The Lady's Ring

"Do you want to here a scary story?" Al asks, taking a torch out of his pocket.

"Yes, yes!" Rowan says, bouncing up and down on the floor boards.

June squirms on my knee, "it won't be too scary, will it Denny?"

"No," I say, shaking my head and making eye contact with my Al. "It won't be too scary, will it Al?"

"No, of course it won't," he assures her, he leans in to whisper in her ear, "it's not real anyway."

"Promise?" She presses, clinging tighter to me.

"Promise," he replies.

"Can we hear the story now?" Ash whines, tugging at her sister's sleave. "Don't be such a scaredy-cat June."

"I'm not a scaredy-cat Ash," June says. hitting her hand.

"No hitting, girls," Mairi says, trying to pick Ash back up so they can't reach each other.

"Sorry" they say together.

"I'll get on with the story now? Yes?" Al says, moving back to his seat in the circle.

"A long time ago," he begins with a wicked smile on his face, "in this very house, there lived a woman. A lady, who served the Queen of England. In reward for this service, the Queen gave her a ring made of silver and set with jewels.

"The lady guarded this ring jealously, keeping it safe in her jewellery box and letting no one see it.

"One day, when she came into her room she found a maid going through her jewellery and holding the ring. She flew into a rage, screaming at the maid and attacking her with her bare hands."

"Al?" I interrupt in an undertone, "small children, not too scary, remember."

He waves a dismissive hand at me.

"The maid fought back, killing the lady before she ran off into the night, taking the ring with her." He takes a deep breath. "It is said that the lady pursues the ring to this day, attacking anyone who tries to take it from her." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silver ring. "And this, is that ring."

A clap of thunder punctuates his last sentence, making the little ones scream.

"Oi," Mairi interrupts, reaching over to take the ring out of his hand, "that's mine."

"You stole the lady's ring?" June asks, grasping hold of my clothes and burying her face in my chest.

"No, sweetie," Mairi says, "Al made up the story, he just used my ring as a prop for that."

"Not real," June says, "not a real story."

"Do you want to tell the next story?" Al asks her, "you can make it as scary as you want."

"Yes," she says, "I'll give it a go."