The Mirror (4)

On many occasions I could hear music coming through the mirror. Strange, unearthly music, not like anything from this world. Of course it could have been Mrs Aspeth, playing the radio in another part of the house. She always listened to Radio Baroque. On other occasions there were strange smells. Sometimes the sea, sometimes woodland, sometimes something I'd never previously encountered. Mrs Aspeth said it was her air freshener.

In the new year I found a coin on the floor. It was not an English coin, nor, it transpired after an extensive google search, was it a coin from anywhere on this Earth.

I thought about telling Mrs Aspeth, after all, someone may have thrown a coin as a  prelude to entering, but then I thought better of it, as the un-asked-for arrival of the coin might cause her great anxiety, for she feared what might come through the mirror as much as she wished for a visitor.

I decided on an alternative strategy. I threw a coin back. A 50p piece with Paddington Bear on it, I'd been saving it for my niece.

The coin didn't crash against the glass. There was no glass. It passed straight through to the other side. Never to return. I would have to give my niece another present.