The
beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of
Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was
the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa and when Yvonne Labuschagne inherited it
from her cousin, the last remaining Clerembeax, she undertook the task of
modernizing the Palace and opening a Hotel and Spa offering, fitness classes,
gym, rock sauna, infra-red sauna, aroma steam room, ice fountain, drench
showers, Jacuzzi, a Romanesque pool, Reflexology, Raki, facials, scalp massage,
hand massage, Manicure and Pedicure, while also providing accommodation,
meeting and function rooms, a superior restaurant and whatever temptation might
attract potential visitors.
Ray
Morrison was a trained Physiotherapist and Masseur, who had worked with Yvonne
at the Dancingdean Spa, when her husband was still alive, but his role at the
Palace also involved training some of the younger ancillary staff as well as
using his skills on the guests, but he enjoyed being in Clerembeax, and he had
made many friends among the staff, and he also enjoyed taking long walks in the
surrounding countryside, when he wasn’t working, which is what he was doing
early on Sunday Morning.
All the
weather forecasters had been talking about the latest incarnation of the Beast
from the East for more than a week and as he left the hotel for his walk around
the village it arrived.
When he
reached the farther point of his loop it was snowing heavily, and he decided to
keep to the firmer ground of bridle paths and roads that would get him back to
the Palace as quick as possible.
When he
reached the center of the village the road was barely discernable, but as he
reached the Village Green a car drove gingerly into view, and it was a car he
recognized, and it belonged to the Hotel Manager, Hannah Morgan.
She came to
a halt beside him and wound down the window
“Do you
want a lift?”
“Yes
please” he said and got in the passenger seat
“I thought
you were picking up your sister” he said
“I was, but
she phoned me before I reached Abbeyvale, to say that all the trains had been
cancelled”
“Already?”
“Yes, it’s really
bad in Abbottsford, and its headed our way” Hannah said as she drove off “Also
we’re going to be short staffed today, as there are no buses or taxi’s”
“I guess
that means Mother’s Day lunch is going to be a quiet affair” Ray said
“Good
point, I hadn’t thought of that”
They went through
the front door to the reception before Ray thanked her and then they separated and
as Ray stood and chatted to the receptionist a small figure, wrapped up against
the cold, stepped out of the lift and made a bee line for him.
She said something,
but her voice was muffled by her scarf so when she got no response she loosened
it and spoke again
“Ray”
“Is that Cheryl
under all that?” he asked, and she nodded in response.
Cheryl was
one of the younger members of staff at 17 years old, and Ray had taken her
under his wing.
“You’re not
going out there are you?” he queried
“Yes, I’ve
got to get home,” she said
“There
aren’t any buses” he told her
“What? To Tollington?”
she asked urgently
“To
anywhere” he replied
“And there
are no taxis either”
“Oh God” Cheryl
exclaimed “But I have to try”
“Ok honey” Ray
said “But please be careful”
And then he
watched as she disappeared out into the snowy morning before headed to the
staff room.
About half
an hour later he was back in reception when Cheryl reappeared through the front
doors, still wrapped up against the weather, with melting snow on her
shoulders.
“Are you ok Honey?” he said and the moment he
reached her she buried her cold face in his chest and began to cry.
“I…”
“Can’t…”
“Get…”
“Home…” she
said between sobs
Ray didn’t
point out that he told her that he just made sympathetic noises
“All the buses
are cancelled,” she said
“And I
couldn’t find a cab, so I had to come back”
“What’s at
home that you are so desperate to get back to?” he asked
“My mum”
she answered
“Oh?”
“She has a
broken leg, and I’m her looking after her, so I had to try and get home” Cheryl
said “but when I couldn’t I tried to phone her, but I couldn’t get through, so
I tried to ring the neighbours to ask them to check on her”
“And?” he
asked sympathetically
“No luck”
she said ‘Not yet”
Ray stood
holding her for about five minutes, then he asked
“Is she in
Tollington?”
“Yes”
Tollington
was only about two miles from the Hotel as the crow flies and as he drove a
Landrover Discover, he said
“Let me get
my coat and I’ll drive you”
“Really?”
“I can’t
promise we’ll get out of Clerembeax, but we’ll give it a go”
Even in the
hour he had been inside the weather had deteriorated, however the road through
the village was still drivable.
“If it’s
like this all the way we’ll be fine” he said and looked across at Cheryl who
was nervously biting her lip in the passenger seat.
However,
when out into the country lanes he was driving on drifting virgin snow.
The roads
were barely visible, and he drove very gingerly along the first stretch, which
ended, at a crossroads, which was where he was joined by another four-wheel
drive which turned onto the road ahead of him and he followed it for about half
a mile before it turned left onto the Kiddingstone Road while he needed to turn
right for Tollington.
As luck
would have it the road was not as bad as the previous one as it was quite exposed,
and the wind had blown a lot of the snow off the road and there were even
visible signs of Tarmac in patches.
So, he
pressed on with caution, but when he was less than a mile from the village the
snow fell even faster, and it was in the poor visibility of a blizzard that Ray
took a right-hand bend slightly too vigorously and lost the back end and went
off the road back end first into a ditch.
“Are you
ok?” he asked her
“Yes” she
replied and then he tried to drive out of the ditch, to no avail.
“Ok stay
here” he said and opened the door and got out of the car and pulled his collar
up against the wind, before walking to the front of the Landrover.
He pulled
the winch cable out and crossed the lane and looped it around a tree before
running back and getting behind the wheel.
“Ok here
goes” he said and started the winch, which slowly but surely pulled them back
onto the road.
“You did
it” she said and hugged him
Fortunately,
there was no obvious damage to the car, so twenty minutes later he pulled up
outside Cheryl’s house.
“Thank you,
thank you, thank you” she squealed and hugged him again before saying “come on”
and got out the car.
Ray
followed and watched her run up the path and then fall in a heap about three
paces from the front door.
In his
concern he rushed to her aid
“Are you
ok?” he asked but when he reached her she was giggling so much she couldn’t
speak.
Once he got
her to her feet and she’d regained her ability to speak they walked gingerly to
the porch and she unlocked the front door.
“Mum! Mum!”
she called as she walked inside “it’s me”
“Cheryl?” a
call came back in reply
She shed
her coat and accessories in the hall as Ray closed the front door and then
Cheryl went into the cozy lounge where her mum was.
“Happy
Mother’s Day!” she said as she burst into the room
“I wasn’t
expecting to see today” her mum said with tears in her eyes, and there was a
prolonged teary hug.
“How did
you get here?” Her Mum asked as she wiped her eyes
“Ray drove
me”
“Ray?” she
asked
“Yes, Ray
from work” she replied “You know the one I’m always talking about”
“Oh yes,
well that was kind” she said and then hurriedly added “I hope you haven’t let
him drive back to Clerembeax again”
“No, he’s
in the hall” Cheryl replied
“Well bring
him in then, so I can thank him”
So, she
went back out to the hall and said
“Come in
and say hello”
“Ok”
“Mum this
is Ray, Ray this is…”
“Sarah
Daniels?” Ray said
“I used to
be” she said with a confused look on her face
“You used
to go out with my brother Ben” he explained
“Ray
Morrison” she exclaimed “But I’m surprised you remember me though, we only met
a few times because you were away at University most of the time”
“You
obviously made an impression on me” he said
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