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.
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.
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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