(Part 01)
Since leaving the Army in January, Brian Lawton had been coasting along without any real purpose or goal that was until mid-October when he made one of his infrequent phone calls to touch base with his sister Jenna who was the de facto Vicar of St Martins in Highfinch while the Reverend Mortimer was recovering from a heart attack.
The village of Highfinch sat just on the edge of the Pepperstock Hills and Lily Green Hollows Golf Club separated the village from the Hamlet of Lily Green, which made up her parish.
“So how are you sis?” he asked jovially and she burst into tears.
Unable to get any sense out of her over the phone he said
“Ok I’m on my way”
Fortunately he wasn’t a million miles away as he and another ex-soldier were doing some security work in Sharpington and it was his day off.
Brian was 33 years old and had been medically discharged from the Downshire Light Infantry due to injuries sustained in Afghanistan when he lost most of his left foot.
It was a severe blow to him as Soldiering was the only thing he had ever wanted to do and he suspected he wasn’t equipped for much else.
But one thing he definitely could do was be there for his big sister.
He pulled up outside the Vicarage and immediately decamped and ran as best he could up the path and when she opened the door she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder.
When he had consoled her she told him that she had fallen head of heels in love with a recent incumbent to the village, Nick Faulkner.
“What? “The” Nick Faulkner, the sports presenter?” he said
“Yes” she replied with her head in her hands
“And?”
“And what?” she asked
“And does he feel the same?” Brian asked
“I don’t know”
“Well, have you told him how you feel?”
“Of course not” she said with alarm
“So what have you done about it?” he asked
“We had lunch together, twice, although one of those was in a group” she explained “and he invited me out to dinner”
“He did?”
“Yes” she replied
“So what’s the problem?” Brian asked her
“He’s doing the Rugby World Cup coverage and won’t be back until next month”
“Ok now I understand”
The World Cup ran from the 18th of September until the 31st of October so he could easily understand why she would be missing him.
“Well it’s only two weeks away now” he said
“Yes but that’s not the problem” she said and began crying again.
When he had calmed her down she went on to explain that she had been summoned to Abbottsford to see the Bishop the following day.
“Did he say what it was about?” he asked
“No, but it will be about Reverend Mortimer” Jenna said
“He’s going to replace him and transfer me to another parish”
“You don’t know that” Brian said reassuringly
“What else could it be?” she asked
“You’re just thinking of the worst case scenario” he pointed out
“That doesn’t mean it won’t happen” she retorted
“Nick is going to return to Highfinch and I will have been transferred to Carlisle or Skegness” she said bitterly
“You really have it bad don’t you?” he said and hugged his sister
“What am I going to do?” she sobbed
“Would you like me to go with you tomorrow?” he asked
“Could you?”
“Yes and I can stay for a few days?” he said
“That would be lovely” she said and kissed him
“I can help you pack” he said and for the first time since he arrived she laughed
(Part 02)
Brian and Jenna left the Vicarage just after 9 o’clock and walked to his car.
Although there was a four year gap in their ages and they were different genders anyone who saw Brian and Jenna together couldn’t fail to spot that they were siblings.
He was as handsome as she was attractive, they had the same open manner, the same brunette hair differing only in length, and they also shared intelligent green laughing eyes, broad toothy smiles, and pleasant demeanours.
Jenna was clearly very nervous and spoke hardly a word all the way to Abbottsford and when she did it was only in single syllables.
So Brian did most of the talking, however she didn’t really take in what he was saying.
He pulled into the carpark of the Bishop of Downshire’s Palace and Jenna got out.
“Good luck” Brian said as he hugged her then he watched her walk towards the heavy oaken doors with her head down and shoulders slumped.
Brian then got back in the car and waited until she reappeared two hours later.
From the moment she emerged from the large oak doors he could tell just from her gait alone that all was well.
“Well?” he asked as she got in the car
“I need you to help me pack” she said
“What? How can that be?” he asked in disbelief
“You can help me pack up Reverend Mortimer’s stuff” she said “I’m the new Vicar”
“That’s fantastic” he said and hugged her “I knew it was good news”
“And I’m getting a new curate”
Over the following weeks Brian helped Jenna pack all of Reverend Mortimer’s possessions into boxes and then decorate his old bedroom so that Jenna could move into it and then he did the same to her old room in readiness for the new curate who was arriving at the beginning of November.
Jenna enjoyed the busyness that had ensued after meeting with the Bishop as it kept her mind occupied and gave her less time to brood over Nick.
In between his labour’s at the Vicarage he was driving over to Sharpington for work but he knew he couldn’t keep that up for long and that he would soon have to leave his big sis to fend for herself.
However when the new Curates room was finished and the furniture was all in place Jenna said something that surprised him.
“Why don’t you decorate the attic room next” she said
“What for?” He asked
“So you can live in it” she replied
“What live here?” he asked
“Yes” she said “I’m a very reasonable landlady and the rents cheap”
“It’s a bit of a commute for work though”
“Get a job closer to home” she suggested “the Golf club are always looking for new staff”
“What even crippled ex-soldiers?” he said bitterly
“No one else sees you like that, only you, think about it” she said “I’d love to stay”
“Well I do like it here” he admitted
She had no doubts that they would welcome him with open arms at the Lily Green Hollows Golf Club because the manager David Pike was on the parish council and she had already broached the subject with him.
Jenna got her answer after evensong the next day when she found Brian up in the attic room stripping wallpaper.
(Part 03)
On the 2nd of November Jenna woke up with butterflies in her stomach because she knew that Nick was due back in Highfinch.
In fact her butterflies were so bad she had to forgo breakfast.
In addition to that anxiety she was also nervous because Brian had an interview at Lily Green Hollows.
“Good luck” she said and kissed Brian on the cheek and watched him drive off.
When she got back inside the phone was ringing and she knew from the caller ID that it was Julia Thomas who sat on the parish council with her and more significantly was Nick Faulkner’s next door neighbour.
“Jenna darling” Julia said “Nicks back”
“What?” she asked “Are you sure?”
“Yes I can see him now standing on his drive”
“Thanks Julia” she said and hung up then after a quick look in the mirror she ran out of the Vicarage.
She was in such a hurry to get to see him that she rushed headlong round a corner and met Nick coming the other way and they both ended up on their backsides on the cold pavement.
“I’m so sorry” He said getting quickly to his feet and proffering a hand to the prostrated Jenna which she took.
“Nonsense” she replied, “I wasn’t looking where I was going, my mind was elsewhere”.
“Mine too” he said “are you ok? Are you hurt?”
“No only my pride” she replied
They dusted themselves off and there was a brief moment of awkwardness as they finally looked at each other properly.
“Anyway” she said “Duties to perform”
“Yes” he agreed “things to do”
And then much to her surprise and delight he kissed her which she graciously welcomed
“How clever of you to know where my mind was” she said and returned the compliment.
Suddenly conscious of making a spectacle of themselves in the street they walked back to the Vicarage where she made them coffee and they talked about the events that had occurred in his absence.
Before they knew it they had talked the morning away and they still hadn’t settled on a restaurant to go to for dinner.
“I know” she said “I have a brilliant idea”
“Tell me more”
“There’s a big bonfire night display at Sharpinghead” she said
“The fireworks are spectacular”
“And you would rather do that than have a meal?” he asked
“No, as well as” Jenna said
“As well as?”
“Oh yes I thought I would let you buy me a hotdog at the fireworks and then we have all week to decide where you’re going to take me for dinner at the weekend” she explained
“I can see you have it all planned” he said
“Well I do now”
“That’s a date then” he said
“Two dates actually” she corrected him “And there are still three day where we have nothing planned”
“Well we can’t have that then can we?” he said “let’s go for lunch”
“I like your thinking” she said and kissed him
“I like yours better” he said and kissed her back
(Part 04)
Brian was interviewed by David Pike for an assistant green keeper’s position and even though he had no experience such was the regard David had for the new Vicar, Brian was offered the job.
Jenna and Nick’s first proper date to the bonfire night party at Sharpinghead was a great success although they didn’t spend much time watching the pyrotechnics.
They had eyes only for each other and had it not been for the hot dogs they could have been almost anywhere for all the notice they took of where they were.
They did at least settle on the location for their Saturday night dinner date, the Runcible Spoon in Purplemere.
On the same night as Nick and Jenna’s first date Brian was on the way home from Sharpington after his final security shift and he was driving along a lonely stretch of road in the Pepperstock Hills when he came upon a car on the side of the road with the hazard lights flashing.
It was the worst possible spot for anyone to break down and it was probably the most remote place on the entire road as there was no civilization for at least 2 miles in any direction.
He drove slowly past the stricken vehicle and could see a figure inside that appeared to be female so he pulled up in front of it.
Then he got out and walked back and as he did so he heard the tell-tale sound of the central locking which made perfect sense, after all a woman alone at night miles from anywhere was very vulnerable.
He walked up to the driver’s side where the occupant had wound the window down about an inch so asked loudly
“Is everything ok?”
“I have a flat tyre” she replied
“Do you have a spare?”
“Yes I do”
“Good, pop the boot then” Brian said
“But it’s also flat” she said sheepishly
“That’s not so good” he pointed out
“Do you have a mobile phone I can borrow?” she asked “Mine isn’t working”
“It’s not your phone that’s the problem” he said “Coverage is a bit patchy up here”
“Oh” she said looking downcast
“Well we have a couple of options, I can either go ahead, and send help back, which I’m not really comfortable with” he said “or I can give you a lift, I’m going as far as Highfinch”
“Oh really” she said brightening a bit “so am I”
“Well that a bit of luck then” he said “I’m Brian by the way”
“Rosie” she replied and unlocked the car.
He helped Rosie transfer her bags from her car to his and when she had locked it they set off down the road.
After a few minutes he said
“It was fortunate that I came along” He said “it’s not a particularly busy road at this time of year especially after dark”
“Yes it was very providential” she agreed
“So whereabouts in the Village are you going?” he asked
“The Vicarage” she replied
“Seriously?”
“Yes, is it so shocking that I would be going there?” she asked thinking he must be an atheist or a humanist or just a cynic
“Not at all” Brian replied “I’m guessing you must be the new Curate”
“Yes I am” she said with surprise “but how did you know that?”
“Well I could tell you that Highfinch is a small village and everyone knows everyone else’s business” he said
“But actually it’s because the Vicar is my sister”
“Oh well that’s very providential indeed” she said and laughed
(Part 05)
Once inside the house he got his first proper look at the new Curate and he wasn’t disappointed, he thought she was a very pretty girl a few years younger than him he figured late twenties possibly 30.
She was wearing her shoulder length brunette hair down so it danced around her nape of her neck as she walked into the hall and when she slipped off her coat she was wearing a green dress that hugged her figure, well what figure she had.
Rosie was a tall girl, stick thin, with no visible bust line at all, nor did she have any hips to speak of and she had an arse like a boy, but very nice legs though and overall Brian liked what he saw.
Jenna had returned after her date at the fireworks and was in the lounge, so he took Rosie in and introduced the two of them and they greeted each other like they were long lost friends.
“I’ll take your bags up to your room” he said
“Thank you” they both said and he left the two of them chattering incessantly.
On Saturday night Jenna was dressed up to the nines for her big date with Nick.
“Wow sis” Brian said when he saw her “Not at all bad for an old bird”
“Don’t be so cheeky” Rosie said and punched his arm
“You look absolutely stunning” she said to Jenna
“Did you see that savage attack?” Brian said rubbing his arm
“She’s only been here two day and I’m already being brutalized”
“Stop whining” Jenna said unsympathetically
“I was actually worried about leaving her in your care for the evening but I can see who will really be in charge”
After Nick had picked Jenna up and Brian and Rosie watched them drive off there was a brief awkward silence between them until Brian said
“Listen I can’t offer you the sumptuous delights of the Runcible Spoon but I can run to a pretty decent pizza”
“On one condition” she replied
“What’s that?”
“That we can watch Dr Who while we eat it”
“I can see you are a girl after my own heart, it a deal” he said “I’ll get the menu”
So while Nick and Jenna were enjoying the culinary delights at The Runcible Spoon, Brian and Rosie ate pepperoni Pizza and watched Dr Who after which he said.
“We could go over to the Downshire Arms if you like”
“I’m not a big pub person” she replied hesitantly
“There’s a quiz on” he added
“Well I do like a quiz” she “Ok, as long as it’s not too rowdy”
“I promise” he said “Highfinch doesn’t do rowdy”
The pub was quite busy but not rowdy and not having been in the village that long he didn’t know that many people so he made a bee line for the only familiar faces he recognized, one of which was his new boss David Pike who was sitting at the same table as fellow parish councillors Julia Thomas and Vicki Paulding none of whom had yet met the new curate.
They had a fun evening and their improvised team battled bravely to a very creditable second place.
As he was taking his outdoor shoes off Rosie noticed the abnormality as he took his left foot out of his shoe and quickly slipped it into his slipper.
“What happened to your foot” she asked
“A road side bomb” he replied “In Afghanistan”
“I didn’t know you were in the army”
“Yes but not anymore though” he said sadly
“Do you get any pain?”
“No not really, not anymore” he said
“It just looks a bit freaky so I’m a bit self-conscious about it”
“I used to be a nurse so I’m sure I’ve seen worse” she said
“I don’t think we know each other well enough yet” he said “But thanks”
(Part 06)
Nick and Jenna had a lovely meal in Purplemere and found that the Runcible Spoon certainly didn’t disappoint and they would both have agreed that neither did the company.
The next day Jenna was in a wonderful mood and it didn’t take an expert to know why and Brian was very pleased to see she was looking much more like her old self again and seemed to have fully recovered from the malady of despondency that had afflicted her.
Jenna was also on very good form in the pulpit and delivered a very inspiring and enlightening sermon and afterwards back at the Vicarage she turned her attention on Brian.
“Brother Dearest” she said
“What?” he responded suspiciously?
“I have a task for you”
“And what’s that?” Brian asked
“I need you to help out at the Christmas Bazaar” she said
“Oh ok yes I can do that” Brian said a little relieved to get off so lightly
“Excellent” she said “We just need to get the ladies to alter the costume”
“Hold on what costume?” Brian said “I don’t remember agreeing to a costume”
“The Santa costume obviously” Jenna said
“I am not going to dress up and Santa” he said adamantly
“But you have to, you can’t sit in Santa’s grotto in your ordinary clothes” Jenna insisted
“What grotto?” he asked
“You’ll make a wonderful Santa” Rosie added
“That’s not fair, you’re ganging up” he said indignantly “ganging up isn’t fair”
“I’ll let you know when you’re needed for the first fitting” Jenna said as she left the room
“But Jenna?” he called
“Can’t talk, I’m going to lunch with my boyfriend”
A moment later her head appeared around the door and she added
“I rather like the way that sounds”
Brian spent the next five minutes trying to fathom how she had managed to rope him into playing Santa at the St Martin’s School Christmas Bazaar without him even realising what he had agreed to and in fact he was left with the impression that he actually volunteered.
A local man called Henry Gold normally played Santa and had done for many years but since his sad demise earlier that year it had proved difficult to replace him.
“You really will make a marvellous Santa” Rosie said and went out to make lunch.
Later that week his sister volunteered him for something else but on this occasion he offered no resistance.
As the winter was beginning to bite there had been a call out to church groups in the area for volunteers for the soup kitchens in Purplemere or Finchbottom.
As soon as the request came through Rosie signed up without a seconds hesitation which prompted Jenna to suggest Brian do the same to look after her.
But what began as a simple babysitting exercise turned out to be one of the most rewarding things he had ever done, a real eye-opening experience plus he got to spend time with Rosie which was becoming more of a pleasure every time they went out.
Brian was replacing Henry Gold as Santa at St Martin’s School Christmas Bazaar due to the latter’s sad demise earlier in the year and as Henry was a much bigger man than Brian was so some significant adjustments to the suit and the padding were necessary.
So on the Monday morning before the Bazaar in the church Hall the Vicar and a small team of ladies were on hand to affect alterations, well the team of ladies obviously did all the work and Jenna looked on, but Brian noticed she was wearing a worried frown.
(Part 07)
He didn’t want to broach the subject in front of the ladies so he waited until they were on their own back at the Vicarage that evening.
“What’s the matter sis?”
“Christmas is the matter” she replied
“But you love Christmas” he reminded her
“Yes but It’s such a busy time, there is so much going on, Advent, Christingle, Carol Concert and the Bazaar and everyone is watching me to see if I screw up”
“But you’ve been here for ten years” he said “this is hardly your first Christmas”
“Yes but it’s my first Christmas as the Vicar” she said worriedly
“Look you’ve already ticked off the first Sunday of advent and the Bazaar is totally covered, so stop worrying” he reassured her.
For Reverend Jenna Lawton the run up to the second weekend of advent was a test of endurance and the success of the first weekend of Advent under her belt she still approached the Second weekend with little confidence despite her brother’s words of comfort.
On Friday lunchtime Brian was required at the Church Hall for his final fitting, so he walked over from the Golf Course in his meal break.
But before he could get in the door of the Church Hall his sister the Vicar burst out of it.
“It’s a total disaster” Jenna blurted out “Trevor Gurney has appendicitis”
“Oh no” Brian said “is he ok?”
“What?” she said as if confused by the question
“Trevor” he clarified “is he ok?”
“Oh shit,” the Vicar exclaimed, “I never thought to ask”
“So what’s the disaster then?” He enquired
“Trevor is the chief Elf to your Santa,” she explained
“So what’s the problem?” he said “can’t we just find someone to fill his shoes?”
“It’s not his shoes that are the problem” Jenna explained
“He’s a six foot stick insect with a bum like a twelve year old boy”
“Oh” Brian said unhelpfully
“We can’t get anyone else with their own costume at this late stage” she went on
Brian went to speak but she was in full flow and cut him off
“No! We can’t hire a costume they’re all gone, and if we put one of the volunteers in Trevor’s costume they will just look ridiculous”
“Don’t you think a six foot Elf is ridiculous anyway?” Brian remarked
“He’s a very good Elf” Jenna said indignantly “and he supplied his own costume”
“So let me get this straight we need someone six feet tall, stick thin with an arse like a 12 year old boy” he asked
“Yes” Jenna replied crossly, “That’s why it’s a disaster”
“I know just the person,” he said
“Really?” she asked doubtfully
“Really” he said and taking out his mobile phone he got up his contacts list, scrolled down and hit call.
“Rosie? Where are you?”
“I’m here” she said suddenly emerging from the Church Hall
“What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked and put his phone away.
The Vicar paced up and down like an expectant father while looking her Curate up and down.
“I don’t believe it, the solution was right under my nose all the time” she said
“Will you do it?” She asked eventually
“Do what?” Rosie asked
“Be the chief Elf to my Santa” he said “You are uniquely qualified”
“Ok” Rosie agreed
“Sorted” Brian replied
“Thank you God” Jenna said looking to the heavens and crossing herself “and thank you Brian”
“You’re perfect Rosie, I can’t believe I didn’t see it” she said
“You obviously don’t spend as much time looking at her as I do” Brian said and then blushed at the realization that he’d said it out loud.
Jenna didn’t notice but Rosie did and she was smiling as she went back inside.
Jenna just kissed his cheek before going off to belatedly enquire about Trevor’s state of health.
Brian followed her into the hall where the ladies swarmed around him like they were preparing Cinderella for the ball.
He tried on the suit and measurements were taken by women muttering to one another with their mouths full of pins and it was agreed it would be ready by Friday without fail and after the ladies had finished doing their thing, he returned to work in a good frame of mind and very much looking forward to the big day.
(Part 08)
On Saturday morning Brian rose very early and to his surprise Jenna and Rosie had already left the house.
Although he was press ganged into the job and he was a bit nervous, well in truth he was terrified, he was pleased that he would not be enduring the ordeal alone and would be sharing the experience with Curate Rosie Coulter.
He treated himself to an extra close shave, a much closer one than usual in order to accommodate the beard and as a result when he applied the aftershave it stung like hell.
He arrived at St Martin’s school smelling sweetly and red-faced at about 11.00am to find his sister the Vicar fussing around like a mother hen, uncharacteristically wanting things just so.
“Hey sis” he said
“You’re cutting it fine” Jenna said crossly
“There’s plenty of time” he said
“There’s still so much to do” she retorted
“Ok just calm down” Brian said “it’s all in hand”
“Look it’s not just a Christmas Bazaar you know we’re making Christmas memories” Jenna said “it’s important for the children so it’s got to be done right”
Just then Rosie came through the door behind him
“Hello Santa” she said brightly
“Hi Rosie” he said “Hey why aren’t you in costume?”
“Some of us have had a very busy morning Grouchy Clause” Rosie said
“Come on Rosie your costume is through there” said Jenna and lead her away to one of the offices, but she paused by the doorway and let Rosie go ahead of her gave her an appraising look and declared to her brother.
“You were right bro she does have a bum like a twelve year old boy”
“Yes she’s perfect” he said absentmindedly
Jenna smiled and left him with the drama teacher Cherry Overton-Brown who showed him in to the grotto.
“I’m your dresser, Brian” she said “I’m going to help you with your wig and beard”
“Ok” he said
“I’m in amateur dramatics you know” she continued pompously
“No I didn’t know that” he replied disinterestedly
The grotto was in one of the classrooms, though he wasn’t sure what subject as all the walls were hidden behind red velvet drapes, decorated with tinsel and coloured lights.
The huge throne was in the furthest corner surrounded by Christmas parcels.
Leading to the throne was a snow covered path and on one side of it was a festive tableau of snowmen and reindeer and on the other side Santa’s sleigh was parked.
He was fully regaled in the red velvet suit and as he sat on his throne, Cherry applied the finishing touches to his beard and placed the hat on his head and pinned it to the wig.
Just as she stepped away to admire her handiwork Rosie appeared, and being tall and flat chested she was dressed as Bernard the Elf, from The Santa Clause movies, wearing Trevor Gurney’s costume, and it was a perfect fit.
Which consisted of a rather expensive looking fitted tunic, in brown and green with gold brocade decorating the front and back, thick deep red tights on her skinny legs and pixie boots with turned up toes.
Rosie’s hair was tied up and hidden under a matching hat and to all intents and purposes she looked like a boy, and he still found her staggeringly sexy.
(Part 09)
To get to the grotto you had to enter via an adjoining classroom, also festively decked out which acted as an ante room where a small number of children and their accompanying parents waited their turn, and where Cherry Overton-Brown, who for some reason was dressed as Robin Hood, kept order, and beyond the anteroom in the corridor there was a sizable queue of expectant children.
The grotto opened to the first child at 1 pm and there was pretty constant stream almost non-stop until 4 o’clock.
Rosie escorted the excited or apprehensive child in from the ante chamber, who would then climb upon Santa’s lap, the child not Rosie, much to Brian’s disappointed.
Santa would then have a quick chat with them and give them their gift, and then Tom Rowlands, the Verger, would take a photo.
Rosie then escorted the happy child back out to their parents and this well-oiled machine kept operating like that for 3 hours and when Rosie escorted the final child back to their waiting parents the Verger followed them out.
Leaving Brian shattered and alone on his throne and suffering from the seasonal condition of “Santa’s lap”.
He was gagging for a drink he had nits in his beard and a damp patch on his trousers.
But despite his apprehension at his debut as Santa he had thoroughly enjoyed the experience and hoped he had done his predecessor proud.
When Rosie returned from showing the last of the little darlings out of the door she came over to him and said
“That’s definitely the last of them”
“Excellent” he sighed
“But there is just one more customer for Santa” She said and sat on his knee.
“I don’t think I have a present for you little girl” Santa said “I’m almost certain that you’re on the naughty list”
“I think I’m probably on the nice and naughty list” Rosie said and giggled
“But I really don’t think I have any presents left” he said
“Then I will have to have a kiss instead” she said and kissed him.
As the resident celebrity of Highfinch, and the Vicars boyfriend, Nick Faulkner, was both the guest of honour and the raffle prize draw master.
But with the draw complete he went in search of his own prize draw, namely the Reverend Lawton and he caught up with her in the ante room to Santa’s grotto.
She was peering through a gap in the door to the grotto.
“What are you looking at nosy?” Nick said
“Shush” she said and put her finger to her lips “Come and have a look”
He tiptoed across the room and also peaked through the crack in the door and could see Rosie the Elf snogging Santa Claus.
“Well, well” he said “Just wait until Mrs Claus finds out about this”
“Oh I think she already knows” Jenna said
Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Mornington-By-Mere – (23) Tooke, Line and Sinker
(Part 01)
Mornington-By-Mere was not just a quaint chocolate box English Village it was the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale.
And although the village was the hub it was the surrounding farms and hamlets that were its life blood.
One such Farm was Mereside on the Southern side of the village.
The Hoddinott family had farmed the land at Mereside Farm for five generation and with fair winds and following seas they would do so for the next five.
The head of the Hoddinott’s was Clive, at least that was what his wife Suzanne allowed him think.
But they were in their mid-fifties and were looking forward to be able to hand the reins’ on to their offspring.
There were three children the eldest was Robert Hoddinott 27 who they knew they could safely rely on to take over the running of the farm to such an extent that the handover would be seamless but they were less sure he would pass on the family name, as he appeared to have no inclination in finding himself a wife.
The second child was Amy who was 24 years old and had no interest whatsoever in becoming a farmer or a farmer’s wife for that matter, not that she hated the farm or indeed farming but she just loved her chosen path more which was teaching and she was a Teacher at the village school and the youngest was 21 year old April who wasn’t a natural farmer but she had other strengths and had worked together from autumn to Spring renovation a cottage on the farm with Calvin Chance and the pair had fallen hard for each other from the moment they met but were unable to show their feelings
Both families tried their hardest to get them together and Amy played her part but without any luck but they eventually went on their first date when they job was over.
Her mother Suzanne was greatly relieved because she feared her tomboy daughter would never find someone and her father was happy that they had finished the cottage which meant they might get a full seasons let.
The first guest took up residence in the cottage at the beginning of May and following the initial guest there were back to back bookings right through the summer.
It was quite fortuitous that there were a limited number of cottage lets in the Mornington area.
So they had a little gold mine in the cottage, the Finchbottom Vale was a very popular destination during the summer months as well as out of season, for rambling, birding or fishing.
The village itself as well as the surrounding country side proved to be a popular attraction.
Everyone on the farm had to do their bit, including Amy and the kind of tasks she had to perform were far removed from her normal professional life as a teacher but she never complained and although she would never admit it to her parents or siblings she sometimes welcomed the time she spent working on the farm to think.
(Part 02)
One of the tasks which fell to Amy more often than not was the management of the cottage, advertising, bookings and when necessary the housekeeping.
And it was when she was cleaning the cottage after a two week long let to a newlywed couple that Amy got her first pangs of regret at having no one special in her life, her tomboy sister had manage to get herself a man, eventually, so why couldn’t she.
Twenty four year old Amy and her younger sister April, although almost three years apart, could easily have passed for twins.
Though they didn’t resemble their brother Robert in the slightest he was his father’s son and they took after their mum.
They were smaller than their brother, leaner and wiry.
Like their mum they had the fine strawberry blonde hair that all of their mums side of the family possessed, as well as her cool blue eyes.
Where Amy and April differed from each other however was that Amy had always been a proper girlie girl since the moment she could walk whereas her sister had always been a tomboy.
When they were children she was always indoors playing with dolls while April would be out playing football with the village boys but Amy had no interest in football although she was interested in boys.
But being interested in boys hadn’t really got her anywhere as she hadn’t found her prince and had remained single despite her kissing a number of frogs.
She had not had any major disasters but nor had she found “the one” and in all honesty she was in no real hurry.
Her sister April had appeared to share Amy’s reluctance to find a partner.
That was until after working with Calvin Chance from autumn to Spring renovating the cottage they finally shared their feelings and from that moment on it became a whirlwind affair after that and they Married at Finchbottom Registry in June.
But that wasn’t the only wedding that summer because in September when Jenna Newman and Harry Topliss tied the knot at St Winnifred’s.
But more significant for Amy was the reception afterwards when her headmistress Cynthia Sharp introduced the new teachers, Teresa and Martin O’Sullivan to her existing teaching staff, Debbie Dunlop, her deputy, Mark Foreman and Amy Hoddinott.
Which was significant for her because she wasn’t the new girl anymore.
The reason the school was increasing the teaching staff was that Mornington Field had come back under the steward ship of the Mornington Estate.
When they exercised its option to purchase it back from the MOD it also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield itself as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.
The property was formally handed over on the 1st of June and the additional houses meant additional families with additional children.
And when the infrastructure on the airfield was converted to commercial and residential the school would grow even more.
(Part 03)
So 2014 had been a momentous year in Mornington for all concerned and Amy and the Hoddinott’s were no exceptions but the year was my no means over.
Because at the beginning of October, April announced she was pregnant which sparked spectacular celebrations at Mereside Farm.
But there was still a lot of the year left and a new tenant was due to stay at the cottage.
It was the 4th of October and the inhabitants of Mereside farm were slow to rise after the celebrations the day before drinking to April’s bump.
The only reason Amy was up, showered and dressed by 8 o’clock was because a new tenant was arriving to stay at the cottage and she wanted to make sure everything was neat and tidy.
The tenant to be, was a man by the name of Mike Tooke, who wanted a change of scene to somewhere quiet and out of the way for a couple of weeks.
He wasn’t due until after lunch so she had all morning to get the cottage spick and span.
It was just after lunch when Amy saw, through the Farmhouse
Kitchen window, an unfamiliar liveried white van drive into the farmyard.
“That must be him” she said to herself and as she went to the kitchen door and picked the key off the hook and then she went outside.
“Mr Tooke?” she called as he got out of the van.
“That’s me” he replied and Amy got her first proper look at him and she liked what she saw.
He was a few years older than she was with a rugged face and thick dark curly hair.
He was a few inches over six feet, Amy liked tall, and he was big, not fat but solid, she liked well-made men as well because they were big and cuddly.
“For goodness sake get a grip” she said to herself as he walked towards her and was momentarily transfixed by the sun setting her red hair aflame and when the sun went behind a cloud he offered his hand and said
“Mike Tooke”
“Amy Hoddinott” she said taking his hand
“Everything is ready for you”
“Excellent” he said
“Leave your van there and I’ll walk you down to the cottage”
“Fine” he agreed “I could do with stretching my legs”
Amy led the way and he followed and after a few minutes she said
“So you’re from Pepperstock”
“That’s right” he said “but I’ve escaped to the country”
“So what made you choose Mornington?”
“Fishing” he replied “Someone recommended the fishing”
“I see” she said “That’s one of our best kept secret”
“So I understand”
“You won’t be disappointed” She promised
“I’m not so far” he said but he was looking at her bum at the time.
“Here we are” she said and walked up the front path and unlocked the front door.
The door opened and she showed him in and gave him a brief tour.
“This is perfect” he said when she finished showing him round.
(Part 04)
The door of the cottage opened and she showed him in and gave him a brief tour.
“This is perfect” he said when she finished showing him round.
“So what are you escaping?” she asked
“Excuse me?”
“You said you were escaping to the country, so what are you escaping from?” she asked
“Oh work”
“And what do you do?” she asked
“I’m an LED Lighting specialist” he said
“That sounds interesting” Amy lied then she remembered the livery on the side of the van.
“So “Light and Day” is that who you work for?”
“Sort of” he said “It’s the family business”
“Your family?” she enquired
“Yes” he replied “Though it’s just me and Maggie now”
“It that your wife?” She asked
“No” he replied and laughed
“Girlfriend then?” she asked bracing herself for the answer
“No, Maggie is my sister” he explained
“Excellent” she said inside her head which surprised her because she didn’t believe in instant attraction, so why should she care about his marital status.
“Oh your sister” she said out loud “Is she older or younger?”
“Three years older” he replied “Although the way she acts you’d think she was my mother”
“She’s very special to you isn’t she” Amy said
“Yes” he admitted “she’s an amazing person, I was only 16 when our parents died so she gave up university to be guardian to me”
“Does she have a family of her own now?” she asked
“No she’s single, I suspect she’s waiting until she gets me settled before she’ll think of herself, she’ll be down to check up on me at some point to make sure I’m eating properly and having regular bowel movements” Mike said and they both laughed.
“I look forward to meeting her” she said genuinely
“That was a kind thing to say” Mike said to himself “maybe there’s more to her than glorious hair and a nice bum”
“This really is perfect” he said
“Great, well I’ll walk you back up to your van and I’ll leave you to it”
They walked back to the car in silence but only because her hair was ablaze again, which was the only thing that stopped him from staring at her bum the entire way.
When they reached his van she said
“Well if there’s anything you need just come up to the house”
“I will”
“Goodbye then” she said but only managed a couple of steps before she turned around and said.
“If you want someone to show you the village them I’m around all weekend”
“I’d like that” he said “Maybe when I’ve unpacked my stuff”
“Ok just come up to the house when you’re ready” she said and turned towards the house
“Well that was bold” she said to herself “And you don’t even know if he likes you.
When she reached the kitchen door she glanced back and then said quietly
“Well he certainly likes my bum, so I’d better wear something that shows it off”
“Is everything alright with the new guest love?” Her mum asked as she entered the kitchen
“Definitely” she replied which wasn’t the answer her mum was quite expecting.
So with her curiosity aroused she added
“Sit down and have a drink and tell me what he’s like”
“I’ll tell you later I’m going to go and change” Amy responded
“Why do you need to change?”
“I’m going to show Mike the village” she replied
“Mike?”
“Mr Tooke, the new guest” she said and left the room.
“Well that was interesting” Suzanne said to herself and smiled
Amy reappeared in the kitchen wearing a very snug fitting pair of pale blue jeggings.
“I thought you were going to show him the places of interest in the village?”
“I am”
“I don’t think he’ll be noticing anything other than your places of interest” her mum said
“That was the whole point” Amy said and sat down at the table looking very nervous.
(Part 05)
It was mid-afternoon and the glorious Indian summer sunshine streamed in through the window.
Amy and her mum were sat in the kitchen drinking coffee when there was a knock on the door.
Amy shifted in her seat and was about to rise from it when her mum said
“I’ll get it, the poor man might strain something if he sees you dressed like that without any warning”
She opened the door and was met by the tall, dark and ruggedly handsome newly arrived tenant.
“You must be Mrs Hoddinott” Mike said but to himself he added
“I can see where your daughter gets her looks from”
“Call me Suzanne” she said but was thinking “I can see why my daughter likes you”
“I’m Mike”
“Well I’m pleased to meet you Mike, Amy has been awaiting your arrival with baited breath”
“Mother, you are so embarrassing” Amy said and stood up
“Wow” Mike exclaimed not realising he had said it aloud until he noticed Amy blush.
As they left the farm house Amy smiled to herself when she noticed that Mike had changed too.
They exchanged small talk as they walked unhurriedly out through the gate and onto Windmill Lane.
They followed the lane when it bore to the right and continued along it passing the four Windmill Cottages on the left with the Old East Mill ahead of them.
When they reached the bridge Amy stopped abruptly and said
“The best fishing on the River Brooke starts about half a mile in that direction” She said pointing upstream beyond the Old East Mill “and as far as the Dulcets in the other direction, beyond that and there’s too much River traffic”
“I don’t think I shall be going that far afield” he said
“Personally I would recommend the Mere” She added “I should have taken you there first, but no matter”
“That’s ok I’m in no rush” he said affably and smiled
“Ok then, we’ll go along the River Path” she said and once again passed by the Windmill Cottages but this time along the path that separated them from the river and followed it down until they reached the Church.
“What a beautiful Church” he said standing still to admire its magnificence
“Yes its 12th Century” Amy added proudly
“It’s the best one in the whole of the Vale, if not all of Downshire”
After pointing out the Vicarage, Manor Wood and the Brewery she led him up the path and away from the church, passing Mornington Manor and ended up looking out across the Mere.
“This is beautiful too” he said
“It’s not bad is it?” Amy agreed
“Does the path go all the way around?” he asked
“Yes” she replied “Shall we follow it?”
“Yes that would be lovely”
As they strolled around the water’s edge Amy asked
“Why did you really come to Mornington?”
“I told you, to fish” he replied
“Look Mike you probably already noticed that I am very proud of my village” she said “and the fishing around here isn’t bad but there are better places to fish in Downshire than here, in fact there are better places in Pepperstock than here”
“Are you the local sheriff?” he asked with a wry smile
“No I’m a School teacher” she retorted “So I’m trained to spot falsehoods”
(Part 06)
As they strolled around the water’s edge Amy asked
“Why did you really come to Mornington?”
“I told you, to fish” he replied
“Look Mike you probably already noticed that I am very proud of my village” she said “and the fishing around here isn’t bad but there are better places to fish in Downshire than here, in fact there are better places in Pepperstock than here”
“Are you the local sheriff?” he asked with a wry smile
“No I’m a School teacher” she retorted “So I’m trained to spot falsehoods”
“Well it wasn’t really a falsehood I did want to do some fishing but you’re right I chose Mornington for a different reason” he confessed
“And?”
“You really are the local sheriff aren’t you?” he said
“Come on then spill the beans” she urged him
“I came over to have a look at Mornington Field” he confessed
“The lease is due to expire on one of our premises in Pepperstock, so next year I’m going to have to move my workshop and I wanted to know if Mornington is a viable option”
“So what do you think of it so far?” she asked
“I can definitely see the attraction” he replied
Unfortunately the romantic promise of the moment was lost when a young local Angler, Nick Legg came hurrying noisily along the path.
“Hi Amy” he said and was gone almost as quickly as he arrived
“Hi Nick” Amy said as he disappeared
However along with the Nick Legg went the romantic possibilities of the moment.
As they continued on their walk around the Mere after their romantic near miss Amy offered her services in regard to Mornington Field.
“Well it’s too late now because it will be dark by the time we get there” she said “But I can take you up to the Field tomorrow if you like”
“That would be great”
“It will have to be after Church though” she added
“You go to Church?” he asked and Amy thought
“Here we go, I knew he was too good to be true, he’s going to mock me for my faith”
“Yes we’re regulars at St Winifred’s” she replied
“Would you mind if I tagged along?” he asked
“What?” she asked disbelievingly
“I won’t be offended if you say no”
“Why would I say no?” Amy said just as they finished their circuit of the Mere just as the sun was setting so Amy took them on a short cut back to the farm.
On Sunday morning Mike walked up to the farmhouse and arrived just as Amy and her mum emerged followed by a slightly younger version of Amy who turned out to be the younger sister and behind her was her husband and a great bear of a man in his mid-fifties who was introduced as Clive, Amy’s father.
After introductions and handshakes Suzanne explained the absence of her son.
“Robert would be joining us but at present as one of the cows is sick he’s waiting for the vet and hopefully he’ll join us later”.
It was another unseasonably warm day as they headed toward church and just as they were leaving the vet Hayley Gwillym drove up the lane.
“Hi Hayley” Clive said “You’ll find him in the cowshed”
“Ok thanks” she responded and drove off
(Part 07)
Amy had been really surprised when Mike had said
“Would you mind if I tagged along?”
Because she was expecting him to make some jibe about her being a god botherer or something equally crass.
Which was why she responded “What?”
Instead of “Of course you can”
Mike and his sister Margaret had been raised as Christian’s and although Margaret lost her faith briefly after their parents passed, when she had to abandon University to be Mikes Guardian, she had returned to the fold.
So he had grown up in faith and from the moment he first stepped through the doors at St Winifred’s with the Hoddinott’s he felt at peace.
So if he was to move his workshops the first thing he would do would be to attend a service in Mornington with his sister Maggie because he felt so immediately at home.
As they sat together at St Winifred’s during the service Amy was really pleased that Mike had asked to go with her.
She was still a little disappointed that their romantic moment by the Mere had been shattered by Nick Legg and she was still a little angry with him for that and would have gladly pushed him in.
But she offered up a little prayer to beg forgiveness for her anger and asked for no interruption’s next time.
And then offered up another prayer to beg that there would be a next time.
Afterwards Mike chatted briefly with Reverend Cockcroft and it was obvious that Mike was not the “hatches, matches and dispatches” type of Christian and he was the real deal.
They walked back up to the farm together ahead of the others and as they walked she asked
“So how did you like St Winifred’s?”
“I felt really at home” Mike replied
“Good” she remarked
“Thank you for this morning” he said when they reached the farm
“No problem” Amy responded
“And I’ll see you later” he added
“Hold on, where do you think you’re going?”
“Back to the cottage of course”
“Oh no you’re not, you’re staying for lunch”
“I couldn’t possibly” he said just as the rest of the family arrived
“Are you two alright?” Suzanne asked
“We have a mutineer mum” she said
“Well we can’t have that” mum said “Clive! Get your shot gun”
“Alright I surrender” Mike said
“Good choice” Amy whispered “but he wouldn’t really have shot you”
“That was an epic lunch” he said as they set off towards Mornington Field
“Mum’s a great cook isn’t she?”
“Brilliant I would say, what about you?” he asked
“What do you mean?”
“Are you a good cook?” he asked
“Me? No, I could burn water” she replied
“I find that hard to believe”
“I kid you not” she said “Just ask my mum”
(Part 08)
They went up to Mornington Field after lunch and they managed to find a gap through the security fences and wandered up and down between the buildings for about an hour until the October sunshine gave way to more seasonal rain.
“So what do you think?” she asked
“I think this would be a brilliant place to work”
“Excellent, you’ll be needing this then” she said handing him Victoria Johnson Higham’s business card.
Victoria was from Lyndon-Sanders Properties, who were tasked with finding tenants for the commercial properties.
“Where did you get this?” he asked
“I bumped into Vicki at church this morning” she explained
“Thank you” he said and hugged her before he kissed her cheek.
Both of them were reluctant to end the hug and hoped it would lead to a kiss and just at the instant it was about to happen the moment was shattered by a loud clap of thunder.
“Not helpful God, not helpful at all” she muttered as they ran for cover.
On the walk back to the farm Amy decided she would tackle him again when they got back to Mereside and everything was going to plan as they stood by the farmhouse gate and their lips were only inches away when the heavens opened and they both ran their separate ways.
“You are really not helping God” she said as she ran for the farmhouse door.
On Monday morning Amy looked wistfully towards the cottage as she left home on her way to school not realizing Mike wasn’t there.
He had had a very disturbed night and rose early and was sat on the river bank by the East Bridge at 7 o’clock.
Amy on the other hand slept very well but the morning began in dreamy snoozing and it was Mike who filled her dreams.
She was halfway across the East Bridge when she just happened to look towards the church and she was recalling the time she had spent with Mike the day before when she spotted him sitting on a folding chair on the river bank, though she did do a double take, it was clearly him.
She looked at her watch and cursed because she was running late.
“Shit” she said “It’s now or ever”
Amy turned around and hurried back the way she’d come and as she stepped off the bridge she turned right onto the river bank path.
When she reached the angler in the folding chair she stopped and crouched down beside him.
“Oh hello…” he began when he noticed her but he was prevented from finishing his sentence by Amy passionately kissing him on the mouth.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all weekend” she said looked at her watch and added “I have to go”
“Where are you going?” he asked as she turned away
“You can’t go now”
“I’m late for work” she called “You can take me to dinner tonight though, pick me up at 8”
As she crossed the bridge again she looked to the heavens and quietly said
“Now that wasn’t too difficult was it?”
Then she turned and waved to Mike before she hurried off to work with a broad smile on her face.
Mornington-By-Mere was not just a quaint chocolate box English Village it was the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale.
And although the village was the hub it was the surrounding farms and hamlets that were its life blood.
One such Farm was Mereside on the Southern side of the village.
The Hoddinott family had farmed the land at Mereside Farm for five generation and with fair winds and following seas they would do so for the next five.
The head of the Hoddinott’s was Clive, at least that was what his wife Suzanne allowed him think.
But they were in their mid-fifties and were looking forward to be able to hand the reins’ on to their offspring.
There were three children the eldest was Robert Hoddinott 27 who they knew they could safely rely on to take over the running of the farm to such an extent that the handover would be seamless but they were less sure he would pass on the family name, as he appeared to have no inclination in finding himself a wife.
The second child was Amy who was 24 years old and had no interest whatsoever in becoming a farmer or a farmer’s wife for that matter, not that she hated the farm or indeed farming but she just loved her chosen path more which was teaching and she was a Teacher at the village school and the youngest was 21 year old April who wasn’t a natural farmer but she had other strengths and had worked together from autumn to Spring renovation a cottage on the farm with Calvin Chance and the pair had fallen hard for each other from the moment they met but were unable to show their feelings
Both families tried their hardest to get them together and Amy played her part but without any luck but they eventually went on their first date when they job was over.
Her mother Suzanne was greatly relieved because she feared her tomboy daughter would never find someone and her father was happy that they had finished the cottage which meant they might get a full seasons let.
The first guest took up residence in the cottage at the beginning of May and following the initial guest there were back to back bookings right through the summer.
It was quite fortuitous that there were a limited number of cottage lets in the Mornington area.
So they had a little gold mine in the cottage, the Finchbottom Vale was a very popular destination during the summer months as well as out of season, for rambling, birding or fishing.
The village itself as well as the surrounding country side proved to be a popular attraction.
Everyone on the farm had to do their bit, including Amy and the kind of tasks she had to perform were far removed from her normal professional life as a teacher but she never complained and although she would never admit it to her parents or siblings she sometimes welcomed the time she spent working on the farm to think.
(Part 02)
One of the tasks which fell to Amy more often than not was the management of the cottage, advertising, bookings and when necessary the housekeeping.
And it was when she was cleaning the cottage after a two week long let to a newlywed couple that Amy got her first pangs of regret at having no one special in her life, her tomboy sister had manage to get herself a man, eventually, so why couldn’t she.
Twenty four year old Amy and her younger sister April, although almost three years apart, could easily have passed for twins.
Though they didn’t resemble their brother Robert in the slightest he was his father’s son and they took after their mum.
They were smaller than their brother, leaner and wiry.
Like their mum they had the fine strawberry blonde hair that all of their mums side of the family possessed, as well as her cool blue eyes.
Where Amy and April differed from each other however was that Amy had always been a proper girlie girl since the moment she could walk whereas her sister had always been a tomboy.
When they were children she was always indoors playing with dolls while April would be out playing football with the village boys but Amy had no interest in football although she was interested in boys.
But being interested in boys hadn’t really got her anywhere as she hadn’t found her prince and had remained single despite her kissing a number of frogs.
She had not had any major disasters but nor had she found “the one” and in all honesty she was in no real hurry.
Her sister April had appeared to share Amy’s reluctance to find a partner.
That was until after working with Calvin Chance from autumn to Spring renovating the cottage they finally shared their feelings and from that moment on it became a whirlwind affair after that and they Married at Finchbottom Registry in June.
But that wasn’t the only wedding that summer because in September when Jenna Newman and Harry Topliss tied the knot at St Winnifred’s.
But more significant for Amy was the reception afterwards when her headmistress Cynthia Sharp introduced the new teachers, Teresa and Martin O’Sullivan to her existing teaching staff, Debbie Dunlop, her deputy, Mark Foreman and Amy Hoddinott.
Which was significant for her because she wasn’t the new girl anymore.
The reason the school was increasing the teaching staff was that Mornington Field had come back under the steward ship of the Mornington Estate.
When they exercised its option to purchase it back from the MOD it also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield itself as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.
The property was formally handed over on the 1st of June and the additional houses meant additional families with additional children.
And when the infrastructure on the airfield was converted to commercial and residential the school would grow even more.
(Part 03)
So 2014 had been a momentous year in Mornington for all concerned and Amy and the Hoddinott’s were no exceptions but the year was my no means over.
Because at the beginning of October, April announced she was pregnant which sparked spectacular celebrations at Mereside Farm.
But there was still a lot of the year left and a new tenant was due to stay at the cottage.
It was the 4th of October and the inhabitants of Mereside farm were slow to rise after the celebrations the day before drinking to April’s bump.
The only reason Amy was up, showered and dressed by 8 o’clock was because a new tenant was arriving to stay at the cottage and she wanted to make sure everything was neat and tidy.
The tenant to be, was a man by the name of Mike Tooke, who wanted a change of scene to somewhere quiet and out of the way for a couple of weeks.
He wasn’t due until after lunch so she had all morning to get the cottage spick and span.
It was just after lunch when Amy saw, through the Farmhouse
Kitchen window, an unfamiliar liveried white van drive into the farmyard.
“That must be him” she said to herself and as she went to the kitchen door and picked the key off the hook and then she went outside.
“Mr Tooke?” she called as he got out of the van.
“That’s me” he replied and Amy got her first proper look at him and she liked what she saw.
He was a few years older than she was with a rugged face and thick dark curly hair.
He was a few inches over six feet, Amy liked tall, and he was big, not fat but solid, she liked well-made men as well because they were big and cuddly.
“For goodness sake get a grip” she said to herself as he walked towards her and was momentarily transfixed by the sun setting her red hair aflame and when the sun went behind a cloud he offered his hand and said
“Mike Tooke”
“Amy Hoddinott” she said taking his hand
“Everything is ready for you”
“Excellent” he said
“Leave your van there and I’ll walk you down to the cottage”
“Fine” he agreed “I could do with stretching my legs”
Amy led the way and he followed and after a few minutes she said
“So you’re from Pepperstock”
“That’s right” he said “but I’ve escaped to the country”
“So what made you choose Mornington?”
“Fishing” he replied “Someone recommended the fishing”
“I see” she said “That’s one of our best kept secret”
“So I understand”
“You won’t be disappointed” She promised
“I’m not so far” he said but he was looking at her bum at the time.
“Here we are” she said and walked up the front path and unlocked the front door.
The door opened and she showed him in and gave him a brief tour.
“This is perfect” he said when she finished showing him round.
(Part 04)
The door of the cottage opened and she showed him in and gave him a brief tour.
“This is perfect” he said when she finished showing him round.
“So what are you escaping?” she asked
“Excuse me?”
“You said you were escaping to the country, so what are you escaping from?” she asked
“Oh work”
“And what do you do?” she asked
“I’m an LED Lighting specialist” he said
“That sounds interesting” Amy lied then she remembered the livery on the side of the van.
“So “Light and Day” is that who you work for?”
“Sort of” he said “It’s the family business”
“Your family?” she enquired
“Yes” he replied “Though it’s just me and Maggie now”
“It that your wife?” She asked
“No” he replied and laughed
“Girlfriend then?” she asked bracing herself for the answer
“No, Maggie is my sister” he explained
“Excellent” she said inside her head which surprised her because she didn’t believe in instant attraction, so why should she care about his marital status.
“Oh your sister” she said out loud “Is she older or younger?”
“Three years older” he replied “Although the way she acts you’d think she was my mother”
“She’s very special to you isn’t she” Amy said
“Yes” he admitted “she’s an amazing person, I was only 16 when our parents died so she gave up university to be guardian to me”
“Does she have a family of her own now?” she asked
“No she’s single, I suspect she’s waiting until she gets me settled before she’ll think of herself, she’ll be down to check up on me at some point to make sure I’m eating properly and having regular bowel movements” Mike said and they both laughed.
“I look forward to meeting her” she said genuinely
“That was a kind thing to say” Mike said to himself “maybe there’s more to her than glorious hair and a nice bum”
“This really is perfect” he said
“Great, well I’ll walk you back up to your van and I’ll leave you to it”
They walked back to the car in silence but only because her hair was ablaze again, which was the only thing that stopped him from staring at her bum the entire way.
When they reached his van she said
“Well if there’s anything you need just come up to the house”
“I will”
“Goodbye then” she said but only managed a couple of steps before she turned around and said.
“If you want someone to show you the village them I’m around all weekend”
“I’d like that” he said “Maybe when I’ve unpacked my stuff”
“Ok just come up to the house when you’re ready” she said and turned towards the house
“Well that was bold” she said to herself “And you don’t even know if he likes you.
When she reached the kitchen door she glanced back and then said quietly
“Well he certainly likes my bum, so I’d better wear something that shows it off”
“Is everything alright with the new guest love?” Her mum asked as she entered the kitchen
“Definitely” she replied which wasn’t the answer her mum was quite expecting.
So with her curiosity aroused she added
“Sit down and have a drink and tell me what he’s like”
“I’ll tell you later I’m going to go and change” Amy responded
“Why do you need to change?”
“I’m going to show Mike the village” she replied
“Mike?”
“Mr Tooke, the new guest” she said and left the room.
“Well that was interesting” Suzanne said to herself and smiled
Amy reappeared in the kitchen wearing a very snug fitting pair of pale blue jeggings.
“I thought you were going to show him the places of interest in the village?”
“I am”
“I don’t think he’ll be noticing anything other than your places of interest” her mum said
“That was the whole point” Amy said and sat down at the table looking very nervous.
(Part 05)
It was mid-afternoon and the glorious Indian summer sunshine streamed in through the window.
Amy and her mum were sat in the kitchen drinking coffee when there was a knock on the door.
Amy shifted in her seat and was about to rise from it when her mum said
“I’ll get it, the poor man might strain something if he sees you dressed like that without any warning”
She opened the door and was met by the tall, dark and ruggedly handsome newly arrived tenant.
“You must be Mrs Hoddinott” Mike said but to himself he added
“I can see where your daughter gets her looks from”
“Call me Suzanne” she said but was thinking “I can see why my daughter likes you”
“I’m Mike”
“Well I’m pleased to meet you Mike, Amy has been awaiting your arrival with baited breath”
“Mother, you are so embarrassing” Amy said and stood up
“Wow” Mike exclaimed not realising he had said it aloud until he noticed Amy blush.
As they left the farm house Amy smiled to herself when she noticed that Mike had changed too.
They exchanged small talk as they walked unhurriedly out through the gate and onto Windmill Lane.
They followed the lane when it bore to the right and continued along it passing the four Windmill Cottages on the left with the Old East Mill ahead of them.
When they reached the bridge Amy stopped abruptly and said
“The best fishing on the River Brooke starts about half a mile in that direction” She said pointing upstream beyond the Old East Mill “and as far as the Dulcets in the other direction, beyond that and there’s too much River traffic”
“I don’t think I shall be going that far afield” he said
“Personally I would recommend the Mere” She added “I should have taken you there first, but no matter”
“That’s ok I’m in no rush” he said affably and smiled
“Ok then, we’ll go along the River Path” she said and once again passed by the Windmill Cottages but this time along the path that separated them from the river and followed it down until they reached the Church.
“What a beautiful Church” he said standing still to admire its magnificence
“Yes its 12th Century” Amy added proudly
“It’s the best one in the whole of the Vale, if not all of Downshire”
After pointing out the Vicarage, Manor Wood and the Brewery she led him up the path and away from the church, passing Mornington Manor and ended up looking out across the Mere.
“This is beautiful too” he said
“It’s not bad is it?” Amy agreed
“Does the path go all the way around?” he asked
“Yes” she replied “Shall we follow it?”
“Yes that would be lovely”
As they strolled around the water’s edge Amy asked
“Why did you really come to Mornington?”
“I told you, to fish” he replied
“Look Mike you probably already noticed that I am very proud of my village” she said “and the fishing around here isn’t bad but there are better places to fish in Downshire than here, in fact there are better places in Pepperstock than here”
“Are you the local sheriff?” he asked with a wry smile
“No I’m a School teacher” she retorted “So I’m trained to spot falsehoods”
(Part 06)
As they strolled around the water’s edge Amy asked
“Why did you really come to Mornington?”
“I told you, to fish” he replied
“Look Mike you probably already noticed that I am very proud of my village” she said “and the fishing around here isn’t bad but there are better places to fish in Downshire than here, in fact there are better places in Pepperstock than here”
“Are you the local sheriff?” he asked with a wry smile
“No I’m a School teacher” she retorted “So I’m trained to spot falsehoods”
“Well it wasn’t really a falsehood I did want to do some fishing but you’re right I chose Mornington for a different reason” he confessed
“And?”
“You really are the local sheriff aren’t you?” he said
“Come on then spill the beans” she urged him
“I came over to have a look at Mornington Field” he confessed
“The lease is due to expire on one of our premises in Pepperstock, so next year I’m going to have to move my workshop and I wanted to know if Mornington is a viable option”
“So what do you think of it so far?” she asked
“I can definitely see the attraction” he replied
Unfortunately the romantic promise of the moment was lost when a young local Angler, Nick Legg came hurrying noisily along the path.
“Hi Amy” he said and was gone almost as quickly as he arrived
“Hi Nick” Amy said as he disappeared
However along with the Nick Legg went the romantic possibilities of the moment.
As they continued on their walk around the Mere after their romantic near miss Amy offered her services in regard to Mornington Field.
“Well it’s too late now because it will be dark by the time we get there” she said “But I can take you up to the Field tomorrow if you like”
“That would be great”
“It will have to be after Church though” she added
“You go to Church?” he asked and Amy thought
“Here we go, I knew he was too good to be true, he’s going to mock me for my faith”
“Yes we’re regulars at St Winifred’s” she replied
“Would you mind if I tagged along?” he asked
“What?” she asked disbelievingly
“I won’t be offended if you say no”
“Why would I say no?” Amy said just as they finished their circuit of the Mere just as the sun was setting so Amy took them on a short cut back to the farm.
On Sunday morning Mike walked up to the farmhouse and arrived just as Amy and her mum emerged followed by a slightly younger version of Amy who turned out to be the younger sister and behind her was her husband and a great bear of a man in his mid-fifties who was introduced as Clive, Amy’s father.
After introductions and handshakes Suzanne explained the absence of her son.
“Robert would be joining us but at present as one of the cows is sick he’s waiting for the vet and hopefully he’ll join us later”.
It was another unseasonably warm day as they headed toward church and just as they were leaving the vet Hayley Gwillym drove up the lane.
“Hi Hayley” Clive said “You’ll find him in the cowshed”
“Ok thanks” she responded and drove off
(Part 07)
Amy had been really surprised when Mike had said
“Would you mind if I tagged along?”
Because she was expecting him to make some jibe about her being a god botherer or something equally crass.
Which was why she responded “What?”
Instead of “Of course you can”
Mike and his sister Margaret had been raised as Christian’s and although Margaret lost her faith briefly after their parents passed, when she had to abandon University to be Mikes Guardian, she had returned to the fold.
So he had grown up in faith and from the moment he first stepped through the doors at St Winifred’s with the Hoddinott’s he felt at peace.
So if he was to move his workshops the first thing he would do would be to attend a service in Mornington with his sister Maggie because he felt so immediately at home.
As they sat together at St Winifred’s during the service Amy was really pleased that Mike had asked to go with her.
She was still a little disappointed that their romantic moment by the Mere had been shattered by Nick Legg and she was still a little angry with him for that and would have gladly pushed him in.
But she offered up a little prayer to beg forgiveness for her anger and asked for no interruption’s next time.
And then offered up another prayer to beg that there would be a next time.
Afterwards Mike chatted briefly with Reverend Cockcroft and it was obvious that Mike was not the “hatches, matches and dispatches” type of Christian and he was the real deal.
They walked back up to the farm together ahead of the others and as they walked she asked
“So how did you like St Winifred’s?”
“I felt really at home” Mike replied
“Good” she remarked
“Thank you for this morning” he said when they reached the farm
“No problem” Amy responded
“And I’ll see you later” he added
“Hold on, where do you think you’re going?”
“Back to the cottage of course”
“Oh no you’re not, you’re staying for lunch”
“I couldn’t possibly” he said just as the rest of the family arrived
“Are you two alright?” Suzanne asked
“We have a mutineer mum” she said
“Well we can’t have that” mum said “Clive! Get your shot gun”
“Alright I surrender” Mike said
“Good choice” Amy whispered “but he wouldn’t really have shot you”
“That was an epic lunch” he said as they set off towards Mornington Field
“Mum’s a great cook isn’t she?”
“Brilliant I would say, what about you?” he asked
“What do you mean?”
“Are you a good cook?” he asked
“Me? No, I could burn water” she replied
“I find that hard to believe”
“I kid you not” she said “Just ask my mum”
(Part 08)
They went up to Mornington Field after lunch and they managed to find a gap through the security fences and wandered up and down between the buildings for about an hour until the October sunshine gave way to more seasonal rain.
“So what do you think?” she asked
“I think this would be a brilliant place to work”
“Excellent, you’ll be needing this then” she said handing him Victoria Johnson Higham’s business card.
Victoria was from Lyndon-Sanders Properties, who were tasked with finding tenants for the commercial properties.
“Where did you get this?” he asked
“I bumped into Vicki at church this morning” she explained
“Thank you” he said and hugged her before he kissed her cheek.
Both of them were reluctant to end the hug and hoped it would lead to a kiss and just at the instant it was about to happen the moment was shattered by a loud clap of thunder.
“Not helpful God, not helpful at all” she muttered as they ran for cover.
On the walk back to the farm Amy decided she would tackle him again when they got back to Mereside and everything was going to plan as they stood by the farmhouse gate and their lips were only inches away when the heavens opened and they both ran their separate ways.
“You are really not helping God” she said as she ran for the farmhouse door.
On Monday morning Amy looked wistfully towards the cottage as she left home on her way to school not realizing Mike wasn’t there.
He had had a very disturbed night and rose early and was sat on the river bank by the East Bridge at 7 o’clock.
Amy on the other hand slept very well but the morning began in dreamy snoozing and it was Mike who filled her dreams.
She was halfway across the East Bridge when she just happened to look towards the church and she was recalling the time she had spent with Mike the day before when she spotted him sitting on a folding chair on the river bank, though she did do a double take, it was clearly him.
She looked at her watch and cursed because she was running late.
“Shit” she said “It’s now or ever”
Amy turned around and hurried back the way she’d come and as she stepped off the bridge she turned right onto the river bank path.
When she reached the angler in the folding chair she stopped and crouched down beside him.
“Oh hello…” he began when he noticed her but he was prevented from finishing his sentence by Amy passionately kissing him on the mouth.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all weekend” she said looked at her watch and added “I have to go”
“Where are you going?” he asked as she turned away
“You can’t go now”
“I’m late for work” she called “You can take me to dinner tonight though, pick me up at 8”
As she crossed the bridge again she looked to the heavens and quietly said
“Now that wasn’t too difficult was it?”
Then she turned and waved to Mike before she hurried off to work with a broad smile on her face.
Downshire Diary – (23) Meeting the Molesworth’s
(Part 01)
Owen Carrington’s star was definitely in the ascendency after the success of his first Romantic novel “The Maiden Muse” but the change in the fortunes of his writing career were not the thing that was preoccupying him that morning.
He had been in a relationship with a local girl, Juliana Molesworth, for more than a month and on that day he was due to meet the family and he was feeling uneasy about it.
The Molesworth’s were a very well-known family in Denmead and everyone knew who they were, but Owen was new to the village, having only taken up residence in January.
While Owen was fretting about being introduced to his 20 year old girlfriend Juliana’s family, one of them, Valentine, was out jogging along the bridle path through the Normandie woods.
He was five years older than Juliana and was a doctor and had been away from Denmead for 8 years, doing his training.
But he had moved back a month earlier after he got a job at the Royal Downshire Hospital in Purplemere and it was only after his return that he realized how much he missed it.
He was fast reaching the point on his run when he would have to turn around and head back home when he spotted someone familiar, someone from his past.
It was Catherine Ray and they had history, she was the only child of a wealthy couple with more money than sense, and she had been one of Juliana’s best friends for many years.
She had been a frequent visitor to the house and had spent many nights at the Molesworth’s on sleepovers.
But on one occasion when he was seventeen the 12-year-old Catherine tried to kiss him and that was only the first time, she was very persistent and tried at every opportunity until one night when she was 13 she climbed into his bed.
He didn’t know how it may have escalated after that had he not left for University.
On the night that he had a near naked 13 year old girl in his bed he got out of bed and left her there and went to a friend’s house for the night and never spoke to Catherine again and he never told his sister what her friend had done.
But there she was ahead of him and he couldn’t avoid her, and he couldn’t ignore her, and he knew it was going to be so embarrassing.
As he suspected there was a distinct awkwardness between them and he got the distinct impression that she wasn’t any happier about meeting him than he was to see her.
She was still as pretty as she was when he last saw her but she had lost the puppy fat, if that’s the PC way of saying it, from when she was thirteen years old.
She was a little taller now about 5ft 1, with shoulder length blond hair and a petite figure.
He gave her quite a clinical appraisal of her assets because he hadn’t seen her for 8 years, not since she was a chubby teenager, the fact that she was wearing Jodhpur’s made her very attractive.
(Part 02)
Catherine was a bit of a chubster when she was a teen, but that wasn’t why he didn’t take advantage of her, he wasn’t that shallow, she was a cute girl, no, he rejected her advances because she was only a child and he was all but a man.
She was a pretty girl and only a tiny little thing, and seemed even more so beside a chestnut mare.
She had the reputation of being a bit stuck up, although he doubted that, perhaps her perceived aloofness was as a result of spending most of her time riding her horse, and the additional height gave the impression of her looking down her nose at the hoi polloi.
She never ever speaks to anyone when she’s out riding and never responds to hellos or good mornings, but that was as a result of shyness, not snobbishness.
Her parents didn’t help the situation and were prone to spoiling, he had heard from Juliana that for her 21st birthday later in the year they were flying her to America in a private plane to go on a riding holiday.
“Hi Catherine” he said “How are you?”
“I’m fine” she lied “Are you back?”
“I am” he replied
Then came the first of the embarrassed silences as they stood facing each other.
“Are you back at your mums?” she asked
“No I have one of the Normandie cottages” he replied
Then came another embarrassed silence.
“Well I’d better get going” he said pointing to his watch “I’ll see you around”
“Ok bye” she said as he set off back the way he came.
About ten minutes later a girl on horseback rode by, it was Catherine and he thought she was crying and he suddenly felt guilty as he watched her trot out of sight.
As Owen stepped out of his front door he looked at his watch and was concerned he was cutting it a bit fine and realised there was a very real chance he was going to be late.
He had arranged to meet Juliana, her parents and her brother for lunch in Brocklington at the Mulberry Tree, it was the first introduction and it meant a lot to Juliana so he jumped into the car and rushed off.
As a result of driving like a maniac he made it to the restaurant with minutes to spare much to Juliana’s relief and her brother Valentine arrived five minutes late.
Although he wasn’t looking forward to it, he was pleasantly surprised, her parents were good company, he hit it off with her brother, and the food was wonderful and it really was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
Her father Gregory had a meeting to go to and left about half an hour before everyone else and Juliana and her mum, Lavinia, wanted to go into Purplemere shopping so Owen said he would drive them over there.
They offered to drop Valentine off in Denmead first but he was so stuffed after the meal that he fancied a constitutional, so he declined the offer and set off to walk back to Denmead, it was less than 3 miles as the crow flies and he knew the route through Normandie Woods from his boyhood, well roughly anyway, so he was quite confident when he set off.
(Part 03)
It was about an hour into his trek when he realized he was hopelessly lost and blundering about in the woods and he was wishing he’d accepted the lift.
The woods were getting thicker and thicker and darker and darker and he was starting to get despondent when he saw a glimmer of light though the trees.
He headed towards the source of the light, which appeared to be a small clearing and as he got closer he could see there was someone in the clearing, it was Catherine Ray and her horse.
The mare was tied to a tree and she appeared to be grooming the beast.
His first reaction was to avoid another embarrassing confrontation but he was hopelessly lost so he moved a little closer and was about to ask her to direct him back to the path to Denmead when he realised she wasn’t grooming the horse at all.
He had come upon a scene, where Catherine stood beside the tethered beast, still wearing her riding hat, white shirt and Jodhpur’s and she was sobbing against the horse’s neck and shoulder.
The girl who the villagers thought snobbish and unattainable was not actually aloof at all but was vulnerable and in despair.
In that moment he had a choice where he could walk away unnoticed and leave the sobbing girl or go to her and comfort her.
As he stood there watching from the edge of the clearing he pondered his choices and knew in an instant that he could not leave and should have been able to if he had not had even the slightest feeling for her.
So he walked slowly and stealthily, on her blind side, across the clearing to close the distance between them.
He was about five or six paces from her when she suddenly became aware of his presence and she hugged the horse even closer in an effort to make herself invisible and cover her embarrassment.
“Hey what’s the matter?” he asked as he continued to close the distance but as he continued to get closer she said nothing and just stood stock still against the horse with only her shoulders moving in sync with her sobs.
When he was stood directly behind her he placed his hands gently on her shoulders.
“Come on now, don’t upset yourself, and tell me what the matter is” he said but her only response was to turn and bury her face in his chest.
All he could do was hold her and utter soothing words while she cried her tears and her whole body shook within his arms with the force of her heartbreaking weeping.
Valentine had no idea how long they stood in that clearing with her soaking his shirt with her unrelenting tears but eventually her sobs relented.
(Part 04)
Valentine had no idea how long they stood in that clearing with her soaking his shirt with her unrelenting tears but eventually her sobs relented he waited a few moments longer and then he asked gently
“So now can you tell me what upset you?”
There was silence at first and then he felt her little body go rigid and she pushed herself away from him and shouted at him
“What upset me? What upset me?”
“Um yes”
“You did” she snapped and she would have cried again if she hadn’t been so livid.
“Me?” he retorted “How do you work that out?”
“You’re unbelievable” she said and started marching around
Valentine reran their earlier conversation and could think of nothing he had said or done that would have upset her.
“Look I hadn’t seen you for eight years until this morning, so I don’t know what I could have done” he said
“You broke my heart, that’s what you did” she snarled
Valentine opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again and scratched his head
“How did I do that exactly?” he asked finally
“You broke my heart when you rejected me 8 years ago” she replied “I thought I’d gotten over it but when I saw you this morning it all came flooding back”
“I’m sorry” he said although he wasn’t sure why
“What for exactly? For breaking my heart or for rejecting me because I was fat?” she retorted bitterly
“Wait a minute” he replied “That’s not what happened”
“Oh yes it was” she snapped “I can still remember the look of horror on your face”
“It wasn’t like that” he corrected her
“I really liked you, fancied you” she said “And you humiliated me”
“I knew you had a crush on me” he began
“It was more than a crush” she added
“Anyway, I had feeling for you too” he said
“Then why did you react the way you did when I was in your bed?” she asked wide eyed
“Because it was inappropriate” Valentine replied
“How can love be inappropriate” she snapped
“When one of them is a man and the other is a child” he retorted
“They send people to prison for that”
“So it wasn’t because I was fat?” she asked and tears welled up in her eyes
“No it was because I had no right to think about you in that way” he said and then told her the whole story, all about the extent of the feelings he had for her and why he acted as he did and then she was in his arms again and softly weeping.
It was an hour later when they left the clearing having talked themselves hoarse about their shared past, the eight years when they didn’t see each other and the beginning of a shared future.
Owen Carrington’s star was definitely in the ascendency after the success of his first Romantic novel “The Maiden Muse” but the change in the fortunes of his writing career were not the thing that was preoccupying him that morning.
He had been in a relationship with a local girl, Juliana Molesworth, for more than a month and on that day he was due to meet the family and he was feeling uneasy about it.
The Molesworth’s were a very well-known family in Denmead and everyone knew who they were, but Owen was new to the village, having only taken up residence in January.
While Owen was fretting about being introduced to his 20 year old girlfriend Juliana’s family, one of them, Valentine, was out jogging along the bridle path through the Normandie woods.
He was five years older than Juliana and was a doctor and had been away from Denmead for 8 years, doing his training.
But he had moved back a month earlier after he got a job at the Royal Downshire Hospital in Purplemere and it was only after his return that he realized how much he missed it.
He was fast reaching the point on his run when he would have to turn around and head back home when he spotted someone familiar, someone from his past.
It was Catherine Ray and they had history, she was the only child of a wealthy couple with more money than sense, and she had been one of Juliana’s best friends for many years.
She had been a frequent visitor to the house and had spent many nights at the Molesworth’s on sleepovers.
But on one occasion when he was seventeen the 12-year-old Catherine tried to kiss him and that was only the first time, she was very persistent and tried at every opportunity until one night when she was 13 she climbed into his bed.
He didn’t know how it may have escalated after that had he not left for University.
On the night that he had a near naked 13 year old girl in his bed he got out of bed and left her there and went to a friend’s house for the night and never spoke to Catherine again and he never told his sister what her friend had done.
But there she was ahead of him and he couldn’t avoid her, and he couldn’t ignore her, and he knew it was going to be so embarrassing.
As he suspected there was a distinct awkwardness between them and he got the distinct impression that she wasn’t any happier about meeting him than he was to see her.
She was still as pretty as she was when he last saw her but she had lost the puppy fat, if that’s the PC way of saying it, from when she was thirteen years old.
She was a little taller now about 5ft 1, with shoulder length blond hair and a petite figure.
He gave her quite a clinical appraisal of her assets because he hadn’t seen her for 8 years, not since she was a chubby teenager, the fact that she was wearing Jodhpur’s made her very attractive.
(Part 02)
Catherine was a bit of a chubster when she was a teen, but that wasn’t why he didn’t take advantage of her, he wasn’t that shallow, she was a cute girl, no, he rejected her advances because she was only a child and he was all but a man.
She was a pretty girl and only a tiny little thing, and seemed even more so beside a chestnut mare.
She had the reputation of being a bit stuck up, although he doubted that, perhaps her perceived aloofness was as a result of spending most of her time riding her horse, and the additional height gave the impression of her looking down her nose at the hoi polloi.
She never ever speaks to anyone when she’s out riding and never responds to hellos or good mornings, but that was as a result of shyness, not snobbishness.
Her parents didn’t help the situation and were prone to spoiling, he had heard from Juliana that for her 21st birthday later in the year they were flying her to America in a private plane to go on a riding holiday.
“Hi Catherine” he said “How are you?”
“I’m fine” she lied “Are you back?”
“I am” he replied
Then came the first of the embarrassed silences as they stood facing each other.
“Are you back at your mums?” she asked
“No I have one of the Normandie cottages” he replied
Then came another embarrassed silence.
“Well I’d better get going” he said pointing to his watch “I’ll see you around”
“Ok bye” she said as he set off back the way he came.
About ten minutes later a girl on horseback rode by, it was Catherine and he thought she was crying and he suddenly felt guilty as he watched her trot out of sight.
As Owen stepped out of his front door he looked at his watch and was concerned he was cutting it a bit fine and realised there was a very real chance he was going to be late.
He had arranged to meet Juliana, her parents and her brother for lunch in Brocklington at the Mulberry Tree, it was the first introduction and it meant a lot to Juliana so he jumped into the car and rushed off.
As a result of driving like a maniac he made it to the restaurant with minutes to spare much to Juliana’s relief and her brother Valentine arrived five minutes late.
Although he wasn’t looking forward to it, he was pleasantly surprised, her parents were good company, he hit it off with her brother, and the food was wonderful and it really was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
Her father Gregory had a meeting to go to and left about half an hour before everyone else and Juliana and her mum, Lavinia, wanted to go into Purplemere shopping so Owen said he would drive them over there.
They offered to drop Valentine off in Denmead first but he was so stuffed after the meal that he fancied a constitutional, so he declined the offer and set off to walk back to Denmead, it was less than 3 miles as the crow flies and he knew the route through Normandie Woods from his boyhood, well roughly anyway, so he was quite confident when he set off.
(Part 03)
It was about an hour into his trek when he realized he was hopelessly lost and blundering about in the woods and he was wishing he’d accepted the lift.
The woods were getting thicker and thicker and darker and darker and he was starting to get despondent when he saw a glimmer of light though the trees.
He headed towards the source of the light, which appeared to be a small clearing and as he got closer he could see there was someone in the clearing, it was Catherine Ray and her horse.
The mare was tied to a tree and she appeared to be grooming the beast.
His first reaction was to avoid another embarrassing confrontation but he was hopelessly lost so he moved a little closer and was about to ask her to direct him back to the path to Denmead when he realised she wasn’t grooming the horse at all.
He had come upon a scene, where Catherine stood beside the tethered beast, still wearing her riding hat, white shirt and Jodhpur’s and she was sobbing against the horse’s neck and shoulder.
The girl who the villagers thought snobbish and unattainable was not actually aloof at all but was vulnerable and in despair.
In that moment he had a choice where he could walk away unnoticed and leave the sobbing girl or go to her and comfort her.
As he stood there watching from the edge of the clearing he pondered his choices and knew in an instant that he could not leave and should have been able to if he had not had even the slightest feeling for her.
So he walked slowly and stealthily, on her blind side, across the clearing to close the distance between them.
He was about five or six paces from her when she suddenly became aware of his presence and she hugged the horse even closer in an effort to make herself invisible and cover her embarrassment.
“Hey what’s the matter?” he asked as he continued to close the distance but as he continued to get closer she said nothing and just stood stock still against the horse with only her shoulders moving in sync with her sobs.
When he was stood directly behind her he placed his hands gently on her shoulders.
“Come on now, don’t upset yourself, and tell me what the matter is” he said but her only response was to turn and bury her face in his chest.
All he could do was hold her and utter soothing words while she cried her tears and her whole body shook within his arms with the force of her heartbreaking weeping.
Valentine had no idea how long they stood in that clearing with her soaking his shirt with her unrelenting tears but eventually her sobs relented.
(Part 04)
Valentine had no idea how long they stood in that clearing with her soaking his shirt with her unrelenting tears but eventually her sobs relented he waited a few moments longer and then he asked gently
“So now can you tell me what upset you?”
There was silence at first and then he felt her little body go rigid and she pushed herself away from him and shouted at him
“What upset me? What upset me?”
“Um yes”
“You did” she snapped and she would have cried again if she hadn’t been so livid.
“Me?” he retorted “How do you work that out?”
“You’re unbelievable” she said and started marching around
Valentine reran their earlier conversation and could think of nothing he had said or done that would have upset her.
“Look I hadn’t seen you for eight years until this morning, so I don’t know what I could have done” he said
“You broke my heart, that’s what you did” she snarled
Valentine opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again and scratched his head
“How did I do that exactly?” he asked finally
“You broke my heart when you rejected me 8 years ago” she replied “I thought I’d gotten over it but when I saw you this morning it all came flooding back”
“I’m sorry” he said although he wasn’t sure why
“What for exactly? For breaking my heart or for rejecting me because I was fat?” she retorted bitterly
“Wait a minute” he replied “That’s not what happened”
“Oh yes it was” she snapped “I can still remember the look of horror on your face”
“It wasn’t like that” he corrected her
“I really liked you, fancied you” she said “And you humiliated me”
“I knew you had a crush on me” he began
“It was more than a crush” she added
“Anyway, I had feeling for you too” he said
“Then why did you react the way you did when I was in your bed?” she asked wide eyed
“Because it was inappropriate” Valentine replied
“How can love be inappropriate” she snapped
“When one of them is a man and the other is a child” he retorted
“They send people to prison for that”
“So it wasn’t because I was fat?” she asked and tears welled up in her eyes
“No it was because I had no right to think about you in that way” he said and then told her the whole story, all about the extent of the feelings he had for her and why he acted as he did and then she was in his arms again and softly weeping.
It was an hour later when they left the clearing having talked themselves hoarse about their shared past, the eight years when they didn’t see each other and the beginning of a shared future.
Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (22) Betcha By Golly Wow – Lindsay’s Tale
(Part 01)
It was Saturday night in Mornington-By-Mere and goods friends Roxanne Kincaid-Smith, Lindsay Cooper and Rosie Parsons were sitting in the bar of the Old Mill Inn discussing their plans for the Bank Holiday.
All three of the girls were born and bred in the village but since starting out on their chosen careers they didn’t get together as often as they would have liked due shift patterns for Rosie and Roxy and the on call Rota for Lindsay.
At 26 Lindsay was a year older than Police Woman Roxy and a year younger than Nurse Rosie.
She lived in The Close at number 4, with her parents Roy and Sally and two younger brothers John and David.
She was a Veterinary Nurse with the Jeffrey and Teague Veterinary Practice which had been fulfilling the Veterinary needs of the Finchbottom Vale inhabitants since God was a boy and it was still going strong.
She split her time between the Vets in the village, the Hospital in Shallowfield and assisting Vets on farm visits.
She liked working in Mornington because it was only a five minute walk to work and more importantly because she had a bit more discretion and latitude to make decision than she did in Shallowfield.
Of the two senior partners in the practice, Robin Jeffrey was now retired and living in Dulcet’s Mill, one of the three remaining Mornington Windmills.
Which meant for the most part it was just her and the other senior Ian Teague who she liked very much and Hayley Gwilym who was becoming a close friend.
The only downside to her dream job happened to be that her on call Rota meant she didn’t get to see her best friends regularly enough for her liking.
But a three day window opened up in which all three friends were off duty and furthermore without any other commitments in their diaries, an event rarer than hen’s teeth, so they all decided to make the most of it.
The fact that the three days happened to fall over the Bank holiday weekend was just the icing on the cake.
They had already eaten a sumptuous meal at the Old Mill Inn and followed that up with a significant amount of alcohol which influenced their decision making significantly.
But a decision had to be made, as they had signed up for the Sharpington Day Parade on Bank Holiday Monday.
It was a Charity event which raised tens of thousands of pounds every year much of which was collected by volunteers rattling tins along the route.
And traditionally the majority of volunteers took part in fancy dress and it was that element of the Parade which was vexing the three friends as they didn’t know what to go as.
“It needs to be something different” Lindsay said
“It needs to be something memorable” Roxy added
“I know just the thing” Rosie Parsons suddenly announced
“What?” the other two asked
“Golliwogs”
“What?” the two repeated
“Brilliant eh” Rosie said
“Are you mad?” Roxy asked with alarm “I’m a serving Police Officer”
“So?” Rosie asked
“It’s a bit “out there”” Lindsay pointed out
“Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“Adventure?” Roxy said “They’ll hang me out to dry”
“Oh God just because you wear blue serge knickers doesn’t mean you can’t have a laugh” Rosie said “Besides who’s going to recognise you under the makeup?”
“Oh I don’t know” Roxy said doubtfully
“We could carry tambourines so people will think we’re minstrels” Rosie suggested
“I’m not sure people will see the distinction” Lindsay added
“Oh come on you two it’ll be fun” Rosie said encouragingly
“I’ll remember that when I’m working as a security guard for Quid Busters” Roxy retorted
“Don’t be such a drama queen” Rosie said
“So are you two in or not?”
“Count me in” Lindsay said with bravado and turned her eyes on Roxy
“Ok I’m in” she agreed reluctantly
(Part 02)
In the cold light of day when they surfaced on Sunday afternoon the girls had serious doubts about the wisdom of dressing as Golliwogs for the Sharpington Day Parade but none of them voiced their concerns as they didn’t want to appear wimpy in front of the other two.
The drive over to Sharpington to register was completed largely in silence as they were so hungover from the night before.
Unfortunately it was a trip they had to make, as volunteers for the fundraising effort for the Parade had to register on Sunday afternoon where they would also pick up collection tins.
Fortunately those participating in fancy dress were not required to notify the organisers in advance what they planned to dress up as or to provide a photograph either which was just as well really due partly to the Non PC nature of what they had in mind but mainly as they didn’t know the precise details themselves.
As they walked quietly along the promenade towards the organizers marquee in Jubilee Park the three of them still had great unvoiced misgivings about the costumes.
“I really don’t think we should be doing this” Lindsay said to herself, she was particularly concerned because of the fear of losing peoples good opinion of her, it was very important to her what people thought of her.
But as they turned up one of the lanes they spotted something that put all their minds at rest.
They came upon a shop selling a mixture of the usual seaside novelties along with a selection of fancy dress items such as clown masks and reversible wigs.
“That’s perfect” Rosie said holding a clown mask in her hands “No one will see the black makeup under this”
“And these are just what we need” Lindsay said picking up a wig which was black on one side and red or white on the other.
“I think we might just get away with it” Roxy said and as they left the shop with their purchases their collective mood had lightened appreciatively.
They continued their walk up to Jubilee Park and duly registered and were quite surprised at how quickly it was all completed and it was only just over an hour later when they were heading back down the lane again carrying their collection tins.
The journey home was much more typical for them than the earlier one was with all three of them having found their voices again and for the most part they were all speaking at the same time.
But amidst all the incessant chatter, during which it would have appeared to the casual observer that they were all talking and no one was listening, they formulated a plan.
They would drive down from Mornington to Sharpington at “sparrows fart” as Rosie described it and go straight to the Whitecliff Hill Caravan Park where Lindsay’s Aunty Lynn had a static caravan, which she seldom used, but then she did live on the Shore of Teardrop Lake in the Dancingdean Forest, so why would you leave that for a caravan in Sharpington.
Lindsay had already spoken to Aunty Lynn and got her permission although she didn’t say what she and the others were planning to do.
(Part 03)
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.
Which 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 a 21st century roller coasters but still fun.
But on Bank Holiday Monday the town was taken over by the Sharpington Day Charity Parade.
The road leading to the coast was very busy and even leaving Mornington at the crack of dawn didn’t speed their journey any, as a lot of the roads in Sharpington were closed to the public which slowed their progress, until they reached the outskirts of the town where they turned off and circled around and then up to Whitecliff.
When they had finished changing and had made their faces up they put their clown masks on and the red or white side to their wigs, Roxy plumped for the white while Rosie and Lindsay chose the red.
The clown masks were made from latex and were designed to fit right over the head but because it was still summer and they were wearing nylon wigs they decided to cut most of the back out and put some strategically placed holes in the face.
They were concerned that if their heads sweated too much the black face would run, they needn’t have worried.
To avoid having to black up everywhere they all wore long sleeved tops and gloves and bright red silk scarves around their necks.
The wigs covered their ears so they didn’t need to do them and the clown mask covered everything else.
They were all dressed in Red, White and Blue of some description but Lindsay was wearing a blue t-shirt, a red flared skirt and white tights.
Lindsay was a girlie girl and liked to dress like one whenever possible because in her work her clothes were very utilitarian and quite unfeminine.
In addition they all wore substantially sized bum bags to carry some essential items for the day.
Lindsay the biggest of all of them despite her being the smallest, and hers was full to over flowing with beauty products because she had no idea what harm the black makeup was doing to her skin.
When they joined the parade they were about six or seven floats from the front and Roxy was hoping they could get round without having to expose themselves as Golliwogs.
The atmosphere was amazing and they were really enjoying themselves, and they had almost forgotten what they had planned to do.
But as they approached the Pier Rosie gestured to the other two and they stepped through the crowd and went into the ladies and when they immerged five minutes later their clown masks had gone and their wigs had been reversed and they all looked like Al Jolson.
“What the hell am I doing?” Lindsay asked herself as they ran back through the crowd
Their arrival was greeted with a huge cheer from the throng as they took up their positions and they collected as much money in ten minutes as Golly’s as they had all the while they were clowns.
But their success was short lived because after about one hundred yards the procession passed by the end of what was known locally as pub crawl alley because in that street, that lead from the promenade to the outskirts of town, had a totally of 27 pubs and clubs in it.
And it was from one of those pubs that a small group of inebriated afro Caribbean patrons saw them and took exception at what they saw and amidst shouts of abuse and threats of physical violence Rosie decided that discretion was the better part of valour and shouted to her friends
“Quick leg it”
(Part 04)
When the balloon went up, the three girls all ran in different directions and unknown to them the group of pursuers were halted in their tracks when the appreciative crowd put themselves between them and their prey, but not being aware of that fact, as they never looked back, the girls just ran hell for leather like startled deer.
Lindsay was small and slight and was possessed of whippet like speed and of the three of them she was the most confident that she wouldn’t be caught and furthermore she knew precisely where she was going.
She sprinted onto the Pier and ran the full length until she reached the steps that led down to the fishermen’s deck which she knew would be deserted at that time because the tide was out.
Lindsay sat on a bench and opened the zip on her bum bag and with the aid of a compact mirror, cotton wool and her cleansing lotion she made quick work of the black face makeup.
Once that was achieved she set about remaking up her face again to complete the transition from one of the Black and White Minstrels into pretty white girl.
The latter taking little effort as she was a pretty girl and Lindsay was a girlie girl who always liked to dress like one whenever possible because in her work as a veterinary nurse her clothes were very utilitarian and quite unfeminine.
There was only so much you could do in green wellies and waterproofs.
Admittedly it took a little more effort now that she was twenty six than it did when she was twenty five.
Not that she was particularly vain it was just that she didn’t think she would catch Mr Right wearing moleskin trousers and wellies and she was looking for Mr Right but had as yet had no success.
Once her face was done and she’d made the best she could of her blonde hair under the circumstances, she attended to her clothes.
Unfortunately she had snagged her white tights on the way down the steps so they had to go.
The red flared skirt was fine but her blue t-shirt was a bit sweaty from her run, luckily she had a white vest top in her bag so she changed into that, then all that was needed was a squirt of perfume and she was done.
Her discarded tights and the used cotton wool all went in the bin and everything else was returned to her voluminous bum bag.
After that she just had to wait for one of the others to ring her.
She had texted them both but as yet had not got a response so she just kept waiting and after half an hour her patience was rewarded when Rosie called.
Rosie had spoken to Roxy already and so they arranged to meet up by the entrance to the Pier.
When she reached the entrance Rosie was already there waiting and Roxy was approaching the Pier hand in hand with a man.
“Lucky cow” Lindsay said as she gave Rosie a hug then Roxie left the mystery man on the periphery and the three reunited girls silently hugged and then they found their voices and for the most part of the next five minutes they were all speaking at the same time.
When the chattering huddle broke up Roxy introduced Lindsay and Rosie to her man, Richard and as the last of the floats had gone past they all walked together up to Jubilee Park to hand in their collection tins.
(Part 05)
Roxy and Rosie had to be back at work the next day so they drove back to Mornington that night but Lindsay had the rest of the week off so she stayed on at her Aunty Lynn’s caravan for a few extra days.
Roxy wasn’t really comfortable leaving her on her own but as she worked at Sharpington Station she pledged to check up on her during the week but just to be on the safe side she gave Lindsay her pepper spray just to be on the safe side.
Lindsay didn’t feel at risk, she had after all stayed in the caravan on her own on many occasions and she knew the people in the vans either side of her.
One of the reasons Lindsay wanted to stay on at the caravan after the Bank Holiday was to have some quiet time to herself away from the hubbub in the Cooper household.
As much as she loved her family, to spend four days on her own in a caravan was bliss.
Even if she spent the time catching up with her reading with the only thing for company being the sound of the September rain beating on the roof, which it did for three days.
On Friday the weather improved which was just as well as the other reason she had stayed on in Sharpington was because she was had been invited to the 30th birthday party for one of the vets she worked with, Hayley Gwilym, at the Palladium Ballroom on the promenade.
She spent most of Friday afternoon getting ready, but was still late leaving and set off from the caravan just after 8.00pm.
It was a safe walk down to the town of Sharpington from Whitecliff as it was along a well-used road which was busy during the day and very well lit at night.
Lindsay entered Jubilee Park a little after 8.30pm, she was apprehensive about walking through the park at dusk but she was late for the party so she had no real choice.
She walked hurriedly and that brisk pace was as a result of her tardiness and her unease in equal measure.
Her invitation to the party stated, which sat in her bag, in no uncertain terms that the theme for the evening was a simple one.
Entry to the Palladium Ballroom, even with an invitation, would only be granted providing the bearer was wearing pink and the more pink the better.
Which was why Lindsay was wearing a pink dress, pink shoes, had a pink ribbon in her hair and carried a pink handbag, she was even wearing pink underwear but she didn’t intend showing that to all and sundry.
Chris White was heading in the opposite direction to Lindsay on his way home from work and couldn’t help but notice the girl in the pink dress.
He always noticed pretty girls, especially blondes, and he guessed from the colour of her outfit exactly where she was headed.
He had seen a lot of similarly dressed men and women in and around town and a lot of them where heading into the Palladium Ballroom.
As he passed her on a parallel path she reached into her bag for her mobile phone and as she pulled it out she also pulled out a small pink envelope with it, which fell silently to the floor.
(Part 06)
As Lindsay strode purposely on through the park she was totally oblivious to the fact that she something had fallen from her bag.
So Chris hurried to the point where he had seen the envelope fall.
He picked it up and saw it was addressed to Miss Lindsay Cooper, 4, The Close, Mornington.
“That’s interesting” he thought, she only lived two doors away from his Uncle Andy.
He didn’t look at the contents of the envelope but thought quite understandingly that if she was carrying it in her handbag it must be of some importance to her, so he set off to close the distance that had opened up between them.
His prey was a small slight young woman but she covered the ground quite quickly regardless, Chris was a foot taller with longer legs and yet he was still struggling to catch her.
Lindsay had noticed the man as they passed by, and she thought him quite handsome, and was at the time a little disappointed that they weren’t going the same way.
But when she noticed that he had changed direction and was following her, she didn’t think him quite so handsome.
As pretty as she was from the front he had to say she had a very nice rear aspect and those busy little legs of hers were really very attractive.
As Lindsay walked faster so did he and she was walking as fast as her little legs could carry her and she thought she would easily reach the exit from the park where there would be more people around before he caught up with her.
But then her legs began to tire and suddenly it was like she was walking through treacle and he was gaining on her with every stride.
Chris called after her as he got closer but she had earpieces in so she couldn’t hear him.
She glanced over her shoulder and was alarmed to see in her peripheral vision that he was muttering to himself as he got closer.
Each small faltering step she took moved her closer to the gate and safety but she could feel his presence more and more as each second passed.
Feeling really anxious Lindsay fumbled in her handbag and was in sight of the gate just as Chris got close enough to put a hand on her shoulder and she turned around and sprayed him with Roxy’s pepper spray.
“Get away you pervert” she screamed
“What the fuck did you do that for?” he shouted as the spray began to burn his eyes
“Because you’re a pervert” she said
Chris was rubbing his eyes while still clasping the envelope.
“I was trying to give you this” he said waiving it in her direction “it fell out of your bag”
“What?” she exclaimed and snatched the envelope from his hand, she quickly read the address and then the full realisation dawned on her
“Oh God my invitation” she said “I’m so sorry I thought you were…”
“A pervert” he said “yes you did mention it”
(Part 07)
Lindsay felt terrible after rewarding the man’s act of kindness with a face full of pepper spray.
“Don’t rub them you’ll just make them worse” she advised and then produced a small bottle of water from her bag
“This will help” she said and splashed water in his enflamed eyes “it also helps if you blink a lot”
“What helps is not getting sprayed in the first place” he corrected her
“Yes, sorry again” she said “but I was scared, it looked like you were chasing me”
“I had to chase you, you were like a whippet” he said
“And you were muttering to yourself” she said defensively
“I wasn’t muttering to myself” Ken said “I was trying to speak to you but you had earphones in”
“Oh dear” she said “I really did get it wrong didn’t I?”
“That will teach me to mind my own business in future” he said
“Oh don’t say that” she implored “It was really sweet of you to try”
And she gave him the most dazzling smile which even through bleary eyes made up to some degree for the discomfiture.
“Let me make it up to you” she said “let me buy you a drink”
“I thought you were going to a party” he reminded her
“Oh yes, you’re right” she agreed “I am, I forgot”
“It’s not a problem” he said “I’ll be fine”
“I can take a plus one” she said
“No really you don’t have to do that” Chris said
“Not that I would be allowed into the Palladium anyway”
“Why? Have you been barred?” she asked
“No nothing like that” he said “I’m not wearing anything pink”
“Well that’s not strictly true” Lindsay said with a giggle “You haven’t seen your eyes”
“You should see them from this side” he said and winced
“So will you come?” she asked
“That depends” he replied
“On what?”
“A couple of things” Chris explained
“Which are?”
“Firstly on whether or not you have any more weaponry in that bag of yours” he said
“No you’re quite safe I’m all out” Lindsay said with a laugh “and what’s the second thing?”
“Will you hold my arm because I really can’t see very well?”
“Oh God what have I done” she exclaimed “yes that’s the least I can do”
“Ok then it’s a deal” he said amiably
As they walked arm in arm down to the Palladium Lindsay felt rather pleased with herself, she had a great looking guy on her arm, in fact a really good looking guy, a real head turner.
Although in truth the head turning might have had something to do with his pink eyes but nonetheless he was turning heads.
And on top of being handsome he was a gentleman and she didn’t meet many of them.
She would have had to admit it was an unconventional way to snag a man but “all’s fair in love and war”.
Thank God for Roxy and her pepper spray.
All she had to do now was use her charms on him to make sure she got a more conventional date with her pink eyed good hearted Gentleman who she hoped could be her Mr Right.
It was Saturday night in Mornington-By-Mere and goods friends Roxanne Kincaid-Smith, Lindsay Cooper and Rosie Parsons were sitting in the bar of the Old Mill Inn discussing their plans for the Bank Holiday.
All three of the girls were born and bred in the village but since starting out on their chosen careers they didn’t get together as often as they would have liked due shift patterns for Rosie and Roxy and the on call Rota for Lindsay.
At 26 Lindsay was a year older than Police Woman Roxy and a year younger than Nurse Rosie.
She lived in The Close at number 4, with her parents Roy and Sally and two younger brothers John and David.
She was a Veterinary Nurse with the Jeffrey and Teague Veterinary Practice which had been fulfilling the Veterinary needs of the Finchbottom Vale inhabitants since God was a boy and it was still going strong.
She split her time between the Vets in the village, the Hospital in Shallowfield and assisting Vets on farm visits.
She liked working in Mornington because it was only a five minute walk to work and more importantly because she had a bit more discretion and latitude to make decision than she did in Shallowfield.
Of the two senior partners in the practice, Robin Jeffrey was now retired and living in Dulcet’s Mill, one of the three remaining Mornington Windmills.
Which meant for the most part it was just her and the other senior Ian Teague who she liked very much and Hayley Gwilym who was becoming a close friend.
The only downside to her dream job happened to be that her on call Rota meant she didn’t get to see her best friends regularly enough for her liking.
But a three day window opened up in which all three friends were off duty and furthermore without any other commitments in their diaries, an event rarer than hen’s teeth, so they all decided to make the most of it.
The fact that the three days happened to fall over the Bank holiday weekend was just the icing on the cake.
They had already eaten a sumptuous meal at the Old Mill Inn and followed that up with a significant amount of alcohol which influenced their decision making significantly.
But a decision had to be made, as they had signed up for the Sharpington Day Parade on Bank Holiday Monday.
It was a Charity event which raised tens of thousands of pounds every year much of which was collected by volunteers rattling tins along the route.
And traditionally the majority of volunteers took part in fancy dress and it was that element of the Parade which was vexing the three friends as they didn’t know what to go as.
“It needs to be something different” Lindsay said
“It needs to be something memorable” Roxy added
“I know just the thing” Rosie Parsons suddenly announced
“What?” the other two asked
“Golliwogs”
“What?” the two repeated
“Brilliant eh” Rosie said
“Are you mad?” Roxy asked with alarm “I’m a serving Police Officer”
“So?” Rosie asked
“It’s a bit “out there”” Lindsay pointed out
“Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“Adventure?” Roxy said “They’ll hang me out to dry”
“Oh God just because you wear blue serge knickers doesn’t mean you can’t have a laugh” Rosie said “Besides who’s going to recognise you under the makeup?”
“Oh I don’t know” Roxy said doubtfully
“We could carry tambourines so people will think we’re minstrels” Rosie suggested
“I’m not sure people will see the distinction” Lindsay added
“Oh come on you two it’ll be fun” Rosie said encouragingly
“I’ll remember that when I’m working as a security guard for Quid Busters” Roxy retorted
“Don’t be such a drama queen” Rosie said
“So are you two in or not?”
“Count me in” Lindsay said with bravado and turned her eyes on Roxy
“Ok I’m in” she agreed reluctantly
(Part 02)
In the cold light of day when they surfaced on Sunday afternoon the girls had serious doubts about the wisdom of dressing as Golliwogs for the Sharpington Day Parade but none of them voiced their concerns as they didn’t want to appear wimpy in front of the other two.
The drive over to Sharpington to register was completed largely in silence as they were so hungover from the night before.
Unfortunately it was a trip they had to make, as volunteers for the fundraising effort for the Parade had to register on Sunday afternoon where they would also pick up collection tins.
Fortunately those participating in fancy dress were not required to notify the organisers in advance what they planned to dress up as or to provide a photograph either which was just as well really due partly to the Non PC nature of what they had in mind but mainly as they didn’t know the precise details themselves.
As they walked quietly along the promenade towards the organizers marquee in Jubilee Park the three of them still had great unvoiced misgivings about the costumes.
“I really don’t think we should be doing this” Lindsay said to herself, she was particularly concerned because of the fear of losing peoples good opinion of her, it was very important to her what people thought of her.
But as they turned up one of the lanes they spotted something that put all their minds at rest.
They came upon a shop selling a mixture of the usual seaside novelties along with a selection of fancy dress items such as clown masks and reversible wigs.
“That’s perfect” Rosie said holding a clown mask in her hands “No one will see the black makeup under this”
“And these are just what we need” Lindsay said picking up a wig which was black on one side and red or white on the other.
“I think we might just get away with it” Roxy said and as they left the shop with their purchases their collective mood had lightened appreciatively.
They continued their walk up to Jubilee Park and duly registered and were quite surprised at how quickly it was all completed and it was only just over an hour later when they were heading back down the lane again carrying their collection tins.
The journey home was much more typical for them than the earlier one was with all three of them having found their voices again and for the most part they were all speaking at the same time.
But amidst all the incessant chatter, during which it would have appeared to the casual observer that they were all talking and no one was listening, they formulated a plan.
They would drive down from Mornington to Sharpington at “sparrows fart” as Rosie described it and go straight to the Whitecliff Hill Caravan Park where Lindsay’s Aunty Lynn had a static caravan, which she seldom used, but then she did live on the Shore of Teardrop Lake in the Dancingdean Forest, so why would you leave that for a caravan in Sharpington.
Lindsay had already spoken to Aunty Lynn and got her permission although she didn’t say what she and the others were planning to do.
(Part 03)
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.
Which 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 a 21st century roller coasters but still fun.
But on Bank Holiday Monday the town was taken over by the Sharpington Day Charity Parade.
The road leading to the coast was very busy and even leaving Mornington at the crack of dawn didn’t speed their journey any, as a lot of the roads in Sharpington were closed to the public which slowed their progress, until they reached the outskirts of the town where they turned off and circled around and then up to Whitecliff.
When they had finished changing and had made their faces up they put their clown masks on and the red or white side to their wigs, Roxy plumped for the white while Rosie and Lindsay chose the red.
The clown masks were made from latex and were designed to fit right over the head but because it was still summer and they were wearing nylon wigs they decided to cut most of the back out and put some strategically placed holes in the face.
They were concerned that if their heads sweated too much the black face would run, they needn’t have worried.
To avoid having to black up everywhere they all wore long sleeved tops and gloves and bright red silk scarves around their necks.
The wigs covered their ears so they didn’t need to do them and the clown mask covered everything else.
They were all dressed in Red, White and Blue of some description but Lindsay was wearing a blue t-shirt, a red flared skirt and white tights.
Lindsay was a girlie girl and liked to dress like one whenever possible because in her work her clothes were very utilitarian and quite unfeminine.
In addition they all wore substantially sized bum bags to carry some essential items for the day.
Lindsay the biggest of all of them despite her being the smallest, and hers was full to over flowing with beauty products because she had no idea what harm the black makeup was doing to her skin.
When they joined the parade they were about six or seven floats from the front and Roxy was hoping they could get round without having to expose themselves as Golliwogs.
The atmosphere was amazing and they were really enjoying themselves, and they had almost forgotten what they had planned to do.
But as they approached the Pier Rosie gestured to the other two and they stepped through the crowd and went into the ladies and when they immerged five minutes later their clown masks had gone and their wigs had been reversed and they all looked like Al Jolson.
“What the hell am I doing?” Lindsay asked herself as they ran back through the crowd
Their arrival was greeted with a huge cheer from the throng as they took up their positions and they collected as much money in ten minutes as Golly’s as they had all the while they were clowns.
But their success was short lived because after about one hundred yards the procession passed by the end of what was known locally as pub crawl alley because in that street, that lead from the promenade to the outskirts of town, had a totally of 27 pubs and clubs in it.
And it was from one of those pubs that a small group of inebriated afro Caribbean patrons saw them and took exception at what they saw and amidst shouts of abuse and threats of physical violence Rosie decided that discretion was the better part of valour and shouted to her friends
“Quick leg it”
(Part 04)
When the balloon went up, the three girls all ran in different directions and unknown to them the group of pursuers were halted in their tracks when the appreciative crowd put themselves between them and their prey, but not being aware of that fact, as they never looked back, the girls just ran hell for leather like startled deer.
Lindsay was small and slight and was possessed of whippet like speed and of the three of them she was the most confident that she wouldn’t be caught and furthermore she knew precisely where she was going.
She sprinted onto the Pier and ran the full length until she reached the steps that led down to the fishermen’s deck which she knew would be deserted at that time because the tide was out.
Lindsay sat on a bench and opened the zip on her bum bag and with the aid of a compact mirror, cotton wool and her cleansing lotion she made quick work of the black face makeup.
Once that was achieved she set about remaking up her face again to complete the transition from one of the Black and White Minstrels into pretty white girl.
The latter taking little effort as she was a pretty girl and Lindsay was a girlie girl who always liked to dress like one whenever possible because in her work as a veterinary nurse her clothes were very utilitarian and quite unfeminine.
There was only so much you could do in green wellies and waterproofs.
Admittedly it took a little more effort now that she was twenty six than it did when she was twenty five.
Not that she was particularly vain it was just that she didn’t think she would catch Mr Right wearing moleskin trousers and wellies and she was looking for Mr Right but had as yet had no success.
Once her face was done and she’d made the best she could of her blonde hair under the circumstances, she attended to her clothes.
Unfortunately she had snagged her white tights on the way down the steps so they had to go.
The red flared skirt was fine but her blue t-shirt was a bit sweaty from her run, luckily she had a white vest top in her bag so she changed into that, then all that was needed was a squirt of perfume and she was done.
Her discarded tights and the used cotton wool all went in the bin and everything else was returned to her voluminous bum bag.
After that she just had to wait for one of the others to ring her.
She had texted them both but as yet had not got a response so she just kept waiting and after half an hour her patience was rewarded when Rosie called.
Rosie had spoken to Roxy already and so they arranged to meet up by the entrance to the Pier.
When she reached the entrance Rosie was already there waiting and Roxy was approaching the Pier hand in hand with a man.
“Lucky cow” Lindsay said as she gave Rosie a hug then Roxie left the mystery man on the periphery and the three reunited girls silently hugged and then they found their voices and for the most part of the next five minutes they were all speaking at the same time.
When the chattering huddle broke up Roxy introduced Lindsay and Rosie to her man, Richard and as the last of the floats had gone past they all walked together up to Jubilee Park to hand in their collection tins.
(Part 05)
Roxy and Rosie had to be back at work the next day so they drove back to Mornington that night but Lindsay had the rest of the week off so she stayed on at her Aunty Lynn’s caravan for a few extra days.
Roxy wasn’t really comfortable leaving her on her own but as she worked at Sharpington Station she pledged to check up on her during the week but just to be on the safe side she gave Lindsay her pepper spray just to be on the safe side.
Lindsay didn’t feel at risk, she had after all stayed in the caravan on her own on many occasions and she knew the people in the vans either side of her.
One of the reasons Lindsay wanted to stay on at the caravan after the Bank Holiday was to have some quiet time to herself away from the hubbub in the Cooper household.
As much as she loved her family, to spend four days on her own in a caravan was bliss.
Even if she spent the time catching up with her reading with the only thing for company being the sound of the September rain beating on the roof, which it did for three days.
On Friday the weather improved which was just as well as the other reason she had stayed on in Sharpington was because she was had been invited to the 30th birthday party for one of the vets she worked with, Hayley Gwilym, at the Palladium Ballroom on the promenade.
She spent most of Friday afternoon getting ready, but was still late leaving and set off from the caravan just after 8.00pm.
It was a safe walk down to the town of Sharpington from Whitecliff as it was along a well-used road which was busy during the day and very well lit at night.
Lindsay entered Jubilee Park a little after 8.30pm, she was apprehensive about walking through the park at dusk but she was late for the party so she had no real choice.
She walked hurriedly and that brisk pace was as a result of her tardiness and her unease in equal measure.
Her invitation to the party stated, which sat in her bag, in no uncertain terms that the theme for the evening was a simple one.
Entry to the Palladium Ballroom, even with an invitation, would only be granted providing the bearer was wearing pink and the more pink the better.
Which was why Lindsay was wearing a pink dress, pink shoes, had a pink ribbon in her hair and carried a pink handbag, she was even wearing pink underwear but she didn’t intend showing that to all and sundry.
Chris White was heading in the opposite direction to Lindsay on his way home from work and couldn’t help but notice the girl in the pink dress.
He always noticed pretty girls, especially blondes, and he guessed from the colour of her outfit exactly where she was headed.
He had seen a lot of similarly dressed men and women in and around town and a lot of them where heading into the Palladium Ballroom.
As he passed her on a parallel path she reached into her bag for her mobile phone and as she pulled it out she also pulled out a small pink envelope with it, which fell silently to the floor.
(Part 06)
As Lindsay strode purposely on through the park she was totally oblivious to the fact that she something had fallen from her bag.
So Chris hurried to the point where he had seen the envelope fall.
He picked it up and saw it was addressed to Miss Lindsay Cooper, 4, The Close, Mornington.
“That’s interesting” he thought, she only lived two doors away from his Uncle Andy.
He didn’t look at the contents of the envelope but thought quite understandingly that if she was carrying it in her handbag it must be of some importance to her, so he set off to close the distance that had opened up between them.
His prey was a small slight young woman but she covered the ground quite quickly regardless, Chris was a foot taller with longer legs and yet he was still struggling to catch her.
Lindsay had noticed the man as they passed by, and she thought him quite handsome, and was at the time a little disappointed that they weren’t going the same way.
But when she noticed that he had changed direction and was following her, she didn’t think him quite so handsome.
As pretty as she was from the front he had to say she had a very nice rear aspect and those busy little legs of hers were really very attractive.
As Lindsay walked faster so did he and she was walking as fast as her little legs could carry her and she thought she would easily reach the exit from the park where there would be more people around before he caught up with her.
But then her legs began to tire and suddenly it was like she was walking through treacle and he was gaining on her with every stride.
Chris called after her as he got closer but she had earpieces in so she couldn’t hear him.
She glanced over her shoulder and was alarmed to see in her peripheral vision that he was muttering to himself as he got closer.
Each small faltering step she took moved her closer to the gate and safety but she could feel his presence more and more as each second passed.
Feeling really anxious Lindsay fumbled in her handbag and was in sight of the gate just as Chris got close enough to put a hand on her shoulder and she turned around and sprayed him with Roxy’s pepper spray.
“Get away you pervert” she screamed
“What the fuck did you do that for?” he shouted as the spray began to burn his eyes
“Because you’re a pervert” she said
Chris was rubbing his eyes while still clasping the envelope.
“I was trying to give you this” he said waiving it in her direction “it fell out of your bag”
“What?” she exclaimed and snatched the envelope from his hand, she quickly read the address and then the full realisation dawned on her
“Oh God my invitation” she said “I’m so sorry I thought you were…”
“A pervert” he said “yes you did mention it”
(Part 07)
Lindsay felt terrible after rewarding the man’s act of kindness with a face full of pepper spray.
“Don’t rub them you’ll just make them worse” she advised and then produced a small bottle of water from her bag
“This will help” she said and splashed water in his enflamed eyes “it also helps if you blink a lot”
“What helps is not getting sprayed in the first place” he corrected her
“Yes, sorry again” she said “but I was scared, it looked like you were chasing me”
“I had to chase you, you were like a whippet” he said
“And you were muttering to yourself” she said defensively
“I wasn’t muttering to myself” Ken said “I was trying to speak to you but you had earphones in”
“Oh dear” she said “I really did get it wrong didn’t I?”
“That will teach me to mind my own business in future” he said
“Oh don’t say that” she implored “It was really sweet of you to try”
And she gave him the most dazzling smile which even through bleary eyes made up to some degree for the discomfiture.
“Let me make it up to you” she said “let me buy you a drink”
“I thought you were going to a party” he reminded her
“Oh yes, you’re right” she agreed “I am, I forgot”
“It’s not a problem” he said “I’ll be fine”
“I can take a plus one” she said
“No really you don’t have to do that” Chris said
“Not that I would be allowed into the Palladium anyway”
“Why? Have you been barred?” she asked
“No nothing like that” he said “I’m not wearing anything pink”
“Well that’s not strictly true” Lindsay said with a giggle “You haven’t seen your eyes”
“You should see them from this side” he said and winced
“So will you come?” she asked
“That depends” he replied
“On what?”
“A couple of things” Chris explained
“Which are?”
“Firstly on whether or not you have any more weaponry in that bag of yours” he said
“No you’re quite safe I’m all out” Lindsay said with a laugh “and what’s the second thing?”
“Will you hold my arm because I really can’t see very well?”
“Oh God what have I done” she exclaimed “yes that’s the least I can do”
“Ok then it’s a deal” he said amiably
As they walked arm in arm down to the Palladium Lindsay felt rather pleased with herself, she had a great looking guy on her arm, in fact a really good looking guy, a real head turner.
Although in truth the head turning might have had something to do with his pink eyes but nonetheless he was turning heads.
And on top of being handsome he was a gentleman and she didn’t meet many of them.
She would have had to admit it was an unconventional way to snag a man but “all’s fair in love and war”.
Thank God for Roxy and her pepper spray.
All she had to do now was use her charms on him to make sure she got a more conventional date with her pink eyed good hearted Gentleman who she hoped could be her Mr Right.
Mornington-By-Mere – (22) Destiny
(Part 01)
Twenty three year old Lisa Kincaid-Smith lived at number 4, Windmill Cottages in Mornington-By-Mere with her parents and two older siblings.
She was five foot eight with luscious thick ginger curls tumbling down onto her shoulders and mesmerizing green eyes, a curvaceous and perfectly proportioned figure.
Lisa also had 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)
After Lisa Kincaid-Smith left University with her degree she took a job as Trainee Accountant at the Mornington Brewery.
She could have done better financially had she gone to a bigger company in Purplemere or Finchbottom but she had no desire to leave the village that she had lived in all of her life and saw no reason to do so merely for a larger pay check.
The job at the brewery however came at a price, because she was straight out of University she needed to gain some actual experience in a much busier office than the Mornington Brewery could offer.
So a 3 year placement was arranged with Curtis and Scott in Purplemere, which was only a relatively short drive from Mornington.
She would also sit additional exams over that time and at the end of the three years she would work full time at the Brewery.
Paul Douglass had spent years looking for “the one” but consistently failed to locate her.
Even years of running the gauntlet of well-meaning friends, throwing what they considered to be suitable candidates in his path, had not paid dividends.
The problem was that he was too fussy, apart from her needing to be a tall redhead, “the one” also needed to meet his usual criteria, attractive, kind, loving and have a true heart.
But in addition he was searching for someone with a moral compass, a practicing Christian preferably, a church goer at least, though not someone permanently on their knees, a devout girl but not a pious one.
He wanted a girl who was sexy but not tarty, attractive but not vain, feminine and possessed of modesty.
A girl with good dress sense, free of tattoos and body piercings, well mannered, and lady like, definitely not someone who drank from a bottle.
However with every passing day Paul had become convinced he was looking for someone who didn’t really exist.
Lisa Kincaid-Smith met most, if not all, of Paul’s criteria, she was blessed with great kindness, a quality in his opinion unfailingly underappreciated in the modern world, a shining girl, intelligent and academically bright, and inclined towards an unquenchable work ethic.
Attractive but not showily so, Lisa was certainly feminine, red haired and tall.
But there was something else in her nature, just simple goodness perhaps, which was a quality that Paul had not bargained for nor included in his wish list.
Lisa believed in goodness and everlasting life and of course good and evil.
Lisa too was searching, she was searching for a man who shared her faith and who put others before himself, a good man, a dependable man and she had sought him all of her life.
So you would have thought that, considering they were in reality searching for each other, and that they were actually perfect for each other, they might have realised by that point that the other actually existed.
The fact that they didn’t was all the more surprising when you consider that they worked in the same building for the same company even if it was only for only two days a week.
(Part 03)
Paul had worked for Curtis and Scott, in Abbottsford, since he left school aged sixteen.
He started in the yard, fetching and carrying, loading and unloading, but that was almost 10 years ago.
Now he was assistant manager and ordered others to fetch and carry, leading him ultimately to spend more and more time behind a desk and glued to the phone.
He was more accustomed to working on the shop floor and in the yard amongst hard working, hard living, and hard talking men and was all too familiar with their baser natures.
But somehow he had always managed to raise himself above the mire and walked the Christian path.
Yet he had always had to walk that righteous path alone.
Lisa worked for Curtis and Scott two days a week as part of her Accountancy training, she spent the first year of her placement in the smaller Purplemere office.
But when the recession hit, the company had to rationalise and the Purplemere office closed.
There were redundancies as well, in both towns but Lisa was lucky enough to be able to transfer her placement to the head office.
The recession also hit Paul pretty badly, he had to watch a lot of good people made redundant, and his workload had to increase to make up the short fall in manpower.
This also meant that what little free time he had previously was as a result greatly reduced.
Lisa was not wholly happy with her situation either, when it first happened she was sad because she had made some good friends in the Purplemere office, and then she’d had to travel much further to get to work in Abbottsford in an office where she knew nobody.
But it was only two days a week and she decided to stay at a motel for one night to minimise the travel but that wasn’t the worst of it.
She was placed in a busy office on the Finance and Admin floor, among a gaggle of chattering young girls, she thought they were girls even though they were older than she was.
She thought they were girls compared to her as they were younger in outlook and very immature.
Lisa was instantly unpopular with them, firstly because she was replacing someone they liked, someone nearer their own age, someone equally vacuous and with equally loose morals who let them skive and secondly because she was a grownup in comparison who was good at her job.
Lisa was instantly at odds with the silly tarty girls in their short skirts and low cut tops, loudly sharing the intimate details of their latest indiscretions with anyone in earshot.
“Look at me, look at me” they seemed to scream “everybody look at me”
She thought they were the type of girls who ended up drunk in the gutter showing the world their manicured intimate parts.
She despised them for their baseness and they despised her for her quiet efficiency and mocked her for her diligence, in fact they openly mocked her to her face.
They also called her names behind her back, steel draws, the nun, little miss cherry and Mary, as in the Virgin Mary.
However all of this was water off a ducks back to her, she just ignored them and got on with her job, and her diligence didn’t go unnoticed.
(Part 04)
She was always the go to girl when there was something important to be done because of her work ethic.
Lisa didn’t mind being the odd one out or being the butt of her colleague’s jokes, she was happy with her life choices and knew that brash tarty girls come and go and in the 18 months she was in Abbottsford, she was a constant and she now had the experience and the qualifications were not far away.
She looked forward to a time when she would share her work place with people of like mind and her life choices would be the norm, which she knew she had waiting for her at the Brewery.
As for the men in the building they all seemed perfectly happy with empty headed tarts, in fact the tartier the better seemed to make them most content.
Paul worked on the fifth floor in the logistics department but he occasionally had to go down to Finance and Admin on the third floor, to discuss invoices or purchase orders but he only ever noticed the tarty girls he never saw Lisa working diligently at her desk with her head down.
He treated all the women on the third floor with equal contempt and he tarred them all with the same brush.
For 18 months Paul Douglass and Lisa Kincaid-Smith worked in the same building, if only for two days a week, and they never met until one Friday evening in October.
Paul had been working late again and got in the lift on the fifth floor at 7.55pm.
He was not in the best of moods as he had not intended to work that late, he had somewhere to be, and he didn’t want to be late.
Lisa had worked later than planned as well, as it was Friday the lazy little princesses had all finished early in order to go out and get drunk to point of unconsciousness, or shit faced to use the modern parlance, before having a knee trembler in a bus shelter, or behind the bins.
But whatever state they would end up in they had left her to do all the reports.
She stayed as late as possible but then she had to go, so she packed up and grabbed some folders and headed towards the lift.
Lisa would ordinarily take the stairs but with her arms full of homework for the weekend she decided to take the lift.
She pressed the button and a moment later the doors opened and she stepped in.
The lift wasn’t empty, a man that she vaguely recognised was in there already and he had a bundle of files under his arm too, she gave him a cursory glance, he definitely wasn’t one of the dogs that sniffed around her office but she must have seen him somewhere.
When the doors opened and Lisa stepped in, his heart sank but then on closer inspection he thought that she wasn’t dressed like one of the third floor sluts and she didn’t smell like a tarts handbag either so he thought he could cope.
It was a shame really because physically she ticked all his boxes, it was just a shame she was from the 3rd floor.
“At least there’s only one of them” he thought to himself “and its only three floors”
The doors closed and the lift started to descend, but after a few seconds the car came to a juddering halt.
(Part 05)
The doors closed and the lift started to descend, but after a few seconds the car came to a juddering halt.
“Oh no” Lisa said “Why today?”
She said it without anger or fear and that impressed Paul it was said more out of exasperation.
“Somewhere to be?” Paul asked and pressed the alarm
“Yes” she replied and put her things on the floor but didn’t elaborate.
He supposed she was going clubbing or something equally frivolous.
“How many of you are there?” A voice asked
“Two” Paul replied
“Ok, we’ll have you out as soon as possible”
It was Paul’s turn to put his things on the floor and then he sat down beside them.
“I hope it won’t be too long” he said
“Why? Do you have somewhere to be?” she asked and also sat down
“Yes I do” he replied “and I particularly wanted to be there on time”
“Oh yes? What is it a new restaurant?” she asked
“Of a sort” he replied
“What about you?” Paul asked “are you off clubbing?”
“Certainly not” she said with disgust “I have more important things to do with my time”
Paul was just digesting her answer and considering his next question when the lift came to life again and continued its descent.
“Excellent” He said and stood up, then he offered his hand to Lisa
“Quite so” she agreed and took his hand “Thank you”
“My pleasure” he said
And by the time they had gathered their things together the lift had reached the ground floor and the door opened.
Paul stood aside and let her exit first which he thought she would probably consider an act of sexism.
“Thank you” she said appreciating the gentlemanly gesture and added
“I hope you make it on time”
“You too” he replied
They quickly got to their respective cars and headed in opposite directions.
Lisa lived the closest or at least the motel was the closest and she was fed, showered, changed and on her way out the door before Paul had even reached his front door.
Ordinarily she only stayed at the motel on Thursday night but because she had something on that night which she knew would finish late, she stayed an extra night.
When Paul got home, he closed the door behind him and went straight to the kitchen and made himself a sandwich.
He ate it far too quickly to be healthy and was still chewing as he stepped into the shower and he knew he would have heartburn for the rest of the night.
He dried himself and dressed in warm clothes and was then on his way.
Paul parked the car in Church Street and checked his watch as he hurriedly walked toward his destination, and he was twenty minutes late.
He looked through the window and saw it was quite busy and a queue had formed.
Paul walked around to the side door and walked in and undid his coat as he did so
“I’m terribly sorry I’m so late” he said “I got stuck in a lift”
“Well they all say that” she said as she turned around and Paul saw that it was the girl from the lift.
They stood smiling at each other for a moment as they realised that their mutual life long search for “the one” had come to an end at the South Abbottsford soup kitchen.
Twenty three year old Lisa Kincaid-Smith lived at number 4, Windmill Cottages in Mornington-By-Mere with her parents and two older siblings.
She was five foot eight with luscious thick ginger curls tumbling down onto her shoulders and mesmerizing green eyes, a curvaceous and perfectly proportioned figure.
Lisa also had 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)
After Lisa Kincaid-Smith left University with her degree she took a job as Trainee Accountant at the Mornington Brewery.
She could have done better financially had she gone to a bigger company in Purplemere or Finchbottom but she had no desire to leave the village that she had lived in all of her life and saw no reason to do so merely for a larger pay check.
The job at the brewery however came at a price, because she was straight out of University she needed to gain some actual experience in a much busier office than the Mornington Brewery could offer.
So a 3 year placement was arranged with Curtis and Scott in Purplemere, which was only a relatively short drive from Mornington.
She would also sit additional exams over that time and at the end of the three years she would work full time at the Brewery.
Paul Douglass had spent years looking for “the one” but consistently failed to locate her.
Even years of running the gauntlet of well-meaning friends, throwing what they considered to be suitable candidates in his path, had not paid dividends.
The problem was that he was too fussy, apart from her needing to be a tall redhead, “the one” also needed to meet his usual criteria, attractive, kind, loving and have a true heart.
But in addition he was searching for someone with a moral compass, a practicing Christian preferably, a church goer at least, though not someone permanently on their knees, a devout girl but not a pious one.
He wanted a girl who was sexy but not tarty, attractive but not vain, feminine and possessed of modesty.
A girl with good dress sense, free of tattoos and body piercings, well mannered, and lady like, definitely not someone who drank from a bottle.
However with every passing day Paul had become convinced he was looking for someone who didn’t really exist.
Lisa Kincaid-Smith met most, if not all, of Paul’s criteria, she was blessed with great kindness, a quality in his opinion unfailingly underappreciated in the modern world, a shining girl, intelligent and academically bright, and inclined towards an unquenchable work ethic.
Attractive but not showily so, Lisa was certainly feminine, red haired and tall.
But there was something else in her nature, just simple goodness perhaps, which was a quality that Paul had not bargained for nor included in his wish list.
Lisa believed in goodness and everlasting life and of course good and evil.
Lisa too was searching, she was searching for a man who shared her faith and who put others before himself, a good man, a dependable man and she had sought him all of her life.
So you would have thought that, considering they were in reality searching for each other, and that they were actually perfect for each other, they might have realised by that point that the other actually existed.
The fact that they didn’t was all the more surprising when you consider that they worked in the same building for the same company even if it was only for only two days a week.
(Part 03)
Paul had worked for Curtis and Scott, in Abbottsford, since he left school aged sixteen.
He started in the yard, fetching and carrying, loading and unloading, but that was almost 10 years ago.
Now he was assistant manager and ordered others to fetch and carry, leading him ultimately to spend more and more time behind a desk and glued to the phone.
He was more accustomed to working on the shop floor and in the yard amongst hard working, hard living, and hard talking men and was all too familiar with their baser natures.
But somehow he had always managed to raise himself above the mire and walked the Christian path.
Yet he had always had to walk that righteous path alone.
Lisa worked for Curtis and Scott two days a week as part of her Accountancy training, she spent the first year of her placement in the smaller Purplemere office.
But when the recession hit, the company had to rationalise and the Purplemere office closed.
There were redundancies as well, in both towns but Lisa was lucky enough to be able to transfer her placement to the head office.
The recession also hit Paul pretty badly, he had to watch a lot of good people made redundant, and his workload had to increase to make up the short fall in manpower.
This also meant that what little free time he had previously was as a result greatly reduced.
Lisa was not wholly happy with her situation either, when it first happened she was sad because she had made some good friends in the Purplemere office, and then she’d had to travel much further to get to work in Abbottsford in an office where she knew nobody.
But it was only two days a week and she decided to stay at a motel for one night to minimise the travel but that wasn’t the worst of it.
She was placed in a busy office on the Finance and Admin floor, among a gaggle of chattering young girls, she thought they were girls even though they were older than she was.
She thought they were girls compared to her as they were younger in outlook and very immature.
Lisa was instantly unpopular with them, firstly because she was replacing someone they liked, someone nearer their own age, someone equally vacuous and with equally loose morals who let them skive and secondly because she was a grownup in comparison who was good at her job.
Lisa was instantly at odds with the silly tarty girls in their short skirts and low cut tops, loudly sharing the intimate details of their latest indiscretions with anyone in earshot.
“Look at me, look at me” they seemed to scream “everybody look at me”
She thought they were the type of girls who ended up drunk in the gutter showing the world their manicured intimate parts.
She despised them for their baseness and they despised her for her quiet efficiency and mocked her for her diligence, in fact they openly mocked her to her face.
They also called her names behind her back, steel draws, the nun, little miss cherry and Mary, as in the Virgin Mary.
However all of this was water off a ducks back to her, she just ignored them and got on with her job, and her diligence didn’t go unnoticed.
(Part 04)
She was always the go to girl when there was something important to be done because of her work ethic.
Lisa didn’t mind being the odd one out or being the butt of her colleague’s jokes, she was happy with her life choices and knew that brash tarty girls come and go and in the 18 months she was in Abbottsford, she was a constant and she now had the experience and the qualifications were not far away.
She looked forward to a time when she would share her work place with people of like mind and her life choices would be the norm, which she knew she had waiting for her at the Brewery.
As for the men in the building they all seemed perfectly happy with empty headed tarts, in fact the tartier the better seemed to make them most content.
Paul worked on the fifth floor in the logistics department but he occasionally had to go down to Finance and Admin on the third floor, to discuss invoices or purchase orders but he only ever noticed the tarty girls he never saw Lisa working diligently at her desk with her head down.
He treated all the women on the third floor with equal contempt and he tarred them all with the same brush.
For 18 months Paul Douglass and Lisa Kincaid-Smith worked in the same building, if only for two days a week, and they never met until one Friday evening in October.
Paul had been working late again and got in the lift on the fifth floor at 7.55pm.
He was not in the best of moods as he had not intended to work that late, he had somewhere to be, and he didn’t want to be late.
Lisa had worked later than planned as well, as it was Friday the lazy little princesses had all finished early in order to go out and get drunk to point of unconsciousness, or shit faced to use the modern parlance, before having a knee trembler in a bus shelter, or behind the bins.
But whatever state they would end up in they had left her to do all the reports.
She stayed as late as possible but then she had to go, so she packed up and grabbed some folders and headed towards the lift.
Lisa would ordinarily take the stairs but with her arms full of homework for the weekend she decided to take the lift.
She pressed the button and a moment later the doors opened and she stepped in.
The lift wasn’t empty, a man that she vaguely recognised was in there already and he had a bundle of files under his arm too, she gave him a cursory glance, he definitely wasn’t one of the dogs that sniffed around her office but she must have seen him somewhere.
When the doors opened and Lisa stepped in, his heart sank but then on closer inspection he thought that she wasn’t dressed like one of the third floor sluts and she didn’t smell like a tarts handbag either so he thought he could cope.
It was a shame really because physically she ticked all his boxes, it was just a shame she was from the 3rd floor.
“At least there’s only one of them” he thought to himself “and its only three floors”
The doors closed and the lift started to descend, but after a few seconds the car came to a juddering halt.
(Part 05)
The doors closed and the lift started to descend, but after a few seconds the car came to a juddering halt.
“Oh no” Lisa said “Why today?”
She said it without anger or fear and that impressed Paul it was said more out of exasperation.
“Somewhere to be?” Paul asked and pressed the alarm
“Yes” she replied and put her things on the floor but didn’t elaborate.
He supposed she was going clubbing or something equally frivolous.
“How many of you are there?” A voice asked
“Two” Paul replied
“Ok, we’ll have you out as soon as possible”
It was Paul’s turn to put his things on the floor and then he sat down beside them.
“I hope it won’t be too long” he said
“Why? Do you have somewhere to be?” she asked and also sat down
“Yes I do” he replied “and I particularly wanted to be there on time”
“Oh yes? What is it a new restaurant?” she asked
“Of a sort” he replied
“What about you?” Paul asked “are you off clubbing?”
“Certainly not” she said with disgust “I have more important things to do with my time”
Paul was just digesting her answer and considering his next question when the lift came to life again and continued its descent.
“Excellent” He said and stood up, then he offered his hand to Lisa
“Quite so” she agreed and took his hand “Thank you”
“My pleasure” he said
And by the time they had gathered their things together the lift had reached the ground floor and the door opened.
Paul stood aside and let her exit first which he thought she would probably consider an act of sexism.
“Thank you” she said appreciating the gentlemanly gesture and added
“I hope you make it on time”
“You too” he replied
They quickly got to their respective cars and headed in opposite directions.
Lisa lived the closest or at least the motel was the closest and she was fed, showered, changed and on her way out the door before Paul had even reached his front door.
Ordinarily she only stayed at the motel on Thursday night but because she had something on that night which she knew would finish late, she stayed an extra night.
When Paul got home, he closed the door behind him and went straight to the kitchen and made himself a sandwich.
He ate it far too quickly to be healthy and was still chewing as he stepped into the shower and he knew he would have heartburn for the rest of the night.
He dried himself and dressed in warm clothes and was then on his way.
Paul parked the car in Church Street and checked his watch as he hurriedly walked toward his destination, and he was twenty minutes late.
He looked through the window and saw it was quite busy and a queue had formed.
Paul walked around to the side door and walked in and undid his coat as he did so
“I’m terribly sorry I’m so late” he said “I got stuck in a lift”
“Well they all say that” she said as she turned around and Paul saw that it was the girl from the lift.
They stood smiling at each other for a moment as they realised that their mutual life long search for “the one” had come to an end at the South Abbottsford soup kitchen.
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