How long did you spend in Bellow

About six months

Describe Bellow to me

Well above all it is a railway town

Without a station

It used to have a station

Bur it closed in 1966

The town never recovered

As it worshipped its railway

Do trains still pass by

Yes

How many

Up to thirty a day

Some are passenger trains

But most are freight

Are the people nice

Yes to a person

There are the Oliver sisters

Who are known as the Bellow sisters

There are eight sisters in total

Originally there were nine

But Nancy Jayne drowned in the creek

They own a cake shop opposite the tracks

And whenever you enter you receive a gift

That being a pastry with a raspberry enclosed

You cannot refuse their gift without offence

It is all part of the daily ritual of the town

They seem a little strange

Strange yes but as sane as you and me

Has it always been like that

Yes since the end of the war

When the Smithson boys returned

From the various theatres in one piece

Mother Large and Mother Small

Baked cakes for the whole town in celebration

It has been a tradition ever since

As not all the boys returned

Mayor Newman lost both of his sons

And every year on the 6th of June

The town is draped in black and the trains

Pass without a horn and the shop close

Everything is silent as the midnight hour

Were you accepted

Yes very much as Kate was born in Solitude

Solitude

The next town

They are so close as to be nearly twinned

I was Kate’s English husband no less

A writer like her with a posh accent

Kate is by far the cleverest girl from these parts

As she went to great universities

In both America and England

She has appeared on television

And has written a number of books

But that said she has not lost her common touch

She is as dusty as the town itself

One of her jobs is to run the summer lottery

With the help of the simple folk from Saint Olaf’s

It is a cross to bear to say the least

But she does it with a smile and is cheerful

Especially as she is followed around by Oh Henry

Who is actually a talented carpenter

But does not understand lotteries

Will you both return to Bellow

We are planning to do so next year

As the railway has another birthday

Which birthday

I have lost count of these celebrations

The station that closed still stands

A little rough on the edges but in one piece

It is spruced up and the twelve noon actually stops

The railway people must love that

Who are they to argue

It is either that or reopening the station

Which given that the line is mainly freight

Is not really needed no matter what the town folk say

St Paul is only an hours journey and most people drive

Could you live in Bellow with Kate

Yes and No as I will always be a stranger

A much loved stranger but a stranger nonetheless

Kate is obviously a local girl from these parts

But she feels that she has outgrown her roots

It pains her to recognise this fact but it is true

She would rather be the bright Solitude girl

Who lives in an English village with her husband

But you both live in Oxford

I agree but that would be splitting hairs

As Oxford is surrounded by rural villages

And my parents live in a converted farmhouse

So we are just being economic with the truth

Although we are planning to move into the country

When the little ones arrive to take their place

So we are not really telling lies