The Finchbottom Vale
nestles comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the
rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north, and to the east 15 miles inland from
Sharpington-By-Sea, equidistant between the seaside resort and Pepperstock
Green was the rambling village of Brookley and at its heart was St Mildred’s
Church.
The villager’s spiritual needs were met by
its vicar Rev Cecil Payne
who lived at the adjacent vicarage with his wife Lily and their six unmarried
daughters, Chrissie, Daniela, Hazel, Heather, Katie and Elise.
Cecil and Lily
loved their children very much but as they reached the time in their lives when
they were nearing their sixties and they had expectations for their daughters.
For
Lily her hopes involved the grandchildren that were not forthcoming whereas
Cecil just wanted them to spread their wings, but as Easter loomed, there was
no sign of either of them getting their wish, but the power of prayer was a
wonderful thing and both parents prayed for their daughters.
They would
perhaps have been slightly encouraged by the fact that the second eldest of the
brood, Daniela, already had someone in her sights, and that was George Parnait,
the verger.
She had
been carrying a torch for him since Christmas, but she hadn’t made any
progress, despite the fact that she had volunteered for every church event,
meeting and service that she knew he would be at.
Daniela was
well placed to do that because she was employed by the church in an
administration role and one of her duties was to manage the schedules and rotas
and she cherry picked the dates to match those of George, it was unethical and unprofessional,
but she reconciled it that with the fact that it was in a good cause.
On Good
Friday they were to be working together preparing for the service.
It was an
important day in the church calendar and could either be at noon or in the evening but at St
Mildred’s it was the latter.
Which meant
they had all day to get ready and she had arranged it that way as it was
important for her to have him to herself for most of it.
On the morning of Good Friday, she was in the family bathroom at the
vicarage making the final adjustments to her appearance and she was at the
mirror pinning the final errant strands of hair into place.
Her straight honey blonde hair was tied in bun at the back, but she
always wore a fringe.
When she worked in the office she normally often wore gold rimmed
half-moon spectacles, but they were only for reading and she often just peered
over the top of them rather than keep taking them off.
But there was no need for them in the church so as she stood before the
mirror there was nothing obscuring her pleasant unblemished face, a face that
turned to pretty when she smiled.
Daniela stepped backwards so she could get a better look at the rest of
her.
The Blue patterned dress with contrasting navy collar and cuffs was
tailored to fit and defined her figure exquisitely.
She turned sideways to get another view and scanned herself from top to
bottom.
She was not unhappy with the overall appearance, she was a little
broader in the beam than she would have liked, her legs were good, she liked
her legs even in thick black tights and sensible shoes they were nice.
“Not bad” she said and nodded at her reflection to acknowledge she had
passed muster.
“Not a bad looking woman eh?” she was thinking as she walked across to
church, then she frowned, “so why am I still living at home?”
She often wondered that, the problem was when she worked at the church
and worked so hard in the Church community she found it difficult to have a
social life and meet new people who weren’t already part of her church family.
But though she often wondered why she was alone she wasn’t unhappy, she
didn’t feel diminished by her circumstances, and would have remained content
had it not been for the arrival in the village of the new Verger.
However, her mother was not content with her and her sisters remaining
unattached and unwed and kept telling her and her older sister that their
biological clocks were ticking.
But she was not interested in George Parnait because of her mother’s
nagging or a feeling that she was in a race against time she really wanted him,
and she hadn’t felt like that since she was still at school.
So, she had woken that morning in a particularly determined frame of mind,
so she said to herself
“Well if you’re going to do something, do it today”
As she entered the Church the just after 8 am she found it was a hive of
industry, with a team of parishioners, among other things, dusting, polishing
and mopping,
Emily Sanders, who she worked with in the office gestured her over
“Morning” she said
“Hi Emily” she said and handed her a folder “here is the list of who’s
doing what, I’m going to work with George to unpack the paraments”
“I thought you might be” Emily said and giggled which made Daniela blush
and made Emily giggle again.
All though Daniela
had mentioned paraments specifically, on Good Friday it is preferable that
there are no paraments, banners, flowers, or decorations except, for a
representation of the way of the cross.
The Lord's table,
pulpit, and other furnishings, normally adorned, were to be bare of cloth,
candles, and anything not actually used in the service.
Her next move was to win George over with her carefully rehearsed charm
offensive and she found him standing by the dais, he was a tall upright man a
few years her senior with slightly thinning hair and the beginnings of a
paunch, and when he turned around she noticed that in his arms he carried, the
baby Jesus.
And her charm offensive fell at the first hurdle when she exclaimed
“Why are you holding the Christ child? We are supposed to be depicting
the way to Golgotha, not the nativity”
“We have the wrong boxes or at least one wrong box” he replied
“Oh no” Daniela
winced “What are we missing?”
“The cloths” he
replied
The cloths were crucial
to the Good Friday service, as the cross was to remain visible, but the figure
on it and all the other permanently fixed images of Christ had to be veiled by
scarlet coloured cloth as by partly concealing the cross, the veil also calls
attention to it.
“Well that won’t do”
she said and took out her mobile phone and walked to one side.
She was phoning
Wellham Farm, where the church rented one of the Wellham Barns as a storage
facility.
It was about four
miles from the village and they stored a variety of things there, Santa’s
Grotto, all the stalls for Fete’s and Bazaars, processional items, the nativity
scene and costumes of all shapes sizes and uses.
Five minutes later she returned to find George
still cradling the divine infant.
“They’ve found the missing box” she announced and
smiled when she noticed he was still holding the babe “it’s at Wellham Barns”.
“Great give me directions and I’ll go and get it”
Daniela was about to agree and then she remembered
the other item on her agenda, so she relied
“You’ll never find it with my directions, we’ll
both go, you can drive and I’ll nav”
“Suits me”
“That’s settled then, now pop the little fella back
in his box, and well return him to the stable” she said and laughed at her joke
The journey to the farm was a quiet one, on Georges part because he was
trying to take in as many landmarks as he could which he would remember for
next time and for Daniela because her mind went blank.
Once they reached the farm George got the errant box from the boot while
she went in search of its replacement.
Sam Wellham, who managed
the storage side of the farms business handed Daniela the advice notes, one for
the box that they were taking and one for the box they had returned, then she
handed it back and said goodbye as she got back into the car.
On the return journey she was struggling to find a way to start the
conversation which she hoped would lead to him asking her out, but she drew a
blank but then George suddenly asked.
“So, are you involved in the Holy Saturday Vigil?”
“No, no I’m not” she replied with relief and added hopefully “I’m free
all day”
“What about you?” she added already knowing the answer as she had made
sure they were both off.
“No, I’m spending the day with my son” he replied proudly
“Your son?”
“Yes, Kevin”
“I didn’t know you had a son, how old?” she asked
“He’s eleven”
“He doesn’t live with you then?” she said
“No, he’s staying with my Parents in Purplemere” he explained
“Not with his mum?” she asked wondering where she might be lurking
“His mum died last year” he replied sadly “A car accident”
“I’m sorry” she said and then waited for him to unburdened himself with
the tale about the accident.
She had been for a birthday treat to Tipton Spa
with her sister and were on the way home.
The accident happened just as the sun was
setting behind them and a car came around the bend on the wrong side of the
road and hit them head on.
The car rolled several times and ended up on its
side in a ditch.
“That’s awful” she said
“The two of them and the other driver died
instantly” he said and after a brief pause he added
“I blame myself of course”
“That’s silly” she said
“Is it?” George contradicted her “I bought her
that Spa break”
“You feel guilty because you lived, but that
isn’t the same thing as blame” she insisted
“Just guilt then?” he asked
“Yes” she said “and that’s in the past, you have your son and he is the present
and the future”
“What kind of future without his mother?” he
said bitterly
“The future has infinite possibilities, but the
past is only ever the past” Daniela said
“That’s very profound” he said
“What for a Vicars daughter you mean?” she said
“No, I mean it, it was very profound” he said
and gave the weakest of smiles
“Well I’m very deep” she said
“So why is he living with your parents?” she
asked “He must miss you”
“I miss him too, but we thought it best if he
stayed at the same school with all his friends until they break for the summer
holidays then he’ll be starting big school and he’ll be the new boy along with
everybody else”
“Do you talk to him about his mum?” she asked,
and he nodded
“All the time”
“That’s precious”
“Yes, it is” he responded positively
“You’re a very positive person Daniela” he said
“Well I do always look for a positive in any situation” she said, and he
thought for a moment before he responded
“Well if it hadn’t been for the wrong box being delivered to the church
and our having to drive to Wellham to swap it we wouldn’t have had this chance
to talk, so that’s something of a positive”
“There you are then” Daniella said
When they got to the St Mildred’s he parked the car and retrieved the
box from the boot but before they reached the Church steps he said
“I really enjoyed our little mission today, and as I’m not driving to
Purplemere until the morning, I was wondering if you’d like to go for a meal
after the service, if you don’t have already have plans that is”
“I’d like that very much” she replied “I’ll have to go home and change
first, but yes that would be lovely”
Well the operation hadn’t gone according to plan in anyway shape or form,
but the outcome was much better than she could possibly have imagined
“Thank you, God, for your divine intervention” she said to herself and
smiled.
