Read In the Shadow of Shakespeare for Free Online

People thought her eccentric and independent, but left her
alone and came to her when they needed help or advice.  She sat smoking in
silence. 
    Christopher
stared up at her from his place on the floor.  Goody caught his eye. “That
one’s still lonely, eh?”  Goody tapped her pipe on the hearth,
extinguishing the spark.  She rubbed the inside of the bowl with her
thumb.
    “Aye,
yeah.  He is always about, playing with the old poppet and never wants to
go outside.”  Kate wiped her brow with her hand.  The steam from the
soup made the house warm. 
    “Been
quite awhile?”
    “Since
Mary died.  He has become…fearful.  He is getting smaller too. 
Look at him.”  Kate sat on a stool next to Goody.  She picked him up
from the floor and sat him on her lap.  Christopher sat sullenly sucking
his thumb, clutching the old poppet.
    Goody
watched him a moment, then deftly grabbed the poppet from him. 
Christopher screamed, raising his arms towards the doll, “Mary, Mary, Mary!”
    “Mary
is dead boy!” 
    Christopher
went on screaming.
    “Goody,
I think – ”
    “No
thinking Kate.  He needs to waken up.  He has been asleep, wasting
away.  He will be next, I tell you.”  
    Goody
gave the poppet back to Christopher.  He sat on Kate’s lap glaring at
her.  She extracted a bundle from her pocket in her skirt.  It was a
little cloth bag filled with herbs suspended from a string.  Goody put it
around Christopher’s neck. 
    “Let
him wear that now.  Morning and night he should be wearing that
charm.  I woke him up, now he can smell it fully.  Gave thee quite a
scare!”   Goody wrinkled her nose at him and made a face. 
    Chistopher,
alert now, watched as Goody’s eyes twinkled at him.   He lay back on
Kate’s breast, comforted.   “Will he be healed from this
sickness?”  Kate smoothed Christopher’s hair.  Her brow was creased
with worry.
    “The
boy will make that decision.  He will decide to follow his sister or
not.  I came in here, and felt…he might take leave.  He was’t not all
the way there…in his body.”  Goody extracted her pipe, and took an ember
from the fire to light it. 
    Kate
had gone white.  She squeezed Christopher closer to her.  He wiggled
free and jumped from her lap.  Goody laughed.
    “Aye,
there’s a good sign.”  She puffed on her pipe, a twinkle in her eye.
    Kate
blanched, as if stuck by an invisible hand. 
    “You
can’t keep him to ye, Kate.  Let him be.  Let him heal.” 
    “I
must keep him safe!  I must…He is leaving this place!”
    “It’s
the boy’s decision.”
    Kate
put her hands to her face and sobbed.  Goody puffed quietly on her pipe,
and Christopher stared at them both.  He fingered the herb bag around his
neck.  Goody winked at him.
    “It’s
part of his nature.  He is not always here Kate.  Look at his
eyes. He has the eyes of a seer.”
    Kate
looked up, wiped the tears from her face.  “That’s just what I was sayin’
to John!”
    “Aye. 
I remember when this one was born.  He had that Caul around his
face.  I knew this one would be lookin’ inward.  He will be special
Kate.  He will be like one of the old ones, of the old times.  He is
of Merlin’s race.  Words will come to him in a magic way.”
    Kate’s
eyes had gone big.  “He will be a poet?  A scholar?”
    “Aye,
a poet – a Merlin.  He will be a bard, a conjurer of words.”  Goody
smiled down at Christopher, holding out her arms.  Christopher cautiously
went to her.  Touching her knee, he smiled.  Goody picked him up.
    “Tell
him the old tales Kate.  The old stories.  Never stop talking to
him.  That will be this one’s cure.”
    “The
old stories…And the songs?”
    “Aye. 
All of it.  All of it is a good balm for the heart.  His soul will
bind up with it, and it will make him strong.”
    “And
what of the poppet?  Should I take it from him?”
    “Nay. 
Let him be with it awhile,”  Goody whispered in