Chapter Three - The Next Morning

Like the old army officer he was, the Colonel rose promptly at oh-six-hundred the next morning. He was accustomed to enjoying a few ports before bed and attributed his dull headache to a restless sleep from last night's noisy wind. A morning constitutional around the grounds and a strong cup of tea with Mrs Stubbs's breakfast would sort it out.

The Colonel thought about inviting his guest on the walk but decided Evans might prefer a sleep-in. "Young men can't handle their port these days," he reminded himself and headed out the front door.

As usual, the Colonel's first stop was his favourite South Garden. He scowled when he saw the shovel on the ground beside the Adam and Eve sculpture and made a mental note to tick off the gardener.

"How are you this morning, you lucky rogue?" the Colonel asked, addressing Adam. "And you, my beauty?" he enquired, turning to Eve.

Something about the figures struck the Colonel as odd. He stood back and studied them. There was something different about Adam and Eve this morning. He circled them and then stepped forward and peered more closely. What could it be?

A chill ran up his old spine when the Colonel realised what had changed.

"No, it's impossible," he said aloud, reaching up and running his trembling fingers over the smooth, closed eyelids of Adam and Eve fused in a lover's kiss.

The Colonel dropped his hand and limped hurriedly back to the Manor House to wake young Evans.

© 1992, 2017 Robert Fairhead 

With thanks to Snag Eun Park from Pixabay for the moving image of the garden sculpture.

N.B. This short story is also available on the Tall And True Short Reads audio fiction podcast.

I wrote A Moving Sculpture in 1992 when I lived in England. Looking through my original notes, I can't find the reason why I wrote it. Perhaps I just came up with the idea and explored where it took me? 

Initially, the young protagonist, Toby Evans, was a journalist for a socialist magazine, researching an undercover story on landed gentry. But around this time in the UK, several stately homes were robbed, having been cased beforehand. And I thought this was a more likely scenario for Evans’s visit to the Old Colonel and the Manor House. 

The story doesn’t explain the supernatural springing to life of the garden sculpture’s marble figures — I leave that to the reader’s imagination. Though years later, when I saw the Weeping Angels episode on Doctor Who, I did wonder about Eve's intent!

Grammarly