Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket
battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port,
the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and
manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills Nation Park, the rolling hills of the
Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye
can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire
Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and
Tipton in the north but our story begins in the West, to the south of
Northchapel, in the beautiful village of
Chapel Hill.
There was an expanse
of green at the center of the village complete with duckpond and a weeping
willow tree.
On the north side of
the green was the pub, The Woodcutters Tavern and attached to the side of the
pub there was a Stephenson’s general store and post office, across the green
from the pub was the church, St Peter’s, with the vicarage to one side and a
row of shops ran alongside the road on the West of the green, Buckley’s
Greengrocer and fruiterers, Addison’s Bakery, Harvey’s Pharmacy, Bizzie Lizzie
Florist, Mazzone’s Hairdressers, Harrisons Hardware and Boddingtons Butchers.
It was the seventh day
of Shrovetide, shrove Friday also known as kissing Friday or Nippy Hug Day.
In bygone days the men
of Leicestershire could demand a kiss from any woman of his choice on that day
and by custom and if she was to refuse he could then pinch her bottom.
But after World War Two
it quite understandably fell out of favour so in 21st century
Downshire Kissing Friday no longer applied.
There were a number of
Robert Harvey Pharmacies across Downshire started by their namesake in the 19th
century in Abbottsford and the business was thriving.
The Chapel Hill branch
was run by another Robert Harvey, who was very distantly related to the
original, and his wife Lisa, and their daughters Georgina and Roberta.
In addition, they
employed two other staff, Petra Joli, who stacked the shelves and manned the
till, and Kenny Adams who was in charge of the stock room and made the
deliveries.
Fridays were busy in
the shop, so they were all there before opening time getting ready for the
early rush, when Robert said to his wife
“Come on then woman where’s
my kiss or do I have to pinch your bum”
“What’s that?” Petra asked,
and Lisa laughed and then explained
“In Leicester, where
I’m from, there was an old tradition, that on kissing Friday, which is today, a
man could demand a kiss from any woman he chose, and if she refused he could
pinch her bum”
“That’s assault that
is” Roberta pointed out
“That’s an opportunity
too good to miss” Georgina retorted “and was there a limit to how many men you
could snog”
Everyone in the shop
laughed except Roberta who tutted.
“They don’t do it
anymore” Lisa said
“Good” Roberta
affirmed
“I think it’s a shame”
Georgina stated
“I agree” Petra
muttered to herself not that it would have made any difference to her
situation.
She had someone very
firmly in mind who would fit the bill in the kissing department, in the shape
of Kenny, but as yet nothing had come to fruition.
Kenny was two years
older than her and was relatively new to the area and she was besotted with him
and had been from the first moment she saw him.
She thought he was
gorgeous, he was tall and muscular with sandy coloured hair and thoughtful
eyes, the only downside was that he was painfully shy.
Twenty-year-old Petra
was a bit of a self-confessed tomboy and she wasn’t quite sure if he liked that
she wasn’t a girlie girl and didn’t present with all the usual girly
paraphernalia.
If that was the reason
she would gladly try and be more of a girl, but the truth was she didn’t know
if he had any strong feelings either way, all she knew was that he was single
and lived in Chapel Hill with his brother and his wife.
It wasn’t that they didn’t
talk, they did every day at work, and they got on very well, but he was at his
most communicative talking about work or generalities, like the weather or
sport, it was the more personal stuff that eluded them, and kissing Friday was
no exception.
Such as the fact that
she never carried a hand bag, instead she had a back pack with her at all
times, she also wasn’t fashion conscious, which was another plus for him, she
always wore a loose fitting black dress, black tights and coloured baseball
shoes and wore her long red hair in plaits.
He really liked
everything about Heather, her prominent chin which she thrust out proudly, her
green behind thick framed specs and her broad smile that made her nose wrinkle.
In short, he thought
she was perfect, he just needed to work up the courage to ask her out, which is
where he hoped the mistletoe would come to his aid.
At the end of the day
when the shop closed everyone went through there well practised routine and
then one by one they said good night and left, and while Robert Harvey secured
the pharmacy, Kenny and Petra went in the back room to change into their street
clothes.
Neither of them worked
on the weekend as the shop used Saturday staff, that was how she started, while
she was still at school, so if anything was going to happen it would be while
they got changed.
“Are you looking
forward to the weekend?” she asked as she slipped off her flat shoes and
replaced them with her boots, and she winced as that was the best she could
come up with.
“Yes” he replied, and
she started to panic as she couldn’t think of anything else to say as she
watched him change his footwear her mind went blank for a moment before she
regrouped and asked
“Are you doing
anything special?”
“No not really” he
responded, and she despaired because it was hopeless, getting information out
of him was like getting blood from a stone.
What she didn’t
understand was that his limited responses were due to him trying to summon the
courage to ask her out.
All she actually knew
was that she had waited for him long enough and as she didn’t want to spend
another Friday night at home wishing he’d asked her out she decided to change
tack.
It was when he had
bent down to tie his shoe lace that she chose to act.
“Do you remember what
Lisa was saying earlier about that funny old tradition?”
“Um…” he responded as
he sat up again and he found Petra standing above him.
“Well as we live in
the age of equality I am demanding a kiss on Kissing Friday” she said, leant
forward and kissed him, and what a kiss it was, a long awaited, and it was even
better than the one either of them had imagined.
“Wow I like that
tradition” he said
“Me too” he agreed and
then added
“In fact, I liked it
so much that I demand a kiss on Kissing Friday”
Then he pulled her
onto his lap and they kissed again.
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