The village of Brocklington was on the River Brooke about six miles downstream from Sharping St Mary in the Finchbottom Vale, which 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 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 was where Brockington’s most recent newcomer had arrived from.
His name was
Mark Diamond and he worked for Brocklington Broadcast International, who were
based in the village for more than five years and had waited for four years for
a suitable property in the village to come on to the market, and it was a life
changing move especially when he met his next-door neighbour, Molly Ford.
Molly was a divorcee
and immediately lost her heart to him but was reluctant to do anything about it
and thought that any search for a meaningful love with someone of a like mind
would be a fruitless exercise as she had been let down before.
She was a striking looking
woman, not model beautiful but very lovely with dark hypnotic eyes.
Though the woman that
stared back at her from the bedroom mirror each day thought she was far from
lovely.
She stood 5 feet 4 inches
tall in her stocking feet and was a stone heavier than she should have been
which was thanks to her own baking.
She wasn’t though
disappointed with everything she saw in the mirror she liked her legs which she
thought were quite shapely and her hair which she thought of as her crowning
glory, which was long and straight and was of a brown so dark that it looked black.
However, Molly didn’t think
that nice legs and beautiful hair was sufficient to win the love of her new
neighbor Mark Diamond, she valued herself so little, which was why she held no
expectation in his regard.
He for his part had shown
no interested in her nor given any indication that he thought of her in anyway
other than as a friend and neighbor, and her dilemma was that if she did tell
him of her feelings for him and he didn’t feel the same about her it would
create an unbearable awkwardness, with him living next door.
So that was why she decided
it was best not to upset the Status Quo, and to just remain as friends.
After all friendship was
better than nothing and that had been her opinion for nine long months.
Molly had not however gone
unnoticed by Mark, but he too had decided discretion was the better part of
valour and also opted for the Status Quo option.
His role at BBI was as a
middle management strategist but that year, due to a sudden heart attack striking
down the woman who organized the Christmas entertainment for the company, Mark
was given a new project, cater the Christmas office party from scratch in 10
days.
Maureen had her heart
attack in October and he wasn’t given the poisoned chalice until well into
December by which time all the venues were fully booked, including The Mulberry Tree in the village, and no one could cater it at such short notice.
The venue wasn’t so much of
an issue as they could hold the party at BBI, but catering was, because the
staff were going to expect more that Pork Scratching’s and cheese footballs.
So, his thought returned to
his beautiful buxom neighbor Molly, because apart from the fact he thought she
was gorgeous, he also knew that she was a brilliant baker, and she was also the
manager of Addison’s Bakery in the village, so she had the wherewithal to get
the job done and get him out of a hole, provided she wasn’t already over
committed.
What he didn’t know was
that there was a great deal of completion within Addison’s and Brockington were
neck and neck with their nearest rivals in Dulcet St Mary at the end of
November and a huge catering order would push them over the line, which would
mean both the kudos and a nice bonus for Molly’s shop.
He got up
late on Monday morning, so when he knocked on Molly’s front door he got no answer,
so he took a walk into the village and wandered aimlessly down the road with no
particular purpose and found himself walking past Stephenson’s corner store,
and as he’d used the last of the milk in his morning coffee, he decided to pop
in and get some.
And as soon
as he walked in, his eye was drawn to a large stack of magazines. the Radio
Times to be precise, and the bumper Christmas edition at that.
He knew that
it was a bit sad, but he really looked forward to getting the Bumper Christmas
Edition of the Radio Times, (other TV Guides are available).
It was one
of the highlights of the season for him, and he would have gladly acknowledged
that it did indeed sound really sad, but he didn’t care, it was part of
Christmas for him, but to make it even sadder, he bought two copies.
The magazine
reminded him of his childhood when the family would mark the programs they
didn’t want to miss in coloured pen.
At that time,
you had to buy a Radio Times for the BBC channels and a TV Times for the
commercial stations.
After
leaving Stephenson’s with the Bumper Edition of his magazine he headed towards Addison’s
to see his other favourite bumper bundle, Molly, and on arrival went inside.
“Hello Mark”
Molly said, her face blushing slightly
“Hi Molly, I
missed you at the house this morning” he said, and she completely coloured up
“Oh? How can
I help?” she asked conscious that her colleagues were watching her every move
“I’m hoping
you can save my life, I’ve been lumbered with organizing the Christmas party”
he said fishing inside his coat and bringing out a folded piece of paper and
handed it to her
“At the last
minute to boot, can you cater for one hundred, in a week?”
Molly said
nothing, just read the list so he added
“I’ve listed
a few things that are a must, but the rest is up to you and money is no object”
Molly smiled
and handed the list to her colleagues and gave him a bear hug almost crushing his
Radio Times
“You are my
hero” she announced and kissed his cheek several times, and then as they stood face to face
smiling at each other they kissed, and it was a long slow and deliberate kiss.
“Do we get one of those now” Karen asked from behind the counter when
they had finished.
“No, you certainly don’t” Molly replied
“It’s one of the perks of management” she added, and she kissed him
again
When they had finished a queue had formed so she blushed and said
“Well thank you for your order Mr Diamond”
“Here if I order something do I get one of those?” and elderly customer
asked, prompting a peel of laughter
“I’m sorry Mr Oakley” she said “Special customers only”
As a result of their exchange in the shop BBI got their Christmas Party,
Addison’s staff got their bonus, Molly got her man and Christmas for Mark was a
special Bumper Edition.
No comments:
Post a Comment