The Lower Strangling Chronicles
“I looked at the abbey every day from the window in my room at the Vicarage for thirteen years. The dark shape unnerved me on the headland. I did not find solace in it. All it did was remind me of my loneliness. It still gives me the creeps.” Janet said to Jo as they observed the iconic black façade of Whitby Abbey overlooking the town of Whitby and the North Sea on its headland.
Jo sighed.
“Look, I’m up for a trip down memory lane as much as the next person, but I’d prefer it if that trip wasn’t so morbid or depressing.” Jo said.
“Well, tough luck. All of my memories here are morbid and depressing. My life only got better after I went to Oxford and met you.” Janet said.
“Awww, babe.” Jo said, kissing her girlfriend on the cheek.
“Still, I guess it suits the abbey that inspired Dracula.” Jo said.
Janet did not respond. She simply grumbled.
Janet and Jo continued to explore the abbey. The gothic architecture fascinated Jo. Janet was not so impressed.
“Did you ever visit the abbey when you lived with that priest?” Jo said.
“No, we went nowhere. All we did was attend mass and hear the priest bang on about how literally everything we did could take us to hell, and how awful hell was.” Janet said.
“Ok,” Jo said, continuing to take photos of the abbey.
“And even then, I didn’t want to get closer to the abbey. It scared me from a distance. Why would I want to get any closer?” Janet said.
“To get to know it a bit better and find out more about the abbey behind the myth?” Jo said.
Janet simply grumbled once more.
“Please cheer up, Janet. We’re here on holiday, and you agreed to come.” Jo said.
“I agreed for your sake, and it’s nice to see you happy. But I was personally not so keen and am still not so keen.” Janet said.
“Ok,” Jo said.
After exploring the abbey site and visiting the museum, Janet and Jo had lunch in the youth hostel.
“It would be bad enough to bump into my dad again,” Janet said. “But it would be worse to bump into the priest and for him to see that I am actually gay; that cardinal sin he so loved to remind us about.”
“If that happens, just tell him that his view of God and religion is completely wrong, that God loves everyone regardless of who they’re sexually attracted to, and that you are now a member of a church that suits you better.” Jo said before eating one of her Nachos.
“I doubt he’d listen.” Janet said. “He’d just tell me I’m a sinner and that I’m going to hell, despite him trying so hard to save me.”
Jo looked at Janet for a moment.
“Whitby’s a big place. I’m sure we won’t bump into him.” Jo said. “We haven’t seen him skulking round the abbey.”
“I guess not.” Janet said. “And he was old in the 80s. He’s probably been long since dead.”
“That’s the spirit.” Jo said, before taking a sip of her orange juice.
After a while, she said, “I’d like to look around Whitby, whilst we’re here. It looks like a pleasant town.”
Janet simply looked at Jo despondently. Jo sighed.
“I’m sure it will be fine, and you’ve just said that the priest is probably dead.” Jo said. “Look, how about we get some Whitby fish and chips and have it later?”
Janet looked at her for a moment, then sighed.
“Ok, fine.” Janet said.
“Great.” Jo said. And with that, they finished their lunch.
“I think a name on one of these gravestones was the inspiration for Dracula’s first victim in Whitby, Janet.” Jo said, whilst looking at the graveyard in St Mary’s, the church immediately next to the ruined abbey.
Janet did not respond. In fact, she wasn’t anywhere near Jo at all.
“Janet? Janet?” Jo looked around, before seeing Janet look at a gravestone at the far end of the churchyard.
Janet walks over to her.
Janet was looking at a gravestone for the Rev. Phineas Babbington, 17th September 1917- 18th December 2013, beloved father, grandfather, and husband. Vicar of St Mary’s 1980- 2007.
The priest Janet had spent 13 years of her life with had indeed been dead for nine years.
“Well, at least he’s dead.” Janet said.
“Janet!” Jo said.
“What? At least I know we will not have any awkward conversations with him. I’m slightly happier now.” Janet said.
Jo rolled her eyes, then she and Janet continued to walk down the long, steep stairs towards the principal town.
The two women walked through the historic town, looking at the various buildings around them.
Suddenly, Janet stopped outside a nicely refurbished building with neat steps leading up to it, overlooking the harbour… and the abbey.
“Are you all right?” Jo asked Janet.
“This is it,” Janet said. “This is where I lived with the priest. The new owners have done some considerable work on it since I was here, but this is it.”
“It looks quite nice,” Jo said. “I don’t see what you’re complaining about.”
“It’s nice now because the new owners have done some serious work to it. But when I was here, it was as dark as the abbey. Trust me, it’s not a place you’d want to spend your childhood.” Janet said.
“I’ll take your word for it,” Jo said.
And with that, Janet and Jo left the house and continued to walk around Whitby.
Janet cheered up, and the prospect of fish and chips helped.
After seeing all they wanted to see of the town, Jo and Janet went back to Harrogate.
Whilst they drove through the Yorkshire countryside, Janet looked at her phone. Her face fell.
“Oh.” Janet said.
“What?” Jo asked. “Has your dad suddenly texted you after all these years?”
“No, worse, the Queen’s dying.” Janet said.
A gigantic shadow loomed over Janet and Jo for the rest of the journey to Harrogate.
To be continued 12/08/23
The Robinsonverse 