24) “Out of the Deep” by Walter de la Mare

Plot:

Jimmie’s Uncle Timothy has left him the house he grew up in as a neglected and unwanted child. After exhausting all alternatives, Jimmie moves in. He has no happy memories of living there. Relegated to an attic room without heat or light, he was reassured by his Aunt Charlotte that he could ring for Soames, the butler, for anything he needed. The self-righteous Soames (perhaps an out-of-wedlock or unfortunate relative of Uncle Timothy) enjoyed boxing Jimmie’s ears when no one was looking.

Presently, the only other person in the house is “his one funny charwoman,” Mrs. Thripps, who goes home at night.

Half-asleep in the same bed his uncle once used, he pulls the bell rope. An unobtrusive valet—a young man—appears. He appears the next morning as well. Jimmie refers to him as Soames Jr.

Later, a young girl appears, bringing the bowl of primroses Jimmie requested. He verbally abuses her and throws the bowl over the railing, smashing it. Mrs. Thripps is unable to find a trace of it in the morning.

Soams Jr. and the young girl are not the only members of the “Night Shift”—as Jimmie calls them—who appear when he pulls the bell rope.

Thoughts:

The reader sympathizes with Jimmie. He grew up sleeping in an unheated attic room with no lights, terrified of the unseen things that came out in the dark, yet even more terrified of calling for help from Soames.

Yet, when he spoke, I wanted to slap him. In selling some of the items from the house, he asks for a price well below their worth, like a thief. He says to the dealer (“nicely slurring his r’s,” the reader is told):

“Really, Mr. So-and-so, it is impossible. No doubt the things have an artificial value, but not for me. I must ask you to oblige me by giving me only half the sum you have kindly mentioned. Rather that [sic] accept your figure, you know, I would—well, perhaps it would be impolite to tell you what I would prefer to do. Dies irae, dies ila, and so on.”

Jimmie still has trouble sleeping, though he is no longer the little boy who lay awake at night terrified of the things in the dark, and those who abused him are dead. Mrs. Thripps asks him to allow her to call a doctor, but he brushes her off, sweetly.

While there are no great moments of terror or jumps, the horror is always present, like the memory of an abusive childhood, perhaps. Jimmie cuts himself off from all his former friends for reasons he doesn’t quite understand. He just wants to be alone.

This takes a bit of close reading. I had to read it a couple of times.

This story can be listened to here:

Bio: Author Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) worked as a clerk in the Department of Statistics for Standard Oil. Upon retirement, his pension allowed him to write full-time. He wrote fantasy primarily for children but also some works for adults. Among his most well-known works are the children’s fantasy poem, “The Listeners” and the novel, Memoirs of a Midget. He was influenced by the Christian fantasy writer George MacDonald.



Title: “Out of the Deep”
Author:  Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)
First published: The Riddle and Other Stories, May 1923