Pull The Nightshade - Tim Symington

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Résumé :
Sara Agnew had not seen her beloved Uncle Jacob Schroder in seven long years, not since the funeral of her Aunt Clarice. Now, having received word that Uncle was languishing in hospital, apparently near death, she is racked with guilt. Sara therefore, along with her husband Oliver, and their little son Bengy, leave the city and travel the 150 miles to the rural town of Kiertville to be near him, initially for a week. Upon seeing her uncle, Sara is shocked at his deterioration. His response to her is a confusing mixture of harshness and absent-mindedness, while sometimes lucid and sometimes seemingly demented. Towards Oliver the old man displays disdain, and to the boy mere dismissiveness. Thus Oliver despises the old man. Yet Bengy in his innocense adores him; the boy shows his affection by bringing wild flowers and blackberries as gifts. Oliver however, wants nothing more than for the week to end, so having reluctantly done his duty, can then return to the city. Each evening the Agnews stay out at Uncle Jacob's farm, and each morning they return to the hospital to keep vigil at his side. The inevitable tension builds between Oliver and Sara, until one evening it erupts. The next day in her disgust, Sara goes alone to the hospital, leaving Oliver to brood at the farm, and to babysit. But a chance encounter with a stranger later that day positively changes Oliver's perspective regarding his uncle-in-law. The following day, to everyone's surprise, Uncle Jacob too has had a dramatic change of demeanour, and he immediately takes both Oliver and little Bengy into his good graces. In fact, he dotes on the boy, and the boy hero-worships him. Sara especially is relieved and grateful. However, when Uncle begins talking in riddles and addressing young Benjamin with trance-like cryptic speech, Sara becomes spooked and extremely frightened. Later, when the couple discuss this, Oliver cannot understand Sara's reaction, but nonetheless trusts her intuition as potentially right, as Sara keeps insisting she feels something is drastically amiss, and perhaps even sinister. Sara contacts the one person she knows might have the answers she seeks: Gladys Galbraith, her uncle and late-aunt's longtime friend and neighbour. Sure enough, when Gladys is pressed by Sara to share what she knows, some heartrending facts emerge from the past that brings the couple understanding of Uncle's mysterious outbursts. Unbeknown to them at the point, the soul connections of the family were yet to continue their unfolding in unexpected turns.