The Gardener’s Sister

(Part One)

“Bollocks” Tom Nightingale said at the sound of the doorbell and struggled to his feet to answer it.
He grabbed his crutches and headed slowly towards the door just as it rang again
“Alright I’m coming” he said
When he opened the door he found a man and woman standing the other side of it, late twenties probably.
“I’m Roland” the man said proudly thrusting his chest out “I do the garden”
“Oh” I replied
The attractive woman who was standing just behind him said
“What he means is that he is a very good gardener and he’s looking for work”
Roland, he ascertained had a learning disability of some sort and the woman with him he presumed was his carer.
Tom wondered how many houses they had visited before his and how many times she had had to explain.
“Well” He said and he saw her shoulders slump as she anticipated another rejection.
“I am sorely in need of a gardener”
And she straightened up and the broadest smile crossed her face and Roland looked at her and smiled
“Thank you” she said and squeezed Roland’s arm proudly
“Thank you” Roland said and held out his hand for Tom to shake
“I can’t afford to pay you a lot” Tom said
“That’s not a problem” she replied for him
“And you may not want the job when you see the state of garden, it’s a mess” Tom added
“I will do it” Roland said holding his head high “I don’t mind a mess”
“Go through the side gate and I will meet you out the back” he said
He closed the door and made his way slowly to the back door which he had just opened, when Roland and his carer walked through the side gate.
“Oh dear” she said as she saw the overgrown jungle that was Tom Nightingales garden
“Lots of work for me” Roland said enthusiastically and went exploring in the undergrowth.
“Thank you” she said
“What for?” Tom asked
“For giving my brother a chance” she replied
“Nonsense I should be thanking you” he said and winced
“Are you ok?” She asked
“Yes, it’s just that I’m not supposed to be putting my weight on it” he replied
“Then you need to go in and sit” she said with authority
“I’ll be find” Tom replied
“Sit” she insisted “We don’t tell patients for no reason”
“We?” Tom queried
“I’m a nurse” Julia said and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
She settled him in his chair
“Now stay there and rest your leg”.
“Yes nurse” he responded
“Julia” she corrected him
“I’m Tom”
“Can I make you a drink?” she asked
“Only if you’re going to join me” Tom replied
“I thought you’d never ask”
“Great” he replied “Black coffee for me please”
She went to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with the drinks which she set down on the small table and she sat in a vacant chair.
“So what happened?” she asked indicating my leg
“Car versus lorry” he said “guess which one I was driving”
“How long ago?”
“Two years” Tom replied “and several operations”
“Any more planned?” Asked Julia
“No they have done everything they can so whatever I have when this has healed I will have to live with” He said soberly
“Is that why the garden is so overgrown?” she asked
“Only partly” he replied “I inherited the house from my aunt Rose who sadly spent the last three years of her life in a home, so it was already fairly overgrown when I moved in, but it was only two months after that when I had the accident, so it’s at least six years since anything meaningful was done out there”
“Mind you I don’t know how much better it would be if I hadn’t had the accident” he continued “I don’t have green fingers at all”
“Nor me” she said “but Roland is a whizz”
Tom looked at her and saw the pride in her pretty smile as she mentioned Roland.
“Roland loves gardening, when he lived with mum he was always out there pottering about or in the greenhouse”
Julia almost cried at the thought of a happier time in their lives Tom could see her eyes begin to moisten.
Just at that moment through the French window he saw Roland reappeared from the wilderness and he was grinning broadly.
“He looks so happy” Julia said and she almost cried again
I edged forward on my seat in readiness to stand.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she said sternly “You need to stay seated”
“Yes nurse” he said obediently and he watched Julia with an appraising eye as she walked to the French doors and opened them.
Roland immediately stepped forward and hugged his sister
“Well what do you think?” Tom asked while still admiring Julia’s figure.
“It’s big Julia” he said laughing
“Can you help me with then?” Tom asked
“Oh yes” Roland replied eagerly
“Then come and shake on it” Tom said
And Roland strode forward and shook Toms hand as Julia looked on proudly.
“The only snag is that I don’t have much in the way of tools” Tom admitted
“I have tools” Roland said
“Ok then, when would you like to start?” Tom asked
“Now” he replied “I can start now”
“I think tomorrow would be better as we have disturbed Mr...”
“Nightingale” Tom said “But please call me Tom”
“We have disturbed Mr. Nightingale enough for today” she continued
“Ok Julia” Roland agreed
“Tomorrow then” Tom said
“Tomorrow then” Roland echoed
“We will see you tomorrow then, we’ll let ourselves out” Julia said and steered Roland out the door “because Tom needs to rest his leg” She directed her eyes in Tom’s direction as she said it and Tom said
“Yes nurse”

(Part Two)

The next morning Tom got himself going early and showered and shaved and put on a smart shirt.
He wanted to give a better impression of himself than he had the day before if Julia was going to be coming with Roland.
He was sure he remembered her say “We will see you tomorrow” but then by the time nine o’clock came and went he began to think he had imagined it.
But at 9.15 he heard the side gate go so he got up and opened the French doors.
And with the aid of his crutches he stepped ungracefully onto the patio just as the lovely Julia walked through the gate.
She was wearing a bright floral summer dress presumably as it was going to be a nice day.
Whatever the reason he was pleased with the outcome.
She stepped to one side and held the gate as the front wheel of a wheel barrow appeared followed by the wheel barrow itself, full of tools, and Roland who was pushing it.
“My word you are well equipped” Tom said and blushed as he realized he was looking at Julia as he said it.
“Yes I am” replied Roland
“We’re not too early are we?” Julia asked “He’s been ready since 7 o’clock”
“Not at all” Tom replied
Roland was wearing work boots and overalls and was raring to go, Julia on the other hand, dressed in her summer frock and sandals was not.
“So are you gardening or cheering from the sidelines?” Tom asked
“I’m definitely cheering” she replied with a giggle.
“Well we can sit out here if you’d like I’ve got chairs and stuff in the garage” Tom suggested
“That would be lovely but let me get me and Roland get the chairs” she said
“Ok I’ll put the kettle on” he said
“If you must” she said disapprovingly

The kettle had just boiled when Julia came in to the kitchen
“Ok, you can leave that to me now” she said and ushered him out onto the patio.
Where he found Roland had just finished dusting down the chairs.
Tom found himself unable to fathom out the best way to seat himself in the chair, it was one of those chairs that when seated you lifted the arm rests and the back went down and the foot rest came up.
But he couldn’t get the chair to stand still while he lowered himself into it.
“Haven’t you sat down yet?” Julia asked
“It’s not for the want of trying” Tom replied and she laughed as he tried again and failed.
“Roland will help” she said “Give me your crutches”
He complied and then Roland scooped him up in his arms like he was a child, he was immensely strong, and lowered him gently into the chair.

As Roland toiled in the jungle, they knew he was there even though they couldn’t see him, there were tell tail sounds of a man at work.
Julia and Tom sat on the patio and chatted
In truth Tom initially listened more than conversed as his mind wandered and he ended up just looking at her.
He thought she had a pretty face and he loved her bobbed soft brown hair and the way it framed her face perfectly.
He also looked at her eyes and pronounced them to be hazel.
“So you’re a nurse” he said as she caught him watching her
“Yes” she replied taking a sip of her tea.
“I’m a palliative care nurse at the Pineridge Hospice”
“Wow that’s challenging” he responded
“Well I was in the Emergency Department at the Winston Churchill for five years.
Dealing with the same people time and time again having done the same thing that got them in there the previous time and knowing that after you patched them up they would be back again the next month for the same reason that was challenging”
She said
“So what prompted the change?” Tom asked
“It was when my mum was in the Hospice and I saw the dignified way they dealt with the poor souls who were on the edge of the abyss and the comfort they bestowed upon them as they slipped away, and I thought that a much more important role than patching up the drunks and addicts”
“And when you’re not working you help your brother” tom said
“I try to” she said
“He has a real passion for gardening and he’s good at it, really good, but you’re the first person to give him a chance, I can’t tell you how grateful I am”
“I’ll be honest with you Julia when I said yes it was because I could see how your spirits sank when you thought I was going to say no, but also I thought that well the garden is such a mess, what harm could he do, not a particularly noble reason”
“Being honest is noble” she said
After a few moments of silence Tom asked
“So how did he come to be living with you?”
“Well my dad worked all his adult life for Lord Mornington, as a chauffeur for most of that time and when he died his Lordship graciously allowed my mum to stay on in the tied house until her death.
When she died Roland had to leave and so he moved in with me”
But I only have a two bedroom flat and not even a communal garden.
And Roland really misses his garden”
“Any other family?”
“Yes I have an older brother, Victor, but he’s a waster, I wouldn’t have let Roland go to him even if Victor had suggested it, which he didn’t.”
“What about you? Any family”
“No Aunt Rose was the last” he said
“I’m sorry to hear that”
“Aunt Rose loved her garden she would hate to see it like this” Tom said
“But here we are, about to restore it to its former glory”

I looked at my watch and realized it was time for lunch
“Let me go and make some lunch” Tom suggested
“Nonsense you need to stay off the leg, I’ll go and get something”
She offered
Tom opened his mouth to protest but Julia gave him a look that said her mind was made up.
Then she leant towards him and whispered
“Roland will want chips anyway”
“Oh” Tom said
“What do you want for lunch Rollie?” she shouted
“Chips” he replied instantly
“Chips it is them” Tom said “I’ll get my wallet”
Julia gave him another look.

(Part Three)

After lunch Roland went back to work and Julia and Tom resumed their conversation
“What about an allotment” Tom suggested
“We tried that” Julia said
“They said they were full but I know they were lying”
Tom raised an eyebrow of doubt
“They are still advertising for new members in the local shop, they just didn’t want a retard in their society”
She almost cried but she managed to compose herself.
“So what do you do?” she asked
“I’m a web design consultant” Tom said
“And who do you work for” she asked having no idea what a web design consultant was.
“I’m a freelance” he said “so fortunately I can work from home”
“Well that’s handy” she said encouragingly
“Yes but so I’ve lost a lot of work because of this” he said patting his leg “with operation’s or hospital appointment and physio”
“That’s not so good” Julia said
“No, but I’m lucky really” Tom said “lucky I have some regular clients who have been very understanding and of course I’m lucky not to be dead”

By the end of the afternoon Roland had made significant progress cutting back the shrubbery but there was still a long way to go.
It was a big garden as you would expect with a 1930s detached house, it was 60 feet wide and more than treble that in length
Tom’s Aunt Rose always had it in very good order and it was her pride and joy.
Roland was loading his tools back into his wheelbarrow
“Put your tools in the garage Roland” Tom said
“Then you won’t need to bring them with you every day”
“That’s a good idea isn’t it Roland?” Julia said
“Yes it is” he agreed
“Will I see you both again tomorrow?” Tom asked hopefully
Tom was sad to see her go at the end of the day it had been such a pleasant day, it had been quite a while since he had had any meaningful conversation especially with such lovely company.
“Yes if that ok” Julia said
“I’ll see you both tomorrow then”

The next day was spent in the same pleasant fashion as the first one was with Julia and Tom relaxing and poor Roland doing all the work and all three of them loving every minute of it.

Julia didn’t come with Roland every day she still had to work and if she was on nights then she would be sleeping during the day.
Then there were days when she had housework to do or errands to run, shopping, paying bills etc.
Those were the days Tom came to dislike intently.
Some days of course Tom wouldn’t be at the house to see her if she were there because he had errands to run or hospital appointments or physio.
But they both secretly loved it when they were both there together.

After a few weeks Roland had cleared the garden right down to the end and cut all the weeds bramble and nettles down to ground level and was left with two enormous piles of garden rubbish one of them being the decapitated shrubbery.
“What now?” Julia asked
“Well I suppose we can compost the green stuff” he said “In the bottom corner”
Roland nodded enthusiastically
“What about the rest? Can we burn it?” Julia asked
“Well we could but I think we’ll hire a chipper” Tom replied
“A what?” she queried
“A wood chipper” he said
“What’s that?”
“Well it’s a machine that you stick the woody stuff in and it mashes it all up into chips” Tom said
“Rollie liked chips” Roland said and laughed and Tom and Julia joined in.
“So it’s a big boy’s toy” Julia said when they had stopped laughing
“Yes” Tom admitted “but you can have a go”
“Ok, where do we get one?” she said

Also as the weeks had gone by Tom’s mobility improved and he was able to ditch the crutches in favour of a single walking stick and it was when he was at that stage when he was at his least gimpy that he chose to ask Julia out.

It was a very hot day, but that wasn’t why he was sweating he had decided that he would ask her that day, Roland was way down the end of the garden
Sorting the compost and Tom was pacing up and down the patio, she had phoned to say she was coming straight round from work.
And the fact that when Julia arrived and she was still wearing her uniform, not one of the sexy “Carry on Nurse” type uniforms but it was still very nice, merely made him sweat even more.
“Would you like a drink Julia?” he asked “There’s wine in the fridge”
“I’d love one” she said and plonked herself down in a chair.
He got the wine from the fridge and poured two glasses instantly drained one and filled it again.
And they sat on the patio in the evening sunshine drinking their wine
“Julia I was wondering” he began
“And feel free to say no,
But um I thought that well um
If you were um,
Not on nights maybe,
If you thought perhaps um,
We might um, well you know,
Go out for dinner,
Maybe,
On Friday”
She had been staring at him for every tortuous second of his inept babbling.
Looking at him like he was a gibbering idiot, which of course wasn’t far from the truth
“I’d love to” Julia replied putting him out of his misery
“I thought you were never going to ask”
“Well I’ve been meaning to for a while” Tom explained
“What made you ask my now?” she asked “Was it the uniform?”

(Part Four)

They had made love for the first time after their second date and it didn’t go at all to plan, as at a crucial point in the preceding’s Tom’s bad leg suddenly cramped up and he fell out of bed.
When Julia had stopped laughing and Tom’s leg had returned to some semblance of normality they tried again.
“I’ll go on top this time” Julia suggested
“Good idea” Tom agreed “then if you get cramp, you can fall out of bed, and I can laugh at you”
They finally completed the act an hour later.

It was after they had been going out for a couple of months when summer had given way to autumn, when there was a ring on the doorbell.
Tom was working on his laptop in the lounge while Roland was laying turf in the garden.
Tom got up from his seat and paused briefly to marvel at what a great job Roland had done before heading towards the front door.
He opened it to find a short emaciated man standing there, he was pretty sure he didn’t know him but there was something familiar about him.

“Yes” Tom said
“My name is Victor Wollert” he said “Can I come in”
Tom realised why there was something familiar about the man he was Julia’s older brother.
“No I don’t think so” Tom said
“Ok I’ll say what I have to say on the door step” Victor said
“Go on then” Tom said
“I hear you’re exploiting my brother Roland” he said “Using him like a slave”
“Well not that it’s any of your business” Tom said “But I pay Roland to do my garden”
“You can’t give him money he’s not responsible enough to have money” Victor said
“Is that right?” Tom asked
“You can pay it to me in future” he said “and I will look after it for him”
“I don’t think so” Tom replied
Victor leant in towards Tom and whispered
“You will pay the money to me, unless you want all you neighbours to know you’re taking advantage of a mong”
“A mong?” Tom said with disgust “you have no idea who or what your brother is, do you? Now get lost”
Tom slammed the door shut and immediately phoned Julia.

They hadn’t hear from Victor anymore after that day and they assumed that was the end of the matter until two months later.
It was Julia’s day off and she and Tom were looking forward to a day together, in truth Tom was just contemplating a cosy siesta with the lovely Miss Wollert when the doorbell rang.
Tom opened the door and was greeted by a rather rotund middle aged woman with ridiculous hair.
“Maureen Cooper” she said holding up an ID badge “Social services, can I come in”
Tom invited her in and when Julia had made drinks they all sat in the lounge.
“We have had a report that you are using a vulnerable person as slave labour” Mrs Cooper stated
“I can guess who that was” Julia said with disgust “my brother Victor”
“I can’t divulge the name of the complainant” she said
“Bloody nerve” Tom said “He was here demanding that I pay Roland’s wages to him, I refused which is why he’s made a complaint”
“So he hasn’t done work for you?” Mrs Cooper asked
“Oh yes he has worked for me but I pay him” Tom said
“And how much do you pay him?” she asked
“He gets minimum wage” Julia interjected
“Can you prove that?” She asked
“As a matter of fact I can” Tom said and stood up “I am a bit OCD when it comes to records, so yes I can”
Tom reached up to the top shelf and took down an A5 note book.
“This shows everything” Tom said “This lists all his hours, how much he earned and at the back are the receipts for the deposits into his account”
“As you can see at the beginning” Julia said “He did a lot more hours but they have tailed off now because he is only doing maintenance”
“We have before and after pictures which shows how much he has achieved” Tom said
“What are these figures in red?” Mrs Cooper asked
Julia and Tom both laughed
“Do you see that jar on the sideboard” Tom said indicating a China fruit jar “That contains the money I overpay him, if I pay him for more hours than he has worked, he puts in in the jar”
“And those are the figures in red” Julia said “he is no fool and he only wants to be paid for the work he has done”
Mrs Cooper was silent for a moment as she studied the rest of the book and then she asked
“And how many hours is he working today?”
“Oh he’s not working for me today” Tom said
“But isn’t that him in the garden?” Mrs Cooper asked
“Yes that’s Roland” Julia said
“And he’s gardening” Mrs Cooper persisted
“Oh Yes always” Tom replied
“For you” She said
“No” Tom Replied “Today he’s gardening for himself”
“I don’t understand” said Mrs Cooper
“Julia and Roland live in a flat and have no garden, the local allotment society won’t rent him a plot because he has learning difficult so I have gave him half of the garden to work for himself, in fact its Roland’s garden now, not mine”
“As you can see he loves gardening” Julia said proudly
“I can see that, but you must appreciate how it looks, a man giving half of his garden to a virtual stranger” Mrs Cooper said with eyebrows raised
“What if he was going to be my brother in law?” Tom said looking at Julia
“What?” Mrs Cooper asked a little confused
“Are you proposing to me?” Julia asked
“What?” Mrs Cooper asked again even more confused
“Yes” Tom said
“Not the most romantic way to be asked” Julia added
“Well I’ve been trying to ask all week and couldn’t get it out” Tom said
“You know what I’m like”
“Well in that case” she said “I will have to marry you”
“You will?” Tom said and they stood in the middle of the room and kissed
“Case closed then” Mrs Cooper said

There only remained one obstacle to Julia and Tom’s engagement.
If Roland wasn’t happy then Julia couldn’t marry him.
So it was on a crisp autumn morning that Tom and Julia had chosen to ask Roland a question when they were all sitting in the lounge, Roland was a little fidgety as he wanted to get back to the garden and his eyes kept wandering to the window
“Would you like to live here Roland?” Tom asked
“No” he replied very definitely
“Why not?” he asked
“Julia will be lonely without me” Roland said “I don’t want her to be lonely”
“I don’t want her to be lonely either Roland” Tom said
“Which is why I thought it would be nice if we all lived here together”
“Ok then” he said and went back to his garden
Tom turned to Julia and said “Ok then”