With a boot
full of Tesco’s finest tinned and dried goods he turned into the lane, Jeff
Forman didn’t really feel like stopping for tea with Mrs Higgins, but she had
invited him, and he thought it would have been rude not to, so he pulled up
outside The Laurels.
As they sat in
her lounge drinking from her best China, he related the story of his getting
lost in the woods and being rescued by a young woman called Maxine.
“Oh, she’s my
niece” Anne said with a mixture of pride and a little sadness “I worry about
her”
“She seemed
very sound when I met her” he said
“Oh, she is,
but the poor girl is an insomniac, she hasn’t slept properly for four years or
so” she said “She only ever cat naps”
“Why is that?”
he asked
She was
thoughtful for a moment and then she said
“More tea?”
“I’m sorry I
didn’t mean to pry” he said
“It’s ok Mr.
Graham” she said “It just makes me sad”
“I understand
but please call me Jeff”
She nodded and
went all thoughtful again before she said
“Maxine always
had a small problem with sleeping after her grandmother died in her sleep when
she was 12, but she seemed to grow out of that in time” She paused to take a
sip of her tea.
“Then when she
was at University her best friend Bella suffered an embolism and died one
night. Maxine was absolutely devastated but I think she would have come out the
other side had it not been for the Brown’s”
“The Brown’s?”
he asked
“Yes, they were
a family from the village who died in a house fire.
It happened in
the early hours as they slept, five of them, it was so tragic, Maxine knew the
family very well and she had even baby sat the children; it was the final straw
for her and ever since that night Maxine has had a morbid fear of sleeping”
“How sad” he
said
“She has been
attending group sessions at the retreat” Anne said
As he arrived
home, or at least his temporary home he reflected on how candid Anne had been,
after all she could just have said she suffered from insomnia and left it at
that.
He supposed not
being honest might have failed to explain her irregular hours and her habit of
walking the woods at all hours of the day and night.
He could relate
to that in some ways as he was prone to keeping irregular hours himself, but he
was pleased Anne had told him everything, as a writer he was naturally nosy but
there was something about Maxine that struck a chord with him.
He continued to
see Maxine walking the lane, or the riverbank or one of the many woodland
paths, though she never stopped to talk but she did occasionally wave, he did
wonder what on earth she did with herself, apart from her therapist sessions,
there must be more to her life than walking the woods.
One day towards
the end of October he was in the village on a milk and bread run when he bumped
into Anne again.
“Jeff” she
said, “how’s the book going?”
“Hello Anne,
slowly I’m afraid”
“Well, I won’t
keep you from it then” she said and laughed
“Don’t worry I
need to rest my brain for a bit” he replied “in fact why don’t you pop in later
and I will return your hospitality, I have cake”
“Well in that
case I would love to”
On the way back
to the cottage he wasn’t sure if he had given Anne the wrong impression and his
invite might have been misconstrued, she was an attractive woman some ten years
his senior but nonetheless attractive, and a ten-year age gap wasn’t unheard of
after all.
There was a
knock at the door about 3 o’clock that afternoon and when he opened the door,
Jeff saw it was Anne in a grubby Berber jacket, dirty wellies and mud-spattered
jeans which put his mind at rest, she was hardly in the mode of dress for a
woman who thought she had been invited for a tryst.
“Is it alright
if I leave the dog in the porch?” she asked as she slipped off her wellies.
“Bring her in”
he said
“Are you sure?”
she asked “there is nothing worse than the smell of wet dog”
“Nonsense bring
her in” he insisted
“Come on
Maisie” she called, Maisie was an American Cocker Spaniel, very wet, very
muddy, and very friendly.
He paused
briefly for a stroke and then went straight to the hearth.
Jeff made the
tea and took it into the sitting room.
“No China cups
I’m afraid” he said
“That’s good I
prefer a mug” she responded, and her gave her a look because she had served tea
to him on her best China.
“I know” she
replied to his unasked question “I blame my mother”
And they both
laughed, his mother was like that as well.
As they drank
their tea, he found himself quizzing her about Maxine again, the nosy writer
again he supposed,
“I see her in
the woods or on the Lane a lot” he said
“Yes, she has a
lot of time on her hands” Anne replied
“She can’t hold
down a job because she doesn’t sleep regularly and is prone to nodding off from
time to time”
It seemed that
financially she was set, her house was hers out right and she had an annuity
from her parents’ estate which was enough for her to live on, as she led a very
modest existence.
“So, what does
she do to fill her days?” he asked
“She’s an avid
reader” she replied “She’s reading all of yours at the moment”
“Really?” he
said
“Maxine is also
a bit of a movie buff especially classics” Anne said “and of course she likes
to walk”
Jeff nodded
“It’s silly
isn’t it that she feels safer walking the woods in the middle of the night that
she does in her own bed”
“It is” he
agreed
“She doesn’t
eat properly either” she added with a lump in her throat, and he thought how
wonderful it was to have someone care about you that much.
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