Page 127 of The Winter of Second Chances
She came back into the cafe to subdued but amiable conversation and quickly pulled on her discarded ankle boots from earlier.
Wet clothes were draped over chairs and replaced with ill-fitting hand-me-downs and warm blankets. Annie was just bringing a large bell jar filled with tomorrow’s cookies to the table when the lights went out. Gemma squeaked.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, what now?’ Annie groaned into the darkness.
There was the sound of a match striking and Sally’s face glowed yellow in the darkness, as she lit the candles left on the table from book club.
‘Power cut?’ asked Maeve.
‘I don’t know,’ said Annie. ‘It could just be something’s tripped the fuses. I’ll go and check.’
‘Do you need me to come with you?’ asked Mark chivalrously.
‘No, thanks. I’ll be fine.’
Annie took the torch from the sideboard and headed out of the cafe and down into the cellar. The fuse box was on the wall, halfway down the cellar stairs. Annie opened the box and shone the torch in. Sure enough the circuit breaker had tripped. Annie carefully checked all the switches for obvious problems. Everything seemed to be in order, so she flicked the trip switch and the light in the hallway came back on; the gratified sounds coming from the cafe told her that the electricity was back on in there too. She snapped the fuse box shut and turned to leave when a faint thudding noise distracted her. She stood still and listened. There it was again.
Annie made her way gingerly down the cellar stairs. The thudding continued. The closer she got to the bottom of the stairs, the more prominent the sound became.
‘Are you all right down there?’
Annie jumped and pelted down the last three steps.
‘Shit, Maeve! You scared the crap out of me!’
Annie looked up to see Maeve draped in a tartan blanket, standing at the top of the stairs.
‘Sorry, old girl. Was just making sure you were all right.’
‘There’s something moving down here.’
‘A rat?’
‘That’s what I wondered.’
The thudding came again.
‘Did you hear that?’ Annie called up the stairs.
‘Not really.’
‘I’m going to have a look around.’
‘Got a weapon with you? If it’s a rat, you might need to give it a wallop.’
Annie grimaced.
Another thud, just one. Annie moved to the middle of the room and waited.Thud, thud, thud.It was coming from a pile of sandbags. Cautiously, Annie walked towards the pile and one by one began to heave them down onto the cellar floor.Thud, thud.
It can’t be, Annie thought to herself.Surely not. But already hope was blooming in her chest. She went to the wall and thumped it hard, which was answered by three quick thuds and a muffled shout.
‘Oh my God, it is! Oh my God! Maeve, get help! I need something heavy, something to bring a wall down!’
She banged on the wall.
‘Hold on!’ she yelled. ‘I’m coming! John, is that you?’
Annie began tearing at the sandbag wall, kicking and rolling them away from her to make a space.
