The Tide Is High

Jacob's stories of smuggling and romance were a welcome distraction to Lily...

CAN you hear her?" The voice made me jump and I staggered backwards, putting a hand to my chest.

I was lucky not to have tumbled into the water.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Her name was Lily, too."

I frowned.

I was staring at an elderly man, dressed in corduroy trousers thinning at the knees and a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches.

He had bright blue eyes and mutton chop whiskers, mostly white with a sprinkling of foxy red.

"How do you -?" I began.

"Obvious," the old man interrupted me. "Not many strangers in the village until the tourist buses arrive in an hour or so.

"Besides, William said his cousin Lily was arriving.

"You have something of him about you.”

I smiled in relief.

I supposed William would have talked about my arrival since was coming to work in his pub.

“What did you mean, hear her’?” asked.

“Lily calling to her lover,” the man explained.

“They say when the tide is high you can hear her voice trapped between the walls of the quay and the water.”

He stamped his foot on the cobbled surface of the thick harbour wall to make a point.

I scratched my head.

I'd thought heard a voice as I'd walked along the quay.

But when peered down, all I'd spotted was a sunken boat tender and two herring gulls.

“Who was Lily?” asked, but at that moment heard William shouting across from the quayside.

“Lily! It’s opening time.”

“Sorry,” said to the old man. Tell me another time?”

“Aye, lass,” he replied. There'll be time enough.”

I ran round the harbour wall to the pub and arrived breathless.

“It’s not that urgent,” William said with a laugh, looking me up and down.

“I just didn’t want you to go any further before we get busy.”