‘Thank you’ she added, ‘I think I might be staying here until you say it’s time to go’ and she smiled as she said it,
Tony smiled and gave her a wink and as he closed the hatch and watched the other two girls go he wondered how he had put himself in such a position that the 3 young girls had so much dependence and faith in him,
‘I won’t let them down’ he thought ’you better be on the outside looking in Peter’
He went to the fridge and got a much needed beer, he took the top off and gulped half the bottle, his only solace in his god forsaken world.
‘Sure gonna miss this stuff though’ he said out loud, and laughed to himself, he finished his beer and grabbed another as he looked at the skies, ‘no storms tonight, think I’ll get pissed’
Peter still wasn’t sure what he was trying to achieve as he sat in the Iscoed Tafarn, the local pub on a council house estate in South Wales, the pub he previously visited as Underwood social club, as he sipped his shandy he found his head was being filled with all sorts of nonsense, but it was better than his hotel room, at least hear the occasional song on the Juke box would take his mind in other directions, just for a moment, he was pleased to see that the song was modern, he then realised that he had never heard any music in the other Underwood.
Every time the door opened he would look up expecting to see the Sherriff Allan Herapath, but of course he never did, he wished Tony Griffiths was here, but then he wondered how that could possibly be as he was dead, maybe both Tony Griffith’s were dead, he couldn’t work that one out, he was totally confused at this time, it felt like he was living in a world and his family in another, at this stage he was thinking he didn’t care what world it was as long as he was with his family.
It was his duty to protect them, he would do that wherever he was, he was with Tony Griffiths yesterday, today he visited his grave, tomorrow he hoped he would still be helping his family, whoever that Tony Griffiths was he needed him, dead or alive, the whole situation was so unbelievable, he had a job believing it himself.
He went to the bar and ordered another shandy he was greeted and served with the same friendliness, he watched two women in the corner sat with their backs to him, he heard them laugh and as one stood up to turn to go to the bar, Peter almost dropped his beer in shock as his whole body started to shiver and his skin to seep sweat, and now with her stood up he could see the other person, walking towards him to get a drink was June Murphy and sat in the corner was Sue Bradshaw, the two old ladies that had become wino’s, his heart raced and his hand shook, he had to put his beer on the bar or he would have dropped it.
Peter panicked as she came towards him, his whole mind now in total confusion he rushed out of the bar and into the car park, he found that he was struggling for air as he panted at each breath, he controlled his breathing and sat down on an outside table, a young couple were staring at him and he raised his hands to tell them he was okay, they looked away and took no more notice.
He lit a cigarette and took a long drag, he kept telling himself to pull himself together, he was no good to anyone in this frame of mind, and he cleared his head the best he could.
He had another cigarette went back into the bar, his pint was still there, he took a sip and went and sat down by the two ladies’ he had butterflies in his stomach, his throat felt dry even though he sipped his shandy, he wiped the palm of his hands on his jeans as he spoke,
‘Evening girls’ he said,
The two girls looked at Peter, he noticed they looked the same age as the other 2 women in Underwood, his heart was racing, he had a knot it his stomach, he felt like he wanted to scream, ‘what the fucks happening to me he thought’ he was half expecting voices in his head to start answering him.
‘All right love’ said June, Sue took a sip of her wine ‘aint seen you here before’ June added, but something was telling Peter something else, it was the look in June’s eye that gave it away.
‘Just looking around the area thinking of moving here’ he told the two girls, he studied them it was definitely the same two ladies,
‘Can I get you a drink’ he asked them,
‘No thanks mate’ said Sue, she wasn’t really taken with the man who had invaded her space, she didn’t like strangers, she thought Peter looked suspect in some way, but then again Sue Bradshaw thought everyone was suspect.
‘I’ll have a bottle of wine’ said June,
‘Haven’t they heard of glasses in this place’ he thought, Peter got up to go to the bar, and the simple task of buying someone a drink filled his body with adrenalin.
‘You sure you don’t want one’ he asked Sue, expecting her to share June’s bottle,
‘Go on then’ Sue said ‘I’ll have a bottle of white too’ she had suddenly warmed to Peter, and she looked at June and winked at her, the suspicion temporary suspended, or a suspicion that wasn’t really there at all, 5 minutes and £25 the poorer Peter handed them the bottles of wine and sat back down, the conversation flowed as well as the wine and Peter grew to like the two old ladies, but he was still on edge as he sat there, trying to find something that would give him a clue, just something to hang on to, they each bought him a pint of shandy, Peter was concerned of being over the limit, a law that didn’t seem to apply in the other Underwood.
As the conversation and the wine flowed, Peter had no idea what he was looking for, he didn’t know whether the other Underwood he had seen them in was a life in the past or one yet to come, Tony Griffiths was dead, somehow he could get his head around that, but these two were alive, just as they were in his other life, ‘they can’t be, they have to be dead in one of them’ he thought,
‘What interests you in coming to Underwood’ asked Sue slurring her words, Peter saw his opportunity,
‘I heard it’s a mysterious place and the woods are haunted or something, and didn’t people die in the old army huts’
‘See I told you’ said Sue, she leaned forward ‘I have the visions about the woods, the other day June fell in them and almost died until someone dragged her out’
‘Yea she also sees old ladies eating apples’ laughed June, ‘mad as a hatter she is love’
Sue slumped back in her chair, took a large sip of wine,
‘I don’t give a fuck’ she said, ‘those woods got ghosts in um’
‘Can you see what I got to put up with’ laughed June as she looked at Peter, he was looking at Sue, into her eyes, even though at that time she was just a drunken old lady, he could see she had troubles,
‘Well I like it here’, he told them,
‘I’s a nice place’ said June,
‘It’s shit’ said Sue.
Peter laughed and got up to go to the toilet, as he washed his hands he was thinking of what to say in order to try and gather some information, what Sue had said about the woods intrigued him, it was like she knew it happened, he wondered whether these two people were the actual link to Underwood, the thing that connects both worlds, that idea appeared to work for him, they had to be the connection.
He went back into the bar to where they were sitting, but the two old ladies were no longer there, he hung on for a few minutes wondering if they had gone to the toilet, but their glasses and empty bottles were gone, he guessed the barmaid had cleared them away, he walked over to the bar and caught the eye of the barmaid who had served him earlier,
‘Those two old ladies I was sat with. Do you know where they went’ he asked her,
The barmaid, looked across to where he was sat then reverted her eyes to Peter,
‘Think you’ve had one too many love, you’ve been sat on your own all night’
Peter opened his mouth to say something but no words come out, he left the pub and sat in his SUV, staring into space, it took him a while to notice the slip of paper that had been put behind his windscreen wiper, he quickly got out of the car, grabbed it and sat back in the driver seat, he unfolded the piece of paper, it read