A Promising Encounter.

I was out for a walk today when I encountered a woman coming towards me with her Labrador dog. As we approached one another I saw that she was valiantly trying to keep the dog on the further side from me so I wouldn’t be rudely accosted by 70lbs of muscular canine. The dog was having none of it, of course. The dog wanted to make my acquaintance and wasn’t prepared to take no for an answer. The woman looked at me with apology in her eyes and I soon reassured her that of all the things close to my heart, friendly dogs are among the highest on the list. And so the dog and I became acquainted.

The woman seemed to want to chat at the same time and the conversation soon came around to The Hollow. I’ve mentioned The Hollow a few times on this blog because it’s my favourite lane in the whole of the Shire. It’s the best example of an English sunken lane I’ve ever seen anywhere, with steep sides rising to a good 15ft and the embankments being clothed with rampant ivy, plentiful stands of bracken, large swathes of wild garlic, and several other wild plants. And there are trees lining the top, with three special ones forming an impressive trinity of mature arboreal splendour. The woman knew of these trees and obviously found them as impressive as I do, and so I felt encouraged to try an experiment.

‘It’s the sort of place where you might look for unicorns,’ I said, aware that it could either establish a modicum of rapport or stop the conversation dead.

‘It is,’ she replied with some enthusiasm. ‘There’s magic there, and it can be a bit creepy at times.’

This was a revelation. It appears there’s another person in the Shire who recognises – in this respect at least – the same elements of atmosphere as I do. I wondered whether I should feel threatened on the grounds that there ain’t no room in these here parts for the two of us. I wondered whether a showdown might be in the offing.

I’m kidding, of course. I’m not into showdowns and the very concept would be the wrong sort of silliness anyway. Instead I’m hoping to bump into her again and find out more about her. For all I know she might be a witch. I only ever knew one witch and I was in my early twenties at the time, so maybe it’s about time I met another one. I would also like to know where she lives. If she is a witch she might have a witch’s equivalent of a priest hole where I can hide if the regular locals ever decide that enough is enough and it’s time I got driven to the burning mill with pitchforks.