Jake decided not to stay with Gwen McCracken, as much as he wanted to greet his friend. He didn’t want to bring more trouble on her, so he wandered around the village looking for accommodation. One or two places showed signs indicating vacancies, but it wasn’t until he found one called The Elms that he decided to enquire. Jake had always loved trees, and the elm was his favourite, so when he saw the rough bark of its trunk in the garden of this property, he entered the gate. He remembered that, apart from the Tree of Life, the elm was one of the two trees mentioned in Genesis as appearing in the Garden of Eden. He preferred not to dwell on quite why his head was crammed with such useless information.
A short, thin woman with a busy air, introducing herself as Mrs Lucas, hair tied back in
