(Part 01)
The village of Clarence is in the Finchbottom Vale, which was nestled comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north, those who are lucky enough to live there think of it as the rose between two thorns.
The Vale was once a great wetland that centuries earlier stretched from Mornington in the East to Childean in the west and from Shallowfield in the south to Purplemere in the north.
But over the many centuries the vast majority had been drained for agriculture, a feat achieved largely by the efforts of famous Mornington Mills, of which only three had survived to the present day and even those were no longer functional and were in various states of repair.
There were only three small bodies of water left in the Vale now one in Mornington, one in Childean and third of course was Purplemere, which is where Clarence is situated and where our story takes place.
Lorraine Tonks was a pretty girl in her early twenties, five foot nine, ultra slim with flame red hair, a pale complexion and cutely freckled skin and she looked like a breadth of wind might blow her away.
But she was a very strong character and full of self-confidence.
But it hadn’t always been that way, when she was a young girl she and her brother Mark lived in the village of Clarence which was a mile or so from Purplemere and she was as timid as little bird.
The sixteen year old Lorraine was also slender and pale and was even smaller than the woman she would become.
The young Lorraine was every bit as pretty as her 20 something counterpart but was completely unaware of it and as a result she lacked any self-confidence whatsoever and was painfully shy.
In addition the sweet sixteen version was completely incapable of even talking to boys and had no notion of flirting.
So therefore she was sweet sixteen and had never been kissed, but she had lost her heart.
The recipient of her affections was Gary Short who she had had a crush on since Easter.
Fifty percent of the village of Clarence was full of posh houses and posh people and as it was a village everyone knew each other’s business.
Gary’s family were new to Clarence and the two of them had met for the first time at the Easter service at St Mary of Bethany church.
But despite the fact that they seemed to hit it off from the first moment he never appeared to show any interest and she had begun to think he might be gay as she had made no headway with him and
Lorraine was powerless to influence the situation due to her shyness so at the beginning of July she confessed to her best friend Louise that she fancied Gary and Louise pledged to help her but there was a fly in the ointment, Lou was going on holiday for two weeks.
The girls had been best friends since preschool and were normally quite inseparable so when her friend went away it was like losing a limb.
(Part 02)
Unlike the ultra-self-confident Louise, her best friend Lorraine was painfully shy.
Lou was self-assured and pretty and she knew it whereas Loz was not only shy but socially awkward and full of self-doubt, although she was just as pretty as her friend but had no idea of the fact.
Louise was the driving force in their friendship, bold and bubbly and being with her made Lorraine feel more confident, daring to do things she would never do alone, living life on her bold friend’s coat tails and without her friend she floundered.
Which was evidenced by the rather pathetically forlorn creature who was ambling along Old Farm Lane towards home.
She had her flame red hair tied up, which was mostly hidden beneath a broad brimmed floppy hat.
She was wearing a flowery green dress, with a contrasting pashmina over her shoulders and she clutching a garishly patterned bag to her middle.
The Tonks and the Short families both lived in Old Farm Lane, but at opposite ends.
Lorraine was staring down at her flip flops as she was shuffling and scuffing along and as she was passing the short’s house, Oakbank, Mrs. Short called out to her.
“Hi Lorraine”
And Lorraine almost jumped out of her skin
“Oh Hello” she said blushing as she tried to catch her breath.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,” Mrs. Short said
“It’s ok, I was miles away” Lorraine said
“Are you missing Louise?” she asked
“Yes” she sighed “and she’s only been gone a few days”
“So what have you been up to today?” Mrs. Short enquired
“I’ve been to a BBQ at Aunt Jane’s” she answered, “I left early because I caught the sun a bit”
She lifted the pashmina off her shoulder so she could see.
“Ouch, have you put something on it?”
She asked and Lorraine shook her head
“That’s going to burn if you don’t” Mrs. S told her “come to mine and I’ll put some after sun on”
“Ok thank you” she said cheerfully hoping she might get to see Gary.
Mrs. Short opened the door and let Lorraine in, and the house was cool and quiet, so apparently Gary wasn’t home.
“You have the wrong complexion for sitting in the sun” she said
“I know” Lorraine agreed with resignation
“With your lovely pale skin you need to stay in the shadows” she said and Lorraine blushed at the compliment.
Once inside Mrs. Short showed her into the kitchen, she’d never been in the house before.
She gently took the pashmina from her shoulders and threw it on the pack of a chair
“Sit down while I get the after sun”
When she returned she was sitting facing the garden and her floppy hat was lying on the table.
“This might hurt a little, but let me know if you want me to stop” Mrs. S said
“Ok” she answered meekly and Mrs. S began to gently rub in the lotion and unknown to either of them Gary was looking on from a place of safety.
“How does that feel?” she asked
“Cool” she replied and while his mum rubbed lotion onto the shoulders and neck of the girl he wanted to be his girl he wished he could change places with his mum, but then the show was over.
“Well that should stop you burning” Mrs. Short said as she replaced the cap on the lotion.
“Thank you” Lorraine said and then continued on her way home.
(Part 03)
It was a beautiful July day and Lorraine was approaching the end of Old Farm Lane, which led to the back of her house, when she saw Gary coming the other way.
She had her flame red hair cascading onto her shoulders, which was catching the sun as she walked.
She was wearing a floral green dress and was carrying a garishly patterned bag on her shoulder and Lorraine was staring down at her flip flops and shuffled and scuffed along the lane.
She threw the odd glance at him in his baggy t-shirt and knee length shorts and found herself getting redder and redder the closer they got to each other.
The grown up Lorraine was ultra-confident, self-assured, pretty and she knew it, while sweet sixteen Lorraine was shy, socially awkward and full of self-doubt, still equally pretty but had no idea of the fact.
The problem was that Gary wasn’t any more confident than she was so it was difficult to imagine how anything was going to come out of any social encounter.
Neither of them were capable of progressing the conversation to the conclusion they both wanted.
Which was evidenced by the two rather pathetically forlorn creatures who were ambling towards each other.
So it was when they got within a few feet of each other he said
“Hi Lorraine”
And he almost made her jump out of her skin
“Hello” she said blushing as she tried to catch her breath.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said
“That’s ok, I was miles away” Lorraine said
“Are you going home?” he asked
“Yes” she replied “and you?”
And that was the tone and extent of the conversation and it looked quite possibly that this chance meeting would end up being wasted, as had every other previous one had, as the fresh faced pair were so clueless and incapable of taking full advantage of a serendipitous meeting.
Lacking the gumption to think of anything else to say they were about to go their separate ways when fate took a hand when a mutual friend, Emma, appeared in the lane.
“What are you two up to?” she enquired
“Nothing” Lorraine answered
“Come to mine then” she said “Dads put the swing ball up”
Lorraine and Gary looked at each other and smiled
“I’m in” She said
“Me too” added Gary
And they both smiled again mainly out of relief at getting the “Get out of jail free card” from Emma when fate took a hand.
Serendipity struck again in Emma’s back garden when the swing ball struck Lorraine full in the face and to everyone’s surprise, including his own Gary said
“Would you like me to kiss it better?”
Of course she did but was too shy to let him however by the end of that day they had secured their first date together and when he walked her home he did kiss her.
It wasn’t the most memorable of kisses, but it was a milestone for both of them, and in the moment they thought it breathtakingly good.
However in time they surpassed it as for the whole of the summer they were together and they became much more proficient.
And that proficiency continued over the months, but by the time the Christmas holidays came around they had indeed become more accomplished, but then Gary decided to spread his proficiency around so she took her lips elsewhere.
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