The
fortunes of Shallowfield on the edge of Dancingdean Forest, had always relied
largely upon forestry and agriculture for its survival and in the post war
years with rationing and a shortage of work a lot of people moved away, to
Abbottsford, Abbeyvale and beyond and it barely survived, but by the 70s things were beginning to change, thanks
mainly to tourism and an increase in leisure time, and the fortunes of the
Sciberras family improved along with it.
Adam also
benefitted and everything in his life seemed to be perfect, a privileged
upbringing, public school and Oxbridge education, a place in the family
business, a luxurious house and a glamorous wife, but he blew it.
Apparently
having everything in life served to him on a silver platter wasn’t enough for
him as he decided he needed to have numerous meaningless relationships or more
precisely, one night stands, until he was finally caught.
So now he
was separated from his wife, estranged from his family, and reduced to stacking
shelves at the Shallowfield Village store for Anuruddha Gunasekara and living in a bed sitter above the Bengal Curry
House, and he’d never been happier, he had no responsibility, no pressures, and
no expectations.
He had
been cut off from his wealthy life style by his father in order to teach him a
lesson and he was expected to last a few days before he crawled back to the
family and begged for forgiveness, but he had been living his simple life for
three months and the thought of returning to his old life had never once
crossed his mind.
And that was before
“she” started coming into the shop a few weeks before Christmas, she was small
and fine featured with short brunette hair and a radiant smile, which he tried
desperately to ignore.
Since his spectacular
fall from grace he had chosen not to have any more dalliances, despite several
offers which he had rebuffed and he had not actively pursued anyone, or wanted
to for that matter.
She made it difficult
for him as she came into the shop every day, sometimes twice, and they always
exchanged polite conversation and a smile, but Adam tried to keep their
interaction to a minimum.
He did find out from
other members of staff that her name was Anona Rouet who lived “in” at the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel, on the edge
of Teardrop Lake, where she worked long hours as maid, receptionist,
waitress, chief cook and bottle washer, and Adam tried hard to be
disinterested.
As Adam was persona
non grata with his family he chose to work maximum hours at the shop throughout
Christmas to allow for those who did belong to functional families could feel
the benefit.
So he successfully
managed to maintain a healthy, yet polite distance between himself and Anona
all through December.
After closing the shop
on New Year’s Eve he thought he should reward himself with a beer before
turning in.
There were a glut of
pubs in Shallowfield and he had tried them all, there were three pubs at the
Teardrop Lake end of the village within five minutes’ walk of the shop, The
Woodman’s Axe, The Woodcutters Arms and The Foresters, and the names clearly
reflected Shallowfield’s dependence on forestry over the centuries, the pubs at
the other end of town had more of an agricultural flavour in their naming, The
Wheatsheaf, The Plough and the Farmers Tavern.
His favourite hostelry
was The Plough, but that was too far to walk and the end of a long day and
another one in prospect the next morning, so he decided very definitely to
restrict his choice to the forest end and plumped for The Woodcutters Arms and
was there with ten minutes to spare before the chimes and stood at the bar and
ordered a pint, and he was halfway down his pint when she appeared and as soon
as their eyes met they smiled.
“Hello” Anona said “This
is a nice surprise”
“Yes it is” he agreed
and was resigned to the fact that further resistance was futile.
“Can I get you a
drink?”
“I’m still working I’m
afraid” she replied “I get off at half 12, you can buy me one then”
She sat on the stool
next to his and he ordered her a drink.
“Large white wine
please” he said to the waiting barman.
“I’m glad you picked
this pub” she said “I suspect you would you have gone elsewhere if you’d known
I worked here”
“What makes you think
that?” he asked
“Because in the shop
you’ve always been…. Distant” she replied “or perhaps reluctant, would be more
accurate”
“Well my life has
tended to be a bit complicated” Adam said
“And you think I might
make it more so?” Anona asked
“Possibly”
“Well I can be very
uncomplicated” she said and leant in and kissed him.
In the early hours of
New Year’s Day Adam and Anona were at his bedsit and laying entwined in the afterglow
when she asked
“So what complications
are you concerned about?”
“The main one is that I’m
separated from my wife” he said
“Separated?”
“While in the process
of getting a divorce” he clarified
“I’m sorry, any
particular reason?” she asked and he laughed
“My infidelity”
“I see, singular or
multiple?”
“The latter” he
confessed
“So are you a lost
cause or is there some hope for a self-confessed adulterer?” she asked
“I don’t know how to
answer that” he said
“Well prior to us
meeting tonight did you make a New Year’s resolution?”
“I did” he replied
“What was it?” she
asked with interest
“I think I should keep
it to myself” he said
“Go on tell me” she
insisted and after a moments silence he replied
“Not to get involved with
women” He replied
As she climbed onto him
she asked
“How did that work out
for you?” Anona asked as she nibbled his ear
“And what if you were
to make one now, what would it be?” she asked
“Never to have another
one night stand” Adam replied
“This isn’t a very
auspicious start then” she pointed out
“Really? I thought
this was just our first date” he said and she kissed him
