The End of the World Series Part 4

[a1653 77]

Gosh, it has been a long time, has it not? I stopped visiting the forum when I learned that I could no longer post in the AWS (for those of you who are new, the precursor to this sub forum was the Amatuer Writing Section - AWS), and learned only today of its revival. But, anyway, welcome to part 4 of my series! Now, read!

 

In an unknown place, and at an unknown time, 43 beings have gathered in the open air.

 

"One of the beings, who was obviously the leader, as will be shown soon, calls for the attention of the others gathered around him. The noise to which he designated said task clearly came from him and was not of human speech. Such was the silence that followed that one could hear the flapping of wings high overhead, and the digging of various animals in the numerous underworlds below. The silence was suddenly broken by the leader of the beings, who we shall now refer to as 'the leader', from whom a murmuring and muttering now ensued, increasing slowly in volume and audibility as the speech continued. But, to the other 42 beings that were gathered there that day, the leader's words were devoid of any relation to any of the languages on earth that are alive today. Even more stranger was the fact that not only did the leader's words sound magical, but they were also magical, judging by what was happening as the words came out of the leader's mouth and by what I, Queen... 

Something happened here. Whatever it was, my dairy was damaged by something or someone. The damage is irreparable; I've tried everything... Hmm... There's something I haven't tried... Yes..."

 

It is now 10 o'clock at the Davison Hall, and the guests have been coming in every few minutes or so. All of those invited have arrived, and the conversational ball of 40 minutes ago has burst, unleashing many smaller conversational balls, and everyone has moved into the main hall, where lavish - to the humans of the 21st century at least - refreshments now adorn a beautiful acacia table and the customary silver platters held by servants, who move about the main hall, avoiding obstacles as they went, yet all with the grace of a ballet dancer. There isn't that much to tell about Lord Charles Davison's birthday that won't secretly bore you quickly to the point of abandoning this narrative for good, so I think that, for good of you, good sir or madam, we shall gloss over Lord Davison's birthday and travel through time to the day of the end of the world for Lord and Lady Davison.

 

The time changes once again. It is now a new day in Davison Hall, and Lord Davison's alarm clock is about to ring. It is set to 7 o'clock, the customary waking time for him. His Lordship is presently and quite suddenly awakened from his fitful slumber by the ringing of the alarm clock, which he forces himself to get up to. He goes down to the dining room and eats his customary pre-prepared breakfast. Shortly after finishing it, he thanks his chiefs for the breakfast and then decides to walk Gerald, the Davisons' dog, on the moor. He leaves a note for his wife as to where he is going, what he is doing, and when he will get back.

An hour later, the watchful eyes of Lady Eleanor Davison, who is now completely ready for the day ahead and sitting in the sun parlour, waiting for her husband and also enjoying the scenery of the moor, are somewhat slightly relieved to see her husband surmount the crest of the depression that backed onto Davison Hall. Accordingly, she gets up from her seat and goes outside to meet him and Gerald. After having undertaken their customary rounds of the house, inside and out, for the purposes of something to do, they had morning tea in the sun parlour at 10 o'clock. After morning tea, at around 11 o'clock, they went outside to the main entrance of the house, for they were about to pay a visit to the post office in their local village of Tavistock. They were in their normal clothes. Lord Davison was in a black morning coat and dress pants, polished black shoes, silver cravat, black top hat, and had in hand his favourite gold-topped polished black veneer cane. His wife, Lady Eleanor Davison, was attired in a humble white cotton dress, and a pair of blue shoes of the customary type for that period. Their mode of transport soon appeared on a separate gravel path that connected onto the main driveway, went a quarter of the way around Davison Hall, and then veered off on a straight course - hidden from view both from the house and the entirety of the driveway including the main entrance gate to Davison Hall - to the building where the horses and coaches were housed and looked after. Lord and Lady settled themselves inside the coach, and presently, the coach set off on its journey to the post office in Tavistock, followed by a number of other coaches, for reasons which are soon to be made known.

An hour - for horses are a very slow method of transport when attached to a coach - later, they arrived at their destination, the village post office. There, they collected a mountain of presents wrapped in brown paper, the customary wrapping of the time. They, with the help of the coachmen of their coach and the others that had followed, proceeded to load all of the coaches but their own with presents. And many presents were there. The number would, if revealed at this point in the story, be ill-timed, so we shall leave it for a bit later. Once all the loading had finished, they set off back to Davison Hall presents and all. At noon, that is, 12 o'clock, the line of coaches finally stopped in semi-circular array at the main entrance of the house. Unloading of the presents started at once, helped by coachmen and Lord and Lady alike, until, by half-past, the coaches were emptied of their loads of merriment. In went the presents, through the vestibule, past the spiral staircase that offered a lavish way of passage to the second floor, past the reception room, and into the grandiose living room. There, they were organized into a number of stacks, so as to be efficient with space. The main entrance's doorman was busy calling his fellow servants from their activities; he had been instructed to by Lady Eleanor upon her entry into the main vestibule. The coachmen were already well on their way to their quarters, where they were to put away the horses and coaches, and then, with their fellow coachmen, come back to Davison Hall. Those in the servants wing of the house were also informed. All of these servants came to the sitting room, where the presents were, along with their masters, Lord and Lady Davison. Of course, they didn't come all at the same time; some were quite far away, others had important activities that needed to be attended to first, such as the settling of the horses that had served as transport for the presents, and some things couldn't be left unfinished.

But, by 1 o'clock in the afternoon, all the servants in the employ of the Davisons were standing in together in the sitting room on the ground floor. After a request for the servants to sit by Lady Eleanor, Lord Davison and Lady Eleanor, still standing, both said a few words of thanks to the servants gathered there, and then proceeded to hand out one present to each servant. Each present was addressed to a specific individual, and all of the servants got a present, such was the generosity of Lord Charles Davison. Inside each present, there was a complete outfit for daily wear when not at work, and a bottle of wine to enjoy at home. The outfits - for all the servants go these presents - changed every year, so that the servants could build up a wardrobe. Attached to each present was an envelope containing two letters, one written personally by Lord Davison, and the other personally written by Lady Eleanor. Every servant got two letters addressed to them. Such was the generosity of the Davisons. I say 'was' because....

 

And we will stop there. This series will be continued. This part was a bit weird, granted, but it was important to understanding the parts to come.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by a1653

[a1653 77]

I am sorry for the long wait, but it couldn't be helped. All the other pieces have been written up to part 7 and the starting part of a follow up series. These parts will be posted soon. 

Edited November 8, 2021 by a1653