Those Memories Made on Teardrop Lake – (05) The Aussie Commission

(Part 01)

Successful artist Danny Pellegrino had spent the summer in a rented cottage by the beautiful Teardrop Lake intent on recharging his batteries before his next commission in Australia. But he got more than he bargained for.
On the last weekend before his holiday on the lake was due to end, all the residents on the Lake had been invited to the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel, for the proprietor’s Rob and Sheryl Brown’s wedding anniversary party.
Every year they issued an open invitation to the residents of the Lake, which they had done since they first opened the Hotel.
As they walked along the lane on the Southern side of the Lake, Danny was at the back of the group and looking admiringly at Penny.
“She’s a bit of an ugly duckling isn’t she?” Aunt Julia said suddenly
“Not at all” Danny replied “She’s lovely”
As they watched the admiration spread across his face Julia and Amanda smiled to each other.
“Do you love her Danny?” Amanda asked
The question took him by surprise, he hadn’t really considered it.
“I didn’t come here to fall in love” He thought to himself then he looked at Penny as she laughed and joked with the other residents, then at her Aunts and then at Penny again.
“Look at her” he said “how could I not love her”
“Then I think you should tell her that” Julia said and the Aunts took an arm each and they began to close the gap on the others.

When they were on their own Penny asked suspiciously
“What were my Aunts talking to you about?”
“Your Aunt Amanda asked me a question” he replied enigmatically
“What question?” she enquired
“I don’t know that I should tell you, nosey” he replied
“Tell me” she begged
“Well if you must know” Danny said “She asked me if I loved you”
“And what did you say?” she asked coyly looking at the ground
“I said I couldn’t love you any more if you were Sandra Bullock”
“I love you too Danny” Penny said and wrapped her spindly arms around his neck and kissed him.
After a few moments she uncoiled herself and said sadly
“But you’re leaving in two days”
“Ah, I meant to talk to you about that” Danny replied
“What?” she asked urgently “What?”
“I thought I might stay on for a while”
And then they kissed again.

Two weeks later Danny was still living in Lake View Cottage and from his patio the view of the lake was spectacular.
It was shaped like a teardrop, hence its name, and surrounded by ancient woodland of the Dancingdean Forrest.
It wasn’t a huge body of water, just over two miles long and almost a mile at its widest point.
But it was simply beautiful and relatively unspoilt which was the reason he chose it in the first place.
It was very early in the morning as he stood drinking coffee,
There was an autumnal chill in the air and he had left Penny asleep and warm in his bed.
But there was a reason why he was awake so early, he couldn’t sleep because there were decisions to be made.
He was due to fly to Australia to start a new commission and he didn’t want to go.
Danny had been contacted by his agent to say the client had requested a delay of two weeks but he needed to make a decision soon.
“What are you doing out there Hun?” Penny asked
“I’m just thinking” Danny said
“I’ve told you before you’re not equipped for that” Penny said and giggled as she always did when she made a joke
Danny turned around and smiled at her.
“Come back to bed” she pleaded “I haven’t got you much longer”
He put his mug on the table and went inside, Danny closed the door behind him and Penny hugged him.
“You’re frozen” she said “come to bed”
“And you’ll warm me up I suppose” he said and kissed her forehead
“I have something in mind” she replied
So they went back to bed and made love.
Afterwards Penny dosed off and he lay cuddled up to her until it was time to wake her for work.
He remained in bed and listened to her tuneless singing in the shower.
And smiled to himself as he listened it always amazed him that someone so beautiful could make such an ugly noise.
When she came back into the bedroom he watched her dry herself and then get dressed and he was quite aroused.
“You could always take a sickie” he suggested
“You could always get up and walk me to work” she countered and threw a wet towel at his head hitting him full in the face which was then followed by raucous laughter.
In response he grabbed the nearest item to hand, which just happened to be the previous day’s pants, and threw them at her, missing her by a distance.
“That throw was pants” she shouted and laughed so hard she snorted as she went out the door.
Danny got up and went in the shower and as he stood beneath the hot cascading water he realised just how much he really loved her and how much he didn’t want to leave her.

(Part 02)

Danny got dressed and went down stairs and arrived in the kitchen just as she was putting her shoes on.
“I was only joking Hun” she said “go back to bed”
“I want to come” he said and kissed the top of her head

They set off down the lane holding hands and chatted about nothing much at all, just trivial things.
Both of them avoided the elephant in the room like the plague.
The one subject they really needed to discuss, Danny’s impending departure to Australia.
“There’s Coleman” she said pointing down to the lake.
Coleman Bowers worked at the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel as an odd job/handyman and part of his duties was to take his Skiff around the lake twice a week delivering the mail and small parcels.
“Maybe he’s got some more Sandra Bullock movies for you” she said and ran off down the lane laughing
She was an ungainly creature gawky and gangly, all knees and elbows, with her blonde hair trailing behind her.
“God I love you” he said to himself
“Right now you’re for it” he said out loud and chased her.
Penny ran headlong down the lane squealing as she went and she got about twenty five yards before he caught her and her punishment was a kiss, long and sultry.
They walked the rest of the way to the Hotel in silence and then kissed again.
“Bye Hun” she said
“I’ll see you later” Danny replied

He stood and watched her walk up the path, she never looked back, and Danny suspected she was crying, he waited until she went inside and before he walked away.




He decided not to go back to the cottage instead he went for a good long walk, Teardrop Lake and the surrounding woodland was good for that.
It was so sparsely populated, as it was all privately owned.

The lakeside was divided into twelve parcels of land and each had one significant dwelling on it.
Although there were a number of cottages dotted around the forest as well some of them in use and some not.
But you could roam the woods for hours without seeing another human being.
Also there were many places of interest hidden away in the woods, two follies, a Watch tower, a waterfall, brooks, streams, a 16th Century Bridge and Olwen’s chapel.

It was the Chapel that he went to first, it was one of his favourite haunts he found it very calm and tranquil and a great place to think and he felt connected to Pen there.
It was a special place for Penny as well because she said it was there that she first realized she loved him.
Olwen’s Chapel was named after Olwen an Anglo Saxon Lady who was one of the early converts to Christianity but her pagan husband’s tribe would not accept the new faith and she was forced to worship secretly in the forest.
The chapel was in actually just an assortment of stones on the forest floor arranged around a granite altar stone in a woodland clearing.
But he loved it.
It had been rediscovered early in Queen Victoria reign and had been lovingly maintained ever since by a local society.
He yomped up the hill and despite the early hour he was grateful for the coolness of the shade.
When he reached the summit he was instantly at peace, no matter how many times he visited the place the atmosphere was still palpable.

Danny sat on the altar stone in the simple chapel and prayed for a solution in the atmospheric air and after an hour he had his answer.

He retraced his steps back down the hill and was once again outside the Hotel but this time he went inside.
As luck would have it the two people he wanted to see were both in reception.
First of all he spoke to Sheryl Brown at the desk and then he took India Harris to one side and spoke to her.

With his business concluded at the Hotel his next port of call was at the other end of the lake.
The lake looked beautiful that morning, It was both idyllic and peaceful, there was little or no noise pollution and although the lake was used there were no speed boats or jet skis allowed only rowing boats, canoes, dinghies and skiffs.
At that moment Coleman Bowers arrived at the jetty on the Hotel skiff.
He was a proper country boy in his late fifties with white receding hair and a matching wiry beard.
“Morning Coleman” Danny said as he climbed out of the boat
“Hi Danny” he said
“I don’t suppose you’re going out again” he asked “I need to get to the Summers”
“No, all done” he replied
Danny nodded and began walking away
“It’s urgent then?” Coleman said taking his cap off, then he combed his white receding hair with his fingers before replacing it
“Yes” Danny replied hopefully
“Well you can borrow him” he said
“Really?” Danny responded
“Long as you do bring him back” Coleman said
“I will” Danny said “Thanks Coleman”

(Part 03)

Fortunately Penny had trained him well on the Summers skiff so he knew what he was doing.
It was beautifully cool out on the lake as the skiff made its way across the water.
It wasn’t the normal slow amble he took with Penny, their trip was more purposeful.
He drifted up to the jetty, tied off the line and climbed out.
Danny looked out across the water to where he had come from and shielded his eyes from the sun.
he wasn’t a big man, 5’ 8” and quite wiry, with skinny legs that made his baggy shorts look even baggier and His craggy features and tanned skin made him look older than his thirty five years,
He brushed his Sandy coloured hair off his forehead and walked towards the house.
Danny only took one step onto the path when.
“What are you up to?” a voice said and Amanda Summers suddenly appeared from behind a shrub.
The combination of the two things in quickly succession caused Danny to leave the ground and his heart to almost leave his chest.
“Salvador Dali” he exclaimed.
Since he left college, in his spare time, Danny did a lot of Art Workshops at schools and youth groups and he had conditioned himself to replace all his conventional curses with the names of Artists.
She was a tall slender woman in her sixties with grey hair and tanned skin and she was always appearing from the bushes, he was sure she did it on purpose.
“What are you doing with Coleman’s boat?” she asked with a chuckle, “Have you taken up piracy?”
“No” he said with a laugh “I need to talk to you and Julia”
Amanda and Julia were Penny’s aunts and the owners of the Cottage he was renting.
“Follow me then” she said “and we’ll find her”
Julia was her sister in law and they lived together in East Side House and they found her in the kitchen as usual.
“Julia! Danny needs an audience” Amanda announced
Julia was around the same age as Amanda but with darker hair and a little more meat on her bones.
“How intriguing” she said

When he left the house an hour later he had just enough time to run up to the cottage and throw on a clean shirt and to make a quick phone call and then take the skiff back to the hotel to meet Penny when she finished work.

Hi tied the skiff to the jetty and walked towards the Hotel.
Danny could see Coleman standing on a ladder attending to a floodlight and when he caught his eye Danny gave him an appreciative wave, and Coleman nodded back in response.

He made it just in the nick of time as Penny and India were leaving.
“Hi Hun” Penny said “This is a nice surprise”
Danny gave her a kiss and said
“I thought I’d take you for lunch”
“Lovely” she replied “Can Indie come?”
“No I can’t” India said quite forcefully and then as she started to blush she said “Bye Danny” and rushed off
“Bye Indie” they both said
“Should I be worried about you two?” she asked suspiciously
“No she just doesn’t want to be the third wheel” he lied
The pair of them walked into the village holding hands as if they were one being, Penny wished that they were.
Once in the village he led her to the Brown Windsor Restaurant.
“Were eating here?” she said “I was expecting a pie and a pint”
“We can do that if you want” he said
“No, no this is perfect” she replied and opened the door then she paused “But I’m not really dressed for it”
“I already thought of that” he said and gave her the carrier bag he was carrying.
Penny took it and looked inside and sighed,
“That’s perfect” she said and kissed him
“Hm hm” coughed Mark Roscoe the restaurateur
The two them smiled and blushed before continuing their entrance.
“This way Mr Pellegrino” Mark said leading the way
He settled them at a table in the corner and Penny immediately excused herself to the ladies.

(Part 04)

When she returned a few minutes later she was wearing the pale blue dress Danny had chosen.
It was Danny’s turn too sigh because she looked so lovely.
Penny sighed when she saw it because she knew it was Danny’s favourite.
That set the tone for the rest of lunch and they didn’t really say much, it wasn’t until after desert that either of them said anything significant.
“I’m really going to miss you when you’re in Australia?” Penny said
“I’m really going to miss you too” he replied
“Which is why I want you to come with me”
“What?” She said not believing her ears
“I want you to come with me” he repeated
“To Australia?” she said
“Yes to Australia” Danny said laughing at her failure to grasp what he was saying
Then the delight in her eyes went out and she said
“I can’t”
“Why not? He asked
“My job” she said “I don’t have any holiday left”
“I’ve spoken to Sheryl and as it’s coming to the end of the season, she said they’ll keep your job open till the New Year and we’ll be back by Christmas” he said “and India said she will do extra hours”
“Oh” she said weekly “so I can go?”
But she remained unconvinced.
“Yes but what about after” she said
“After what?” he said
“After Australia” she said “what about us after Australia?”
“I don’t understand” he said
“You live in Abbottsford and I live by the lake” she said
“Oh I see” he said “is that all?”
“What do you mean is that all?” she said colouring up
“I...”
Danny stopped her mid flow and said
“I spoke with Amanda and Julia this morning about Lake View Cottage and as a result I am no longer the summer tenant”
He said and Penny’s face dropped
“I am the permanent tenant” he said
“What?”
“After Australia I’m going to live by the lake”
“Really?” she said “Truly?”
“Truly” he confirmed
“But what about your studio in Abbottsford?” she asked
“That’s already on the market” Danny replied
“It is?” Penny asked
“Yes Lyndon-Sanders are handling it”
“What about all your stuff?” she asked
“That will go into storage until we get back”
“But you’ll still need a studio” she insisted
“Your Aunts have said I can put a larger conservatory on the cottage”
“You seem to have thought of everything” she said
“Almost” he said and reached across the table and took her hand “The last thing is completely dependent upon you”
“What’s that?” she said a little punch drunk
“You have to agree to marry me” he said and slipped ring on her finger.
On one of their trips in the woods Danny had spotted something glistening in the water of the brook, so he braced himself against a tree trunk and reached down and picked it up, it was about the size of a pocket watch and was made of some kind of Perspex.
The sort used on world war two German aircraft, a Messerschmitt probably that had been shot off during a dogfight.
The aircraft that may or may not have survived, there was no way of knowing, he slipped the piece of Perspex into his pocket and he thought he could do something with it when he had a spare minute of two.
Well every spare minute he worked on the Perplex and he fashioned it into a number of small objects one of which he had just slipped on her finger.
Penny audibly gasped as she looked at the ring then at him then at the ring again.
“That’s only temporary” he said
“You can’t have it back” she said adamantly
“I thought you could choose a proper one in Australia” Danny suggested
“That is providing the answer is yes”
“Yes, yes, of course its yes” she said and clumsily reached across the table and kissed him “yes”
“Well that’s a relief” he said
“Does everyone know?” she asked in a soft voice and he looked blankly at her
“About this” she said pointing at the ring
“What the engagement?” Danny said
“I like the sound of that “engagement”” she said “yes that’s what I mean”
“No, nobody knows but us” Danny said “So who do you want to tell first?”
“Oh I don’t know” she said taken aback
“Well you have a think while I pay the bill” Danny said and got up.
As he passed her seat he leant down and whispered
“And do you want to tell them before or after?”
“Before or after what?” she retorted
“We make love” he said “and if you say “instead of” I want the ring back”

Penny still hadn’t decided who to tell first by the time they reached the cottage, so they made love, and then they told her Aunts because they were the closest and they were absolutely thrilled.
“You kept that part quiet Danny” Amanda said scolding
“Do you mind?” he said
“Not a bit dear boy” she replied and kissed him.

From there they crossed the lake in the Summers skiff so Penny could tell her best friend India.
After that her employers the Browns and then she told anyone and everyone who would listen over the following nine days until they left for Australia.