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The Village.1963
An ordinary village.. one that was on a road with several almost in a straight line to each other.
Locally deep mines producing coal.
Nothing unusual, nothing about the village that drew unwanted or unwarranted attention.
The couples were mostly young and had been placed there in an attempt to rejuvenate the area.
Sam and Karen were just one of those who had chosen the valley simply because of its seclusion.
A scientist and his wife a microbiologist.
A landrover helped them navigate the rough roads from the village to more of the remote sites.
Almost off road well certainly off the tarmac. rough grass and rocky cart tracks.
Places that took them into isolated areas where the sites were of some archaeological significance. Burial mounds and yet some other unexplained stone circle..
The aftermath of the 2nd world war had left the country still recovering from the loss of its own mostly males.
True the countryside did not get the amount of bombing, well certainly not that area..
The cities around had. Still rebuilding and even a decade or so later the recovery was slow..
Here the granite built houses were solid but during the colder weather the cold months of the year; not the places to be without heating.
Luckily the abundance of coal helped with the locally sourced timber to keep as one might say, the home fires burning. Old Victorian style metal fire inserts with grate and hearth with the inner chimney lined with cow dung helped keep the smoke rising and with no upper chimney fires..
Yes the top part of the chimney if not regularly swept clean of the residue deposited could catch fire..
Usually the upper incline could collect that residue.
Chimney sweeps with their kit would turn up during the spring to summer and sometimes into autumn to ask if and often get employed to sweep the chinneys..
Their house had four, two main ones downstairs and two smaller ones in the bedrooms. There was also the cooker unit which was black metal and heavy with oven and hob area where a large heavy kettle was placed and kept there for making tea.
The room was furnished albeit sparse but enough for their needs.
A leather unit his father had donated to them that was more than enough to lounge upon.
A separate heavy leather chair that was almost identical in design to the large three seater.
By the fire place but never used by them, that was reserved for father who sometimes would take time to visit them from across the valley.
There was no refrigeration. Most of the year including during the summer there was an outhouse that had a deep archive set into the ground that was lined and enough to keep that area tha recess below freezing.
The huge slate slab that lay above it was used for keeping other items cool including the potatoes, the apples and some home made preserves. Home made wines some father had donated for his tipple when he came over.
The village was compact but had a post office found within the general store, A blacksmith and a garage where batteries could be charged.
Some of the older valve radios still fan on DC battery power but the newer ones on the mains supply that in the valley was not always reliable. Storms that could tear down the power lines, one could say they happened at least twice a year..
Bicycles were the older type with baskets, true the chain on some of them had a guard protecting the rider from oil and clothes getting caught in it. The old 3 speed gears could be laborious at some of the hills and there were plenty of them around.
NOTHING that made the village anything special.. that has to be remembered because of what happened to change that and yet the cover up that followed would literally be sealed so tight with the threats that if any caught they would be deemed as complicit in the ..
Would you admit to murder.. of course not. Hence they knew NO ONE was going to talk.. not that we wanted to TALK ABOUT that night or the ones before it all happened.
SO what did happen the days, no the weeks before it became ..what they ended up calling it..
the village of the dammed..
Well those who knew what had happened .. who took the secrets to their graves.. the bodies buried down the disused mine shafts.. left to rot ..
For those who had lived the weeks before the event that changed the village.. though this village was NOT unique.. The world had a lot that were the same..
Those who had been there from the off.. their minds their memories had been wiped.. Almost a repeat of that day when the great sleep.. the narcolepsy took over..
To wake and NOT remember ... remember what ?
To be continued..
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