It all started when she was coming home late from work and saw the fire.
Having done a couple of hour’s overtime, the woman who lived at number eleven was later than usual and it was quite dark when she got off the bus. She could see the glow as she started to walk. Turning the corner into her street she was horrified to witness a blazing house fire at number four. The owner, an elderly gentleman was standing in his front garden watching his house burn to the ground. There were lots of people in the street milling around, looking on. The word was that because the old boy didn’t have a phone someone offered to call the fire brigade for him. Nobody knows for sure why, but they turned up well over an hour later, too late to do any good.
However, that may not be when it all actually started, it’s hard to say. Around three months before the fire, the woman who lives at number eleven received a call from the old man at number four. It was early in the evening around her tea time. She wasn’t expecting the call. He rang to say he had seen her in town during the week and waved. Apparently, she hadn’t waved back. After a couple of questions and answers it was established that it must have been her he saw. She was where he said he saw her at that time. As it happened, she was delivering documents to another business. She explained that she was probably thinking about the errand she was on. She apologised and said she would look out for him in future. He seemed to accept her apology, but she wasn’t sure.
The following morning, knowing that she had seen him pottering in his front garden a couple of times, she had it in mind to look out for him. As she approached, she saw him standing in his garden. As she came up to him she gave him a merry wave. He stood there glaring at her. He didn’t wave back. This obviously upset her and she told one of her neighbours about the incident, who wasn’t surprised. She said that he was generally regarded by those who lived in the street as being an old misery.
Later, after the fire, when spoken to by the police, the homeowner was told that he was lucky to be out of the house when the gas leak in the kitchen ignited, blowing out two of the internal walls. Apparently, he was in the front garden at that moment seeing off two young boys who were making a racket by hitting his metal mail box with sticks. These boys were never properly identified. There was some interest shown, regarding the timing of these events, but nothing came of it. Soon after, the site was cleared and the land put up for sale. To the satisfaction of the people who live in the street, the old man was never seen again.
It has to be said, just how much bearing the waving incident had with regards to the whole affair, remains a matter of speculation.