Post by paul Zernikazof on Aug 30, 2006 23:13:30 GMT
My apologies if this story is a bit longer than is usually on here. How I came to write it is strange. I woke one morning with the complete story in my head. I have called it
Reflections of Youth
This is a true tale I am telling you about an ordinary man
“Bye Jack have a good weekend”. “Thanks Harry see you Monday”. Jack took off his brown store mans coat as Harry went out of the side door. He hung it up on its peg, and put on his jacket. He picked up his bag with his flask, lunchbox and paper in it and left the wire cage where he spent most of his working day in Woodwells Engineering Works issuing tools and parts to the men on the shop floor.
Taking his keys he locked the door to the parts and tools store and followed Harry out of the side door. It had seemed a long week and he was feeling weary as he walked to the car park where his ten year old Cortina was. As he came up to it he wondered once again if he could possibly afford to change it for a newer car in the four years before he retired. The car was showing its age as much as he was if not more. The front nearside wing had almost rusted through in places.
Harry was driving out as Jack walked across the car park. He wound down his window “ Its your grandsons birthday next week isn’t it? “ he asked. “Yes” Jack replied “and he wants one of those expensive space ship things with the figures in it. I don’t think he will get one from us at the price they are new” Harry said “have you tried that little shop on Woodfield Street the one that does second hand stuff? I’ve seen those sort of things in there before”. “Thanks Harry” Jack said “I’ll call round and have a look in the window on my way home”.
The shop was closed and the street empty as Jack pulled up outside and got out of the car. The window was full of all sorts as was the rest of the shop space behind it. The late afternoon sun shone on the window making it difficult to see into the shop itself.
He could see a remote controlled car and a tank with some army figures towards the back, but no sign of any space ship. Jack spent some time looking in the window in case there was anything else that might do for young Robin. Up on a shelf at the side of the window, an old circular mirror caught the sun and reflected it back as Jack turned away with a sigh, wondering what they could afford to get for their grandsons birthday. Oh well perhaps Maureen would have some idea. He noticed that the rusty wing of his Cortina looked almost new as the sunlight reflected from the old mirror in the shop hit it. As he drove home he thought to himself ‘I had better do something about that. I’ll get some filler tomorrow and sort it out before it gets any worse’.
He turned up the drive of the modest semi-detached house where he and Maureen had lived for the last thirty five years, the colourful front garden a testimony to her green fingered skills.
They had been fortunate in getting this house. An uncle of Maureen’s had left them some money that enabled them to get out of the rented place and put down a decent deposit on this house.. It had still been a bit of a struggle for them especially when the children came along and Maureen was at home with them but they had managed. Maureen’s skill with a needle and at growing things had helped them cut costs.
Whilst Jack could turn his hand to most jobs that needed doing around the house.
Jack walked down the side of the house and round the back. Maureen looked up from her book as she sat in the remains of the sunshine on the patio. “Cup of tea? Love” she asked. “Thanks Mo” Jack dropped wearily into one of the wooden chairs as Maureen went into the kitchen, filled the kettle and got the tea things ready. As he looked around he relaxed and let the cares of the day drop away. The garden always did that for him. They were very proud of their garden, despite not having money to spend on it they had what Jack thought of as easily the best garden in the street. The patio built by Jack with the help of a lorry load of broken paving slabs from a friend who worked for the council looked a really professional job. . Maureen’s greenhouse at the bottom of the garden that he had restored from the old wreck given away by a neighbour. The neat vegetable plot behind the greenhouse and down the side hidden by a trellis his workshop. Patiently built with second hand bricks and windows and doors scrounged from demolition sites it was Jacks pride and joy. Over the years he had equipped it with good second hand tools as he could afford them repairing and restoring as needed.. It was in there that the packing cases and old pallets dropped off by one of the works drivers for him, had been transformed into the stylish patio furniture that he was sitting on now. Looking easily as good as anything the garden centre had for sale but costing almost nothing.
Maureen brought the tea and sat down. They chatted about the day and what had happened at the school where Maureen worked as a dinner lady. A few years younger than Jack she was no longer as slim as in their wedding photographs, now a comfortable cuddlysize with boobs as Jack called her.. He told her he had looked in the second hand shop with no success for something for Robin. “Oh I forgot “ she said, “one of the staff at school brought a childs bike in that they no longer needed. Its in good condition just needs a clean up and the brakes repairing I put it in your workshop, I’m sure you can do something with it”. She knew of course that when Jack had finished with it, it would look as good as new and be in perfect mechanical condition. She often called him her Jack of all trades. “I’ll look at it tomorrow” he said relieved that they had found something they could give. They went in as the evening turned cooler had supper and watched tv before going to bed.
The next morning after breakfast their younger daughter rang to ask Maureen if she could baby-sit for them as she and Tom were invited out for a meal with friends. Tom would pick her up and she could stay overnight, as they were likely to be back late. “Ok Love” said Jack “I think there’s football on later. I’ll be able to watch that in peace”. “And I can watch the romantic film at Julies” said Maureen.
Jack went to his workshop to look at the bike Maureen had brought home. It wasn’t in bad condition just needed adjustments a new cable and of course a strip down and thorough cleaning. He was still busy after lunch when Maureen came and told him that Tom was calling to collect her early as he had to call in town somewhere and it would save two journeys if he collected her now.
“I’ve left you something out for tea “she told him “don’t forget to eat it. I know what your like when you get doing things out here”. “I wont” he said “I’m nearly finished here and then I might look at the car and try to patch it up”
It was another half hour before he had finished the now gleaming bicycle, tidied his workshop up and went round to the garage to look at the car.
He bent down to look at the rusted wing poking it gently with a finger to see how bad it was. He stood up again amazed. There was no sign of rust on the wing at all in fact the paintwork shone like new, getting a torch he checked under the wing to find it as solid as it was ten years ago when the car had been made. Puzzled he stood up “Maybe it’s the other wing” he said to himself. Going round the car to the other side to check, but this wing whilst not as shiny as the other showed no signs of rusting through either.
Going indoors he had a worried look as he made himself a cup of tea and sat down in the kitchen. The clouds had moved in earlier and the cool breeze made it a little chilly to sit outside.. He knew that there had been rust on that wing; he had seen it there on Friday in the car park at home time. Had someone been and changed the wing during the night? He dismissed the idea immediately as ridiculous to imagine that anyone would want to do such a thing never mind the impossibility of doing it overnight without making a noise added to which the garage was still locked with no signs of forcing the doors That left two possibilities, either he was losing his mind or something miraculous had happened. Whilst the first seemed the most likely he didn’t feel as if he was losing his mind and could clearly recall how the wing had looked yesterday and his thoughts about it on the way home.
So that left a miraculous happening as the only explanation. But why had what he decided to call the ‘car repair fairies’ fixed his car? It wasn’t as if he had even thought about fairies or aliens never mind given them a reason to fix his car. A sudden thought came to him, was this, the only part of the car they had fixed? Getting up he went round to the garage again and looked the car over. The rest of the bodywork was the same as it had been, clean but faded paintwork, slight pitting on the chrome bumpers….But wait a minute! Where the front bumper wrapped round at the end on the side where the wing had been miraculously repaired the chrome was shiny with no pitting at all. Just like brand new. The car repair fairies had renewed that part of the bumper as well. But why only a part? And not the whole thing?
As he stood puzzled he had a sudden picture of the car parked outside the second hand shop with the sun reflected onto that wing and the end of the bumper. he remembered the mirror in the window. The very old looking mirror in a round wooden frame. The sun reflected off that mirror onto his car making that wing look all shiny and new. Or did it not just make it ‘look’ shiny and new? Was it able in some way to affect the metal and make it renew itself. Some freak properties of the glass reacting with sunlight maybe? It was, he thought, a better explanation than car repair fairies. And if it was true it would be worth a fortune. Locking up the house he got the car out and drove down to the shop. The mirror was still there on the shelf but there was no sunlight to reflect off it now. Jack went in and looked round. The owner seemed to be getting ready to shut up shop. “Looking for anything? “ He asked Jack.
Trying not to sound too keen Jack said “How much for the old mirror there?” pointing at it on the shelf. The proprietor looked Jack over decided he wasn’t one of those designer folks who would pay an extortionate price for junk and said, “ to you a fiver” Jack kept calm and said ”Will you take three quid?”
The man sucked his breath in through his teeth remembered that the mirror had been there for years. In fact it had been in the old shop when he took it on. “OK” he said “ but don’t go telling everyone you can knock the price down or I’ll go out of business”
Jack paid and took the mirror home; on the kitchen table he looked at it closely, the wooden frame was either poorly finished or very old and very dirty. He took a damp cloth and wiped some of the grime from the frame. It was then that he noticed the symbols lightly carved into the wood, almost unreadable because of layers of dirt. Taking the mirror to his workshop he got an old toothbrush and scrubbed away at the frame, removing layers of dirt and revealing the strange symbols carved there.. They meant nothing to him and reminded him of his thoughts of car repair fairies again. A magic mirror? Well it was an explanation that fitted even though he felt more comfortable with the scientific explanation of some freak of nature making the surface of the mirror able to alter sunlight into a metal repair tool. Then it struck him! Maybe t wasn’t just metal it could fix, after the wing on the car was painted and that was in perfect condition. Another trip too the garage confirmed that the paint was perfect as was the steel underneath The same went for the chrome plate and the steel bumper. The tyre he hadn’t noticed until now was as if newly fitted it even had the red line that new tyres have round the tread surface to show they haven’t been used. This worried him a little for some reason.. But it wiped any doubt from his mind about the power that the mirror had whatever the explanation for it. In some inexplicable way, light reflected from the mirror was able to renew whatever it touched. Opening the bonnet and looking at the clean shiny new inner wing and pristine plastic wiring on that side, but with the engine still looking the same as ever established that the effect had a depth of about twelve to fifteen inches through the metal.
Jacks thoughts ran away with him then, he would have to be careful not to let the secret out otherwise the authorities would probably confiscate the mirror or some one else would stop at nothing to get it. And what if its last owner heard of it and came looking? For surely no one who knew what it was would have sold it to a second hand dealer?
He would use its power to restore antiques starting in a small way and building up a part time business. It wouldn’t seem out of place, anyone who knew him would know that Jack was good with his hands and not be surprised at his success. Gradually he would build up and be able to offer his services to museums who would pay a lot to have artefacts restored to their original state. He would tell Maureen of course. She would realise the need to keep quiet and had never been a gossipy type. But at the moment he only had a car to show her, and now that it was dark no chance of reflecting sunlight on anything else tonight. The car wouldn’t impress Maureen, she didn’t know the first thing about them and might worry that he was losing his marbles.
He locked the garage and went back to his workshop switching on the outside light as he passed the back door. Light! Of course he could have light and powerful light as well. Now what could he use to impress Maureen and prove that the mirror worked? He sat on the chair he used in his workshop and thought, feeling the aches in his shoulders as he relaxed, it had been a long day and the excitement was taking its toll on his body. That’s it! He could use the magic mirror to repair his old body renewing energy and tired muscles Setting the mirror up in the corner he went and got the floodlight he used in the garage and carefully aimed the reflected light onto the chair. Then he sat down and waited. He wasn’t too sure how long it would take because although the floodlight was powerful it wasn’t as bright as sunlight. Half an hour later there was no sign of any change he tried to remember how long the car had been parked in the light from the mirror and guessed ten or fifteen minutes whilst he had looked in the window. So maybe the floodlight just wasn’t powerful enough to do anything and tomorrow had been forecast as wet so there would be clouds covering the sun. Looking up he could see the clouds starting to gather some crossing the face of the moon.. It looked as if the forecast would be right for once. Switching the light in his workshop off he caught sight of the moon reflected in the mirror and stopped.
Maybe it wasn’t powerful light that did it maybe it had to be natural light. Rearranging the chair and mirror he sat down and waited.
Maureen let herself in and went upstairs Jack had made the bed as usual everything was neat and tidy. Glancing out of the window she saw the workshop door was open. Trust him to be in there already. She had a thought and with a little smile she took of her blouse and trousers putting on the T shirt Julie had bought her with the words ‘Stop looking at my Boobs feel them instead’ printed on it. She took it off again to remove her bra. It showed all the straps and spoiled the effect. Squeezing into her summer shorts from last year and struggling to do them up she went downstairs and slipped out of the back door. Creeping quietly up the side of the workshop she jumped in front of the door displaying her considerable assets with their prominent invitation to Jack. Only Jack wasn’t there, Maureen thought for a moment, and then it came to her. He had gone to get a paper of course. The clouds of yesterday had cleared early this morning and the sun shone brightly, although there was a cool breeze as anyone who looked at her in her new T shirt could have told. She decided to wait and surprise Jack when he got back from the paper shop. It was pleasantly warm in the workshop with the sun reflecting off an old mirror in the corner. She went to Jacks chair and moving the chair a little to get the reflected sunlight she sat down to wait.
The distraught young woman who answered the door to the police constable turned out to be the missing mans wife not his daughter and was later in the investigation suspected of helping her older husband to disappear by one or two at the station until her real age was confirmed by the daughter who looked if anything older than her mother. As the months passed with no sign of the husband the lady got many enquiries from women friends as to where she had been for surgery and what had she had done. Her denials of surgery were eventually believed, as all her friends knew she hadn’t got that sort of money. The local Avon lady did get a great increase in business when she mentioned that she used some of their face cream.
How do I know this is what happened? I know because I answered Maureen’s advert for wood working tools for sale. She took me to the workshop and I saw it at once.
You see the mirror has been mine for centuries and was only lost fifty years ago when the German army invaded. I had been trying to remember the exact pattern of the runes on the frame for years and had hoped to carve them on another mirror and see if it too would have the power to keep age at bay. But the runes don’t want to be copied and as soon as you look away from them you forget what they look like. I had searched all over for anything that might be them and had drawn runes that I thought might be close enough on paper until I was sure that at least some of these were right. Maureen’s advert came at just the right time, as I was ready to try and carve them onto an old mirror frame I had found in a junk shop. I bought the tools and the old mirror saying that I remembered one like it at home fifty years ago. She asked me to have a cup of coffee on the patio in the sunshine. I placed the mirror against a plant pot so it reflected sunlight on to me. I was careful to position the correct rune at the top. I didn’t want the effect to be too sudden When Maureen told me about how Jack had disappeared six years ago I realised that she must have at some point been exposed to the power of the mirror to be as young as she is in body at the age she is in years. Over the next few months we became good friends. Intrigued I looked up weather records for the area and asked discreetly of local people who were there at the time, what had the weather been like the night Jack disappeared? Eventually I found a man who had been dog walking and had probably been the last known person to see Jack. He remembered seeing him going into the garage several times and was sure it was he because the moon wasn’t hidden behind clouds and at the time and he could see clearly
At last I had the answer to Jacks disappearance and this story is as near as we can ever be to what happened, the runes are like a power setting. Depending on which one is at the top the reverse aging power of the reflected sunlight is either slower or faster I couldn’t remember what rune had been at the top when I first saw the mirror in the workshop but I was fairly sure it would have been the one for a fast speed.
Sunlight is the light of life and vitality
Moonlight on the other hand…………
Maureen and I eventually married after Jack was declared legally dead she doesn’t mind me having the old mirror in the hall where it reflects the sun onto whoever comes down stairs in the morning. And often remarks that flowers on the hall table seem to last for ages. Although she does laugh at my insisting the mirror be covered up when there is a full moon. I tell her its an old Polish superstition of my Grandmothers .One day I will have to tell her that our remarkable youthful looks and vitality for our age isn’t just down to good luck.
Reflections of Youth
This is a true tale I am telling you about an ordinary man
“Bye Jack have a good weekend”. “Thanks Harry see you Monday”. Jack took off his brown store mans coat as Harry went out of the side door. He hung it up on its peg, and put on his jacket. He picked up his bag with his flask, lunchbox and paper in it and left the wire cage where he spent most of his working day in Woodwells Engineering Works issuing tools and parts to the men on the shop floor.
Taking his keys he locked the door to the parts and tools store and followed Harry out of the side door. It had seemed a long week and he was feeling weary as he walked to the car park where his ten year old Cortina was. As he came up to it he wondered once again if he could possibly afford to change it for a newer car in the four years before he retired. The car was showing its age as much as he was if not more. The front nearside wing had almost rusted through in places.
Harry was driving out as Jack walked across the car park. He wound down his window “ Its your grandsons birthday next week isn’t it? “ he asked. “Yes” Jack replied “and he wants one of those expensive space ship things with the figures in it. I don’t think he will get one from us at the price they are new” Harry said “have you tried that little shop on Woodfield Street the one that does second hand stuff? I’ve seen those sort of things in there before”. “Thanks Harry” Jack said “I’ll call round and have a look in the window on my way home”.
The shop was closed and the street empty as Jack pulled up outside and got out of the car. The window was full of all sorts as was the rest of the shop space behind it. The late afternoon sun shone on the window making it difficult to see into the shop itself.
He could see a remote controlled car and a tank with some army figures towards the back, but no sign of any space ship. Jack spent some time looking in the window in case there was anything else that might do for young Robin. Up on a shelf at the side of the window, an old circular mirror caught the sun and reflected it back as Jack turned away with a sigh, wondering what they could afford to get for their grandsons birthday. Oh well perhaps Maureen would have some idea. He noticed that the rusty wing of his Cortina looked almost new as the sunlight reflected from the old mirror in the shop hit it. As he drove home he thought to himself ‘I had better do something about that. I’ll get some filler tomorrow and sort it out before it gets any worse’.
He turned up the drive of the modest semi-detached house where he and Maureen had lived for the last thirty five years, the colourful front garden a testimony to her green fingered skills.
They had been fortunate in getting this house. An uncle of Maureen’s had left them some money that enabled them to get out of the rented place and put down a decent deposit on this house.. It had still been a bit of a struggle for them especially when the children came along and Maureen was at home with them but they had managed. Maureen’s skill with a needle and at growing things had helped them cut costs.
Whilst Jack could turn his hand to most jobs that needed doing around the house.
Jack walked down the side of the house and round the back. Maureen looked up from her book as she sat in the remains of the sunshine on the patio. “Cup of tea? Love” she asked. “Thanks Mo” Jack dropped wearily into one of the wooden chairs as Maureen went into the kitchen, filled the kettle and got the tea things ready. As he looked around he relaxed and let the cares of the day drop away. The garden always did that for him. They were very proud of their garden, despite not having money to spend on it they had what Jack thought of as easily the best garden in the street. The patio built by Jack with the help of a lorry load of broken paving slabs from a friend who worked for the council looked a really professional job. . Maureen’s greenhouse at the bottom of the garden that he had restored from the old wreck given away by a neighbour. The neat vegetable plot behind the greenhouse and down the side hidden by a trellis his workshop. Patiently built with second hand bricks and windows and doors scrounged from demolition sites it was Jacks pride and joy. Over the years he had equipped it with good second hand tools as he could afford them repairing and restoring as needed.. It was in there that the packing cases and old pallets dropped off by one of the works drivers for him, had been transformed into the stylish patio furniture that he was sitting on now. Looking easily as good as anything the garden centre had for sale but costing almost nothing.
Maureen brought the tea and sat down. They chatted about the day and what had happened at the school where Maureen worked as a dinner lady. A few years younger than Jack she was no longer as slim as in their wedding photographs, now a comfortable cuddlysize with boobs as Jack called her.. He told her he had looked in the second hand shop with no success for something for Robin. “Oh I forgot “ she said, “one of the staff at school brought a childs bike in that they no longer needed. Its in good condition just needs a clean up and the brakes repairing I put it in your workshop, I’m sure you can do something with it”. She knew of course that when Jack had finished with it, it would look as good as new and be in perfect mechanical condition. She often called him her Jack of all trades. “I’ll look at it tomorrow” he said relieved that they had found something they could give. They went in as the evening turned cooler had supper and watched tv before going to bed.
The next morning after breakfast their younger daughter rang to ask Maureen if she could baby-sit for them as she and Tom were invited out for a meal with friends. Tom would pick her up and she could stay overnight, as they were likely to be back late. “Ok Love” said Jack “I think there’s football on later. I’ll be able to watch that in peace”. “And I can watch the romantic film at Julies” said Maureen.
Jack went to his workshop to look at the bike Maureen had brought home. It wasn’t in bad condition just needed adjustments a new cable and of course a strip down and thorough cleaning. He was still busy after lunch when Maureen came and told him that Tom was calling to collect her early as he had to call in town somewhere and it would save two journeys if he collected her now.
“I’ve left you something out for tea “she told him “don’t forget to eat it. I know what your like when you get doing things out here”. “I wont” he said “I’m nearly finished here and then I might look at the car and try to patch it up”
It was another half hour before he had finished the now gleaming bicycle, tidied his workshop up and went round to the garage to look at the car.
He bent down to look at the rusted wing poking it gently with a finger to see how bad it was. He stood up again amazed. There was no sign of rust on the wing at all in fact the paintwork shone like new, getting a torch he checked under the wing to find it as solid as it was ten years ago when the car had been made. Puzzled he stood up “Maybe it’s the other wing” he said to himself. Going round the car to the other side to check, but this wing whilst not as shiny as the other showed no signs of rusting through either.
Going indoors he had a worried look as he made himself a cup of tea and sat down in the kitchen. The clouds had moved in earlier and the cool breeze made it a little chilly to sit outside.. He knew that there had been rust on that wing; he had seen it there on Friday in the car park at home time. Had someone been and changed the wing during the night? He dismissed the idea immediately as ridiculous to imagine that anyone would want to do such a thing never mind the impossibility of doing it overnight without making a noise added to which the garage was still locked with no signs of forcing the doors That left two possibilities, either he was losing his mind or something miraculous had happened. Whilst the first seemed the most likely he didn’t feel as if he was losing his mind and could clearly recall how the wing had looked yesterday and his thoughts about it on the way home.
So that left a miraculous happening as the only explanation. But why had what he decided to call the ‘car repair fairies’ fixed his car? It wasn’t as if he had even thought about fairies or aliens never mind given them a reason to fix his car. A sudden thought came to him, was this, the only part of the car they had fixed? Getting up he went round to the garage again and looked the car over. The rest of the bodywork was the same as it had been, clean but faded paintwork, slight pitting on the chrome bumpers….But wait a minute! Where the front bumper wrapped round at the end on the side where the wing had been miraculously repaired the chrome was shiny with no pitting at all. Just like brand new. The car repair fairies had renewed that part of the bumper as well. But why only a part? And not the whole thing?
As he stood puzzled he had a sudden picture of the car parked outside the second hand shop with the sun reflected onto that wing and the end of the bumper. he remembered the mirror in the window. The very old looking mirror in a round wooden frame. The sun reflected off that mirror onto his car making that wing look all shiny and new. Or did it not just make it ‘look’ shiny and new? Was it able in some way to affect the metal and make it renew itself. Some freak properties of the glass reacting with sunlight maybe? It was, he thought, a better explanation than car repair fairies. And if it was true it would be worth a fortune. Locking up the house he got the car out and drove down to the shop. The mirror was still there on the shelf but there was no sunlight to reflect off it now. Jack went in and looked round. The owner seemed to be getting ready to shut up shop. “Looking for anything? “ He asked Jack.
Trying not to sound too keen Jack said “How much for the old mirror there?” pointing at it on the shelf. The proprietor looked Jack over decided he wasn’t one of those designer folks who would pay an extortionate price for junk and said, “ to you a fiver” Jack kept calm and said ”Will you take three quid?”
The man sucked his breath in through his teeth remembered that the mirror had been there for years. In fact it had been in the old shop when he took it on. “OK” he said “ but don’t go telling everyone you can knock the price down or I’ll go out of business”
Jack paid and took the mirror home; on the kitchen table he looked at it closely, the wooden frame was either poorly finished or very old and very dirty. He took a damp cloth and wiped some of the grime from the frame. It was then that he noticed the symbols lightly carved into the wood, almost unreadable because of layers of dirt. Taking the mirror to his workshop he got an old toothbrush and scrubbed away at the frame, removing layers of dirt and revealing the strange symbols carved there.. They meant nothing to him and reminded him of his thoughts of car repair fairies again. A magic mirror? Well it was an explanation that fitted even though he felt more comfortable with the scientific explanation of some freak of nature making the surface of the mirror able to alter sunlight into a metal repair tool. Then it struck him! Maybe t wasn’t just metal it could fix, after the wing on the car was painted and that was in perfect condition. Another trip too the garage confirmed that the paint was perfect as was the steel underneath The same went for the chrome plate and the steel bumper. The tyre he hadn’t noticed until now was as if newly fitted it even had the red line that new tyres have round the tread surface to show they haven’t been used. This worried him a little for some reason.. But it wiped any doubt from his mind about the power that the mirror had whatever the explanation for it. In some inexplicable way, light reflected from the mirror was able to renew whatever it touched. Opening the bonnet and looking at the clean shiny new inner wing and pristine plastic wiring on that side, but with the engine still looking the same as ever established that the effect had a depth of about twelve to fifteen inches through the metal.
Jacks thoughts ran away with him then, he would have to be careful not to let the secret out otherwise the authorities would probably confiscate the mirror or some one else would stop at nothing to get it. And what if its last owner heard of it and came looking? For surely no one who knew what it was would have sold it to a second hand dealer?
He would use its power to restore antiques starting in a small way and building up a part time business. It wouldn’t seem out of place, anyone who knew him would know that Jack was good with his hands and not be surprised at his success. Gradually he would build up and be able to offer his services to museums who would pay a lot to have artefacts restored to their original state. He would tell Maureen of course. She would realise the need to keep quiet and had never been a gossipy type. But at the moment he only had a car to show her, and now that it was dark no chance of reflecting sunlight on anything else tonight. The car wouldn’t impress Maureen, she didn’t know the first thing about them and might worry that he was losing his marbles.
He locked the garage and went back to his workshop switching on the outside light as he passed the back door. Light! Of course he could have light and powerful light as well. Now what could he use to impress Maureen and prove that the mirror worked? He sat on the chair he used in his workshop and thought, feeling the aches in his shoulders as he relaxed, it had been a long day and the excitement was taking its toll on his body. That’s it! He could use the magic mirror to repair his old body renewing energy and tired muscles Setting the mirror up in the corner he went and got the floodlight he used in the garage and carefully aimed the reflected light onto the chair. Then he sat down and waited. He wasn’t too sure how long it would take because although the floodlight was powerful it wasn’t as bright as sunlight. Half an hour later there was no sign of any change he tried to remember how long the car had been parked in the light from the mirror and guessed ten or fifteen minutes whilst he had looked in the window. So maybe the floodlight just wasn’t powerful enough to do anything and tomorrow had been forecast as wet so there would be clouds covering the sun. Looking up he could see the clouds starting to gather some crossing the face of the moon.. It looked as if the forecast would be right for once. Switching the light in his workshop off he caught sight of the moon reflected in the mirror and stopped.
Maybe it wasn’t powerful light that did it maybe it had to be natural light. Rearranging the chair and mirror he sat down and waited.
Maureen let herself in and went upstairs Jack had made the bed as usual everything was neat and tidy. Glancing out of the window she saw the workshop door was open. Trust him to be in there already. She had a thought and with a little smile she took of her blouse and trousers putting on the T shirt Julie had bought her with the words ‘Stop looking at my Boobs feel them instead’ printed on it. She took it off again to remove her bra. It showed all the straps and spoiled the effect. Squeezing into her summer shorts from last year and struggling to do them up she went downstairs and slipped out of the back door. Creeping quietly up the side of the workshop she jumped in front of the door displaying her considerable assets with their prominent invitation to Jack. Only Jack wasn’t there, Maureen thought for a moment, and then it came to her. He had gone to get a paper of course. The clouds of yesterday had cleared early this morning and the sun shone brightly, although there was a cool breeze as anyone who looked at her in her new T shirt could have told. She decided to wait and surprise Jack when he got back from the paper shop. It was pleasantly warm in the workshop with the sun reflecting off an old mirror in the corner. She went to Jacks chair and moving the chair a little to get the reflected sunlight she sat down to wait.
The distraught young woman who answered the door to the police constable turned out to be the missing mans wife not his daughter and was later in the investigation suspected of helping her older husband to disappear by one or two at the station until her real age was confirmed by the daughter who looked if anything older than her mother. As the months passed with no sign of the husband the lady got many enquiries from women friends as to where she had been for surgery and what had she had done. Her denials of surgery were eventually believed, as all her friends knew she hadn’t got that sort of money. The local Avon lady did get a great increase in business when she mentioned that she used some of their face cream.
How do I know this is what happened? I know because I answered Maureen’s advert for wood working tools for sale. She took me to the workshop and I saw it at once.
You see the mirror has been mine for centuries and was only lost fifty years ago when the German army invaded. I had been trying to remember the exact pattern of the runes on the frame for years and had hoped to carve them on another mirror and see if it too would have the power to keep age at bay. But the runes don’t want to be copied and as soon as you look away from them you forget what they look like. I had searched all over for anything that might be them and had drawn runes that I thought might be close enough on paper until I was sure that at least some of these were right. Maureen’s advert came at just the right time, as I was ready to try and carve them onto an old mirror frame I had found in a junk shop. I bought the tools and the old mirror saying that I remembered one like it at home fifty years ago. She asked me to have a cup of coffee on the patio in the sunshine. I placed the mirror against a plant pot so it reflected sunlight on to me. I was careful to position the correct rune at the top. I didn’t want the effect to be too sudden When Maureen told me about how Jack had disappeared six years ago I realised that she must have at some point been exposed to the power of the mirror to be as young as she is in body at the age she is in years. Over the next few months we became good friends. Intrigued I looked up weather records for the area and asked discreetly of local people who were there at the time, what had the weather been like the night Jack disappeared? Eventually I found a man who had been dog walking and had probably been the last known person to see Jack. He remembered seeing him going into the garage several times and was sure it was he because the moon wasn’t hidden behind clouds and at the time and he could see clearly
At last I had the answer to Jacks disappearance and this story is as near as we can ever be to what happened, the runes are like a power setting. Depending on which one is at the top the reverse aging power of the reflected sunlight is either slower or faster I couldn’t remember what rune had been at the top when I first saw the mirror in the workshop but I was fairly sure it would have been the one for a fast speed.
Sunlight is the light of life and vitality
Moonlight on the other hand…………
Maureen and I eventually married after Jack was declared legally dead she doesn’t mind me having the old mirror in the hall where it reflects the sun onto whoever comes down stairs in the morning. And often remarks that flowers on the hall table seem to last for ages. Although she does laugh at my insisting the mirror be covered up when there is a full moon. I tell her its an old Polish superstition of my Grandmothers .One day I will have to tell her that our remarkable youthful looks and vitality for our age isn’t just down to good luck.