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.
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.
The
youngest of whom were twins, and the oldest of them, by two minutes was Katie.
They were
not identical twins, but she and Elise were as alike as made no difference.
On Easter
Monday she got on the train bound for Sharpington and in pursuit of a highly
prized item, well to her anyway.
She was
going to track down the love of her life, Danny Perry.
She lost her heart to him when she was only six
and he was the new boy who arrived at the school after the Christmas break.
Although she was instantlly taken with him,
indeed she was completely smitten, it was love at first sight, but he didnt
speak to her for two years, but thats boys for you.
Techniccally it wasnt the first time he saw her
they had been at nursery school together but his parents moved away before they
started school propper, but she didnt remember him.
But as his cousin Sue Peach was one of her best
friends she got great intel about him, what he was doing who he was seeing,
what music he liked what films she went to see.
Once they got to secondary school she was still
carrying a torch for him, but their contact was still minimal and although she
didnt really speak to him, she did see alot of him, around
school especially, though they were in different streams, because he was a
brainiac like her twin sister.
But if she saw him in town or in the cinema queue or
at the Lido he would always smile at her because he knew she was his friends
sister.
But she never had the courage to speak to him,
so she would just smile back.
Sometimes she would be with girlfriends and
sometimes with a boy and sometimes he was with mates and other times he’d be
with a girl.
She had her fair share of boyfriends but none of
them were serious, it was just a question of trying someone on for size to see
if they fit, and some of them could have been a good fit if she given them a
chance but her problem was that how ever good the fit was, they never measured
up against Danny.
But the older she got the braver she got, and
Katie eventually worked up the courage to speak to him and they went on to
speak a lot once the ice was broken.
Katie was firm friends with his cousin Susan,
but she didn’t know at the time that she knew she carried a torch for Danny,
but it was Susan who got them both involved with St Mildred’s Choir, in an
effort to get them together.
On Easter Monday Danny was fishing off the end
of Sharpington Pier, it wasn’t his favourite fishing retreat, he preferred to
fish Purplemere, at his preferred shady spot by the point on the south side of
the water, that was the place he felt most at peace and where he was often lost
in dreams.
But it was the closed season, so he had to
settle on the Pier, but it was still peaceful enough on the fishermen’s deck.
Katie got off the train at Sharpington station
and set off directly for her destination.
The day before, Easter Sunday, she had been at
a birthday party in the village, and it was at the party where she got the
information that led her to the Pier.
Because Danny Perry was also at the party and
she heard him say to his cousin that he was planning a fishing trip the next
day.
So, she took the decision that if she was
going to get him she was going to have to do the running.
This was not one of Katie’s strong suits, but
she was galvanised into action by two things, firstly that all five of her
sisters now had men in their lives and she didn’t want to be left out, but the
main reason that she had decided on such a bold course of action was that she
had also overheard Mandy Reed say that she was going to ask Danny out when they
went back to college the next day, and she wasn’t going to let that happen, she
really hated Mandy, not a very Christian attitude, she knew that, especially
for a Vicars daughter but that was how she felt.
When she reached the promenade, she was
suddenly overcome with panic, what if Mandy also found out he was going to
Sharpington, unlikely she thought but nonetheless she decided to run.
Katie was small and slight and was possessed of whippet like speed and she
sprinted onto the Pier and ran the full length until she reached the top of the
steps that led down to the fishermen’s deck.
Once she
was there she sat on a bench and questioned the wisdom of running to the Pier
as she was now hot and bothered.
Fortunately,
she had a solution to her appearance and picked up her bag and went to the
ladies.
Firstly,
she splashed water on her red face, then after drying it again she opened her
bag and with the aid of its contents made quick work of making herself
respectable and remade up her face.
Her blue t-shirt was a bit sweaty from her run, however she had a white
vest top in her bag, so she changed into that, then all that was needed was a
squirt of deodorant and a couple of dabs of perfume and she was done.
It was an unseasonably warm sunny day and
Danny was sitting on a bench looking at the blue sea, he had cast out and was
enjoying the gentle breeze off the water.
“Hello” A soft voice said, and as
he looked around he saw Katie standing with the sun at her back, or at least he
assumed it was her, because with the breeze stirring the strands of her
strawberry red hair and the golden sun behind it she appeared to have a fiery
halo that left her face in shadow,
But her silhouetted shape left him in no doubt.
“Hi” he responded
“I thought it was you” she said
The sun was temporarily obscured by a cloud and
he could see her lovely face for the first time.
“Have you caught anything?” she asked as she sat
down on the bench next to him.
“Not yet” he admitted, then asked
“So, what brings you here?”
“I remembered you saying yesterday that you were
coming fishing and as I was on the Pier I thought I would come and say hello
before I go home” she replied
“It’s a bit out of your way isn’t it?” he asked
already knowing the answer
“Yes” Katie admitted gazing out across the sea “but
I like it here”
“Me too” he concurred wistfully, but he didn’t care what had brought her there.
They sat there in silence for quite a few
minutes just enjoying the scene until she asked
“Have you been fishing long?”
“What today? Or in general?” he responded, and she laughed
“Both then” she said and laughed again
“Well today, about 2 hours before you found me”
he told her “and generally since I was seven when my Dad first took me with him”
“Do you still go with him” she asked
“Oh yes” he replied, “What about you?”
“Me? I’ve never fished” she replied
“Would you like to have a go?” Danny asked
“Yes please” she answered enthusiastically
“Ok then” he said as he reeled in the line, then
he quickly discarded what was left of the bait and opened his bait box.
“I can’t put the wriggly thing on” she said
horrified
“It’s ok I’ll put the bait on” he replied and
smiled at her
I baited the hook and then stood up
“Ok we need to stand up to do the next bit” he said,
and Katie got quickly to her feet.
He showed her the basic principles of casting
and then he stood behind her as she held the rod in her right hand.
“God you smell good” he thought to himself “Your
hair, your skin, your clothes”
He breathed in her perfume deeply then
internally chastised himself “Concentrate”
Danny put his hand on hers and indicated the
best place to hold the grip.
“Now pull some line out with your other hand” he
instructed, and she did as he said, and Danny took his right hand off hers,
“Right you’re on your own” he said and rested
his hands on her middle.
Swiveling at the waist Katie swung the rod to
the right and then snapped it forward and the baited hook sailed through the
air and plopped a respectable distance from the pier.
It was a good job he was holding her waist
though, otherwise her momentum may have had her following the hook into the
water,
But Katie just thought it was good that he was
holding onto her.
“I did it” she squealed
“Great cast Katie” he said indicating his spot on the bench
“now comes the patient bit, you sit down and watch”
“No, I’ll be fine were I was” she said
“Nonsense fishermen’s privilege” he insisted
“Well thank you” she said perching on the seat staring intently at the line
while he did the same with her legs.
“Why is the end of the poley thing wobbling?”
she asked concentrating intently on the task while he was concentrating
intently on her legs.
“That means you have a fish” he replied
“What do I do?” she yelled excitedly
“Strike” Danny said
“What’s that?”
“Jerk the rod up sharply and then reel it in”
He stood up as she reeled in frantically and
looked down at her and she was the picture of concentration with her tongue
poking out the corner of her mouth,
She noticed he was watching her and withdrew her
tongue and smiled at him and then returned her full attention to her task and
poked her tongue out again.
The line was getting close to the pier and in
its wake, there was definitely a fish
“Should I stand up?” she asked
“If you want to” he replied so she stood up and reeled furiously for the last
few feet
“Now lift the rod up slowly” he instructed and as she lifted the rod up
vertically the fish left the water and swung towards her, Danny reached out and
grabbed the line and wriggling on the hook was a little Dab.
“And there’s your fish” he said, and she beamed
broadly
“No, I can’t touch it” Katie squealed as he
offered the fish to her
“What kind of fisherwoman are you?” he asked
teasingly “you can’t put the wriggly thing on the hook and you won’t touch the
fish”
“I'm a girlie fisherwoman obviously” she said and giggled, and Danny carefully
unhooked the fish
“What are you going to do with it?” she asked
frowning
“Let it go” he said and climbed down towards the
water and put back in the sea and it swam away.
When he climbed back up she beamed him a happy
smile and squeezed his arm.
They sat on the fishermen’s deck for several
hours, doing more talking and laughing than fishing.
Katie looked at her watch and suddenly sighed.
“I have to go” she said “I said I’d be back by 4”
“If you give me a few minutes to pack up I’ll
come with you” he suggested not wanting the day to end
“Great” she said
So, he quickly packed away and put his tackle
bag over his shoulder and with his rod bag in his hand they set off, firstly up
the step, then along the Pier to the promenade and then up to the Station.
Danny couldn’t remember a time he had enjoyed a
fishing trip so much, and she couldn’t remember a better trip to the seaside.
They both thought it had been a great Easter Monday
and they enjoyed the walk to the Station and the train journey back towards
Brookley.
He didn’t want the day to end but he knew as
they reached Old Halt that time was running out because when they got to
Brookley and left the station they would have to go their separate ways because
she would go right, and he would go left.
So, Danny knew he had about five minutes to
summon up the courage to ask her out.
The train came to a halt and they stepped onto
the platform and his mind was blank, he just didn’t know how to ask her.
Katie chatted all the way along the platform,
through the ticket barrier and when they reached the entrance he still couldn’t
think how to ask her out and they were stood on the pavement in the sunshine
and were about to part.
What he didn’t know of course was that she was
going through the same turmoil
“I really enjoyed the fishing” she said
“Me too” Danny said with his stomach in knots,
and he had just decided that he was just going to have to blurt it out and hope
for the best.
“Do you want to go to the pictures on Saturday”
she asked “The new Stars Wars is on in Sharpington”
“I’d love to” Danny said immediately relieved.
“That’s a date then” she said and sighed, then
she kissed his cheek and turned towards the Vicarage.
He felt ten feet tall as he walked the last few
hundred yards to his home and smiled to himself that the girl he had loved for almost six years since had asked him out.
She stood on the corner of the station carpark
and watched until he was out of side then she jumped up and down, and punched
the air,
“In your face Mandy Reed” she shouted.
Not very Christian and not very lady like, but
she didn’t care she had a date with Danny Perry, and the shy girl who lacked
confidence had asked him out.
But however it came about, it didnt really
matter, what mattered was that it happened and it was the begining of the love
that lasted a lifetime.
Which began on the day that Katie caught her
first fish while also catching her first and only love.
