Her mum’s voice had been laden with doom.

“Unless you fancy walking,” Marcy had replied.

How was she to know that shortcut she’d spotted would end up with them getting bogged down in mud?

“It’s a mystery where the satnav has gone,” Ian said as they got into the car. “Still, we won’t be going far, will we? We could go to the Duck for lunch. We’ve not been there before.”

The Duck was a pub about five miles outside town.

“Let’s not. Let’s go

somewhere really different, like we used to.”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“I do. I’ll give you directions and you follow them. It always worked for us before. I’m better than any satnav. I found some lovely places, didn’t I?” He chuckled.

“Like the time we came across that village fête. They were dancing round a maypole.” His face fell.

“They encouraged us to have a go and I fell over my feet and sprained my wrist.”

She felt glad his memories were as happy as her own. Not that his injured wrist was a happy one, but he didn’t always end up hurting himself and she didn’t always end up driving home.

“OK, next time you have a choice, turn left.”

“We don’t have to do that,” he said, uncertainty creeping into his voice.

“Go on, Ian, it’ll be fun.” So he turned left and they found themselves in a rutted, half-flooded lane.

“It’s not even a proper road,” Ian grumbled as the car hit a hidden pothole.

“Turn round. I’ll choose more carefully next time.” “Remember when we turned down that road and it was a farm track?” he said. “Your face, when we met a combine harvester coming towards us!”

She’d forgotten that. She could laugh now, but it had been terrifying at the time.

Not that she was laughing. Ian was the one with a big smile on his face.

“But you mostly found us great places,” he said. “And sometimes those accidental places are the best.”

She smiled. Perhaps he wasn’t missing the satnav so much after all.

“We should look for somewhere to have lunch,” Ian said when they were about an hour from home. “None of this is familiar. Do you know where we are?”

“Not a clue,” she said happily. “Take the next right, that looks promising. It’s got one of those tourist signs pointing down it.

“Elwood House. Hmm, sounds interesting. I haven’t heard of it, have you?” “Can’t say I have.”

They turned into a lane.

“It must be pretty down here in spring and summer,” Marcy said. “When all the leaves are on the trees and the dappled sunlight dances on the road.”

Ian laughed.

“I’d forgotten how poetic you could be.”

And I’d forgotten how much fun you used to be, Marcy thought.

“I hope they’ve got a restaurant or café,” he said. “I’m starving. And afterwards we can use our phones to help us find our way home if we have to.”

He thought his was in his pocket where it always was. Now was not a good time to tell him she’d put their phones into the drawer with the satnav.

“How hard can it be to find our way home?”

“Very. Remember all the times we got lost and the map book was no help and the boys were bored?”

But the only times they got lost were when he hurt himself and she ended up driving home . ..

“Well, we’re not bored, are we? Oh, look at that!”

They had reached a turning through tall iron gates into a long driveway.

As he got out of the car, Ian felt in his pocket for his phone, panic on his face.

“My phone! Did it fall out in the car?”

“We don’t have our phones,” Marcy confessed. “I put them in the drawer with the satnav.” He looked at her. “On purpose?” “Yes.” She refused to apologise. “I wanted us to have a technology-free day, like when the boys were small. We had so much fun.” To her surprise, he smiled. “Yes, we did.”

* * * *

It went better than Marcy had imagined when she’d decided on a day out.

“It has a café,” Ian said cheerfully.

“Let’s wander round the gardens first,” Marcy said. “Stretch our legs before we sit down for lunch.”

She knew, if they had lunch, he’d want to go home afterwards and the day would be over. It had been so nice, enjoying each other’s company.

The gardens weren’t at their best at this time of year, but the sun had come out and the sky was blue behind fluffy white clouds.

She slipped her hand through Ian’s arm and he smiled at her.

“Remember when . . .?” they said in unison, recalling the gardens they’d toured with her mum and the boys.

Her mum had been in a wheelchair after an operation on her foot.

Ian had even managed to make that fun. He’d whizzed her around in the chair, making her giggle.

There had been no accidents or mishaps that day and they’d sung as Ian drove home, until the boys nodded off and they chatted quietly instead.

“Happy days,” Ian said. “Oh, look! A maze.”

“So it is,” Marcy said, her stomach sinking. “Shall we go and have lunch now?”

“I’ve always hoped we’d find a maze on our travels,” he said eagerly. “Come on, we have to give it a go.”

As they got closer, the maze hedges loomed larger.

Marcy shivered. The sun was lovely, but the maze looked dark and forbidding. “I’m starving. Let’s eat.” But Ian was hurrying towards the entrance. It was free, but there was a donations box. He put some money in.

“Come on, Marcy, it’ll be a laugh. I’ve made a donation now, so we have to.”

“What if we get lost?” He laughed.

“That’s never worried you before.”

“I’ll go to find the loo and catch you up,” she said and sped away before he could argue.

When she got back there was no sign of him. She stepped into the maze.

“Ian?” she called. “Are you there?”

She took a few steps further in, then a few more and before she knew it, she was surrounded by tall, dense hedges. “Ian! Where are you?”

The fluffy clouds had a grey tinge now and the sun was sinking.

Marcy broke into a run. Hadn’t she read somewhere about always having your hand on the right-hand hedge? But it was probably too late to be clever.

She turned back the way she’d come and found herself at a dead end.

“Ian!”

If only they’d found this place in summer, when there would have been a lot of people navigating the maze. What if they shut the place up, leaving her trapped inside?

If only she had her phone. She trotted round in a panic until she came into an opening and saw Ian sitting on a bench.

“What kept you?” he said. “I’ve been waiting ages.” “I got lost.”

“I know. I called you, but you were making so much noise you couldn’t hear me. I knew if I stayed still that you’d find me eventually.”

“How are we going to get out? I don’t like it in here,

She always felt safe with Ian. He was her comfort zone

Ian, and it’s starting to rain.”

“Don’t I always get us home safely, Marcy?” He held out his arm.

She slotted her arm through his and he touched the right-hand hedge. It took them less than five minutes to get out, but Marcy wasn’t worried anyway.

She always felt safe with Ian. He was her comfort zone.

“Lunch, then home?” she said.

“Lunch, and then let’s follow our noses,” he replied. “We don’t have to hurry back. Maybe we could do this again soon and bring your mum along.”

“That would be lovely. But I think we’ll bring the satnav and our phones with us.

Just in case.”

Laughing, he pulled her into his arms for a hug.

The End.