When Thirty year old
Emma Jackson left her flat in Abbey View Mews she was in a pensive mood and as
she set off in her car she was full of apprehension.
On the passenger seat
was a large manila envelope from Stanislas, Boivin and Champeaux who were the
Mornington Estate solicitors and the
receipt of that envelope was the reason she was in the car and full of
apprehension.
She had been born and
raised in Mornington but as she drove from Abbottsford on the bright and sunny
morning in September she was returning to the place of her birth for the first
time in fifteen years.
Mornington-By-Mere was
a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the
Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.
A quaint picturesque
village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th
Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River
and a Mere.
As she drove past the
Old Forge she was immediately struck by how little the Village had changed in
her 15 year absence.
Everything was exactly
as she had left it but there did appear to be more people in the village than
she remembered.
She drove through the
village along The Street, with Boddington’s Estate Butcher’s, Addison’s Bakery, Norman’s Post
Office & General Store and The Old
Mill Inn, on the left and on the opposite side of the road were Jeffrey
and Teague Vets, Mazzone’s Hairdressers, the Dental & Orthodontic Surgery,
Doctors Surgery, Pharmacy, and Legg’s Farm Shop.
Immediately opposite
Legg’s, on the other side of the river was St Winifred’s church and the vicarage.
At the roundabout, at
the end of The Street, she could see her old school directly ahead, but she
turned left and went over Church Bridge and followed Purplemere road between
Manor Wood and the Police Station and on towards Manorside.
Mornington-By-Mere was
not just a quaint chocolate box English Village it is the beating heart of the
Finchbottom Vale and there were a
number of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane
which formed the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside which was where
Emma spent the first 15 years of her life.
Emma continued along
Purplemere Road as it skirted Manor Wood until she saw the brewery ahead on the
left, with Dulcets Mill, one of the last three remaining Mornington Mills, across the road and just beyond the brewery, on the
same side of the road was a row of terraced brewery cottages and Emma pulled up
outside number 9 where she had been raised along with two younger sisters and
an older brother.
The moment she switched off the
engine and looked at the house she was assailed with a flood of memories of the
happy days she spent there.
Emma sat outside her former home for over an hour and as she sat there reminiscing,
but the reason she sat there for so long was that she was afraid to go inside
because of the unhappier times that preceded the hasty departure with her mum
and her sisters.
Emma Jackson sat outside her former home in the part of Mornington known as
Manorside for over an hour as she sat there reminiscing, but the reason she sat
there for so long was that she was afraid to go inside because of the unhappier
times that preceded the hasty departure from the house with her mum and her sisters.
She had spent the
first fifteen years of her life in the house and for fourteen and a half of
those she was extremely happy.
The Jackson children
had had an idyllic childhood in the village and their parents were happily
married and overall they had a good life and lived their lives as a very happy
family.
That is until tragedy
struck.
Alan and Mary Jackson
had lived at number 9 Brewery Cottages all their married life, where they
raised 4 children, firstly a son Steven, then two years later Emma, followed 18
months after that by Lisa and finally the baby of the family Claire.
Alan worked at the
Brewery, as his father had before him, and after the children started school,
Mary worked part time at the Old Mill Inn.
In time Alan was
promoted to Brew Master and everything in the Jacksons world was wonderful but as
their children were growing up their world suddenly fell apart.
Everything went wrong
when their eldest child, Steven, was all set to go to Abbottsford University in
the autumn and as his parents were immensely proud of him they were fully
supportive when he said he wanted to spend the summer travelling around Europe
with a group of friends.
The last port of call
before returning to Downshire for Steven and his friends was Amsterdam where
they spent a very enjoyable but very boozy two days and they were all very
hungover when they boarded the ferry to Pepperstock Bay.
But they planned to
stretch out on the bench seats in the lounge and sleep it off on the crossing,
however a late summer storm put paid to that plan as rough seas prevented all
but the most hardened sailors from resting.
Everyone in Stevens’s
group suffered from sea sickness on the voyage home and had to make constant
visits to either the toilets or the ships rails to throw up.
It was on one of those
visits that Steven lost his footing on the companion way and fell to the bottom
in a crumpled heap.
When he was discovered
a few minutes later he was already dead having broken his neck.
The effect on the
family was profound, the girls all adored their big brother, and his mother
Mary was heartbroken at the loss of her first born, but Alan took it the hardest
of all and was so devastated by the death of his one and only son it set him on
a path of self-destruction from which he never returned.
At first the grief was
numbing and all five of them were only able to go through the motions of life
in between the endless tears, but Mary pulled the girls through with her
typical stoicism and tried to impose some form of normality to their lives but
Alan just crawled into a bottle and never re-emerged.
Alan Jackson coped with the grief of losing his son by seeking the
solace and comfort of alcohol, which managed at times to drown his sorrows but
merely heaped more misery on his family as a consequence.
Mary tried to keep thing on an even keel, the girls occupied
themselves with their schoolwork, which kept them later at school each day as
they didn’t really want to go home.
The Brewery were sympathetic at first to Alan’s loss but after three
months of drunkenness and his resulting inability to work they had to let him
go.
Losing his job heaped yet more unhappiness onto Mary’s shoulders but
didn’t slow down his drinking to any great degree and in his more sober moments
he became increasingly belligerent and argumentative but it was six months
after Stevens’s death that it all came to a head.
Mary was at the end of her tether, she was working more and more hours
in the pub only for Andrew to spend it on booze, so she launched into a tirade
of frank and honest comments about what she thought of the drunken self-pitying
shell of a man he had become, which was when he turned violent.
He rounded on her and swung a fist, fortunately because of a lack of
coordination he only caught her with a glancing blow to the side of her head,
but it was sufficient to knock her backwards onto the sofa and then he jumped
on her and had his hands around her throat and began choking her.
Emma walked into the room just in time to witness the untidy blow and
was yelling at him to stop when he began to choke her mother.
She tried as hard as she could to pull her drunken father off her mum
but to no avail.
He did release his grip momentarily, but only long enough for him to
flailed an arm at her which knocker her backwards onto the floor and bloodied
her nose.
Emma picked herself up and looked around the room for something to aid
her and picked up the yellow pages.
Emma stood behind him and with all the strength she could muster and hit
him hard on the side of the head with the directory sufficiently hard for him
to release his hold from around Mary’s throat.
But the blow had only knocked him off balance and he was still on his
knees astride Mary’s dazed body, but had turned to look at his daughter, so
Emma looked at her mum and then she swung the Yellow Pages again hitting him
square in the face hard enough to draw blood.
Then remembering all the misery the family had been dealt by her
drunken father since Stevens’s death she gave him another whack in the face for
good measure.
The third blow enabled Mary to push Alan away and allowed her to get
up and once she was upright she took the Yellow Pages from her daughters hand
and hit Alan with it again as he tried to get to his feet.
Mary hugged Emma and said
“Take your sisters across the road to Corner House”
“What about you?” Emma asked with concern
“I’ll be fine” Mary said “Just look after your sisters, and ask Kay to
phone PC Jones”
Mary hugged Emma and said
“Take your sisters across the road to Corner House”
“What about you?” Emma asked with concern
“I’ll be fine” Mary said “Just look after your sisters, and ask Kay to
phone PC Jones”
Corner House aptly stood on the corner of Purplemere Road and West Gate Road
in the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside where there were a number
of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane, but
Corner House was a large 8 bedroom Victorian monstrosity which had at one time
been the home of the master brewer of the Mornington Brewery.
It was now the Corner House Guest House run by affable landlady Kay
Richardson.
When Kay opened the door and saw Emma Jackson and her sisters on the
doorstep in some distress, she was understandably concerned.
The two younger girls were in tears and Emma had a bloody nose.
“What’s happened?” she asked
“Its dad” Emma replied with tears welling up in her eyes “He’s hit mum,
she told me to bring the girls here and we need to phone PC Jones”
“Ok come in” Kay said and picked up the phone
“Tell him to hurry because mum’s still there”
Kay’s son Paul and his sister Stephanie took the Jackson girls into the
lounge while their mum phoned the police.
When Emma saw the eerie blue glow of the police light she got up and said
to her sisters
“You two stay here”
“No we want to come” they said in unison
“No, you need to stay put” Emma said sharply and rushed out the door and past Kay and straight out the front
door before Kay had a chance to speak, so she asked one of her regular guests .
“Nathan would you go after her and make sure she’s ok?”
Emma arrived at the
house just in time to see PC Jones leading her dad out of the house in
handcuffs and when she made eye contact with him there was real hatred staring
back at her.
As she watched him
being led away she was joined by her sisters, Emma was going to chastise them
but before she could her mum stepped out through the front door of the house
and the three of them ran over to her and they all embraced.
It was while the four
of them stood in a huddle that Alan struggled free of PC Jones’s control as he
tried to get him in the car and he began shouting.
“That’s it, stick
together you bunch of witches, you deserve each other, my Steven would have
been loyal, you’re just a bunch of bitches, I wish all of you were dead, I wish
all of you were dead and my Steven was still alive”
They were spared any
further rantings as PC Jones got him back under control and bundled him into
the car.
As his venomous
ranting still rang in her ears Emma felt nothing for the man the police were
taking away.
After all it wasn’t
her father shouting abuse at them, it was a stranger, her father, the kind and
gentle man whom she loved, had died six months earlier when he heard the tragic
news about Steven.
After the incident at
the Jacksons house Alan was arrested and taken to Sharpington Police Station
where he was detained for 48 hours.
Mary didn’t press
charges against her husband she just needed him safely out of the way while she
got the girls safely away from Mornington.
Unfortunately she
wasn’t aware of just how much time they had so they packed up as much as they
could along with the Downshire and
District Building Society savings book and piled it into the Passat and
after some brief farewells they left.
Having no family to
run to they were short on options as to where they should go but she decided
that Abbottsford would be a good place to lose themselves in.
After a few weeks in a
dingy one bed flat she managed to find a nice 3 bed house to rent, paid for
with the contents of the savings account and they began again.
There was nothing left
of the savings after the deposit on the house was paid, just enough to do a week’s
shop so she couldn’t rest on her laurels, she needed work which she found at
the nearby Stephenson’s Supermarket and she was still working there 15 years
later and Mary was happy, she had a new man in her life, Owen, though they were
not married, but only because she had never divorced Alan.
The girls quickly
settled into life in Abbottsford and with their mum’s help and support they all
did well at school and all went on to University.
After University
everyone drifted away from home leaving Mary and Owen to a quieter life.
Emma bought her own
flat and worked as the marketing director for the Abbottsford Knights Football
Club.
Lisa was a marine
biologist and was somewhere in the Southern Oceans on a research vessel and the
baby of the family, Claire was working in Brussels at the European Parliament.
Mary was happily
cohabiting with Owen, Lisa was married to an Australia climate scientist, and
Claire was engaged to a Belgian lawyer, so the whole family were happy and
settled, well almost, Emma was the only singleton, though not for the want of
trying.
But as a result of
being young free and single she was in a position to act when a large manila
envelope was delivered to the offices Abbottsford Knights.
It was from Stanislas, Boivin
and Champeaux who were the Mornington Estate solicitors and the reason it was delivered to her work address was
because she went to University with Tallulah St George, sister to the present
Baron, and property manager for the estate and Tally knew that she worked for
the Knights.
The envelope contained
a set of keys and a letter explaining that her father had died.
And as he had died
intestate they had no instruction as to the disposition of his worldly goods,
such as they were, but as the property was needed because accommodation was always in short supply in
the village, they had to clear the house and redecorate.
But she was welcome to go in and take anything she wanted, particularly
if there was something of sentimental value.
Emma Jackson didn’t
attend the funeral of her father, in fact the first thing she knew about her father’s
death was when she received the letter from the Mornington Estate solicitors, Stanislas, Boivin
and Champeaux, but had she known, she wouldn’t have gone anyway.
She sat outside her former home in the part of Mornington known as
Manorside for over an hour as she sat there reminiscing, but the reason she sat
there for so long was that she was afraid to go inside because of the unhappier
times that preceded the hasty departure from the house with her mum and her sisters.
She had spent the
first fifteen years of her life in the house and for fourteen and a half of
those she was extremely happy.
The Jackson children
had had an idyllic childhood in the village and their parents were happily
married and overall they had a good life and lived their lives as a very happy.
After sitting in the
car for an hour reliving her childhood she decided she couldn’t go in so she
decided to go across the road to Corner House.
Corner House aptly stood on the corner of Purplemere Road and Smithfield
Farm Lane in the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside where there were
a number of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane,
but Corner House was a large 8 bedroom Victorian monstrosity which had at one
time been the home of the master brewer of the Mornington Brewery.
It was now the Corner Guest House run by affable landlady Kay Richardson.
Emma walked across the road and along to the Guest House and knocked on
the door and when it was opened she said
“Hello Kay, do you have a room?”
When Kay opened the door and saw Emma Jackson on the doorstep she could
hardly believe her eyes
“My goodness, the last time I saw you, you had a bloody nose”
Kay said and hugged her
“Come in, come in”
They sat in Kay’s private lounge and drank tea while they exchanged the
news of all the events in their lives over the 15 years since they last met.
Eventually they got down to talking about the elephant in the room.
“So how did it happen?” Emma asked
“He died in his sleep, his organs just gave out” Kay replied
Kay went on to explain that once he had been barred from the pub, and the
Normans refused to sell him alcohol he took to brewing his own beer in dustbins
in the kitchen.
“He barely ate, and only left the house once or twice a month” Kay said
“He’s buried at St Winifred’s…. Next to Steven”
Emma explained about how she received the letter and how she sat outside
the house for an hour.
“I couldn’t go in” she said
“Why not?”
“I don’t know, ghosts I suppose” Emma replied
“Would it help if I came in with you?” Kay asked
“Oh yes it would” Emma said with gratitude “Would you mind?”
“Not at all, we’ll go tomorrow morning” she responded “Now let’s get you
settled in your room”
“I wasn’t expecting to stay the night so I don’t have anything with me”
Emma explained
“Not to worry” Kay replied brightly “you look about the same size as
Steph, you can borrow something of hers and I’ll wash your things tonight”
Steph was Kay’s daughter and the last time Emma saw her she was 10 so she
had trouble picturing herself in her clothes but she said thanks anyway.
Good to her word Kay had washed Emma’s entire outfit from the previous
day and returned it to her freshly pressed.
And after breakfast Kay and an apprehensive Emma crossed the road and walked
along to number 9 Brewery Cottages.
She wasn’t sure what to expect when she opened the door and stepped in,
but it certainly wasn’t what greeted her.
The room was the same layout as the last time she saw it, with the same
carpet, curtains and wallpaper, it was just dirty and faded and an unpleasant
odour assailed her nostrils.
It didn’t take long to decide what to take from the house because the
living room was devoid of any personal possessions, no ornaments, knickknacks
or pictures, just dirt, dust and grime and it was the same story throughout the
house.
“Well it looks like it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get stuck in”
Kay said enthusiastically
She had come armed with rubber gloves and a roll of heavy duty black
sacks so she quickly got started in the living room while Emma tackled the
kitchen.
There wasn’t a piece of crockery that wasn’t chipped or cracked so she
just pilled it all up on the counter, the drawers were more interesting and she
unearthed one of two mementoes from her childhood which she put to one side,
the rest of the contents of the drawers went into one of the dustbins her
father had used for brewing.
By the time she was finished the drawers and cupboards she had filled two
dustbins.
Everything upstairs went in black sacks with the exception of the box
room which was obviously the contents of the loft, because there was a large
white label which read “Contents of Loft”.
The room was full of
memories because it contained the stash of family photos.
Alan Jackson was a
keen photographer and was a proud owner of a 35mm Single Lens Reflect camera
and he had the resulting photos either printed or made into slides.
The spare room was an
absolute treasure trove of memories, there was album after album of family
photos which most importantly contained pictures of her dead brother Steven.
In addition to the
albums there were boxes of slides and packets of prints and countless
negatives.
And as she sat and
looked at the pile of memories she had tears in her eyes, but they were happy
tears.
When she was done she
and Kay loaded the boxes of goodies into her car.
“Thanks Kay, I
couldn’t have done it on my own” she said
“Let’s get cleaned up
and then I’ll buy you lunch”
“It seems much more
vibrant than I remember it” Emma said as they walked through the village to the
pub.
“That’s down to Mornington
Field” Kay replied
“The businesses have
bought more people in and there are a lot of new apartment’s up there as well”
They had a very nice
lunch in the Old Mill Inn and afterwards Kay returned to Corner House while
Emma went up to the Manor to hand over the keys to Tallulah, unfortunately she
was out for the day so she left her a message and her mobile number so she
could call her and then on the way past the Church she stopped and went in the
graveyard and paused by a particular headstone.
“Sorry it’s been a
while Stevie”
Emma spent an hour
talking to her brother in St Winifred’s churchyard and then walked slowly back
to the guesthouse as she decided to walk back via Mornington Field so she could
see what had happened since the Mornington Estate exercised
its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD.
It had acquired all the buildings and
infrastructure on the airfield itself
as well as 29 houses in the village, formally used as quarters for military
personnel.
The guardians of the estate were the St
George family and the head of which is Baron Gabriel St George made immediate plans to optimize the newly
acquired assets the moment the property was formally handed over on the 1st
of June 2014.
There was an acute
shortage of family properties in the village so while his
architect Scott Collier was tasked with designing appropriate conversions to
maximize the potential returns and Ray Walker who dealt with all things estate
maintenance wise was responsible for getting
the old Air force housing stock occupied ASAP.
To that end Ray
worked tirelessly to have not just the first six houses ready within the month
as originally promised, but eight, which were handed over on the 6th
of July, two days earlier than forecast.
Gabriel was then
able to instruct Lyndon-Sanders Properties of Shallowfield to
find appropriate tenants and by that he meant that priority was to be given to local people or people with ties to the area
or those who worked in some capacity for the estate such as agriculture and the
brewery.
Other than that
they were to be rented out with the only condition being that it had to be the
tenant’s primary residence.
Gabriel was always
conscious of creating a ghost town of professionals who live and work in Town
all week and only return to the village on the weekend and he was determined
that that wouldn’t happen and as a result of that policy the village was
thriving.
Emma walked up
Military Row to the South Gate and she paused by the gate and looked at the
board which had a map of the redeveloped Airfield and a list of residential and
commercial premises.
The Apartment blocks, were
Lancaster House and Dowding House and then she read the list of businesses
She recognised a few
of them,
O’Sullivan and
Springthorpe,
Paige Turners,
Crazy Chocolatiers and Bejewels Jewellery
And there were quite a
few that she hadn’t heard of but it was obvious what they did, such as
Topliss Engineering
Railway Enthusiast
Gregory’s Handmade Toyz
Periodicity Costumers
Bespoke Furniture
And Premier Lace
But
Time and Time Again -
Light of Day,
Digitize Image Lab
And Bygone Dayz she had neither heard of or could hazard a guess at what
they did.
As she looked down
the list she didn’t believe she would have any reason to visit any of the
businesses.
“Apart that is for
Crazy Chocolatiers” she thought and smiled she loved handmade chocolates.
She walked through
the South Gate and followed the road around the Commercial Park and then left
via the West Gate and crossed the bridge over the River Brooke and down West
Gate Road and returned to Corner House.
After tea and cake
with the Richardson’s Emma then drove home to Abbottsford and the next morning
she drove to her mum’s house and gave her the news about her father’s death and
showed her what she had rescued from the house.
Emma was really worried
when she went to see her mum to tell her the news about her dads death and about
going to Mornington to the old family home, in case she was angry about being
kept in the dark, or thought she had gone behind her back, but she needn’t have
worried because Mary thanked her for sparing her from what would have been an
ordeal.
“I wouldn’t have been
able to face it” she confessed
Mary Jackson was both
sad and relieved when she heard about her husband’s death, sad for the loss of
the man he once was, the man she had loved so completely, and relieved that he had
now finally been put out of his misery and was at peace.
But she felt no other
emotions other than pity and relief.
Tears were shed
however when Emma told her about visiting Steven’s grave at St Winifred’s and
standing by his grave for an hour while she told him all of their news.
“That is something I
would have liked to have done” Mary said
“We can go whenever
you want” Emma said and hugged her mother.
They then spent the
next hour going through the small box of mementoes she had recovered from the
house and laughed and cried at the memories they provoked.
“These are the real treasures”
Emma said as she opened a bigger box and took out an album and Mary cried again
as she opened the volume.
Unfortunately After 15
years of being stored up in the loft space some of the photos had suffered but
that didn’t detract from the enjoyment of them.
Mother and daughter
were still going through the albums when Mary’s partner Owen came home.
“Hello you two, what
are you up to?” he said and kissed them both.
Emma then quickly ran
through the events of the previous two days up to the point they began to look
at the photos.
“It’s so wonderful to
see them again” Mary said gleefully
“And there are so
many”
“So I can see” Owen
added
“There are a lot of
albums but some of the photos are water damaged and a bit ropey” Emma said
“There are also a lot
more in wallets plus the box of negatives and there are hundreds of slides, but
we can’t look at them because we don’t have a projector”
“Well you can get the
slides digitally transferred” Owen suggested
“Really?” Emma asked
“That would be good
then we could share them with your sisters” Mary said
“There’s a very good
outfit called Digitize Image Lab, they used to be in Northchapel but I think they have
moved to Mornington now”
“Yes I remember seeing
them when I was there”
Emma said “But I
didn’t know what they did”
“And they will also be
able to clean up the images on some of the damaged photos” Owen added
“I’m not sure how much
it will cost though”
“I don’t care” Emma
said “it will be worth every penny to get our childhood memories back”
After Emma had packed
the photos away again she prepared to go home when something wonderful happened
“I don’t like to be
insensitive” Owen began “but does this mean you can marry me now Mary?”
“Are you proposing?”
Mary asked
“Of course I am” he replied
“Then yes it does
indeed mean that” she said and kissed him
The day after Emma had
shared the photos with her mum she was sitting in her flat and googled the
phone number for Digitize Image Lab while she was drinking her morning coffee.
She spoke to a man
called Brian at length about transferring the slides to a digital format and
also the problem with the damaged photos.
He was very helpful,
he suggested going through the photographs and decide which ones they wanted
digitizing and likewise with the slides but when she pointed out they had no
means of viewing them he suggested they do it on the premises, but to be
prepared for it to take a lot longer than she might think.
Then when they had
decided what they wanted copying their work could begin.
They pencilled in two
days of the following week and then after she had hung up she called her mother
and filled her in on the conversation and suggested an outing to Mornington.
Mary agreed instantly
so Emma’s next phone call was to Kay Richardson at Corner House.
“Corner House good
morning”
“Kay! I’m coming back
for another visit” Emma said “And I’m bringing mum with me”
“Wonderful news” Kay
replied with obvious delight “When did you have in mind?”
“Next week, can you
put us up for a couple of nights?”
“I think it might have
to be the end of the week” Kay said as she looked at the diary “no, I tell a
lie I can do two rooms, Wednesday and Thursday night. Does that work for you?”
“Perfect” Emma replied
Over the next week
Emma and Mary went through all the albums and took out the photos they wanted
digitizing, likewise with the wallets and what was left were sorted into
categories, Emma, Lisa, Claire and Family and put into envelopes, the albums
were then thrown away.
As a result of their
diligence Mary and Emma had a much more compact collection when they arrived at
Digitize
Image Lab.
They had arrived in Mornington late on Wednesday afternoon and went
straight to Corner House where they were warmly welcomed by Kay Richardson and
they ate dinner in Kay’s private dining room and reminisced about earlier
times.
The next morning Emma and Mary indulged themselves with a cooked
breakfast at the guest house and then made the short walk up to Mornington
Field.
The Digitize Image Lab was housed in what used to be the old Crew
Quarters which they shared with another company, Premier Lace.
They sat in reception after signing in on the touchscreen and sat for
about five minutes before a tall good looking man appeared and headed towards
them and produced a beaming smile as they stood up to greet him.
“Emma Jackson, it is you and you haven’t changed a bit” he said and
shook her hand
“Um hello… have we met before then?” she asked doubtfully
“Oh my poor wounded heart” he responded and held his chest before he
turned his attention on her mum and shook her hand
“Nice to see you Mrs. Jackson, I suppose you don’t remember me either?”
Mary looked at him closely and smiled
“It’s Brian”
“Right so far” he said
“Brian…. Don’t tell me I’ll get there… Brian Brian…. Brushwood” Mary
said triumphantly
“Brian Brushwood?” Emma said “from school?”
“My goodness you’ve changed for the better” she thought as she
remembered his very spotty 15 year old former self.
As they stood in the reception area of the Digitize Image Lab Emma
Jackson thought the 30 year old version of the spotty 15 year old Brian
Brushwood she had known at school, was gorgeous, with an open smiling face,
brown hair, green eyes, clear skin, a muscular physique and he was charming and
funny, plus he smelt good enough to eat.
“Come on
I’ll show you around and dazzle you with my brilliance” Brian said and laughed
and the two women couldn’t help but smile.
As Brian held open the
door from reception Mary and Emma couldn’t believe their eyes.
Everything was shinny
chrome and bright lights and there was hi-tech equipment everywhere, it was so
unexpected after the rather Spartan and mundane reception area.
In one of the offices
there was a small young woman in her mid-twenties, who was about 4ft 10” and quite
slim, she was standing over some kind of scanner, but looked up from what she
was doing and smiled.
The next office was
much more like an office, inhabited by a middle-aged man dressed like a used
car salesman who was deeply engrossed in a skype conversation.
Across the corridor
from “Mr Car Boot Sale” was the server room and next to that was a meeting room
and all along the corridor were rooms full of hi-tech equipment.
In fact the machines
seemed to far outnumber the people.
But as impressive as
her surrounding were Emma failed to notice any of it because she couldn’t take
her eyes off Brian Brushwood.
At the far end of the corridor
was a room which was, according to a sign on the door, the viewing room.
When he opened the
door they could see what looked like mixing desks, as well as computers and
every gadget imaginable, and the walls were covered in screens and sitting at a
console was a young woman wearing headphones.
“Louise?” Brian
shouted and she looked up, and smiled and then took off her headphones.
Emma suspiciously
viewed her with a jaundiced eye, she was a tall girl, stick thin, with no
visible bust line at all, clearly at the back of that particular queue, and she
had no hips and Emma unkindly thought she looked like a boy, but a very pretty
boy.
She warmed to the
young woman however when she detected no body language between her and Brian to
suggest they were anything other than colleagues.
Emma ascertained she
was probably mid to late twenties; she had a pretty face, and an even prettier
smile which she employed as they approached.
“Louise, these are the
Jacksons” Brian said to her and then addressing Emma and Mary “and this is Louise
Kilbourne, it’s her and her sister Violet who do all the really clever stuff”
They all shook hands and
then much to Emma’s disgust Brian excused himself leaving her and her mum with
skinny Minnie.
Who turned out to be
every bit as pleasant as she appeared.
Brian had already had
all the slides brought to the viewing room while he was showing them round so
Louise already had them unpacked and loaded into a huge multi-level carousel.
So when Brian excused
himself she ran through what to do.
She switched on the
machine and the first image appeared
“It’s all controlled on
this touch screen” Louise began “Swipe right to keep, left to discard and up to
skip, you can look at the skipped ones again at the end, and even the discarded
ones as well if you like, the robot will automatically separate the keepers
from the discards”
“It’s all controlled
on this touch screen” Louise began “Swipe right to keep, left to discard and up
to skip, you can look at the skipped ones again at the end, and even the
discarded ones as well if you like, the robot will automatically separate the
keepers from the discards”
When Louise was happy
that they had taken in everything she had outlined, she said
“Why don’t you look at
a few, I’ll stay around until you’ve got the hang of it and then I’ll go and
rustle up some coffee”
“Lovely” Emma said but
Mary was already engrossed in what she was seeing and didn’t respond.
Emma Jackson and her
mum spent all morning looking through the slides and they only discarded about
a dozen, when they were done Brian and Louise took them to the Old Mill Inn for
lunch.
“So what happens now?”
Mary asked as they sat in the pub
“Well now we convert
the images into a digital format where we can sharpen the definition and
restore the colour and get rid of any blemishes” Brian said
“Is it safe?” Mary
asked
“In what way?” Louise
replied
“The slides? Will they
be safe” Mary asked with concern
“They are very
precious”
Brian and Louise
looked a little confused in response to Mary’s statement, which was when Emma,
who had just been a spectator up until then as she had been focusing all her attentions
on Brian, joined in.
“They are the only
pictures we have of our lives before my brother died” Emma said
“I understand” Brian
said reassuringly as he took hold of her hand.
“We will treat them
like the treasures they are”
Mary was still a
little uneasy and replied
“It’s just that these
pictures are priceless”
“I promise,” Louise
said “that no harm will come to them”
So they took them at
their word and gave them permission to continue.
Anyway after they had
enjoyed a nice lunch and had covered the thorny problem of permission to
proceed, they prepared to return to the task in hand, but because they had
lunched in the Old Mill Inn word soon got around that the village the Mary
Jackson was in “town” and as a result everyone that knew her wanted to chat so
Emma left her mum at the pub and returned to Digitize with Louise and Brian.
“I just need to lose
the skinny bird now and I can have him all to myself” she thought to herself
and glanced over at Louise and she was smiling at her.
This caused her to
panic because she thought she had either thought out loud or the skinny bint
could read her mind.
But she needn’t have
worried Louise was actually looking past her and smiling at her sister.
Emma turned around and
saw another gorgeous stick insect approaching, who she assumed was Violet.
“You missed lunch” Louise
said
“I couldn’t eat
anyway” she replied “I had to have three fillings”
Violet was introduced
to Emma and some informal chatter accompanied the rest of the walk up to
Mornington Filed and once they were back at Digitize the sisters went off to
their lab to start work on the slides and Brian showed Emma into the meeting
room where the photos and negatives were already waiting for them on the table.
“Oh goody I do have
him all to myself” she thought to herself
Emma and Brian spent
virtually the whole afternoon in the meeting room though it wasn’t until almost
4.30pm that they actually got around to talking about the job in hand.
“So how come you’re
still single?” Brian asked
“Gosh you sound like
my mum” she said trying to deflect,
“I might ask you the
same thing”
“That’s easy” he
replied “I’m fussy, and I haven’t met the right girl yet”
“So what’s your
reason?” he persisted
“Oh God” she winced
“you are like my mum”
“Is it such a terrible
question?” he asked
“Yes it really is” she
replied and buried her face in her hands
“Sorry, I didn’t mean
to pry” Brian said
“That’s ok” she said
emerging from her hands and straightening up “I was jilted once, when I was 19,
not at the altar, but a few weeks before the day and…”
“And now you are over
cautious” he suggested
“That’s about the size
of it” she agreed
“Well we’re not all
like him” Brian said “He was an idiot”
“But I didn’t think he
was at the time” she said “I trusted him completely”
So having discussed
their school days at length and each other’s marital and relationship status
they turned their attention to the photos.
However when they
eventually got to the purpose of the meeting Emma explained that she was still
a little uneasy about handing over the photos, as they were so valuable to her
but Brian explained what process they would follow.
“The photos will be
quite safe” he assured her “The very first step is to scan them all so we have a
digital copy that we can manipulate and then we no longer need the original”
“Oh ok” she said and
handed over the photos and he began looking through them.
“Is that all of them?”
he queried, “I understood there were a lot more”
“There are” she
replied
“But you don’t trust
me” Brian said feigning injury
“No it’s not that” she
said laughing “it’s just that the others are badly damaged”
“I see, well you
clearly don’t know what I am capable of” he said
“Clearly” she
responded
“But I wouldn’t mind
finding out” she thought to herself
“Well if any of the
pictures are so bad that we can’t improve them by just scanning and editing then
we can see what we can do from the negatives”
“Oh ok” Emma said “I
will bring them next time then”
“So there will be a
next time?” Brian said
“I think there may be”
she said flirtatiously
“Promise?” he said
playfully
“Promise” she repeated
and there was a momentary silence before she said
“Well I suppose I had
better go and track down my mother”
“Yes it is getting
late” he said as he looked at his watch then he added casually
“Are you going to be
in Mornington for long?”
“No we’re driving back
to Abbottsford in the morning” she replied
“That’s a shame” he
said a little too frankly and began flicking through his note pad to cover his
embarrassment
“I see we have your
contact details though, so I can keep you updated on our progress”
“It’s been lovely to
see you again” he said as he shook her hand in reception
“And you” she said and
Brian held the door open for her and she slipped out
“Goodbye”
Brian Brushwood stood
at the door and watched Emma Jackson walk away from the building and was joined
by the Kilbourne sisters
“Is she the one you
had a crush on when you were at school?” Violet asked
“Yes”
“She’s nice” Violet
said
“Pretty too” Louise added
“Yes she is” he agreed
“So did you ask her
out?” Vi asked
“Of course not” he
replied
“Why exactly?” Louise
queried
“It wasn’t the right
time” Brian retorted
“When will be the
right time?” Lou asked “After another 15 years have gone by?”
“It’s not that simple”
he pointed out and turned to walk away
“Well I hope she has
more gumption than you do” Violet shouted after him and then she and Louise
laughed at his discomfiture.
He walked back to the
meeting room with the girls laughter ringing in his ears and he was extremely
cross, though not with the girls, he was cross with himself, because they were
right, he should have asked her out, he should have taken his opportunity,
after all he had all afternoon to ask her, he had her to himself all afternoon
and there were a number of times when he could have done so easily.
He was cross because the
girls had hit the nail on the head, it probably would be another 15 years
before he got another chance if he wasn’t bolder.
Brian had adored Emma
since the day he realised that girls weren’t just funny shaped boys, when he
was just short of his thirteenth birthday and for two years he watched her and
dreamed about her.
But he knew she was
way out of his league, he had a skinny weedy physique, a face that comprised of
more spots than skin and the way he wore his clothes made him look like he’d
slept in them.
She on the other hand
was perfection personified, beautiful hair, clear complexion, a nice figure,
and always immaculately dressed.
However despite the
differences between them, she was always nice to him, which kept his hopes
alive right up until the point she disappeared from his life.
He went home from
school one day expecting to see her the next day but instead he didn’t see her
for fifteen years.
In the years that
followed her surprise departure his weedy physique filled out and his
complexion cleared up and he wore his clothes like they belonged to him, so he
was an altogether more attractive proposition and was never short of female
admirers, and he had tried some of them on for size, but they didn’t suit,
because they didn’t live up to his ideal.
Emma Jackson was still
in his head and every woman he ever got close to he compared to Emma and they
always came up short.
Which was why he was
still single and unattached and had contented himself with that, he still had a
good life, his own company and a comfortable future.
However when he walked
into reception that morning and saw Emma again, looking as gorgeous as she was
the last time he saw her, all the old feelings for her came flooding back.
But even being gifted
with the opportunity to ask her out he lost his bottle because although he was
anything but, he still felt like the weedy and spotty callow youth and he felt
unworthy.
Mary had had a
wonderful time the previous afternoon and evening catching up with old friends
in the village but it had left her drained so once they had breakfasted at
Corner House they said their goodbyes and set off.
But instead of driving
through the village Emma drove up West Gate Road and into Mornington Field.
“Why are you going
this way?” Mary asked with a smile
“I wasn’t sure if you
wanted to pop into Digitize as we’re passing”
“No I’m fine” she
replied “But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t pop in and see him”
“What? No there’s no
need for that, I don’t need to see him” Emma said and blushed
They were both very
quiet on the way home, both lost in their own thoughts but by the time she
reached the outskirts of Abbottsford Emma had made a decision.
She dropped her mum
off at home at midday and went to her flat to get herself ready for what she
hoped would not be the biggest mistake of her life, although she thought it
would almost certainly be a bigger mistake if she didn’t.
So when she left Abbey
View Mews she was wearing a knee length yellow summer dress that suited her
figure, and made the most of what she had, and her shoulder length brunette
hair was down so it danced around her nape as she walked.
Unfortunately because
she wanted to make sure she was as well presented as possible, she was later
leaving than she had hoped, and firstly got caught in all the local school
traffic and then had to battle the rush hour virtually all the way to
Mornington.
Consequently it was
almost 5.30pm when she drove through the South Gate Entrance to Mornington
Field.
She pulled up outside
the Digitize
Image Lab which was housed in what used to be the old Crew Quarters which they
shared with Premier Lace and turned off the engine.
Emma got out of the
car and walked up to the door wearing yellow shoes to match her dress and
because she wanted to make the best of herself she was tottering along on
heels.
When she reached the
front door she was just about to ring the buzzer when the Kilbourne sisters
emerged.
“Hello again” Louise
said
“Hi” she replied “I
was looking for Brian”
“So we can see” Violet
added as she looked her up and down
“Is it too much?” Emma
asked despairingly
“No not at all” Louise
reassured her “But…”
“But?”
“He’s left for the
day” Violet said “You just missed him”
“Oh” she responded and
was clearly crestfallen
“Oh dear” Lou said
“Don’t despair he only lives 5 minutes away”
“Really?”
“Yes he lived in
Lancaster House, which you passed on the way in, Apartment 5” Violent said.
“I think I’d better
just leave it until another time” Emma said “Thanks”
“Nonsense” Violet said
and took hold of her arm
“Yes, we’ll show you
the way” Louise added and took her other arm and they escorted her to Lancaster
House, which used to be the old Officers Mess but it had been converted into
Apartments.
The girls wanted Brian
to be happy and they knew from experience that he would not take decisive
action for himself and as they knew that he liked her and vice versa they were
determined to get them together which was why they took their opportunity for
an intervention.
So they escorted her
into the lobby and up the stairs to Brian floor and then stood and watched from
a safe distance along the corridor to make sure she knocked on the door.
When she reached the
door to Brian’s Apartment she knocked on it and it opened after about 30
seconds.
“Wow this is a nice
surprise” he said and it was a surprise because he wasn’t expecting to see her
for a couple of weeks at least.
“You look lovely” he said
“are you going out?”
“Well I hope so” she
replied “I didn’t dress like this for nothing”
He thought she must
have a hot date because she’d really gone to town and she had been very liberal
with the perfume which was very exotic.
“So where are you
going?” he asked suddenly feeling jealous,
“I don’t know, where
did you have in mind?” she replied coyly
“Oh” he said delighted
that she had dressed up for his benefit
“Come in and we can
discuss it” he replied
“Great idea” she said and
as she stepped forward she ceased the moment and kissed him and the Kilbourne
sisters watched the prolonged embrace from along the corridor.
“Job done sis” Vi said
“Well done us” Louise
added
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