The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (223) The Girl Had Legs

 

October

 

Saxvirdan, is a small hamlet north of the town, made up of former labourer’s cottages close to the remains of the old Roman fort site, Saxa Viridia Castellum, which was of great interest to archaeologists and tourists alike.

All of the house’s contain to some extent, materials acquired from the old Roman Buildings.

It was also the home of the Tuke’s, brother and sister, David and Gill, who ran the poultry side of Roman Water farm.

They were both the wrong end of their twenties and there were only the two of them left of the Tuke clan, but they had two people working with them full time, 22-year-old local girl Victoria Walton, and her thirty-year-old brother Chris, who David had known at Agricultural College.

To Davids surprise and delight, Gill and Chris got together in September which in turn threw him and Victoria into close proximity, which he was also pleased about, but he was conscious of the difference in their ages, so he didn’t do anything but enjoy her company and he was content with the status quo, but Victoria had other ideas.

 

David was partial to a Coffee and after the Coffee Bean Canteen opened a branch in St Pierre, he would ride the farm bike, equipped with a large basket on the front, to the edge of town to deliver fresh eggs to the Corner Shop and would then indulge his passion for a real coffee.

But on those days when Gill did the larger egg deliveries in the van he would still ride into town on the bike just for a coffee, which Victoria was well aware of. 

 

So, on one Saturday afternoon in October when he was riding as fast as the old bike would allow through the Wood, he looked up and saw a young woman come out of the bushes ahead of him and then she turned towards him and smiled.

To his surprise it was Victoria, but not Victoria as he knew her in heavy denim and work boots, this was very much a horse of a different colour.

She was wearing a lemon-coloured dress, and she had legs, he’d never seen her legs before, and sandals on her feet, and he was blown away as she stood there in the unusually warm autumn sunshine as the breeze played with her soft brown hair.

“Wow” he exclaimed, and she smiled again because she knew she had him.

So, she walked towards him as gracefully as she could manage given the uneven ground and her unaccustomed footwear.  

And when she was alongside him, she kissed him gently and hoped she had not made an error about his feelings toward her.

She needn’t have worried because the moment their lips parted, he lifted her up onto the crossbar and kissed her in return.

 

After the most mutually satisfying kiss, she slipped gracefully off the cross bar and rearranged her dress, and he said

“Well, I’ll see you later then”

“What?” she said with panic in her voice as he began to pedal away

“Don’t leave me” she begged, and David smiled at her

“You pig,” she said and slapped his arm

“Do you really think I would just leave you after that kiss?”

“No” she said and hugged him “But you’re still a Pig”

Victoria lived in the village, but she was in no hurry to get home, she wanted to go wherever he was going, so they trundled along the track through the woods on the bike, him pedaling and Victoria sitting in the basket in front of him laughing loudly at every bump.

He stopped outside the Coffee Bean Canteen, leant the bike against a lamp post and helped her out of the basket.

And when she was perpendicular again, he gave her a long and meaningful kiss and then held her hand as they walked into the Coffee Shop.