Observations placeholder

Joe Cassidy

THE DIVINER

‘I’m talking ten years ago. More maybe. There was this bush at the side of the road that locals were always going on about. It was supposed to have sacred powers.’

‘Go on.’

‘There’d been strange happenings there, hundreds of years ago. There are lots of stories about it, stories that have been passed down through the generations. Spirits are supposed to linger there, and they say you mustn't interfere with the bush.'

I nodded. I knew about sacred areas. I'd been brought up knowing to respect bushes like that, and I'd heard the stories about those who hadn't respected them. I believed the stories.

‘Well, I didn't believe there was anything in it. But that bush, it was always left untouched. The authorities would cut the hedge round it; this bush wasn't ever cut. Not ever. They said that anyone who interfered with it could have bad luck afterwards. And one night, a friend and I went on the lash. And we decided to cut down the bush.'

‘And did you cut it down?'

‘We tried all right. We hacked away at it, but it wasn’t too easy. We ended up with scratches all over our hands, arms and faces until finally we gave up. You understand, we had had more than a few. We kept falling over.'

'And did anything happen?'

'I woke the next morning and I couldn't remember if we'd managed to cut the bush down. Now that I was sober, I really hoped we hadn't. So I drove out to the bush to check the damage when ... well, this surely has to be a coincidence, but my friend was out driving to work in his van, in the opposite direction. I didn't see him. But it seems we crashed into each other, head on.'

‘Was it bad?'

'Put it this way: the next thing I remember is being cut out of my car. And, get this, the crash happened right opposite the bush. I'll tell you one thing, coincidence or not, I'm never trying that one again.'