The day after first meeting her, Charlie was looking out the bedroom window and spotted Toddy’s tall slender frame as she stepped onto the drive, with no head scarf this time, and her seasoned strawberry blonde hair dancing on her shoulders as she strode purposefully towards the house.
He was halfway
down the stairs when she knocked on the door, so he quickened his pace and
opened the door and was greeted by her smiling face.
“Good morning,
Toddy”
“Good morning,
Charlie” she responded
“Come in, come
in” he said fussily “go through to the kitchen”
“Are you going
to hold me captive again and force feed me coffee all morning?” she asked with
a chuckle
“No, just the
one before we go” he replied
“Go? Are we
going somewhere?”
“Threadgold’s,”
he replied “to get you some proper tools”
“Great, I love
Threadgold’s” she said
“Good, because
I’ve never been” he said as he put a coffee in front of her
“Thank you” she
said and as Charlie sat down, he had a piece of paper in his hand
“This might be
of interest to you”
“Oh? What is
it?”
“It’s a quote
my builder gave me to clear the back garden, just to clear it mind” he said and
passed the paper across the table to her
“This will give
you a guide when pricing the job”
“Good heavens,
that much” she exclaimed
“Indeed, so
don’t sell yourself short” he said
“But you didn’t
tell me what you want me to do exactly” Toddy said
“You have carte
blanch to do whatever you think best to turn the jungle into a garden again”
“Well, when it’s
cleared, we can discuss it further” she suggested
“Agreed”
They drove down
the Expressway and turned off when they reached the outskirts of Pipershaven
and drove for three miles until they reached Threadgold’s Garden Centre, which
had been in existence in some form or other for over 100 years and was still
family run.
It was a huge
store which sold an extensive array of Home and Garden products with a similar
square meterage outside of plants, compost, stone slabs etc.
They spent more
than an hour going up and down the aisles until they had a trolley full of
tools which they wheeled to the check out.
“Hello Sister!”
said a pretty blonde girl
“Hi Maisie” Toddy
responded and turned to Charlie “This is Maisie Threadgold, she used to deliver
up to the Convent”
“Nice to meet
you Maisie” Charlie said
“Is it true the
Convent is closing?” she asked
“It is, and I’m
not a Sister anymore” she replied
“What do I call
you now then?” Maisie asked
“Toddy” she
replied proudly
After Charlie
paid for assorted tools and such, they Hired a chain saw and a woodchipper, for
delivery the next day, and said goodbye to Maisie.
After loading
their purchases into the car, Charlie took the scenic route home via The
Pheasant in Quarry Hill where they had lunch.
It was too late
to start work by the time they got back to the village, so Charlie dropped her
at the Vicarage, and she started bright and early the next morning.
APRIL
Although he was
retired, there were projects and interests which kept him at the desk in his
study for periods of time during the day.
While he worked
in his study and she laboured in the jungle, he kept her well supplied with
coffee and moral support in equal measure.
On those days
when he had no other demands on his time, he offered himself as an extra pair
of hands.
There were
occasions when his presence was required elsewhere, which he tried to keep to
the barest minimum, but he had forewarned her of this right from the start.
“I won’t be
here every day so I’ve got you a spare key so you can come and go as you please”
It was only
once she had been toiling for a week that he fully appreciated the size of the
garden, it was enormous, it was so big and so overgrown.
Because of the
extent of the task and the typical seasonal weather it took all of April and a
week of May to do the surface clearance.
MAY
They spent a
lot of time together during the project and on the inclement days they went out
and about far and wide to Garden Centre’s, Reclamation Yards and junk shops,
looking for ideas, and the selection of period stone planters, chimney pots,
urns, statuary, benches and even a cartwheel, piled in the garage were
testament to their success.
They both
attended St Agatha's most Sunday’s and more often than not, they either sat
together or gravitated towards one another for refreshments after the service,
and to the casual observer they looked more like a couple than employer and
employee.
No comments:
Post a Comment