(Part 01)
Sharpington-by-Sea is a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, the Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.
The Fun was the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper, all very tame compared to 21st century roller coasters, but still fun.
It was also a popular resort for retirees and boasted a number of static caravan parks.
Sharpington was a place that held very special memories for Boris Katarski as it was there that he spent many a happy hour strolling hand in hand with his wife Lizzie as they walked the promenade or wandered round the flea market during their courtship.
It made him feel good to think of those happy days, he wasn’t sure why they stopped their Sunday jaunts to the seaside.
Work got in the way he supposed, for both of them, she had her own business and Boris was an ambitious officer who his bosses knew would go far, but never at the expense of anyone else, his target was Inspector but not at any cost which is why it took a bit longer than he had hoped, but he wouldn’t compromise.
Despite his ambition he was also the joker of the pack and got results from his team with a laugh rather than a sharp word.
Which was why the tall muscular forty-two year old with jet black hair and wild eyes was standing by the pier in the September sunshine as a newly promoted Inspector at the Sharpington station.
It was the perfect move for him he had been in Abbottsford his whole career and he was looking for something a little less full on so he could spend more time with his wife and maybe start the family they had always wanted.
He met Lizzie Bird when he worked in Abbottsford as she was the best friend of Jenny Hack who was one of his colleague’s on DCI Overend’s squad.
It took him ages to work up enough courage to ask her out and in the end she got tired of waiting and asked him instead and neither her decision to ask, nor his to say yes, were ones that they subsequently lived to regret and they had been married for 7 years.
Although she was now 36 she was still an attractive trim brunette who was content with her life but for the fact that the ticking of her biological clock was deafening her.
When they first got together Lizzie owned and managed the “Bizzie Lizzie” florists in Abbey View Road, Abbottsford.
She now owned a chain of Bizzie Lizzie Florists all across Downshire including one in Sharpington which she had decided to work out of since Boris got his promotion.
They also sold their substantial property in Abbottsford and bought a beautiful cottage in Dulcet-on Brooke which was right on the river.
It was really picturesque and peaceful and the perfect place to bring up a child, if she could ever get pregnant.
And that was the plan, they had both turned their backs on their stressful lives in Abbottsford, to live in a stress free idyll, which would then be more conducive to conception.
(Part 02)
Boris and Lizzie had both taken three weeks holiday to cover the move from Abbottsford to Dulcet-on-Brooke which gave them a week to move out, a week to move in and a week of doing absolutely nothing at all apart from trying to make a baby.
It was the 7th of September when Boris and Lizzie drove into Sharpington together to start their new jobs, even though they were both actually doing the same jobs and they had merely transferred from a City to a small seaside town.
They were both very excited about the new beginnings and a little nervous, although at least Boris had someone to hold his hand because he brought DS Griffin with him as his bag man.
Detective Sergeant Marty Griffin was a wiry character, short and lean with brown curly hair.
Thirty-six years old, a solid by the book copper who joined Boris’s team as a temporary assignment from uniform and without two much difficulty through a combination of hard work and keeping himself out of trouble soon made his move to the squad permanent.
He was still a single man which was due mainly because he liked the lass’s more than was good for him, although his most serious fault was gambling which at one time had been bordering on addiction.
But he had put his skirt chasing and gambling well behind him, however back in Abbottsford his reputation preceded him where ever he went, so when he was given the opportunity to start again just far enough away from his past life as to give him the opportunity to make himself a new reputation, he grabbed it with both hands.
The sale of his Abbottsford apartment, paid for by his prowess at the poker tables, bought him a dilapidated 17th Century thatched cottage in the sleepy village of Kingfisherbridge.
Although as of that day when he and Boris were talking outside the front door of Sharpington nick, Marty’s possessions were in storage and he was living at the Seaview Hotel while he had the cottage made habitable, redecorated throughout and a new kitchen and bathroom fitted.
“Morning skip” Marty said
“Hi Marty”
“Have you settled in to the new gaff yet?” Sgt Griffin asked
“Yes it feels like we’ve been there for ever” Boris replied
“You lucky swine’s” he retorted “Is Lizzie back to work today as well?”
“Yes she just dropped me off” he replied
“How’s the Hotel?” Boris asked
“It’s comfortable enough but I’ll be glad to get into the cottage”
“When do you think that will be?” He asked
“A month at least guv” he replied
“The time will fly by once we get stuck into something interesting”
“I hope so” Marty said “I really hope so”
Marty hadn’t taken any time off as his boss had, he stayed on in Abbottsford until a few days before the bank holiday weekend and he would take his time off when the cottage was habitable.
So on his own in the Hotel the time hung heavy which were the kind of times he would have gone skirt chasing or gambling had he not curbed those habits.
“Come on then” Inspector Katarski said opening the front door “Let’s go and meet the new team and start nicking some new villains”
(Part 03)
When the two new men reached the glass window they expected it to be a mere formality and they would be quickly buzzed in through the security door by the desk Sergeant
However they were confronted by a desk Sergeant even worse than the one they left behind in Abbotsford and George Frank was the most miserable, hard faced, moaning Minnie you would find anywhere on God’s green earth, but the one that faced them through the glass was everything that Sergeant Frank was on his worst day, was holding them up and was officious too boot.
Sgt Orr was the most unhelpful and cantankerous person Boris had ever met and he thought it was obviously a ruse to put obnoxious individuals on the front desk to deter all but the thickest skinned of the public whiners and whinger’s, he thought it unlikely that Sgt Orr was once a pleasant and helpful member of the constabulary and had become the way he was because he’d spent so much time on the front desk.
“DI. Katarski and DS Griffin” Boris said showing his warrant card to the window
“State your business” the Sgt retorted
“Police business” Boris snapped “So open the bloody door”
“No unauthorised entry” Sgt Orr barked
“I am authorized” he said and showed his warrant card again
“It’s no use keep waving that thing around” Sgt Orr “You’re not getting in, so state your business”
“This bloke makes Sgt Frank seem charming and affable” Boris said to Marty
“I am Detective Inspector Katarski and this is Detective Sgt Griffin and we work for Sharpington CID” Boris said calmly
“I know all the CID officers and you aren’t one of them” The Sgt retorted
“That’s because we are new” Marty added
“How am I supposed to know who you are then?” he asked
“That’s what the bloody warrant cards are for” Katarski shouted
“I think you need to calm down or I’ll have you removed”
“Fine arrest me, at least I’ll get through the bloody door” Boris snapped at which point Marty stepped in
“Just phone CID and tell them we are here” he said quietly and the Sgt responded equally quietly
“Phone them yourself” and turned his back on him.
So after 20 minutes of being stonewalled by the unhelpful Sgt, Boris phoned Sharpington Police Station.
Marty didn’t hear both sides of the conversation only the DI and he was turning purple
“CID please”
“C.I.D.”
“DI Katarski”
“K.A.T.A.R.S.K.I”
“Duty officer”
“No I don’t know the bloody extension I require”
“Just put me through to someone in CID”
After having finally spoken to someone in CID they waited impatiently for ten minutes and were finally allowed through the door by an attractive yet robust uniformed Police Constable, by the name of Roxanne Kincaid-Smith.
Just the size and shape that excited Marty’s senses the most but although after a cursory glance he established she ticked most of his boxes, he reminded himself that he no longer indulged in the sport of chasing female officers.
Boris was relieved when they finally got past the grumpy Sergeant on the front desk.
“I’m sorry about Sgt Orr” she said “He can be a bit of a ….”
“Dinosaur” Boris suggested
“Neanderthal” Marty offered
“Moron” The DI added
“Arse” Marty said bluntly
“Well I was going to say Tartar” Roxanne said “but if the cap fits”
The light-hearted banter that accompanied them as Roxanne escorted them up to CID improved Boris’s mood no end.
But when they finally arrived at their destination they came upon a sight that improved it even more because waiting by the door to greet them was a familiar face.
“Sticky!” the two men said in unison
(Part 04)
Boris and Marty had known DC Richard Deacon when he was a wet behind the ears PC at Abbottsford.
He was now a Detective Constable twenty-nine years old, six feet tall and was still pencil thin.
In fact when they first knew him he was so thin he was known as the stick insect hence the nickname of “Sticky”.
Deacon and Roxanne momentarily exchanged a look and Boris said
“Thanks Roxanne” and Police Constable Kincaid-Smith returned to her duties.
“I didn’t know you were in Sharpington” Boris said shaking Deacons hand “The last I heard you were in Purplemere”
“I transferred here two years ago” he responded
“Come on then introduce me to the troops”
The DI said “Point out the dead wood as we go”
“We don’t have any” Deacon remarked “They’re a good bunch”
“Are you up to full strength?” DS Griffin asked
“No we’re two down actually” he replied “one medically retired and one on gardening leave”
“Well I like to promote from within so as you’ve been here two years and I trust your judgement jot me down half a dozen names worth looking at” Boris said
“And a list of the ones we wouldn’t want foisted onto us” Griffin added quietly
After DC Deacon had shown them around and introduced them to those officer who were not out and about on the streets of Sharpington, Boris and Marty settled into their respective berths and took a look at the list of open cases in order to get a feel for what criminality was happening on their new turf.
With it being a holiday resort, which attracted large numbers of visitors, it also attracted pick pockets, car thieves, muggers and burglars.
They also looked at the dispersal of resources and tried to prioritise them towards the problem areas unfortunately they were spread too thin.
Boris came out of his office later that day and called Marty Griffin and DC Deacon over.
“Do you remember the spate of pickpocketing we had at the Phoenix Shopping Centre one Christmas in Abbottsford?”
“Yes” they both agreed
“And do you remember how we cracked it?” he asked
It was a big spree at the time and a large number of women had either their pockets picked or bags stolen while visiting the Phoenix shopping Centre.
Interviews were conducted and information collated and nothing leapt out at them.
But one of the DC’s, Grace Suddaby used all the information collected and compiled a crime map of the Phoenix Shopping Centre, logging various markers such as the location the theft was discovered, shops visited prior to the discovery and the place where they were 100 percent sure they still had the stolen item and with that information Grace’s computer model managed to isolate the crime hotspot to the second floor.
“A crime map” Marty said
“Exactly” Boris said “And that’s exactly what we need here, a crime map to show us where to focus our efforts”
“Good idea guv” Deacon said
“But the problem is Grace is now running her own squad in Northchapel”
“I know so we need someone who’s extremely computer literate to collate the information and give us a working crime map showing us the crime hotspots” Boris said “So, Sticky, do we have such a person in Sharpington?”
“Yes sir we do” he replied “in fact you met her this morning”
So the next day PC Kincaid-Smith began her secondment to CID and began work on the crime map.
(Part 05)
It wasn’t until Thursday afternoon that Boris and Marty got to meet Superintendent Keith Tilbry, although Marty didn’t really consider that he had met the Superintendent who didn’t make eye contact and barely even acknowledge the DS’s existence.
Marty took the hint and excused himself and left, closing the door behind him leaving the two of them in Inspector Katarski’s office.
“Look Katarski I’m sorry to dump this in your lap on your first week” The Superintendent began “But we have something of a hot potato”
He handed Boris a file which Boris opened and read.
The file contained a letter of complaint regarding an alleged incident at the Sharpington Day Parade more than a week earlier on Bank Holiday Monday.
The complaint was that three youths "blacked up" as golliwogs for the town's charity parade of decorated floats.
“I want you to investigate it as a priority” the superintendent said
“Seriously?” Boris retorted
“Yes, seriously” he snapped “There has been a complaint”
“One complaint out of the thousands who attended the event and you want me to prioritise my resources to do what exactly?”
“To identify the three youths” Tilbry said “It is your job to investigate crimes after all”
“What crime?” Boris asked “And how do we know they’re even youths?”
The Superintendent then handed him a copy of the Sharpington Courier
“Page 5” Tilbry barked
There was a picture from the event showing three individuals all with black curly wigs, black faces with white circles around their eyes. All were wearing typical golliwog or minstrel costumes of red, white and blue.
It also claimed that the picture was of two females and one male although Boris thought it looked like three girls.
“It all seems rather innocent to me sir” he said “And as for being youths those three could just as easily be in their sixties”
“Innocent?” Tilbry barked “I want them found and I want them dealt with”
“But No crime has been committed” Boris pointed out
“It’s not illegal to dress up as minstrels”
“There were another group of youths dressed as the Jackson 5” the Superintendent said indignantly
“Which is also not a crime” Boris pointed out
“It has caused offence” Tilbry shouted
“To one person sir” Boris replied
“And what were the golliwog trio and the Jackson 5 doing exactly?”
“They were collecting money for charity” Tilbry replied
“And you want me to arrest them for that?” Boris asked “We will be a laughing stock”
“I want them found” Tilbry repeated
“Our resources are spread thin enough as it is with the pick pockets and burglars I cannot commit resource to a PR exercise.
I will send my Sgt to speak to the journalist who published the story and ask if they have any further information, and he can speak to the organisers but that’s as far as it goes”
“Damn the pick pockets and damn the burglars” Superintendent yelled “Find me those Golliwogs”
He then stormed out of Katarski’s office and slammed the door.
“You made an impression then guv?” Marty asked when Boris immerged from his office
“Why is it that all senior officers are idiots?” Boris countered
“That’s life I’m afraid but don’t upset yourself guv” Marty said “We still respect you”
“Cheeky bastard” he retorted
(Part 06)
DI Katarski explained at length the nature of his discussion with Superintendent Tilbry and the “Golliwog Gate” incident and tasked Marty to go and speak with the journalist and the organisers the next day.
“Oh guv” he protested and DC Deacon laughed
“And you can go with him to make sure he doesn’t get lost” Boris added
“But what about the collating?” Deacon protested
“Roxanne is quite capable of doing the collating on her own” The DI said and from across the office PC Kincaid-Smith was heard to titter although in truth she was unaware of the enquiry’s they were making having only heard the tail end of the conversation.
“Did you say something Roxanne?” Boris called to her
“No guv just clearing my throat” she replied
Their first port of call the next morning was the Sharpington Pier where he had arranged to meet Molly Westwood who was the Journalist at the Sharpington Courier who wrote the Golliwog piece.
Griffin and Deacon left the station about half an hour earlier than they needed to as Marty needed to pick up his notes from his room at the Seaview Hotel.
The walk down from the station to the Seafront only took about five minutes and another five to the Hotel, Marty was in and out in ten minutes and then the walk along to the Pier was another ten.
As they made their way along the promenade to the Pier Marty reminisced about his youth and the long happy hours he’d spent in seaside towns and how a Pier was always such a magical place, it didn’t matter which town he was in.
“When I was 14 I had my first kiss on a Pier” Marty said and smiled at the memory “Linda McMahon her name was”
“On this Pier?” Deacon asked
“No, Blackpool” he replied
They milled around in the crowd by the entrance for a few minute before making their way along the Pier in the sunshine.
Marty was awash with memories of his youth and had almost forgotten why he was there until Sticky said
“That’s her standing by the rail”
He looked over to the rail and saw a tall statuesque thirty something woman, amply proportioned with wavy chestnut hair blowing in the sea breeze.
“Ok let me go and have a word with her on my own for five minutes” Marty said “Then come over”
“Ok” Deacon agreed and Marty sauntered towards her
“Ms Westwood?” he enquired
“Miss” she replied and gave him a broad grin
“I never get it right” he said and laughed
“It’s not a problem, shall we sit on the bench?” she suggested and he nodded in ascent
“So you’re the new Sergeant” she said once they were seated
“Yes Marty Griffin”
“I’ve heard a lot about you” she said “and your boss Boris”
“So what have you heard?” he asked
“Now that would be telling” she replied playfully
“Don’t tell me you never reveal your sources” he said
“Not normally but I can this time” Molly said with a smile “I heard it from my sister Kelly who works for your bosses wife at the florists”
“I see, then I don’t think I want to know what you’ve heard” He said
“Don’t worry your secret is safe with me” Molly assured him
“But not with your sister apparently” he said
“No she’s a real loose lipped bint” Molly said and roared with laughter.
(Part 07)
Marty was enjoying his chat with Molly in the warm sunshine, she wasn’t like the journalists he was used to, and he almost forgot why he was there.
“Any particular reason why you wanted to meet here?” he asked
“Well first of all I like the Pier” she said “Piers are special places”
“I agree, I had my first kiss on a Pier with Linda McMahon when I was 14” Marty said and smiled at the memory
“Not on this Pier though?” Molly asked
“No, Blackpool” he replied “I have not kissed anyone on Sharpington Pier”
“The day is young” she replied and blushed like she was 14 for saying what she was thinking out loud and inside her head she chastised herself.
“Why on earth did you say that? No wonder your single”
Noticing her discomfort Marty decided to come to her rescue, but when the enquiries were concluded he thought he might like to kiss her on the Pier.
“So what was the second reason?” he asked
“Oh yes” she said quickly trying to compose herself
“Yes secondly I wanted to be able to speak freely and I couldn’t have done that in the office”
“Really?”
“Yes the whole thing about the Golliwog story has been a bit odd” she explained
“How so?”
“Well to be honest the paper normally just prints a big photo spread of the Parade so I wasn’t going to write anything much about the day, other than about the success of the fundraising, there was nothing else to write about.
The weather was perfect, the people turned out in their droves, no one overdosed on candy floss, and I rather enjoyed the whole day so I wasn’t really looking for the negatives” she explained
“Oh dear that sounded a bit racist”
“No you’re ok, I’m not from the Political Correctness Police” He said and she laughed
“So on the day did you see them for yourself?” he continued
“No not a glimpse” she replied “I did see the Jackson 5”
“Did you?”
“Yes but to tell the truth I thought they were black” Molly replied
“So what brought that into doubt?” he asked
“Well apparently it was much later in the day when they were getting into a car and one of the girls took her wig off to reveal blonde hair and a white scalp” she replied
“That could just be Chinese whispers though”
“Any details on the car?” he asked
“I’m afraid not” she confessed
“So what changed your mind about writing the story?” Marty asked
“My editor” Molly said
“He told you to write the piece?”
“Yes he was most insistent” she said crossly
“Any particular reason why he was so adamant?” Marty asked
“No not really but I got the impression he was pressuring me because someone was doing the same to him” she mused
“And where did the photo come from?” he asked
“From my editor”
“And where did he get it?” He enquired
“He wouldn’t say, but if I had to make a guess I would say from the same person who was on his back” she replied
“You don’t seem very happy about it” he said
“I’m not” She retorted “I don’t like people telling me what to write about”
“Well if it makes you feel any better I don’t like having to investigate it any more than you liked writing about it” He said
“It doesn’t, but thank you”
“Well thanks for your time Molly” he said “I’m very grateful for your candour”
“And I am grateful for the opportunity to have met you Miss Westwood” he said to himself
“Oh my pleasure” she said “I’m sure we will run into each other again”
“I hope so” he said and she blushed like she was 14, again
(Part 08)
DS Marty Griffin left Molly Westwood sitting on a bench on the pier and was almost back on the promenade before he remembered he had walked to the Pier with DC Deacon who was supposed to have joined him in the interview after five minutes but he never appeared, not that he noticed.
He took his phone out and rang him.
“Sticky! Where are you?”
It turned out that while he was waiting in the wings he got a tip from a guy called Vivek Chopra who worked at one of the arcades regarding the pick pockets.
Their next port of call was the home of Jayne Keeling, who chaired the Sharpington Day Parade Fundraising Committee, so after returning briefly to the station they drove to Dulcet St Mary to her rather plush country cottage.
On the journey Marty recounted his interview with Molly Westwood.
“It sounds to me like something and nothing but someone is trying to stir things up”
Deacon said
“I agree” Marty concurred and asked
“What do you know about Molly Westwood?”
“In what way?”
“I mean is she reliable” Marty said
“You mean is she available” Deacon said
“No” he retorted “Well maybe”
“Well that would be a yes to both questions then” Sticky replied as they pull up onto the gravelled drive and parked outside Mrs Keeling’s Cottage.
Jayne Keeling was a tall elegant woman in her late fifties and clearly spent more money on beauty treatments and manicures that Marty earned in a year but she was not an unpleasant woman.
“So when did you hear about the incident?” DS Griffin asked as they sat in her conservatory.
“Not until the article appeared in the paper” she replied “I had a number of phone calls after that from committee members who were being badgered by people claiming to be concerned about people dressing up as Golliwogs and the Jackson Five”
“And what was your reaction?” Griffin asked
“To tell the truth” she said lowering her voice “I laughed, is that terrible?”
“I couldn’t possibly comment” he retorted but he smiled
“Do you have any idea who any of the culprits are?”
“No none whatsoever, we do know everyone who took part but there were hundreds of participants” She replied
“So how does it work?” Deacon asked
“Volunteers for the Parade register to participate on the night before, where they also pick up their collection tins. The majority of them are obviously in fancy dress, though that is optional, however committee members are not told in advance what they plan to dress up as on the day”
“So in theory they could all turn up in, for example Nazi uniforms and the committee wouldn’t know?” Boris asked
“That’s correct, although that would be a very sinister Parade and I can’t imagine the collection tins being very full, and that is the point of the whole day, charity” she said
"But if we start dictating to people what they can or cannot come dressed as it could deter them from volunteering, especially if they had to produce a picture of what they were planning to wear on the day”
“Were all the collecting tins returned at the end of the day?” DS Griffin asked
“Yes all of them were accounted for” she replied “So they probably had alternative outfits or merely discarded their costumes and completed the parade in their everyday clothes”
“You’re probable right” Marty said “Well thank you very much for your time”
“You are quite welcome” she said affably
“Just one other question” Marty said as he approached the door “Was the day a success?”
“Absolutely” she replied “Our best year yet”
“In which case I wouldn’t bother changing the way you do things the public clearly like it the way it is” He said
“I agree” Jayne said
“You might want to contact Molly Westwood at the Courier” He said “I have a feeling she’s looking for a “good news” story for next week’s edition”
“I will do that” she said “Goodbye”
(Part 09)
Later that day DS Griffin and DC Deacon sat in DI Katarski’s office and briefed him on the salient points from the two interviews earlier in the day.
“So basically what you’re telling me is that it was a harmless bit of fun but somebody in a position of influence wants to make a mountain out of a molehill for reason or reasons unknown”
Boris Katarski said
“That about sums it up guv” Marty said
“And there’s no hope of finding the culprits” DC Deacon added
“I called Molly Westwood last night and asked her what kind of feedback the paper received on her article?” Marty said
“And?” Katarski asked
“A few “appalled” and “disgusted” but the vast majority saying it was just a bit of fun and they didn’t understand what all the fuss was about” he replied
“So public opinion is on the side of reason, but the problem is Superintendent Tilbry isn’t going to let us drop it” Boris mused
“So what do we do?” Deacon asked
“We have to get him to make us drop it” he replied
“How do we do that?” Marty asked
“You need to get better acquainted with the reporter” he replied
“Oh I think he was planning to do that anyway” Deacon remarked
“Good” Boris said
Marty made a phone call and arranged to meet Molly by the entrance to the Pier when she finished work.
This gave him sufficient time to go back to the Seaview Hotel and get washed and changed and still be there before she was.
“Hello Sergeant” Molly said and she approached.
“Call me Marty” he said “I’m off duty”
“Oh I thought this was a follow up on the Golliwog hunt”
“No not really” he responded
“Have you eaten?”
“No I haven’t” Molly replied
“Would you like to?”
“Very much so” she replied
“Excellent, I believe there is a nice fish restaurant at the end of the Pier” Marty said
“Yes there is, it’s one of my favourites”
As they walked along the Pier in the moonlight Molly asked
“How is your investigation going?”
“Well it’s funny you should mention that” he replied
“We don’t think it’s worth pursuing”
“It really has been a lot of fuss about nothing hasn’t it” Molly added
“Yes but every cloud has a silver lining because if your editor and my Superintendent hadn’t been so insistent about it I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet you” Marty said
“Oh don’t you’ll make me blush again” she said
“I hope so” he said “It was very endearing”
“Stop it now” she said and giggled “I’m not a teenager anymore I’m thirty….”
“Thirty what?”
“Thirtyish” she replied coyly
“Let’s get back to the investigation”
“Well as I said we don’t think it’s worth pursuing any further but the powers that be, do”
“So what’s to be done?” she asked
“Well before I can answer that I need to check, that in the fine journalistic tradition, that you never reveal your sources” he whispered
“Of course” she said
“Good, then you didn’t get this from me” he said and handed her and envelope
“Very intriguing” Molly remarked and slipped it into her bag
“So was that the sole purpose of the assignation?”
“No not at all” he replied and turned to face her “I believe there was some tacit agreement to kissing me on the Pier”
“There was no such thing” she protested
“On the contrary” he said taking out his note book “in response to my stating I had never kissed anyone on Sharpington Pier you said, and I quote, “The day is young””
“Ok I admit that I did say that” she replied “but I have no idea why I said it”
“I do” he said slipping his notebook back into his pocket
“Oh”
“You said it because you want to kiss me” Marty said
“You’re very sure of yourself”
“Am I wrong then?” Marty asked
“No” she replied and kissed him on the moonlit Pier
(Part 10)
When they eventually got to the restaurant and were seated in a quiet corner by a window with a view across the sea they ordered drinks and Molly excused herself to the ladies where she could discretely read the contents of the envelope Marty had given her.
“Well?” Marty asked when she returned to the table
“I can definitely work with that” she replied
“Excellent”
“I will have to run it past my editor though” she said “I can’t print it without his say so”
“And what happens if he says no?”
“Then I’ll file it with the Clarion, they’ll print it” Molly said “They love any opportunity to have a go at the police”
She was referring to the Abbottsford Clarion which was a red top tabloid that took great pleasure in rubbishing the police and Marty had been on the receiving end of its bile on many occasions.
“Don’t I know it” He retorted and winced
Molly’s editor did indeed pass on the story but as expected The Clarion accepted without hesitation so when Sunday morning came, so did the revelations.
Under the banner headline of “Police Turn a Blind Eye to Pickpockets”
The story went on to reveal how an unnamed, yet Senior Police officer had shouted at his juniors
“Damn the pick pockets and damn the burglars, find me those Golliwogs”
The article was filled with quotes from members of the public who had very different expectation of the police and were bemused at the waste of resources on what was little more than a student prank.
The fallout from the story came in the form of a phone call from the Assistant Chief Constable just after 9 o’clock on Monday morning.
“I have no idea how the story leaked out sir” Boris said
“It was said very loudly and in easy earshot of a dozen people”
“Well drop the Golliwog nonsense immediately and catch those pickpockets”
The ACC said
“We have them in custody already” Boris said
“What?”
“We caught the crew of six on Saturday afternoon after identifying a hotspot on the crime map”
“Well that’s good news at least” The ACC said begrudgingly
“So should we carry on looking for the Golliwogs?” Boris asked
“NO, under no circumstances are you to investigate that incident”
“Understood sir” Boris said and hung up the phone
Boris emerged from his office wearing a broad grin and announced to the office at large
“Mark the Golliwog case as closed, and if anyone is interested a vacancy has just opened up for a Superintendent”
A small ripple of applause spread around the office and Richard Deacon walked over to where Roxanne was sitting and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze.
The sound of office chatter regarding Superintendent Tilbry’s transfer was still the pervading sound as the phone in his office rang.
Expecting it to be another disgruntled senior officer he braced himself and went back inside to answer it.
He emerged a few moments later and his complexion was ashen.
“What’s wrong guv?” Roxanne asked as the first one to notice his demeanour, but soon all eyes were on him
“Lizzie’s collapsed at the shop” he replied
“Come on then let’s get down there then” Marty said and led him out of the office.
Although “Bizzie Lizzie’s” was only a short walk from the station they took the car, just in case.
As it turned out they were right to do so as the ambulance had already left for The Royal Downshire Hospital in Purplemere.
It was a relatively short drive from Sharpington to Purplemere but for Boris it seemed like an eternity.
And when Marty pulled up outside Boris decamped and sprinted inside while Marty parked the car.
Inside the Hospital Boris found Lizzie sitting up on her bed smiling from ear to ear.
“I don’t why you’re looking so pleased with yourself” he said crossly “I’ve been worried sick”
“I’m fine darling” she replied as he hugged and kissed her
“What do you mean you’re fine? You collapsed” he said with concern
“I didn’t collapse silly” She said “I fainted”
“Well that’s just semantics” Boris snapped
“It’s not semantics darling it’s just what happens sometimes when you’re pregnant”
“Well people don’t faint for no reason” he said fussing around her
“What did you say?”
“I’m pregnant” Lizzie said
It took an age for Marty to find a parking space and so he was rushing down the corridor to find Boris and met him coming the other way wiping tears from his eyes.
“Oh my God she’s died” he thought
“Guv what’s happened?” He asked with concern
“A miracle has happened” he replied enigmatically
“I’m going to be a father”
Monday, 13 March 2017
Mornington-By-Mere – (14) I Want You Back
(Part 01)
Twenty three year old Carina Crockford lived at number 5, The Close, in Mornington-By-Mere with her parents and three younger siblings.
She was small, a smidge over five foot, with delicate features and short strawberry blonde hair and a heart as big as a house and felt blessed to have 4 particularly good and longstanding friends.
Apart from the fact they all lived in Mornington and were all 23 years old, the five girls also went to Abbottsford University together.
And it was while they were at University that Lisa Kincaid-Smith, Megan Murray, Carina Crockford and twin sisters Cordelia and Corliss St George performed as the Jackson 5 for the first time.
It was during rag week on their first week when they donned gold lame flares and black wigs and sang “I want you back” and from that moment it became their party piece and one that had been repeated on many occasions since.
So when they signed up for the Sharpington Day Parade on Bank Holiday Monday, a Charity event which raised tens of thousands of pounds every year, much of which was collected by volunteers rattling tins along the route whilst in fancy dress, it was a forgone conclusion who they would dress up as.
Sharpington-by-Sea was a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.
Which was the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the tame compared to a 21st century roller coaster but still fun.
But on the August Bank Holiday Monday it wasn’t the Fun Park people were interested in.
It was the parade that attracted people from all over Downshire and beyond and Carina had an idea to make their Jackson 5 homage even better by having all the girls professionally made up to match Megan Murray’s skin colour which was dark caramel due to her mixed race heritage.
However much to her consternation her suggestion wasn’t greeted with universal approval.
That was mainly due to the fact that the St George girls were very white with pale skin and blue eyes and Lisa was a proper ginger who actually ended up paler when she went out in the sun.
Although their concerns centred more on not wishing to look ridiculous rather than the fear of any offence they might cause.
However their fears were soon put at ease when Carina explained what she had in mind.
Since leaving University Carina Crockford had worked in the makeup department at the Purplemere Studio’s and it was there where she had charge of a group of trainee make-up artists and among them were Karen Cooper and Ivana Holubova, and it was they who Carina had persuaded to make the girls up.
Also she had co-opted the help of Sue Moss and Lisa Mendez from the costume department.
As a result the girls reluctantly agreed to go along with it but reserved judgement on whether they would allow themselves to be seen in public made up and costumed.
As it turned out the makeup and costumes were so good that on the day of the parade no one realised that only one of the Jackson 5 was actually black.
It was only at the very end of the day as they were getting into the car when Lisa’s wig fell off to reveal her ginger hair that a member of the public realised something was amiss.
There was however no public outcry though they got a mention in the Sharpington Courier and there was talk of a Police investigation but nothing came of it and the tale of the Jackson 5 passed into modern folklore.
(Part 02)
Carina Crockford had always been a contented person and altogether happy with her lot and she very much enjoyed her job.
Though not a wealthy person, by any measurement, she had everything she wanted and all was well in her world, well for the most part anyway.
There was just the small inconvenience of a broken heart and it was that fact which determined her tremendous work ethic.
She had a job that she loved at the Film Studios, a family that she loved to pieces and the most precious friendships.
She had everything a young woman of 23 could want but she did not have the man she loved.
Carina could have had someone else after all she was not short of offers but she wouldn’t settle for second best.
But despite that she was content, that was, until a few weeks after her twenty fourth birthday when she saw a face from the past.
It was a glorious Sunday morning in May and she was on her way to St Mary’s Church in Shallowfield.
She was not wholly unfamiliar with the inside of a church but it was not somewhere she had been as often as she should have.
Though on that particular morning she had a more pressing need to be there other than to atone for the neglect of her spiritual wellbeing.
On that morning she was going to the christening of her Cousin Maya’s baby girl Poppy and she was going to be her godmother.
Her Cousin Maya was three years older than Carina but they had always been close.
The christening was a big deal as Poppy was the first baby to be born to Carina’s generation of the family and now the baby was about to be christened.
But as she drove through the picturesque Downshire countryside she was running late.
It was as she drove to the church, preoccupied by the thoughts of pride at her impending godmother hood and mild panic at her tardiness, that fate took a hand, and threatened to change her life forever.
Having caught sight of Maya on the steps of St Mary’s Church she gave a wave as she turned into Church Lane and was faced with a Jay walker in the road which brought her rudely to her senses and she gave a loud blast of the car horn.
The man jumped out of the way and reached the safety of the footpath and braced himself against the wall.
She had come so close to hitting him that she expected the figure to launch a tirade of abuse at her.
So she turned to face the pedestrian and delivered a disarming smile and mouthed the word “sorry”.
Which was when she got her first proper look at her near miss and quickly realised it was someone she knew and she found herself wishing that she had run the bastard down.
She turned again to look at Maya and her husband Mark watching from the Church steps and could see them laughing, they obviously thought it was highly amusing that she had nearly turned some unsuspecting pedestrian into road kill.
She gave them a withering look and then returned her attention back to the survivor of her vehicular assassination attempt but he had gone and that was that, or so she thought and she went and parked the car.
(Part 03)
It was at the end of the main service at St Mary’s when the Reverend Shenton began the Baptism of Carina’s goddaughter Poppy Crockford into the faith that she saw him again, Barry Smart, the man she had nearly run over, the man who was Dick Dastardly to her Penelope Pitstop.
The tall ruggedly handsome, brunette with the most beautiful eyes was a close friend of Mark’s and was also to be a Godparent to Poppy, which she thought was fair enough, but that didn’t mean she was pleased to see him.
She was undoubtedly proud be Godmother but she didn’t really follow proceedings as closely as she should have as her eyes were constantly drawn to the good looking man on the other side of the font who she very nearly married.
But the fact that he was there spoiling her special day wasn’t the worst thing to happen that day because when he noticed her watching him, he smiled at her which made her feel very unchristian.
At the end of the christening, still smiling, he made a move towards her.
Carina was in no mood to have her day spoilt any more than it already had been so she slipped away into the crowd and lost herself in the melee as everyone decanted from the Church.
As she drove the short distance from St Mary’s Church to her Aunt’s house in Forestdean she was full of trepidation that Barry might also be there.
She parked on the street outside the Crockford’s house and went in.
“Hey Carrie” Maya said as she entered the kitchen “you got here safely then?”
“Very funny” she countered
“Well when I say “safely” I can’t speak for the poor pedestrian’s” She said and roared with laughter.
“Shut up and give me a drink” she replied
“Beer or wine?” Maya asked
“Beer please” She replied and her cousin went to the fridge and took out a bottle, opened it and handed it to her.
“Thanks” she said “have you got a glass?”
Carina didn’t like drinking from the bottle, she couldn’t stand it, and it was a bit of a joke within the family but she thought it was common.
“You are so old” Maya said laughing
“I just have standards” she retorted pompously “Where’s Mark?”
“He’s in the lounge showing Gran the video” She replied.
Gran was 91 and quite frail and wasn’t well enough to attend the Christening so the ceremony was videoed by Maya’s brother Benny and it was being played back for her so she would feel included in proceeding.
“You should go and watch it yourself” she added “as you missed most of it as you were giving Barry the evil eye for the duration”
“I was not” she retorted
“Yes you were” Maya insisted
“I think you’re imagining it” she answered as she left the kitchen.
“I think you’re deflecting” Maya shouted after her.
She was about to turn around and unleash a witty retort in response but she was suddenly knocked sideways into the wall slopping her drink down her skirt.
“Sorry” he said “I wasn’t looking where I was going”
Carina turned around to face her assailant
“That’s…” she began and that was all she could say as he gazed upon the smiling face of her former fiancé.
“Oh it’s you” she said disappointed “I should have known”
“Oh don’t be like that Carrie” he said
(Part 04)
Barry and Carina stood there in the hall staring at each other for goodness knows how long and would have continued to stare had Maya not broken the silence.
“This is becoming a bit of a habit” She said as she walked past them and the spell was broken and they drifted away.
They met while at University, at a house party, and no sooner had the introductions been completed and they were smitten.
And from the first moment they met they brought something into their world that they hadn’t even noticed they didn’t have, a perfect love.
He was immediately besotted with the diminutive little redheaded young woman with the immense personality and a heart as big as the moon and she was captivated by his good looks and good nature in equal measure.
They became the perfect couple, the envy of their friends, and their relationship became the benchmark against which all others aspired to and no one was at all surprised when they became engaged.
They planned to marry in the year after graduation and indeed plans were well advanced, when quite out of the blue Barry announced he had been offered a research post in America.
When Carina made it clear she did not want to cross the pond it forced him to choose between her and the job and he chose the latter and broke her heart.
But he was back and so were the same feelings and both of those things made her angry.
She spent the next hour trying to avoid him but that just seemed to make her angrier so eventually she decided to grasp the nettle and cornered him in the garden.
“Why are you here?” she asked
“I’m here for the same reason as you” he replied “the christening”
“That’s not what I mean, as well you know” she snapped “why are you not in America?”
“I came back” he said enigmatically
“That much I know already” She barked “Are you back for good?”
“Yes” he replied
“Why?” she asked suspiciously
“It didn’t work out” he replied
“In what way?”
“I made a mistake, a bad mistake” Barry said
“Really?” she retorted with derision
“Yes I made the wrong choice” he said “and I want you back”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, the cheek of the man, who the hell did he thing he was?
She was so angry, all the pain and hurt she had felt when he’d left came bubbling back to the surface.
“Is that it?” she asked disdainfully
““I want you back”, that’s the best you can do?”
“I’ve missed you” he said tamely
“So what am I supposed to say to that?” she barked
“Is that supposed to make me run into your arms? Am I supposed to just forget about the last two years?”
“Of course not” he replied “I know I did wrong”
“You chose a job over me, a bloody job” she said angrily “I loved you so much and I thought you loved me”
“I did, I do” he said meekly
“You are unbelievable, you waltz back into my life after two years and expect to pick up where you left off” She shouted
“No, but…”
“You broke my heart Barry” She said quietly and walked away.
(Part 05)
“I want you back” he’d said
Barry’s words shocked her, because at the start of the day she had been quite content with her lot and had not felt her life suffered for the want of love, she had not craved it nor coveted it, she just thought it was something that was inflicted on other people and since Barry broke their engagement she had become immune to cupids arrow.
But once the words left his lips they touched her heart, and her feelings were revealed, but she couldn’t just roll over and concede to him like nothing had happened.
But she couldn’t deny the universe was clearly trying to tell her something, after all had it not been for the fact that she was late, something so very out of character for her, she would not have almost run him down and was it not fate that decreed they would both be Godparents to the same child.
However, fate or not she didn’t think he would ever have spoken those words to her again.
She had dreamt of such a thing many times but never believed it would ever happen.
But in the two years he had been away her heart had hardened and she wasn’t sure she wanted to put herself at risk again so she decided she would just ignore him and pretend that the conversation in the garden had never taken place.
Having made the pledge to ignore him it was made very difficult to keep as Barry clearly had different ideas.
It began with phone calls from an unknown mobile, although they were easy enough to deal with as she just blocked the number.
Then came emails, again easily dealt with by marking them as spam and deleting them unread.
She was left to hazard a guess that it was her cousin Maya that had provided her phone number and email address, clearly showing her elegance.
After that she thought he would get bored but then he upped his game.
It began on Friday morning with a delivery of flowers from Bizzie Lizzies to the Purplemere Studios.
They went straight in the bin, so did the ones received at home on Saturday morning, much to her mother’s disgust.
Sunday she was flower free, but every day the next week a bouquet was delivered and immediately binned.
After Friday’s delivery she sent him a text message telling him to stop sending flowers.
On Saturday morning a smiling Michelle Norman knocked on the door at her Mornington home and delivered another one.
After that one was consigned to the wheelie bin she emailed him and told him to stop wasting his money and his time, she was not interested.
Her emailed appeal went unheard as once again a bouquet was delivered to the Purplemere Studios.
She phoned Bizzie Lizzies head office and asked them not to deliver anymore flowers from him but as they explained if they stopped his deliveries he would simply use another florist.
For a split second she even considered reporting him to the police but she didn’t for two reasons, firstly because she didn’t think it was actually a crime and secondly she rather admired his commitment and she even stopped throwing them in the bin.
Then on the Thursday of the third week after the christening she received no bouquet and she found that she was a little disappointed nor did one arrived at the studios on Friday.
On Saturday she found herself looking out of her bedroom window for Michelle Norman’s liveried van but there was no sign all morning but at a few minutes after midday the postman knocked at the door with a parcel and a letter.
The parcel contained a single red rose and the letter had a hand written envelope in a familiar hand.
The rose stood in a vase which sat on her bedside table and her heart was pounding in her chest as she sat on the bed in her room and opened the letter.
Carina withdrew the folded sheets from inside and unfolded the six pages.
It began “Dearest Carrie” and ended “all my love forever, Barry” and every word in between brought another tear to the cascade.
By the time she had read it through for the third time she had no more tears left to shed and her eyes were as red as her hair.
Carina took a deep breath and keyed in his number.
Until the christening, just three weeks before, she had never imagined she would ever see him again let alone that he would ask her out, but ask her out he did and furthermore Carrie said yes.
Twenty three year old Carina Crockford lived at number 5, The Close, in Mornington-By-Mere with her parents and three younger siblings.
She was small, a smidge over five foot, with delicate features and short strawberry blonde hair and a heart as big as a house and felt blessed to have 4 particularly good and longstanding friends.
Apart from the fact they all lived in Mornington and were all 23 years old, the five girls also went to Abbottsford University together.
And it was while they were at University that Lisa Kincaid-Smith, Megan Murray, Carina Crockford and twin sisters Cordelia and Corliss St George performed as the Jackson 5 for the first time.
It was during rag week on their first week when they donned gold lame flares and black wigs and sang “I want you back” and from that moment it became their party piece and one that had been repeated on many occasions since.
So when they signed up for the Sharpington Day Parade on Bank Holiday Monday, a Charity event which raised tens of thousands of pounds every year, much of which was collected by volunteers rattling tins along the route whilst in fancy dress, it was a forgone conclusion who they would dress up as.
Sharpington-by-Sea was a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.
Which was the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the tame compared to a 21st century roller coaster but still fun.
But on the August Bank Holiday Monday it wasn’t the Fun Park people were interested in.
It was the parade that attracted people from all over Downshire and beyond and Carina had an idea to make their Jackson 5 homage even better by having all the girls professionally made up to match Megan Murray’s skin colour which was dark caramel due to her mixed race heritage.
However much to her consternation her suggestion wasn’t greeted with universal approval.
That was mainly due to the fact that the St George girls were very white with pale skin and blue eyes and Lisa was a proper ginger who actually ended up paler when she went out in the sun.
Although their concerns centred more on not wishing to look ridiculous rather than the fear of any offence they might cause.
However their fears were soon put at ease when Carina explained what she had in mind.
Since leaving University Carina Crockford had worked in the makeup department at the Purplemere Studio’s and it was there where she had charge of a group of trainee make-up artists and among them were Karen Cooper and Ivana Holubova, and it was they who Carina had persuaded to make the girls up.
Also she had co-opted the help of Sue Moss and Lisa Mendez from the costume department.
As a result the girls reluctantly agreed to go along with it but reserved judgement on whether they would allow themselves to be seen in public made up and costumed.
As it turned out the makeup and costumes were so good that on the day of the parade no one realised that only one of the Jackson 5 was actually black.
It was only at the very end of the day as they were getting into the car when Lisa’s wig fell off to reveal her ginger hair that a member of the public realised something was amiss.
There was however no public outcry though they got a mention in the Sharpington Courier and there was talk of a Police investigation but nothing came of it and the tale of the Jackson 5 passed into modern folklore.
(Part 02)
Carina Crockford had always been a contented person and altogether happy with her lot and she very much enjoyed her job.
Though not a wealthy person, by any measurement, she had everything she wanted and all was well in her world, well for the most part anyway.
There was just the small inconvenience of a broken heart and it was that fact which determined her tremendous work ethic.
She had a job that she loved at the Film Studios, a family that she loved to pieces and the most precious friendships.
She had everything a young woman of 23 could want but she did not have the man she loved.
Carina could have had someone else after all she was not short of offers but she wouldn’t settle for second best.
But despite that she was content, that was, until a few weeks after her twenty fourth birthday when she saw a face from the past.
It was a glorious Sunday morning in May and she was on her way to St Mary’s Church in Shallowfield.
She was not wholly unfamiliar with the inside of a church but it was not somewhere she had been as often as she should have.
Though on that particular morning she had a more pressing need to be there other than to atone for the neglect of her spiritual wellbeing.
On that morning she was going to the christening of her Cousin Maya’s baby girl Poppy and she was going to be her godmother.
Her Cousin Maya was three years older than Carina but they had always been close.
The christening was a big deal as Poppy was the first baby to be born to Carina’s generation of the family and now the baby was about to be christened.
But as she drove through the picturesque Downshire countryside she was running late.
It was as she drove to the church, preoccupied by the thoughts of pride at her impending godmother hood and mild panic at her tardiness, that fate took a hand, and threatened to change her life forever.
Having caught sight of Maya on the steps of St Mary’s Church she gave a wave as she turned into Church Lane and was faced with a Jay walker in the road which brought her rudely to her senses and she gave a loud blast of the car horn.
The man jumped out of the way and reached the safety of the footpath and braced himself against the wall.
She had come so close to hitting him that she expected the figure to launch a tirade of abuse at her.
So she turned to face the pedestrian and delivered a disarming smile and mouthed the word “sorry”.
Which was when she got her first proper look at her near miss and quickly realised it was someone she knew and she found herself wishing that she had run the bastard down.
She turned again to look at Maya and her husband Mark watching from the Church steps and could see them laughing, they obviously thought it was highly amusing that she had nearly turned some unsuspecting pedestrian into road kill.
She gave them a withering look and then returned her attention back to the survivor of her vehicular assassination attempt but he had gone and that was that, or so she thought and she went and parked the car.
(Part 03)
It was at the end of the main service at St Mary’s when the Reverend Shenton began the Baptism of Carina’s goddaughter Poppy Crockford into the faith that she saw him again, Barry Smart, the man she had nearly run over, the man who was Dick Dastardly to her Penelope Pitstop.
The tall ruggedly handsome, brunette with the most beautiful eyes was a close friend of Mark’s and was also to be a Godparent to Poppy, which she thought was fair enough, but that didn’t mean she was pleased to see him.
She was undoubtedly proud be Godmother but she didn’t really follow proceedings as closely as she should have as her eyes were constantly drawn to the good looking man on the other side of the font who she very nearly married.
But the fact that he was there spoiling her special day wasn’t the worst thing to happen that day because when he noticed her watching him, he smiled at her which made her feel very unchristian.
At the end of the christening, still smiling, he made a move towards her.
Carina was in no mood to have her day spoilt any more than it already had been so she slipped away into the crowd and lost herself in the melee as everyone decanted from the Church.
As she drove the short distance from St Mary’s Church to her Aunt’s house in Forestdean she was full of trepidation that Barry might also be there.
She parked on the street outside the Crockford’s house and went in.
“Hey Carrie” Maya said as she entered the kitchen “you got here safely then?”
“Very funny” she countered
“Well when I say “safely” I can’t speak for the poor pedestrian’s” She said and roared with laughter.
“Shut up and give me a drink” she replied
“Beer or wine?” Maya asked
“Beer please” She replied and her cousin went to the fridge and took out a bottle, opened it and handed it to her.
“Thanks” she said “have you got a glass?”
Carina didn’t like drinking from the bottle, she couldn’t stand it, and it was a bit of a joke within the family but she thought it was common.
“You are so old” Maya said laughing
“I just have standards” she retorted pompously “Where’s Mark?”
“He’s in the lounge showing Gran the video” She replied.
Gran was 91 and quite frail and wasn’t well enough to attend the Christening so the ceremony was videoed by Maya’s brother Benny and it was being played back for her so she would feel included in proceeding.
“You should go and watch it yourself” she added “as you missed most of it as you were giving Barry the evil eye for the duration”
“I was not” she retorted
“Yes you were” Maya insisted
“I think you’re imagining it” she answered as she left the kitchen.
“I think you’re deflecting” Maya shouted after her.
She was about to turn around and unleash a witty retort in response but she was suddenly knocked sideways into the wall slopping her drink down her skirt.
“Sorry” he said “I wasn’t looking where I was going”
Carina turned around to face her assailant
“That’s…” she began and that was all she could say as he gazed upon the smiling face of her former fiancé.
“Oh it’s you” she said disappointed “I should have known”
“Oh don’t be like that Carrie” he said
(Part 04)
Barry and Carina stood there in the hall staring at each other for goodness knows how long and would have continued to stare had Maya not broken the silence.
“This is becoming a bit of a habit” She said as she walked past them and the spell was broken and they drifted away.
They met while at University, at a house party, and no sooner had the introductions been completed and they were smitten.
And from the first moment they met they brought something into their world that they hadn’t even noticed they didn’t have, a perfect love.
He was immediately besotted with the diminutive little redheaded young woman with the immense personality and a heart as big as the moon and she was captivated by his good looks and good nature in equal measure.
They became the perfect couple, the envy of their friends, and their relationship became the benchmark against which all others aspired to and no one was at all surprised when they became engaged.
They planned to marry in the year after graduation and indeed plans were well advanced, when quite out of the blue Barry announced he had been offered a research post in America.
When Carina made it clear she did not want to cross the pond it forced him to choose between her and the job and he chose the latter and broke her heart.
But he was back and so were the same feelings and both of those things made her angry.
She spent the next hour trying to avoid him but that just seemed to make her angrier so eventually she decided to grasp the nettle and cornered him in the garden.
“Why are you here?” she asked
“I’m here for the same reason as you” he replied “the christening”
“That’s not what I mean, as well you know” she snapped “why are you not in America?”
“I came back” he said enigmatically
“That much I know already” She barked “Are you back for good?”
“Yes” he replied
“Why?” she asked suspiciously
“It didn’t work out” he replied
“In what way?”
“I made a mistake, a bad mistake” Barry said
“Really?” she retorted with derision
“Yes I made the wrong choice” he said “and I want you back”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, the cheek of the man, who the hell did he thing he was?
She was so angry, all the pain and hurt she had felt when he’d left came bubbling back to the surface.
“Is that it?” she asked disdainfully
““I want you back”, that’s the best you can do?”
“I’ve missed you” he said tamely
“So what am I supposed to say to that?” she barked
“Is that supposed to make me run into your arms? Am I supposed to just forget about the last two years?”
“Of course not” he replied “I know I did wrong”
“You chose a job over me, a bloody job” she said angrily “I loved you so much and I thought you loved me”
“I did, I do” he said meekly
“You are unbelievable, you waltz back into my life after two years and expect to pick up where you left off” She shouted
“No, but…”
“You broke my heart Barry” She said quietly and walked away.
(Part 05)
“I want you back” he’d said
Barry’s words shocked her, because at the start of the day she had been quite content with her lot and had not felt her life suffered for the want of love, she had not craved it nor coveted it, she just thought it was something that was inflicted on other people and since Barry broke their engagement she had become immune to cupids arrow.
But once the words left his lips they touched her heart, and her feelings were revealed, but she couldn’t just roll over and concede to him like nothing had happened.
But she couldn’t deny the universe was clearly trying to tell her something, after all had it not been for the fact that she was late, something so very out of character for her, she would not have almost run him down and was it not fate that decreed they would both be Godparents to the same child.
However, fate or not she didn’t think he would ever have spoken those words to her again.
She had dreamt of such a thing many times but never believed it would ever happen.
But in the two years he had been away her heart had hardened and she wasn’t sure she wanted to put herself at risk again so she decided she would just ignore him and pretend that the conversation in the garden had never taken place.
Having made the pledge to ignore him it was made very difficult to keep as Barry clearly had different ideas.
It began with phone calls from an unknown mobile, although they were easy enough to deal with as she just blocked the number.
Then came emails, again easily dealt with by marking them as spam and deleting them unread.
She was left to hazard a guess that it was her cousin Maya that had provided her phone number and email address, clearly showing her elegance.
After that she thought he would get bored but then he upped his game.
It began on Friday morning with a delivery of flowers from Bizzie Lizzies to the Purplemere Studios.
They went straight in the bin, so did the ones received at home on Saturday morning, much to her mother’s disgust.
Sunday she was flower free, but every day the next week a bouquet was delivered and immediately binned.
After Friday’s delivery she sent him a text message telling him to stop sending flowers.
On Saturday morning a smiling Michelle Norman knocked on the door at her Mornington home and delivered another one.
After that one was consigned to the wheelie bin she emailed him and told him to stop wasting his money and his time, she was not interested.
Her emailed appeal went unheard as once again a bouquet was delivered to the Purplemere Studios.
She phoned Bizzie Lizzies head office and asked them not to deliver anymore flowers from him but as they explained if they stopped his deliveries he would simply use another florist.
For a split second she even considered reporting him to the police but she didn’t for two reasons, firstly because she didn’t think it was actually a crime and secondly she rather admired his commitment and she even stopped throwing them in the bin.
Then on the Thursday of the third week after the christening she received no bouquet and she found that she was a little disappointed nor did one arrived at the studios on Friday.
On Saturday she found herself looking out of her bedroom window for Michelle Norman’s liveried van but there was no sign all morning but at a few minutes after midday the postman knocked at the door with a parcel and a letter.
The parcel contained a single red rose and the letter had a hand written envelope in a familiar hand.
The rose stood in a vase which sat on her bedside table and her heart was pounding in her chest as she sat on the bed in her room and opened the letter.
Carina withdrew the folded sheets from inside and unfolded the six pages.
It began “Dearest Carrie” and ended “all my love forever, Barry” and every word in between brought another tear to the cascade.
By the time she had read it through for the third time she had no more tears left to shed and her eyes were as red as her hair.
Carina took a deep breath and keyed in his number.
Until the christening, just three weeks before, she had never imagined she would ever see him again let alone that he would ask her out, but ask her out he did and furthermore Carrie said yes.
Downshire Diary – (14) The Girl in the Christmas Dress
(Part 01)
Steve Berry had always had a distinct dislike for Christmas, in fact he hated everything about it, despite all the jollity and faux fun because unlike many of his Christmas mad friends he had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the season.
His parents were chronic alcoholics and each year their Christmas came in a bottle and thanks to his ill-tempered father, Steve’s came with a slap, so his childhood Christmases were festive memories he would rather have forgotten.
But adulthood brought no relief from the season and it always seemed to him that when shit happened Christmas just magnified the misery.
If someone died at Christmas the very season makes it more keenly felt and he could testify to that fact as his own mother died on Christmas Eve when he was 19.
He had no idea where his father was and quite frankly he didn’t care he never bothered to show up for the funeral and for all he knew he could have been dead as well.
So as a result he had never trusted Christmas, because he knew that shit lurks beneath the coloured lights and paper chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy.
After an excess of alcohol and some sneakiness from Holly he found himself working behind the bar in her Uncle Phil’s pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale.
He was still uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry Christmas and kissing her.
Judging by the way Holly responded Steve hoped that the kiss on Christmas Eve might have been the start of something between them but alas for him it didn’t lead anywhere.
Holly had indeed responded to his advance and in fact had been hoping for it, but she knew it was far too soon to throw caution to the wind.
There were scabs as yet unpicked regarding Steve Berry that needed to be attended to before she completely let down her guard.
Holly considered him to be a work in progress she thought he had potential but he still needed work but there was certainly hope for him, but he was progressing nonetheless.
The other event that occurred on Christmas Eve was a prolonged fall of snow which resulted in them being snowed in.
Holly was due to go to lunch at her cousin’s house but as she lived 30 miles away it was not possible to make the journey safely with the amount of snow that was still laying.
Steve was due to spend the day alone in his flat, not celebrating Christmas at all, but Holly invited him to spend the day with her instead as he hadn’t risked driving home the night before.
He would have been quite happy to have slept on one of the bench seats in the lounge bar as he had once before, but Holly insisted he use the spare room.
So that was how Steve Berry came to celebrate his first ever Christmas and why he was sitting at the bar nursing a cup of coffee in the clothes he had been wearing the night before.
(Part 02)
It was as a result of them being snowed in at the Pig and Whistle on Christmas Eve which led to Steve Berry celebrating his first ever Christmas at the age of 30 and why he was sitting at the bar nursing a cup of coffee in the clothes he had been wearing the night before.
“Morning” he said as Holly appeared behind the bar
“Happy Christmas” Holly said and reached over and kissed his cheek.
Now it was not the kiss he was hoping for and it was not possessed of the passion that accompanied the embrace of the night before but that simple peck on the cheek held within it something very special, and that was hope.
“God its cold in here” she said
“Yes, there was a power cut during the night and it knocked the boiler out” he said
“I’ve relit it but it’ll take a while to warm the place up”
“This was not the Christmas day I had in mind” Holly said putting the collar of her dressing gown up
“Nor me” he added
She was supposed to be dining on a sumptuous feast at her cousin’s house, while he was supposed to be in self-imposed exile at his flat pretending that Christmas was just a bad dream.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked
“Oh yes please” she replied and Steve got up and went to the kitchen returning a few minutes later with a steaming mug of tea
“Thanks hon” she said and winced at her involuntary over familiarization and quickly went on.
“I don’t know what we are going to eat today” Holly said
“We will need to ferret in the freezer”
“I didn’t know ferret was traditional Christmas fare” Steve said “but I’m no expert on Christmas.
“You know what I mean” she said smiling “Can you cook?”
“A bit” he replied
“Good because I’m rubbish” Holly admitted
Steve actually undersold himself when he said he could cook a bit
He could in fact cook very well, exceptionally well.
Steve not being a traditionalist or a fan of the season could certainly make something out of what was on hand in the kitchen.
Holly however wanted to have a roast lunch, with all the trimmings, but after they checked the freezer they had to rule out a roast dinner as the joints would never have defrosted in time, and they were too big for the microwave and as they were frozen hard, impossible to cut down to size, but there were alternatives.
The fresh vegetable stores were limited but more than sufficient for two people.
Although she couldn’t cook herself, Holly was determined to help, firstly by peeling the potatoes and carrots and then by getting out of his way so he could get on by taking herself off upstairs to get ready for the day.
While Holly was gone Steve finished preparing the food and when he was done he was very pleased that he had achieved something to suit Holly’s traditional wishes, at least in part.
(Part 03)
Steve Berry had just reached the point where he could safely leave the kitchen and get showered and shaved when Holly reappeared and he was stopped in his tracks.
She looked stunning, her mousy hair, washed and styled was adorned with Christmas slides and she was wearing a white wool dress decorated with poinsettias.
And her shapely legs were covered by black tights with motifs of bows and parcels and as he looked at her from head to toe he thought to himself that he’d like them to be stockings rather than tights, but nice legs were nice legs regardless of what they were sheathed in.
“Wow” Steve exclaimed
“Wow” he said again and Holly blushed
“It’s a Christmas dress you know” she said
“I don’t care” he said “wow”
“But you don’t like Christmas” she pointed out
“It’s growing on me” he said unable to take his eyes off her
“Good” she said “you won’t mind wearing this then”
When would he ever learn, he now had to wear another blessed Christmas sweater.
“Where do you keep getting them from?” he asked
“They’re Uncle Phil’s” she replied “I buy him one every year”
“But I’ve never seen Phil in a Christmas jumper, not ever” Steve said
“No nor of I” Holly agreed
Steve went upstairs, showered and shaved and returned to find Holly had laid a table in the lounge bar, complete with festive serviettes, candles, party poppers and crackers.
On the CD player the Puppini Sisters were in full voice and his natural aversion to Christmas music was tempered by the fact that he caught Holly singing and dancing along with the music.
He stayed out of sight in the doorway so he could enjoy the spectacle as long as possible.
When she eventually became aware of him she blushed redder than the poinsettias on her dress.
“How long have you been standing there?” she said suddenly flustered and began fussing with the table.
“Long enough” Steve replied
“You should have said something” Holly said as she headed towards the kitchen still flushed red
“What and spoil the show” he replied as he followed close behind her and chuckled.
Holly carried on with the table while Steve checked the oven and ten minutes later he was transferring everything to serving dishes which Holly took to the table.
All he had left to do was make the gravy and get the Yorkshire puddings out of the oven.
Christmas dinner was as traditional as he could manage given the limits of the provisions available but it was Holly’s turn to say “Wow” as he served Chicken breast wrapped in bacon, served with Roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots, peas, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding.
“What no starters” she said tongue in cheek
Holly lit the candles and Steve opened the wine, then they pulled the crackers and she made him wear a paper hat.
For desert he served apple pie and ice cream after which they watched the Queens speech.
(Part 04)
As soon as the Queens speech was over Holly switched off the TV
“What now?” he asked
“Now we sit and talk” She replied
“You mean “talk”” Steve said
“Yes”
“Do we have to” He said “It’s been such a lovely day”
“How are we supposed to learn about each other if we don’t talk?”
Holly replied
“So what do you want to know?” he said resignedly
“You’re childhood” Holly said with great interest
“What about it?” he replied
“Well, it’s not just Christmas that was unhappy was it”
“No it wasn’t” he replied and Holly settled back to let him unburden himself
“It wasn’t just Christmas, it was New Year’s, Easter, Halloween and birthdays”
He paused and took a drink
“You see my parents were alcoholics, when I was young they managed to somehow keep it under control and were functioning alcoholics, they held down jobs and to the outside world they seemed normal.
But once I got to school age I pretty much raised myself, which is how I came to learn to cook, because if I didn’t cook I didn’t eat”
They had spent a very pleasant Christmas day together, snowed in at the pub, the last thing he wanted to do was regurgitate the unpleasant moments of his life, particularly as he had been doing his best to forget them.
But once he started he couldn’t stop and by the end of it he was exhausted as they sat in the gathering darkness.
Holly was largely quiet throughout and just added the odd word of encouragement and support.
Holly broke the short period of silence.
“How do you feel?”
“Surprisingly good” he responded
However, despite his feeling unburdened by the lengthy afternoon revelations there was an awkward silence in the aftermath, so Steve disappeared down to the kitchen to make them both a snack.
He wondered if he should have held back and if he had unnerved Holly with his total honesty.
“I should have drip fed her” he said as he walked around the kitchen “Let her absorb it and then I could have said more, but no, you had to blurt out every sordid detail of your pathetic life and now she probably thinks you’re a nut job”
When he had finished with the rant and the snack he put it on a tray and carried it upstairs to the lounge where Holly greeted his arrival with a smile, but not a nervous smile, it was a kindly open smile, from someone happy to see him return.
“God that was good” Holly said after consuming the snack he had prepared with relish.
“Every cloud has a silver lining” he said referring to the reason that he had learned to cook in the first place.
“There is always a positive in life” Holly said sagely “you just have to look for it”
“Well that’s what I plan to do” he said and cleared the plates away
“I’ll pour us another drink” He added
(Part 05)
When Steve returned to the lounge Holly was sitting on the sofa with a Christmas present on her lap and she was smiling broadly.
“Happy Christmas” she said as she handed him the gift
“What’s this?” he asked
“Well open it and find out” Holly answered
“I wasn’t expecting a present” Steve said and sat down beside her on the sofa and squeezed the package
“Oh no not another Christmas sweater” he said and Holly giggled as he tore the paper open.
But when he had removed all the paper and unfolded its contents he saw that although it was indeed a sweater, it was not a novelty Christmas one like those she had made him wear for the previous ten days but a plain blue one in cashmere.
“That’s fantastic” he said enthusiastically “I love it
“Try it on then” Holly insisted and stood up
Holly took hold of the new one while Steve removed the one he was wearing and then they swapped.
As Steve pulled the cashmere over his head Holly held the novelty one he had just removed up to her nose and inhaled his scent.
“That looks great” she said when he had put it on
“It feels it” he said “can I keep it on?”
“Yes” she said and held the other one to her breast and he walked over to the Christmas tree and plunged his hand in between the branches.
It was perhaps testament to the progress that he had made over such a short period of time that he had actually bought her a present, which he removed from its hiding place and said
“Happy Christmas”
“When did you put that there?” she asked in amazement
“This morning” Steve replied
“That was sneaky” Holly said and ripped the paper off like a mad woman until she was left with a little blue presentation box embossed with gold relief.
She looked at it in wide eyed wonder, it was jewelry, he had bought her jewelry and from a quality jeweler’s.
Holly took a deep breath and then opened the box and then she gasped.
“It’s lovely” she said as she took it out the box and held the gold pendant in her hand.
It was in the shape of a holly leaf and it had her name engraved on it.
“I love it, I absolutely love it” she said “put it on for me”
Steve took the pendant from her and when Holly turned her back to him, she reached back and scooped her hair out of the way while he fastened it.
Then she went to the mirror, stood on her tiptoes and looked at herself and admired the pendant.
“I really love it” Holly said and then she let out a squeal as she rushed towards him and then for the second day running they ended the day with a passionate kiss.
Steve Berry had always had a distinct dislike for Christmas, in fact he hated everything about it, despite all the jollity and faux fun because unlike many of his Christmas mad friends he had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the season.
His parents were chronic alcoholics and each year their Christmas came in a bottle and thanks to his ill-tempered father, Steve’s came with a slap, so his childhood Christmases were festive memories he would rather have forgotten.
But adulthood brought no relief from the season and it always seemed to him that when shit happened Christmas just magnified the misery.
If someone died at Christmas the very season makes it more keenly felt and he could testify to that fact as his own mother died on Christmas Eve when he was 19.
He had no idea where his father was and quite frankly he didn’t care he never bothered to show up for the funeral and for all he knew he could have been dead as well.
So as a result he had never trusted Christmas, because he knew that shit lurks beneath the coloured lights and paper chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy.
After an excess of alcohol and some sneakiness from Holly he found himself working behind the bar in her Uncle Phil’s pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale.
He was still uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry Christmas and kissing her.
Judging by the way Holly responded Steve hoped that the kiss on Christmas Eve might have been the start of something between them but alas for him it didn’t lead anywhere.
Holly had indeed responded to his advance and in fact had been hoping for it, but she knew it was far too soon to throw caution to the wind.
There were scabs as yet unpicked regarding Steve Berry that needed to be attended to before she completely let down her guard.
Holly considered him to be a work in progress she thought he had potential but he still needed work but there was certainly hope for him, but he was progressing nonetheless.
The other event that occurred on Christmas Eve was a prolonged fall of snow which resulted in them being snowed in.
Holly was due to go to lunch at her cousin’s house but as she lived 30 miles away it was not possible to make the journey safely with the amount of snow that was still laying.
Steve was due to spend the day alone in his flat, not celebrating Christmas at all, but Holly invited him to spend the day with her instead as he hadn’t risked driving home the night before.
He would have been quite happy to have slept on one of the bench seats in the lounge bar as he had once before, but Holly insisted he use the spare room.
So that was how Steve Berry came to celebrate his first ever Christmas and why he was sitting at the bar nursing a cup of coffee in the clothes he had been wearing the night before.
(Part 02)
It was as a result of them being snowed in at the Pig and Whistle on Christmas Eve which led to Steve Berry celebrating his first ever Christmas at the age of 30 and why he was sitting at the bar nursing a cup of coffee in the clothes he had been wearing the night before.
“Morning” he said as Holly appeared behind the bar
“Happy Christmas” Holly said and reached over and kissed his cheek.
Now it was not the kiss he was hoping for and it was not possessed of the passion that accompanied the embrace of the night before but that simple peck on the cheek held within it something very special, and that was hope.
“God its cold in here” she said
“Yes, there was a power cut during the night and it knocked the boiler out” he said
“I’ve relit it but it’ll take a while to warm the place up”
“This was not the Christmas day I had in mind” Holly said putting the collar of her dressing gown up
“Nor me” he added
She was supposed to be dining on a sumptuous feast at her cousin’s house, while he was supposed to be in self-imposed exile at his flat pretending that Christmas was just a bad dream.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked
“Oh yes please” she replied and Steve got up and went to the kitchen returning a few minutes later with a steaming mug of tea
“Thanks hon” she said and winced at her involuntary over familiarization and quickly went on.
“I don’t know what we are going to eat today” Holly said
“We will need to ferret in the freezer”
“I didn’t know ferret was traditional Christmas fare” Steve said “but I’m no expert on Christmas.
“You know what I mean” she said smiling “Can you cook?”
“A bit” he replied
“Good because I’m rubbish” Holly admitted
Steve actually undersold himself when he said he could cook a bit
He could in fact cook very well, exceptionally well.
Steve not being a traditionalist or a fan of the season could certainly make something out of what was on hand in the kitchen.
Holly however wanted to have a roast lunch, with all the trimmings, but after they checked the freezer they had to rule out a roast dinner as the joints would never have defrosted in time, and they were too big for the microwave and as they were frozen hard, impossible to cut down to size, but there were alternatives.
The fresh vegetable stores were limited but more than sufficient for two people.
Although she couldn’t cook herself, Holly was determined to help, firstly by peeling the potatoes and carrots and then by getting out of his way so he could get on by taking herself off upstairs to get ready for the day.
While Holly was gone Steve finished preparing the food and when he was done he was very pleased that he had achieved something to suit Holly’s traditional wishes, at least in part.
(Part 03)
Steve Berry had just reached the point where he could safely leave the kitchen and get showered and shaved when Holly reappeared and he was stopped in his tracks.
She looked stunning, her mousy hair, washed and styled was adorned with Christmas slides and she was wearing a white wool dress decorated with poinsettias.
And her shapely legs were covered by black tights with motifs of bows and parcels and as he looked at her from head to toe he thought to himself that he’d like them to be stockings rather than tights, but nice legs were nice legs regardless of what they were sheathed in.
“Wow” Steve exclaimed
“Wow” he said again and Holly blushed
“It’s a Christmas dress you know” she said
“I don’t care” he said “wow”
“But you don’t like Christmas” she pointed out
“It’s growing on me” he said unable to take his eyes off her
“Good” she said “you won’t mind wearing this then”
When would he ever learn, he now had to wear another blessed Christmas sweater.
“Where do you keep getting them from?” he asked
“They’re Uncle Phil’s” she replied “I buy him one every year”
“But I’ve never seen Phil in a Christmas jumper, not ever” Steve said
“No nor of I” Holly agreed
Steve went upstairs, showered and shaved and returned to find Holly had laid a table in the lounge bar, complete with festive serviettes, candles, party poppers and crackers.
On the CD player the Puppini Sisters were in full voice and his natural aversion to Christmas music was tempered by the fact that he caught Holly singing and dancing along with the music.
He stayed out of sight in the doorway so he could enjoy the spectacle as long as possible.
When she eventually became aware of him she blushed redder than the poinsettias on her dress.
“How long have you been standing there?” she said suddenly flustered and began fussing with the table.
“Long enough” Steve replied
“You should have said something” Holly said as she headed towards the kitchen still flushed red
“What and spoil the show” he replied as he followed close behind her and chuckled.
Holly carried on with the table while Steve checked the oven and ten minutes later he was transferring everything to serving dishes which Holly took to the table.
All he had left to do was make the gravy and get the Yorkshire puddings out of the oven.
Christmas dinner was as traditional as he could manage given the limits of the provisions available but it was Holly’s turn to say “Wow” as he served Chicken breast wrapped in bacon, served with Roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots, peas, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding.
“What no starters” she said tongue in cheek
Holly lit the candles and Steve opened the wine, then they pulled the crackers and she made him wear a paper hat.
For desert he served apple pie and ice cream after which they watched the Queens speech.
(Part 04)
As soon as the Queens speech was over Holly switched off the TV
“What now?” he asked
“Now we sit and talk” She replied
“You mean “talk”” Steve said
“Yes”
“Do we have to” He said “It’s been such a lovely day”
“How are we supposed to learn about each other if we don’t talk?”
Holly replied
“So what do you want to know?” he said resignedly
“You’re childhood” Holly said with great interest
“What about it?” he replied
“Well, it’s not just Christmas that was unhappy was it”
“No it wasn’t” he replied and Holly settled back to let him unburden himself
“It wasn’t just Christmas, it was New Year’s, Easter, Halloween and birthdays”
He paused and took a drink
“You see my parents were alcoholics, when I was young they managed to somehow keep it under control and were functioning alcoholics, they held down jobs and to the outside world they seemed normal.
But once I got to school age I pretty much raised myself, which is how I came to learn to cook, because if I didn’t cook I didn’t eat”
They had spent a very pleasant Christmas day together, snowed in at the pub, the last thing he wanted to do was regurgitate the unpleasant moments of his life, particularly as he had been doing his best to forget them.
But once he started he couldn’t stop and by the end of it he was exhausted as they sat in the gathering darkness.
Holly was largely quiet throughout and just added the odd word of encouragement and support.
Holly broke the short period of silence.
“How do you feel?”
“Surprisingly good” he responded
However, despite his feeling unburdened by the lengthy afternoon revelations there was an awkward silence in the aftermath, so Steve disappeared down to the kitchen to make them both a snack.
He wondered if he should have held back and if he had unnerved Holly with his total honesty.
“I should have drip fed her” he said as he walked around the kitchen “Let her absorb it and then I could have said more, but no, you had to blurt out every sordid detail of your pathetic life and now she probably thinks you’re a nut job”
When he had finished with the rant and the snack he put it on a tray and carried it upstairs to the lounge where Holly greeted his arrival with a smile, but not a nervous smile, it was a kindly open smile, from someone happy to see him return.
“God that was good” Holly said after consuming the snack he had prepared with relish.
“Every cloud has a silver lining” he said referring to the reason that he had learned to cook in the first place.
“There is always a positive in life” Holly said sagely “you just have to look for it”
“Well that’s what I plan to do” he said and cleared the plates away
“I’ll pour us another drink” He added
(Part 05)
When Steve returned to the lounge Holly was sitting on the sofa with a Christmas present on her lap and she was smiling broadly.
“Happy Christmas” she said as she handed him the gift
“What’s this?” he asked
“Well open it and find out” Holly answered
“I wasn’t expecting a present” Steve said and sat down beside her on the sofa and squeezed the package
“Oh no not another Christmas sweater” he said and Holly giggled as he tore the paper open.
But when he had removed all the paper and unfolded its contents he saw that although it was indeed a sweater, it was not a novelty Christmas one like those she had made him wear for the previous ten days but a plain blue one in cashmere.
“That’s fantastic” he said enthusiastically “I love it
“Try it on then” Holly insisted and stood up
Holly took hold of the new one while Steve removed the one he was wearing and then they swapped.
As Steve pulled the cashmere over his head Holly held the novelty one he had just removed up to her nose and inhaled his scent.
“That looks great” she said when he had put it on
“It feels it” he said “can I keep it on?”
“Yes” she said and held the other one to her breast and he walked over to the Christmas tree and plunged his hand in between the branches.
It was perhaps testament to the progress that he had made over such a short period of time that he had actually bought her a present, which he removed from its hiding place and said
“Happy Christmas”
“When did you put that there?” she asked in amazement
“This morning” Steve replied
“That was sneaky” Holly said and ripped the paper off like a mad woman until she was left with a little blue presentation box embossed with gold relief.
She looked at it in wide eyed wonder, it was jewelry, he had bought her jewelry and from a quality jeweler’s.
Holly took a deep breath and then opened the box and then she gasped.
“It’s lovely” she said as she took it out the box and held the gold pendant in her hand.
It was in the shape of a holly leaf and it had her name engraved on it.
“I love it, I absolutely love it” she said “put it on for me”
Steve took the pendant from her and when Holly turned her back to him, she reached back and scooped her hair out of the way while he fastened it.
Then she went to the mirror, stood on her tiptoes and looked at herself and admired the pendant.
“I really love it” Holly said and then she let out a squeal as she rushed towards him and then for the second day running they ended the day with a passionate kiss.
Sunday, 12 March 2017
Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (13) Familial Relativity
(Part 01)
Jonathon Masters felt as if his star was in the ascendency, his Web Design Business had finally taken off and he had landed a couple of plum contracts, one of which was a magazine publisher and the other was with the Big Cyril’s betting shop chain. However the news about his business’s new found success was not universally well received, his staff liked it, his bank manager was ecstatic about it but his mother was disgusted by it.
Furthermore his darling supportive mother said she would rather tell people he was in prison than tell them that he worked for pornographers and degenerates.
Jonathon lived alone on the outskirts of Forestdean at the Shallowfield end.
It was once a row of three forester’s cottages which had at some time been knocked into one to make a family sized house.
It was a very “nice” part of the village and certainly not somewhere he could have afforded to buy for himself even with the success of the business.
He was fortunate enough to live in a nice property in the well-heeled end of the village due the sudden if not altogether unsurprising death of his Uncle Jon.
Jon Coulson had no family of his own and had managed to alienate most of his extended family mainly because he was a “good time Charlie”, a hard drinking womanizer with the morals of an alley cat, so he had no one to inherit after his premature death, so as Jonathon was his favourite nephew he left it to him.
Because Jonathon was a single man he had far more space than he needed for himself so he decided to give up his tiny office space in Abbottsford and run his business from Kingfisher Cottage.
It was only him in the office most of the time as the four people who worked for him all worked from home anyway.
They only went to the office once or twice a month so after he closed the office they went to Forestdean instead.
It suited him living alone in a quiet village, he wasn’t really a people person, and he kept his human interactions down to a minimum.
At 30 years of age his mother would have preferred him to have found himself a good woman to settle down with who would make him find a proper job.
But he had tried a proper job and the good woman and neither of them had worked out to his liking.
His only regular interactions with human beings were Rafa and Mirabel, his gardener and his cleaner, who were a middle-aged couple who seemed to work for half the people in the village, his monthly meetings with his staff and the occasional visit to his clients and there were trips to the Post Office and General Store other than that he communicated only with cyber space.
(Part 02)
It was on a Friday, also known as gardening day, when Rafa did the garden that someone threw a rock into the tranquil pond that was his life.
So it was in the morning while he was making a cup of coffee and staring through the window watching the wiry Rafa pick up a planter as if it were made of polystyrene that the phone rang.
“Oh shit,” Jonathon said reading the caller ID.
“Hi mum, it’s really lovely to hear from you,” he said with as much sincerity as he could muster
“Hello Jonathon, you’re not getting any better at that are you dear? Listen I’ll get straight to the point, Auntie Leslie and Uncle Roland have asked if you could put Gemma up for a week, and I said yes on your behalf”
“You did what?” He said shocked
“You remember Gemma, you were inseparable when you were kids” she continued oblivious to his protest.
“Yes I do remember her but why the hell did you do that” He shouted
“Calm down Jonathon, for goodness sake, stop making such a fuss, she is family after all, and how bad can it be?”
She wasn’t family actually, the Auntie and Uncle in front of Leslie and Roland’s names were purely honorary titles, the Hughes family were just extremely close friends of his parents.
“The girl is doing a two week long secondment at O’Sullivan and Springthorpe and it will save her the cost of a Hotel” she continued
“But it’s not convenient” He protested
“It will interfere with my work”
“For goodness sake Jonathon you’re a web site designer, it’s not as if you’re close to curing cancer” she retorted
“You’ll have to call them back and say no,” he said firmly
“I can’t possibly do that; it will make me look foolish” she snapped
“But it’s really going to cramp my style” he said
“You haven’t got any style Jonathon especially since you started working for pornographers and degenerates” his mum retorted
“Now listen Jonathon this will really help to cement family relations, you know how bad things have been between the families, and how strained and difficult it’s been since Uncle John impregnated Roland’s sister Lucy”
“Look apart from the short notice and the inconvenience” He explained, “I don’t really want a stranger in the house”
“Nonsense she’s hardly a stranger you used to get on really well when you were children” his mum said
“But I haven’t seen her for 10 years” he responded, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle
“Gemma will be no trouble at all she was always a nice girl and you’ll hardly see her anyway” his mum said
“But she’s a stranger now” he pointed out
“She’s arriving Saturday,” she said hurriedly
“But” he interrupted
“Must dash, Bye” and she was gone.
“Bollocks” He said and put down the phone.
He spent the rest of the day wondering how he was going to cope with Gemma in his house, he even considered going to stay in a Hotel for the two weeks.
His Mum was right he and Gemma did get on well when they were kids, she was five years younger than him and yes there was a time when they were inseparable.
But what mum didn’t know was that when he was seventeen the 12-year-old Gemma tried to kiss him and that was only the first time, she tried kissing him at every opportunity until when she was 14 he found her half naked in his bed.
He didn’t know quite how her behavior might have escalated after that incident had fate not taken a hand.
And he was mightily relieved when Uncle Jon got Roland’s sister Lucy pregnant and the Masters and the Hughes stopped spending holidays together.
Now thanks to his interfering mother she was going to be staying under his roof for two weeks which was going to be quite embarrassing for both of them.
(Part 03)
Saturday came and Uncle Roland and Aunty Leslie arrived to drop Gemma off, and it was a reunion totally lacking even an ounce of warmth, he offered them both a drink but they declined, and he was not disappointed when they did, as it meant they didn’t intend to stay long and he was right because five minutes later they kissed their daughter goodbye before perfunctorily thanking Jonathon for helping out and all at once they were gone leaving Gemma and him quite alone apart that is for the rather large elephant in the room.
As he suspected there was a palpable awkwardness between them and he got the distinct impression that she wasn’t any happier being his houseguest than he was to be her host.
Gemma was still as pretty as she was when he last saw her but she had lost the puppy fat of her teenage years and she was taller now about 5ft 6 with shoulder length blond hair.
He found himself thinking that it was a shame that she’d gone all “Bunny Boiler” on him as a teen.
But he wasn’t a shallow person he didn’t reject her advances because she was a little overweight, he always thought she was very cute, it was never about her physical form.
It was just that they were so very close and although there was no blood tie between them he always saw Gemma as more like a sister than a partner.
“Its very kind of you to do this” she said “Thank you”
“No problem” He lied
Then followed the first of the embarrassed silences as they stood together in the kitchen without the first idea what to talk about.
“Look I’ll give you a quick tour, show you where everything is, settle you in your room and then I’m afraid I need to get some work done, I have a deadline fast approaching” He lied again.
“Sure, I have some studying I need to do before Monday,” she said unconvincingly and then there was another embarrassed silence.
“Spare key” He said pointing to the table “just come and go as you please”
“Thanks Jonathon” she said
“You have the run of the house except my…” He began careful not to say bedroom “Office, that’s a definite no go”
She nodded her understanding and so he gave her the tour and carried her bag to her room.
“And this is your room, bathroom is next door, and I’m sorry but I really have to get on now” and he quickly turned and walked away.
“Thanks again” she called after him, and he was sure he heard her let out a sigh of relief.
Gemma was just as relieved as he was that the awkwardness was over and was equally happy that they would be seeing as little as possible of each other.
Gemma had exclusive use of the bathroom next to her room as Jonathon had an en suite so they managed very well to avoid one another, the occasional meeting on the stairs, a coincidental clash in the kitchen, contact minimal, conversation likewise, embarrassed silences kept to a bare minimum.
That was until Wednesday when they both happened to be going out the front door at the same time and although they both desperately wanted to; neither of them could, either think of an excuse to go back or didn’t have the time to, so they ended up walking into the village together.
The conversation was forced and painful and was littered with their stock in trade, the embarrassed silence, and they both sighed when they reached the parting of the ways, him towards the post office and her towards the railway station.
(Part 04)
Although Jonathon was very content with his life and could fulfill the majority of his needs via the internet, there was one thing that could only be experienced in the flesh, ok there were two things but the primary one for Jonathon was the cinema.
There was nothing in cyberspace that could substitute for the pleasure of sitting in the darkened cinema to watch a movie on the big screen.
It was his only real concession to his way of life and while he was at the Post Office he bought a Shallowfield and Childean Chronicle which had amongst many other interesting things, the cinema listings.
He paid for his purchases and stood outside the shop and turned to the entertainment section of the paper, and smiled to himself when he read that the new Jurassic Park movie was showing at The Oasis Multiplex in Childean.
Later that evening he had a shower and shave and was preparing to spend the evening at the cinema to watch the latest Jurassic Park and indulge his guilty passion, when he remembered he had left his after shave in the main bathroom, he had been using the en suite since Gemma arrived for obvious reasons, but some of his things were still in there.
So he walked across the landing wearing a towel and without hesitating entered the main bathroom, walked to the sink, found his aftershave amongst all the feminine potions and powders that had appeared on the shelf and was just turning to leave as Gemma stepped naked from the shower, with water dripping from her treasures and running down her beautiful firm young body.
On reflection he knew he’d stood staring at her for longer than he should have but he struggled to draw his eyes away.
But when he realized he said,
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t think”
At which point she grabbed the towel and covered herself and he headed hurriedly out the door repeating
“Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry” Until he reached the sanctuary of his bedroom.
He took his towel off and began dressing and all the while he was muttering to himself.
“Oh fantastic, that’s just what I need, as if having her in the house hasn’t been awkward enough, I have to see her naked”
He pulled his trousers up and added
“I don’t know what you were thinking just wandering in there, and did you have to stand and stare for quite so long?”
He sat down on the bed and began to pull his sock on.
“She was like your bloody sister” He said and then attended to his other sock
“And there you stood for God knows how long with your eyes sticking out like chapel hat pegs staring at her treasures”
He continued muttering to himself as he slipped his shoes on and as he opened the bedroom door he saw Gemma emerge from the bathroom all dry, perfumed and powdered and wearing a dressing gown.
“I’m…” he started to say but he felt himself flush and he was unable to finish the sentence and hurried down the stairs and straight out the front door more than half an hour earlier than he needed to, so he sat in the car and muttered to himself some more.
(Part 05)
When he arrived at the Oasis Centre in Childean he was still quite early so he parked in the multistory and decided to go and have a drink in the theatre bar but went to the box office first as it was on his way, and he was grateful that he had because there were only a handful of tickets left for that performance so he chose the only aisle seat left.
Despite getting to Childean 45 minutes early he almost missed the start of the film.
He had been sitting in the bar nursing a pint and trying, and failing, to get the naked images of Gemma out of his head and just when he thought they were gone they appeared again in full technicolor.
Quite apt really technicolored images at a multiplex though the irony was lost on him.
He ended up having to run to the cinema and the auditorium was in darkness when he went in and an usher showed him to his seat which he did with about 10 seconds to spare.
The film was every bit as good as he had hoped it would be and was enjoying it immensely to the point that it completely purged his mind of the naked images that had plagued him earlier.
He was so completely engrossed in the film everything else was excluded so when the creature struck even though he knew it was coming, he couldn’t help himself and he almost jumped out of his seat as did the person next to him.
His heart was in his mouth and he laughed when he got his breath back and when he turned to look at his neighbor he realized he was sitting next to Gemma.
Which gave him an almost bigger surprise than the film did but he relaxed when he realized firstly that he wasn’t hallucinating and secondly that she wasn’t naked.
“Oh Hello” she whispered
“Hi” he replied “I didn’t know you were coming”
“Well I wasn’t dressed for the cinema the last time you saw me”
She said and smiled
He returned her smile and then they returned their attention to the film.
There was no further conversation between them as they enjoyed the rest of the film but when the credits rolled and houselights came up and patrons began to head for the exits Gemma asked
“Did you enjoy it?”
“I did” he replied “It certainly lived up to my expectations, what about you?”
“It was better for me” she replied “I was a bit of a cynic”
“Really?”
“Yes I thought it was just going to cash in on the franchise, but I was wrong” Gemma explained
There was a short embarrassed silence as they slowly filed out through the exit until, against his better judgement, he said
“Can I offer you a lift?”
“No, I don’t want to impose” she replied
“You’re already imposing by staying in my house” he said to himself, but he kind of felt obliged to offer her a lift home.
“Nonsense” he said “It’s not like I’m going out of my way”
“Well you don’t have to” she said “but thanks”
(Part 06)
On the journey home the conversation was strained and Jonathon began to wish he had trusted his judgement.
Converse consisted of general small talk with each one struggling to find something to say and then when they were within 2 miles of their destination a Muntjac Deer leapt out from the forest and straight across the road in front of the car.
Jonathon reacted quickly and swerved to avoid the deer but in doing so two wheels mounted the soft verge and he lost control and the car came to rest in a ditch.
After he had got his wits back he checked on his passenger who was on the side of the car that bore the brunt of the impact.
“Are you ok?” he asked
“Yes, yes, I’m fine” she replied “I just banged my head a bit”
He gave her head a cursory check but could see no blood,
So happy that she was not injured he tried to drive out of the ditch but it was to no avail and he resigned himself to the fact they would have to walk the last mile and a half or so.
The car was lying at a 45 degree angle with two wheels in the ditch so with some difficulty he got out of the car.
Once he was out he held the door open with his body and offered his hand to Gemma.
She took his hand and he pulled her slowly out of the car.
Once outside the vehicle they still needed to get up to the road which was about ten yards away up a gently sloping grass bank.
The problem was the grass was wet under foot and neither of the were dressed appropriately for climbing out of ditches so as they climbed gingerly up the bank they took it in turns to fall over on the muddy grass.
Time and time again they had to help each other up until Jonathon finally got one foot on firmer ground.
But before Gemma could do likewise she stumbled and as Jonathon tried to catch her they both fell to the floor and as they sat on the wet grass laughing like children Gemma took her chance and kissed him.
And unlike her previous attempts during her adolescence she met with no resistance.
“I’ve wanted to do that since I was 12” Gemma said when she came up for air and laughed before kissing him again
“Was that worth waiting 12 years for?”
“Oh God yes” she replied
“Even if you’d fancied me back when I was 12 it wouldn’t have been a kiss like that” she said and licked her lips “Not when we were only kids”
“I never said I didn’t fancy you” he pointed out
“Then why did you react the way you did when I tried to kiss you?” she asked but before he had chance to respond she added
“And that last time when you found me in your bedroom?”
“In my bed” he corrected her
“Alright in your bed” she conceded
“Naked in my bed” He corrected her again
“Half naked” she snapped “I had pants on and a bra”
“Why a bra? You were flat chested when you were 14” he asked
“Ok I admit it, the bra was purely cosmetic” she said “But why?”
“You were like my kid sister” he said
“What do you mean?” she asked
So he told her the whole story, all about the feelings he had for her, how he thought she was cute and why he acted as he did.
And after digesting all of what he had told her she said
“So let me get this right, it wasn’t that you didn’t fancy me when you so cruelly rejected my advances, it was because you thought of me as a sister?”
“Yes” he replied
There was a prolonged silence then she spoke
“And now?”
“Not so much” Jonathon mused
“Which part?”
“The sister part”
“Oh” she responded and he kissed her.
“So what do we do now?” she asked
“Well I think we should get up off the wet grass and go home and discuss it some more” he replied
“Will that involve kissing?” Gemma asked
“Undoubtedly” he replied as he got to his feet and offered her his hand
“Then I heartily concur” Gemma responded and took his hand.
Jonathon Masters felt as if his star was in the ascendency, his Web Design Business had finally taken off and he had landed a couple of plum contracts, one of which was a magazine publisher and the other was with the Big Cyril’s betting shop chain. However the news about his business’s new found success was not universally well received, his staff liked it, his bank manager was ecstatic about it but his mother was disgusted by it.
Furthermore his darling supportive mother said she would rather tell people he was in prison than tell them that he worked for pornographers and degenerates.
Jonathon lived alone on the outskirts of Forestdean at the Shallowfield end.
It was once a row of three forester’s cottages which had at some time been knocked into one to make a family sized house.
It was a very “nice” part of the village and certainly not somewhere he could have afforded to buy for himself even with the success of the business.
He was fortunate enough to live in a nice property in the well-heeled end of the village due the sudden if not altogether unsurprising death of his Uncle Jon.
Jon Coulson had no family of his own and had managed to alienate most of his extended family mainly because he was a “good time Charlie”, a hard drinking womanizer with the morals of an alley cat, so he had no one to inherit after his premature death, so as Jonathon was his favourite nephew he left it to him.
Because Jonathon was a single man he had far more space than he needed for himself so he decided to give up his tiny office space in Abbottsford and run his business from Kingfisher Cottage.
It was only him in the office most of the time as the four people who worked for him all worked from home anyway.
They only went to the office once or twice a month so after he closed the office they went to Forestdean instead.
It suited him living alone in a quiet village, he wasn’t really a people person, and he kept his human interactions down to a minimum.
At 30 years of age his mother would have preferred him to have found himself a good woman to settle down with who would make him find a proper job.
But he had tried a proper job and the good woman and neither of them had worked out to his liking.
His only regular interactions with human beings were Rafa and Mirabel, his gardener and his cleaner, who were a middle-aged couple who seemed to work for half the people in the village, his monthly meetings with his staff and the occasional visit to his clients and there were trips to the Post Office and General Store other than that he communicated only with cyber space.
(Part 02)
It was on a Friday, also known as gardening day, when Rafa did the garden that someone threw a rock into the tranquil pond that was his life.
So it was in the morning while he was making a cup of coffee and staring through the window watching the wiry Rafa pick up a planter as if it were made of polystyrene that the phone rang.
“Oh shit,” Jonathon said reading the caller ID.
“Hi mum, it’s really lovely to hear from you,” he said with as much sincerity as he could muster
“Hello Jonathon, you’re not getting any better at that are you dear? Listen I’ll get straight to the point, Auntie Leslie and Uncle Roland have asked if you could put Gemma up for a week, and I said yes on your behalf”
“You did what?” He said shocked
“You remember Gemma, you were inseparable when you were kids” she continued oblivious to his protest.
“Yes I do remember her but why the hell did you do that” He shouted
“Calm down Jonathon, for goodness sake, stop making such a fuss, she is family after all, and how bad can it be?”
She wasn’t family actually, the Auntie and Uncle in front of Leslie and Roland’s names were purely honorary titles, the Hughes family were just extremely close friends of his parents.
“The girl is doing a two week long secondment at O’Sullivan and Springthorpe and it will save her the cost of a Hotel” she continued
“But it’s not convenient” He protested
“It will interfere with my work”
“For goodness sake Jonathon you’re a web site designer, it’s not as if you’re close to curing cancer” she retorted
“You’ll have to call them back and say no,” he said firmly
“I can’t possibly do that; it will make me look foolish” she snapped
“But it’s really going to cramp my style” he said
“You haven’t got any style Jonathon especially since you started working for pornographers and degenerates” his mum retorted
“Now listen Jonathon this will really help to cement family relations, you know how bad things have been between the families, and how strained and difficult it’s been since Uncle John impregnated Roland’s sister Lucy”
“Look apart from the short notice and the inconvenience” He explained, “I don’t really want a stranger in the house”
“Nonsense she’s hardly a stranger you used to get on really well when you were children” his mum said
“But I haven’t seen her for 10 years” he responded, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle
“Gemma will be no trouble at all she was always a nice girl and you’ll hardly see her anyway” his mum said
“But she’s a stranger now” he pointed out
“She’s arriving Saturday,” she said hurriedly
“But” he interrupted
“Must dash, Bye” and she was gone.
“Bollocks” He said and put down the phone.
He spent the rest of the day wondering how he was going to cope with Gemma in his house, he even considered going to stay in a Hotel for the two weeks.
His Mum was right he and Gemma did get on well when they were kids, she was five years younger than him and yes there was a time when they were inseparable.
But what mum didn’t know was that when he was seventeen the 12-year-old Gemma tried to kiss him and that was only the first time, she tried kissing him at every opportunity until when she was 14 he found her half naked in his bed.
He didn’t know quite how her behavior might have escalated after that incident had fate not taken a hand.
And he was mightily relieved when Uncle Jon got Roland’s sister Lucy pregnant and the Masters and the Hughes stopped spending holidays together.
Now thanks to his interfering mother she was going to be staying under his roof for two weeks which was going to be quite embarrassing for both of them.
(Part 03)
Saturday came and Uncle Roland and Aunty Leslie arrived to drop Gemma off, and it was a reunion totally lacking even an ounce of warmth, he offered them both a drink but they declined, and he was not disappointed when they did, as it meant they didn’t intend to stay long and he was right because five minutes later they kissed their daughter goodbye before perfunctorily thanking Jonathon for helping out and all at once they were gone leaving Gemma and him quite alone apart that is for the rather large elephant in the room.
As he suspected there was a palpable awkwardness between them and he got the distinct impression that she wasn’t any happier being his houseguest than he was to be her host.
Gemma was still as pretty as she was when he last saw her but she had lost the puppy fat of her teenage years and she was taller now about 5ft 6 with shoulder length blond hair.
He found himself thinking that it was a shame that she’d gone all “Bunny Boiler” on him as a teen.
But he wasn’t a shallow person he didn’t reject her advances because she was a little overweight, he always thought she was very cute, it was never about her physical form.
It was just that they were so very close and although there was no blood tie between them he always saw Gemma as more like a sister than a partner.
“Its very kind of you to do this” she said “Thank you”
“No problem” He lied
Then followed the first of the embarrassed silences as they stood together in the kitchen without the first idea what to talk about.
“Look I’ll give you a quick tour, show you where everything is, settle you in your room and then I’m afraid I need to get some work done, I have a deadline fast approaching” He lied again.
“Sure, I have some studying I need to do before Monday,” she said unconvincingly and then there was another embarrassed silence.
“Spare key” He said pointing to the table “just come and go as you please”
“Thanks Jonathon” she said
“You have the run of the house except my…” He began careful not to say bedroom “Office, that’s a definite no go”
She nodded her understanding and so he gave her the tour and carried her bag to her room.
“And this is your room, bathroom is next door, and I’m sorry but I really have to get on now” and he quickly turned and walked away.
“Thanks again” she called after him, and he was sure he heard her let out a sigh of relief.
Gemma was just as relieved as he was that the awkwardness was over and was equally happy that they would be seeing as little as possible of each other.
Gemma had exclusive use of the bathroom next to her room as Jonathon had an en suite so they managed very well to avoid one another, the occasional meeting on the stairs, a coincidental clash in the kitchen, contact minimal, conversation likewise, embarrassed silences kept to a bare minimum.
That was until Wednesday when they both happened to be going out the front door at the same time and although they both desperately wanted to; neither of them could, either think of an excuse to go back or didn’t have the time to, so they ended up walking into the village together.
The conversation was forced and painful and was littered with their stock in trade, the embarrassed silence, and they both sighed when they reached the parting of the ways, him towards the post office and her towards the railway station.
(Part 04)
Although Jonathon was very content with his life and could fulfill the majority of his needs via the internet, there was one thing that could only be experienced in the flesh, ok there were two things but the primary one for Jonathon was the cinema.
There was nothing in cyberspace that could substitute for the pleasure of sitting in the darkened cinema to watch a movie on the big screen.
It was his only real concession to his way of life and while he was at the Post Office he bought a Shallowfield and Childean Chronicle which had amongst many other interesting things, the cinema listings.
He paid for his purchases and stood outside the shop and turned to the entertainment section of the paper, and smiled to himself when he read that the new Jurassic Park movie was showing at The Oasis Multiplex in Childean.
Later that evening he had a shower and shave and was preparing to spend the evening at the cinema to watch the latest Jurassic Park and indulge his guilty passion, when he remembered he had left his after shave in the main bathroom, he had been using the en suite since Gemma arrived for obvious reasons, but some of his things were still in there.
So he walked across the landing wearing a towel and without hesitating entered the main bathroom, walked to the sink, found his aftershave amongst all the feminine potions and powders that had appeared on the shelf and was just turning to leave as Gemma stepped naked from the shower, with water dripping from her treasures and running down her beautiful firm young body.
On reflection he knew he’d stood staring at her for longer than he should have but he struggled to draw his eyes away.
But when he realized he said,
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t think”
At which point she grabbed the towel and covered herself and he headed hurriedly out the door repeating
“Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry” Until he reached the sanctuary of his bedroom.
He took his towel off and began dressing and all the while he was muttering to himself.
“Oh fantastic, that’s just what I need, as if having her in the house hasn’t been awkward enough, I have to see her naked”
He pulled his trousers up and added
“I don’t know what you were thinking just wandering in there, and did you have to stand and stare for quite so long?”
He sat down on the bed and began to pull his sock on.
“She was like your bloody sister” He said and then attended to his other sock
“And there you stood for God knows how long with your eyes sticking out like chapel hat pegs staring at her treasures”
He continued muttering to himself as he slipped his shoes on and as he opened the bedroom door he saw Gemma emerge from the bathroom all dry, perfumed and powdered and wearing a dressing gown.
“I’m…” he started to say but he felt himself flush and he was unable to finish the sentence and hurried down the stairs and straight out the front door more than half an hour earlier than he needed to, so he sat in the car and muttered to himself some more.
(Part 05)
When he arrived at the Oasis Centre in Childean he was still quite early so he parked in the multistory and decided to go and have a drink in the theatre bar but went to the box office first as it was on his way, and he was grateful that he had because there were only a handful of tickets left for that performance so he chose the only aisle seat left.
Despite getting to Childean 45 minutes early he almost missed the start of the film.
He had been sitting in the bar nursing a pint and trying, and failing, to get the naked images of Gemma out of his head and just when he thought they were gone they appeared again in full technicolor.
Quite apt really technicolored images at a multiplex though the irony was lost on him.
He ended up having to run to the cinema and the auditorium was in darkness when he went in and an usher showed him to his seat which he did with about 10 seconds to spare.
The film was every bit as good as he had hoped it would be and was enjoying it immensely to the point that it completely purged his mind of the naked images that had plagued him earlier.
He was so completely engrossed in the film everything else was excluded so when the creature struck even though he knew it was coming, he couldn’t help himself and he almost jumped out of his seat as did the person next to him.
His heart was in his mouth and he laughed when he got his breath back and when he turned to look at his neighbor he realized he was sitting next to Gemma.
Which gave him an almost bigger surprise than the film did but he relaxed when he realized firstly that he wasn’t hallucinating and secondly that she wasn’t naked.
“Oh Hello” she whispered
“Hi” he replied “I didn’t know you were coming”
“Well I wasn’t dressed for the cinema the last time you saw me”
She said and smiled
He returned her smile and then they returned their attention to the film.
There was no further conversation between them as they enjoyed the rest of the film but when the credits rolled and houselights came up and patrons began to head for the exits Gemma asked
“Did you enjoy it?”
“I did” he replied “It certainly lived up to my expectations, what about you?”
“It was better for me” she replied “I was a bit of a cynic”
“Really?”
“Yes I thought it was just going to cash in on the franchise, but I was wrong” Gemma explained
There was a short embarrassed silence as they slowly filed out through the exit until, against his better judgement, he said
“Can I offer you a lift?”
“No, I don’t want to impose” she replied
“You’re already imposing by staying in my house” he said to himself, but he kind of felt obliged to offer her a lift home.
“Nonsense” he said “It’s not like I’m going out of my way”
“Well you don’t have to” she said “but thanks”
(Part 06)
On the journey home the conversation was strained and Jonathon began to wish he had trusted his judgement.
Converse consisted of general small talk with each one struggling to find something to say and then when they were within 2 miles of their destination a Muntjac Deer leapt out from the forest and straight across the road in front of the car.
Jonathon reacted quickly and swerved to avoid the deer but in doing so two wheels mounted the soft verge and he lost control and the car came to rest in a ditch.
After he had got his wits back he checked on his passenger who was on the side of the car that bore the brunt of the impact.
“Are you ok?” he asked
“Yes, yes, I’m fine” she replied “I just banged my head a bit”
He gave her head a cursory check but could see no blood,
So happy that she was not injured he tried to drive out of the ditch but it was to no avail and he resigned himself to the fact they would have to walk the last mile and a half or so.
The car was lying at a 45 degree angle with two wheels in the ditch so with some difficulty he got out of the car.
Once he was out he held the door open with his body and offered his hand to Gemma.
She took his hand and he pulled her slowly out of the car.
Once outside the vehicle they still needed to get up to the road which was about ten yards away up a gently sloping grass bank.
The problem was the grass was wet under foot and neither of the were dressed appropriately for climbing out of ditches so as they climbed gingerly up the bank they took it in turns to fall over on the muddy grass.
Time and time again they had to help each other up until Jonathon finally got one foot on firmer ground.
But before Gemma could do likewise she stumbled and as Jonathon tried to catch her they both fell to the floor and as they sat on the wet grass laughing like children Gemma took her chance and kissed him.
And unlike her previous attempts during her adolescence she met with no resistance.
“I’ve wanted to do that since I was 12” Gemma said when she came up for air and laughed before kissing him again
“Was that worth waiting 12 years for?”
“Oh God yes” she replied
“Even if you’d fancied me back when I was 12 it wouldn’t have been a kiss like that” she said and licked her lips “Not when we were only kids”
“I never said I didn’t fancy you” he pointed out
“Then why did you react the way you did when I tried to kiss you?” she asked but before he had chance to respond she added
“And that last time when you found me in your bedroom?”
“In my bed” he corrected her
“Alright in your bed” she conceded
“Naked in my bed” He corrected her again
“Half naked” she snapped “I had pants on and a bra”
“Why a bra? You were flat chested when you were 14” he asked
“Ok I admit it, the bra was purely cosmetic” she said “But why?”
“You were like my kid sister” he said
“What do you mean?” she asked
So he told her the whole story, all about the feelings he had for her, how he thought she was cute and why he acted as he did.
And after digesting all of what he had told her she said
“So let me get this right, it wasn’t that you didn’t fancy me when you so cruelly rejected my advances, it was because you thought of me as a sister?”
“Yes” he replied
There was a prolonged silence then she spoke
“And now?”
“Not so much” Jonathon mused
“Which part?”
“The sister part”
“Oh” she responded and he kissed her.
“So what do we do now?” she asked
“Well I think we should get up off the wet grass and go home and discuss it some more” he replied
“Will that involve kissing?” Gemma asked
“Undoubtedly” he replied as he got to his feet and offered her his hand
“Then I heartily concur” Gemma responded and took his hand.
Mornington-By-Mere – (13) Destinies and Outcomes
(Part 01)
Staff Nurse Jane Hall was in the ladies locker room making the final adjustments to her uniform.
She was at the mirror pinning her silly hat in place onto her straight honey blonde hair, which was tied in bun at the back, and then she titivated the fringe that she always wore.
On the ward she often wore gold rimmed half-moon spectacles but they were only for reading and she often just peered over the top of them rather than keep taking them off.
But as she stood before the mirror there was nothing obscuring her pleasant unblemished face, a face that turned from pleasant to pretty very easily when she smiled.
Jane stepped backwards so she could get a better look at the rest of her.
The Blue pinstriped uniform with white relief was tailored to fit and defined her figure exquisitely even without the belt.
She turned sideways to get another view and scanned herself from top to bottom.
She was not unhappy with the overall appearance, she was a little broader in the beam than she would have liked, her legs were good though, she liked her legs even in the regulation black tights and sensible shoes they were nice.
“Not a bad looking woman for 29 and a bit” Jane said and nodded at her reflection to acknowledge she had passed muster.
“No, not a bad looking woman considering she was fast approaching 30” Jane was thinking as she walked to the ward, so why did she still not have a significant other? It was something she often wondered.
And she wasn’t just nice to look at, she was a nice person, kind and considerate and very loving given the opportunity.
The problem was when you worked shifts it was difficult to have a social life and meet new people, any people, meeting the right people was even more difficult.
But though she wondered why she was alone she wasn’t unhappy, she didn’t feel diminished by her circumstances.
Jane had a lot of friends who took turns to throw single men in her direction but she evaded most of them and of the ones she didn’t evade, none of them were keepers.
Doctors always tried their luck of course, but news and reviews of doctors travelled fast along the nurse’s grapevine.
So they generally knew who to avoid and working on a children’s ward meant that patients weren’t really an option.
Jane though was a great believer in fate and thought if it was meant to be it was meant to be.
Although as the oldest sibling of three and the only one not settled down with anyone, as well as being the only one not to provide a grandchild her mother who was less philosophical.
She did think that she had found her life mate and she and Graham were together for 5 years and Jane did think they would marry but he turned out to have feet of clay and that had been more than three years ago.
But working on the children’s ward and witnessing the wonder of familial love on a daily basis was very rewarding.
However although she thought what she saw was a beautiful thing to witness it was also a constant reminder that her biological clock was ticking.
(Part 02)
Most of the time Jane Hall lived in Mornington at Windmill Farm which had been worked by the Hall family since the time of the Napoleonic wars.
It was a huge farmhouse that had been added to and added to over the years which was just as well as there were 9 of them living there in all.
Her parents, one sister, one brother in law, one brother, one sister in law and two nephews and of course Jane herself.
But the farm in Mornington wasn’t her only place of residence and nor was it her source of employment.
Jane Hall was a Staff Nurse at the Winston Churchill Hospital in Abbottsford and rather than commute back and forth she shared a flat with two other Nurses, Rosie Parsons, and Lorraine Chapman who also lived in Mornington and worked at the Churchill.
It wasn’t a huge flat and nor was it in the smartest part of town but it was perfect for them as it meant that they had a place to live that was close to work, which was ideal for them all as they worked shifts, and it meant that split between the three of them their expenses were less than their travelling would have been.
They were all single, all looking and all quite pessimistic regarding their prospects in the relationship department.
But they all got on well and made the most of their situations.
They all had hopes and dreams though, of finding the right man and settling down and having babies.
But of the three of them it was Jane’s biological clock that seemed to be ticking the loudest.
And that morning she had woken in a particularly broody frame of mind so being a believer in fate she said as she walked towards the ward to the ether and to her herself
“Well fate, if you’re going to do something. Can you do it soon please?”
As she entered the ward Sister Greenland called her into her office with a gesture, she liked Sally Greenland.
“Morning Sister” she said
“Hi Jane” Sister Greenland said and handed her a folder
“You have a new surgical admission today, Danny Foreman, 4 years old necrotic kidney removal”
“One of Mr Shah’s?” Jane asked
“Yes, booking in at four and he’s first on the list tomorrow morning” the sister said
“Ok I’ll get a room prepared” said Jane
“Oh Jane, tread carefully around them, Danny’s mother died in a car accident” Sister informed her
“Recently?” Jane asked
“In the last year” Sister Greenland replied “So quite fresh in their minds I’m sure”
“Ok” Jane said and thought that forewarned was forearmed.
“Is the necrotic kidney a consequence of the accident?”
“It seems not” Sister replied
It didn’t take her long to get the side room ready in her quietly efficient way and everything else went without a hitch.
There were a couple of patients who needed to go to x-ray, another needed an MRI and one was discharged.
So just another ordinary day on paediatrics.
(Part 03)
It had been a very good day on the ward, there were no significant dramas, everyone was making good progress and all in all it was a good day to be a nurse.
The side ward had been prepared for the new patient and right on time admissions nurse Lorraine Chapman brought the Foreman’s onto the ward.
Lorraine caught Jane’s eye and in response she said
“Room 6 Lorraine”
“Ok” she said and led them in to a side ward.
Mr Foreman was a tall upright man with prematurely greying hair and the beginnings of a paunch and he walked with a stick.
Jane assessed he was around 30 and in his arms he carried his little son, Danny.
Jane had already been headed in their direction and picked up the pace to join them.
Lorraine was just putting little Danny’s overnight bag on the bed as she entered
“Hello” Jane said brightly
“I’m Staff Nurse Hall”
“Hi” Mr Foreman said
“But you” she said tickling the back of Danny’s knee
“Can call me Nurse Jane”
Danny buried his face in his father’s neck but he was giggling as he did so.
Lorraine Chapman handed Jane the admission notes and said goodbye.
Once the Foreman’s were settled Jane sat down with Dad and went through the forms.
“Ok Mr Foreman” she began
“Just call me Mark” he said
Jane looked a little confused and checked her forms.
“It says here your initial is E”
“That’s right” he said “my first name is Edward, but I don’t like it so I use my middle name and everyone calls me Mark”
“Oh I see” Jane said
They then spent the best part of an hour talking about everything apart from Danny’s op, while the patient played with Thomas the Tank engine on the floor.
It turned out that Mark also lived in Mornington and was a Teacher at the village school since the previous September.
When Jane looked down at the watch on her uniform she said
“Cripes! I need to go and check on my other patients. I’ll come back shortly and we can complete the forms”
As Jane was leaving Dr Poppy Jones, the paediatric registrar was on the way in and within half an hour she was back and they duly completed the paper work and finally got “Mark” to sign the consent forms and as he did so she noticed the scarring on his hand and forearm.
Obviously as a result of the accident, but she didn’t feel she should broach the subject just yet.
“Ok” she said “So Danny is first on the list in the morning which means he can eat his tea at 6 o’clock but then he can only have fluids until afterward the operation”
Jane went off duty at 10 o’clock but she always liked to look in on all her patients before she left for the day which could sometimes take an hour.
When she got to the Foreman’s room Danny was fast asleep and Mark was in the corner reading a book.
“I’m going off duty now” She said quietly “and I won’t be back on duty until after it’s all-over”
“Ok” he replied “thank you”
(Part 04)
The day after Danny Foreman was admitted Jane Hall was starting work 2 hours early because Sister Greenland had to attend an important meeting and she needed her most experience Staff Nurse to take the reins in her absence.
As it was such a nice spring day Jane decided to walk through the hospital grounds to enjoy the spring sunshine.
When she was about halfway between the entrance to the grounds and Hospital she saw Mark Foreman pacing up and down along the same bit of path.
She didn’t understand why he was outside pacing, the operation should have finished by then and Danny should have been back on the ward and so should his Dad.
Something must have happened so she diverted her course and increased the pace to join him.
“Is everything ok Mark?” she asked when she was in earshot.
He was startled and turned around sharply and almost fell when he put all his weight on his bad leg.
“Come and sit” Jane said taking his arm “Take the weight off your leg”
Jane guided him to a park bench and sat him down.
“What’s happened?” she asked
“They were late taking him in to theatre” he replied
“Good” she said with a sigh “I thought it was something serious”
“I just couldn’t stand it in there another minute” Mark said
“Do you want to talk about it?” Jane asked
He was silent for a moment and then he said
“Apart from Danny’s birth I hadn’t been in a hospital for 10 years and for the last year I seem to have done little else” he said bitterly.
Then he unburdened himself with the tale about the accident.
The family had been for a pleasant day out by the sea in Sharpington and were on the way home.
The accident happened just as the sun was setting behind them and a car came around the bend on the wrong side of the road and hit them head on.
The car rolled several times and ended up on its side in a ditch.
“That’s awful” she said
“I don't remember it” he said “the crash at any rate, all I know of it is what the witnesses told the police”
He paused before adding
“The other driver died instantly”
“And your wife?” Jane asked
“I watched her die” he said “mercifully Emma never regained consciousness but all I could do was hold her hand”
“And Danny?” Jane asked
“Miraculously he didn’t have a scratch, and he’d been asleep when it happened” he said “But what was terrible was that he was crying for his mum, and I couldn’t get to him”
He paused briefly as he fought back the tears.
“I tried to comfort him but I couldn’t”
There was a longer pause before he continued
“I blame myself of course”
“That’s silly” Jane said
“Is it?” Contradicted Mark and stood up and walked slowly away.
(Part 05)
After Mark Foreman limped away Jane found it easy to catch up with him.
“You feel guilty Mark because you lived, but that isn’t the same thing as blame” Jane insisted
“Is it just guilt about surviving?” Mark asked
“Yes” Jane said “and that’s in the past, you have your son and he is the present and the future”
“What kind of future? With this leg and this stick?” he said bitterly
“Listen to me” she said sternly “You have a new job and a new start in the loveliest place in the world to do it in, the future has infinite possibilities, but the past is only ever the past”
“That’s very profound” he said
“What for a nurse you mean?” she said
“No I mean it, it was very profound” he said and gave the weakest of smiles
“Yes, well I’m very deep” she said
“Does he remember anything?”
“Not the accident thank God” he replied
“But he remembers his mum?” Jane asked and Mark nodded
“That’s precious” she added
“Yes it is” he responded positively
“Now come with me and we’ll see how the little man is doing” Jane said
“You’re a very positive person Jane, is it aright if I call you Jane?” he asked
“Of course” she replied “And I do always look for a positive in any situation”
Mark thought for a moment and said
“Well if it hadn’t been for the accident and all the resulting scans, his malformed kidney wouldn’t have come to light so that’s something of a positive”
“There you are then” Jane said
When they got to the ward Danny’s bed was being wheeled into room 6, and he looked so small in that big bed.
“Go and sit with him” Jane said “I have to change but I’ll be in as soon as I can”
The operation all went according to plan but Danny picked up a post-operative infection and had to stay in the hospital for a few days longer than planned.
When the day came for him to be discharged Jane pushed Danny in the wheel chair while Mark carried the bag in one hand and his stick in the other and a newspaper tucked under his arm.
When they reached the reception she left father and son together and went to the desk to ask them to call a cab before re-joining them.
They waited together and chatted idly and entertained Danny until the cab arrived.
She wheeled the chair out to the waiting taxi and was poised to say goodbye.
“I’m sure you get asked this a lot” he said and paused briefly “But when Danny is fully recovered, would it be alright if I gave you a call some time?”
“Yes” she replied and wrote her number on the margin of his newspaper
“I would like that”
“Great” he said as he got into the cab “I will call you then”
And she stood and waved them off
On her was back to the ward she said out loud
“Well it took you long enough, fate, but it looks like you got there in the end”
Staff Nurse Jane Hall was in the ladies locker room making the final adjustments to her uniform.
She was at the mirror pinning her silly hat in place onto her straight honey blonde hair, which was tied in bun at the back, and then she titivated the fringe that she always wore.
On the ward she often wore gold rimmed half-moon spectacles but they were only for reading and she often just peered over the top of them rather than keep taking them off.
But as she stood before the mirror there was nothing obscuring her pleasant unblemished face, a face that turned from pleasant to pretty very easily when she smiled.
Jane stepped backwards so she could get a better look at the rest of her.
The Blue pinstriped uniform with white relief was tailored to fit and defined her figure exquisitely even without the belt.
She turned sideways to get another view and scanned herself from top to bottom.
She was not unhappy with the overall appearance, she was a little broader in the beam than she would have liked, her legs were good though, she liked her legs even in the regulation black tights and sensible shoes they were nice.
“Not a bad looking woman for 29 and a bit” Jane said and nodded at her reflection to acknowledge she had passed muster.
“No, not a bad looking woman considering she was fast approaching 30” Jane was thinking as she walked to the ward, so why did she still not have a significant other? It was something she often wondered.
And she wasn’t just nice to look at, she was a nice person, kind and considerate and very loving given the opportunity.
The problem was when you worked shifts it was difficult to have a social life and meet new people, any people, meeting the right people was even more difficult.
But though she wondered why she was alone she wasn’t unhappy, she didn’t feel diminished by her circumstances.
Jane had a lot of friends who took turns to throw single men in her direction but she evaded most of them and of the ones she didn’t evade, none of them were keepers.
Doctors always tried their luck of course, but news and reviews of doctors travelled fast along the nurse’s grapevine.
So they generally knew who to avoid and working on a children’s ward meant that patients weren’t really an option.
Jane though was a great believer in fate and thought if it was meant to be it was meant to be.
Although as the oldest sibling of three and the only one not settled down with anyone, as well as being the only one not to provide a grandchild her mother who was less philosophical.
She did think that she had found her life mate and she and Graham were together for 5 years and Jane did think they would marry but he turned out to have feet of clay and that had been more than three years ago.
But working on the children’s ward and witnessing the wonder of familial love on a daily basis was very rewarding.
However although she thought what she saw was a beautiful thing to witness it was also a constant reminder that her biological clock was ticking.
(Part 02)
Most of the time Jane Hall lived in Mornington at Windmill Farm which had been worked by the Hall family since the time of the Napoleonic wars.
It was a huge farmhouse that had been added to and added to over the years which was just as well as there were 9 of them living there in all.
Her parents, one sister, one brother in law, one brother, one sister in law and two nephews and of course Jane herself.
But the farm in Mornington wasn’t her only place of residence and nor was it her source of employment.
Jane Hall was a Staff Nurse at the Winston Churchill Hospital in Abbottsford and rather than commute back and forth she shared a flat with two other Nurses, Rosie Parsons, and Lorraine Chapman who also lived in Mornington and worked at the Churchill.
It wasn’t a huge flat and nor was it in the smartest part of town but it was perfect for them as it meant that they had a place to live that was close to work, which was ideal for them all as they worked shifts, and it meant that split between the three of them their expenses were less than their travelling would have been.
They were all single, all looking and all quite pessimistic regarding their prospects in the relationship department.
But they all got on well and made the most of their situations.
They all had hopes and dreams though, of finding the right man and settling down and having babies.
But of the three of them it was Jane’s biological clock that seemed to be ticking the loudest.
And that morning she had woken in a particularly broody frame of mind so being a believer in fate she said as she walked towards the ward to the ether and to her herself
“Well fate, if you’re going to do something. Can you do it soon please?”
As she entered the ward Sister Greenland called her into her office with a gesture, she liked Sally Greenland.
“Morning Sister” she said
“Hi Jane” Sister Greenland said and handed her a folder
“You have a new surgical admission today, Danny Foreman, 4 years old necrotic kidney removal”
“One of Mr Shah’s?” Jane asked
“Yes, booking in at four and he’s first on the list tomorrow morning” the sister said
“Ok I’ll get a room prepared” said Jane
“Oh Jane, tread carefully around them, Danny’s mother died in a car accident” Sister informed her
“Recently?” Jane asked
“In the last year” Sister Greenland replied “So quite fresh in their minds I’m sure”
“Ok” Jane said and thought that forewarned was forearmed.
“Is the necrotic kidney a consequence of the accident?”
“It seems not” Sister replied
It didn’t take her long to get the side room ready in her quietly efficient way and everything else went without a hitch.
There were a couple of patients who needed to go to x-ray, another needed an MRI and one was discharged.
So just another ordinary day on paediatrics.
(Part 03)
It had been a very good day on the ward, there were no significant dramas, everyone was making good progress and all in all it was a good day to be a nurse.
The side ward had been prepared for the new patient and right on time admissions nurse Lorraine Chapman brought the Foreman’s onto the ward.
Lorraine caught Jane’s eye and in response she said
“Room 6 Lorraine”
“Ok” she said and led them in to a side ward.
Mr Foreman was a tall upright man with prematurely greying hair and the beginnings of a paunch and he walked with a stick.
Jane assessed he was around 30 and in his arms he carried his little son, Danny.
Jane had already been headed in their direction and picked up the pace to join them.
Lorraine was just putting little Danny’s overnight bag on the bed as she entered
“Hello” Jane said brightly
“I’m Staff Nurse Hall”
“Hi” Mr Foreman said
“But you” she said tickling the back of Danny’s knee
“Can call me Nurse Jane”
Danny buried his face in his father’s neck but he was giggling as he did so.
Lorraine Chapman handed Jane the admission notes and said goodbye.
Once the Foreman’s were settled Jane sat down with Dad and went through the forms.
“Ok Mr Foreman” she began
“Just call me Mark” he said
Jane looked a little confused and checked her forms.
“It says here your initial is E”
“That’s right” he said “my first name is Edward, but I don’t like it so I use my middle name and everyone calls me Mark”
“Oh I see” Jane said
They then spent the best part of an hour talking about everything apart from Danny’s op, while the patient played with Thomas the Tank engine on the floor.
It turned out that Mark also lived in Mornington and was a Teacher at the village school since the previous September.
When Jane looked down at the watch on her uniform she said
“Cripes! I need to go and check on my other patients. I’ll come back shortly and we can complete the forms”
As Jane was leaving Dr Poppy Jones, the paediatric registrar was on the way in and within half an hour she was back and they duly completed the paper work and finally got “Mark” to sign the consent forms and as he did so she noticed the scarring on his hand and forearm.
Obviously as a result of the accident, but she didn’t feel she should broach the subject just yet.
“Ok” she said “So Danny is first on the list in the morning which means he can eat his tea at 6 o’clock but then he can only have fluids until afterward the operation”
Jane went off duty at 10 o’clock but she always liked to look in on all her patients before she left for the day which could sometimes take an hour.
When she got to the Foreman’s room Danny was fast asleep and Mark was in the corner reading a book.
“I’m going off duty now” She said quietly “and I won’t be back on duty until after it’s all-over”
“Ok” he replied “thank you”
(Part 04)
The day after Danny Foreman was admitted Jane Hall was starting work 2 hours early because Sister Greenland had to attend an important meeting and she needed her most experience Staff Nurse to take the reins in her absence.
As it was such a nice spring day Jane decided to walk through the hospital grounds to enjoy the spring sunshine.
When she was about halfway between the entrance to the grounds and Hospital she saw Mark Foreman pacing up and down along the same bit of path.
She didn’t understand why he was outside pacing, the operation should have finished by then and Danny should have been back on the ward and so should his Dad.
Something must have happened so she diverted her course and increased the pace to join him.
“Is everything ok Mark?” she asked when she was in earshot.
He was startled and turned around sharply and almost fell when he put all his weight on his bad leg.
“Come and sit” Jane said taking his arm “Take the weight off your leg”
Jane guided him to a park bench and sat him down.
“What’s happened?” she asked
“They were late taking him in to theatre” he replied
“Good” she said with a sigh “I thought it was something serious”
“I just couldn’t stand it in there another minute” Mark said
“Do you want to talk about it?” Jane asked
He was silent for a moment and then he said
“Apart from Danny’s birth I hadn’t been in a hospital for 10 years and for the last year I seem to have done little else” he said bitterly.
Then he unburdened himself with the tale about the accident.
The family had been for a pleasant day out by the sea in Sharpington and were on the way home.
The accident happened just as the sun was setting behind them and a car came around the bend on the wrong side of the road and hit them head on.
The car rolled several times and ended up on its side in a ditch.
“That’s awful” she said
“I don't remember it” he said “the crash at any rate, all I know of it is what the witnesses told the police”
He paused before adding
“The other driver died instantly”
“And your wife?” Jane asked
“I watched her die” he said “mercifully Emma never regained consciousness but all I could do was hold her hand”
“And Danny?” Jane asked
“Miraculously he didn’t have a scratch, and he’d been asleep when it happened” he said “But what was terrible was that he was crying for his mum, and I couldn’t get to him”
He paused briefly as he fought back the tears.
“I tried to comfort him but I couldn’t”
There was a longer pause before he continued
“I blame myself of course”
“That’s silly” Jane said
“Is it?” Contradicted Mark and stood up and walked slowly away.
(Part 05)
After Mark Foreman limped away Jane found it easy to catch up with him.
“You feel guilty Mark because you lived, but that isn’t the same thing as blame” Jane insisted
“Is it just guilt about surviving?” Mark asked
“Yes” Jane said “and that’s in the past, you have your son and he is the present and the future”
“What kind of future? With this leg and this stick?” he said bitterly
“Listen to me” she said sternly “You have a new job and a new start in the loveliest place in the world to do it in, the future has infinite possibilities, but the past is only ever the past”
“That’s very profound” he said
“What for a nurse you mean?” she said
“No I mean it, it was very profound” he said and gave the weakest of smiles
“Yes, well I’m very deep” she said
“Does he remember anything?”
“Not the accident thank God” he replied
“But he remembers his mum?” Jane asked and Mark nodded
“That’s precious” she added
“Yes it is” he responded positively
“Now come with me and we’ll see how the little man is doing” Jane said
“You’re a very positive person Jane, is it aright if I call you Jane?” he asked
“Of course” she replied “And I do always look for a positive in any situation”
Mark thought for a moment and said
“Well if it hadn’t been for the accident and all the resulting scans, his malformed kidney wouldn’t have come to light so that’s something of a positive”
“There you are then” Jane said
When they got to the ward Danny’s bed was being wheeled into room 6, and he looked so small in that big bed.
“Go and sit with him” Jane said “I have to change but I’ll be in as soon as I can”
The operation all went according to plan but Danny picked up a post-operative infection and had to stay in the hospital for a few days longer than planned.
When the day came for him to be discharged Jane pushed Danny in the wheel chair while Mark carried the bag in one hand and his stick in the other and a newspaper tucked under his arm.
When they reached the reception she left father and son together and went to the desk to ask them to call a cab before re-joining them.
They waited together and chatted idly and entertained Danny until the cab arrived.
She wheeled the chair out to the waiting taxi and was poised to say goodbye.
“I’m sure you get asked this a lot” he said and paused briefly “But when Danny is fully recovered, would it be alright if I gave you a call some time?”
“Yes” she replied and wrote her number on the margin of his newspaper
“I would like that”
“Great” he said as he got into the cab “I will call you then”
And she stood and waved them off
On her was back to the ward she said out loud
“Well it took you long enough, fate, but it looks like you got there in the end”
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