“Bollocks”
Tom Nightingale said at the sound of the doorbell and struggled to his feet to
answer it.
He
grabbed his crutches and headed slowly towards the door just as it rang again
“Alright
I’m coming” he said
When he
opened the door, he found a man and woman standing the other side of it, late
twenties he estimated.
“I’m
Roland” the man said proudly thrusting his chest out “I do the garden”
“Oh” he
replied
The attractive
woman who was standing just behind him said
“What he
means is that he is a very good gardener and he’s looking for work”
Roland,
he ascertained had a learning disability of some sort and the woman with him he
presumed was his carer.
Tom
wondered how many houses they had visited before his and how many times she had
had to explain.
“Well” He said, and he saw
her shoulders slump as she anticipated another rejection.
“I am sorely in need of a
gardener”
On hearing his statement, she
straightened up and the broadest smile crossed her face and Roland looked at
her and beamed
“Thank you” she said and
squeezed Roland’s arm proudly
“Thank you” Roland said and
held out his hand for Tom to shake
“I can’t afford to pay you a
lot” Tom said
“That’s not a problem” she
replied for him
“And you may not want the job
when you see the state of garden, it’s a mess” Tom added
“I will do it” Roland said
holding his head high “I don’t mind a mess”
“Go through the side gate and
I will meet you out the back” he said
He closed the door and made
his way slowly to the back door which he had just opened when Roland and his
carer walked through the side gate.
“Oh dear” she said as she saw
the overgrown jungle that was Tom Nightingales garden
“Lots of work for me” Roland
said enthusiastically and went exploring in the undergrowth.
“Thank you” she said
“What for?” Tom asked
“For giving my brother a
chance” she replied
“Nonsense
I should be thanking you” he said and winced
“Are you
ok?” She asked
“Yes,
it’s just that I’m not supposed to be putting my weight on it” he replied
“Then
you need to go in and sit” she said with authority
“I’ll be
fine” Tom replied
“Sit”
she insisted “We don’t tell patients for no reason”
“We?”
Tom queried
“I’m a
nurse” Julia said and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
She
settled him in his chair
“Now
stay there and rest your leg”.
“Yes
nurse” he responded
“Julia”
she corrected him
“I’m
Tom”
“Can I
make you a drink?” she asked
“Only if
you’re going to join me” Tom replied
“I
thought you’d never ask”
“Great”
he replied “Black coffee for me please”
She went
to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with the drinks which she set
down on the small table and she sat in a vacant chair.
“So,
what happened?” she asked indicating my leg
“Car
versus lorry” he said “guess which one I was driving”
“How
long ago?”
“Two
years” Tom replied “and several operations”
“Any
more planned?” Asked Julia
“No,
they have done everything they can, so whatever I have when this has healed, I
will have to live with” He said soberly
“Is that
why the garden is so overgrown?” she asked
“Only partly”
he replied “I inherited the house from my aunt Rose who sadly spent the last
three years of her life in a home, so it was already fairly overgrown when I
moved in, but it was only two months after that when I had the accident, so
it’s at least six years since anything meaningful was done out there”
“Mind
you I don’t know how much better it would be if I hadn’t had the accident” he
continued “I don’t have green fingers at all”
“Nor me”
she said “but Roland is a whizz”
Tom
looked at her and saw the pride in her pretty smile as she mentioned Roland.
“Roland
loves gardening, when he lived with mum he was always out there pottering about
or in the greenhouse”
Julia
almost cried at the thought of a happier time in their lives Tom could see her
eyes begin to moisten.
Just at
that moment through the French window he saw Roland reappeared from the
wilderness and he was grinning broadly.
“He
looks so happy” Julia said, and she almost cried again
I edged
forward on my seat in readiness to stand.
“Where
do you think you’re going?” she said sternly “You need to stay seated”
“Yes
nurse” he said obediently, and he watched Julia with an appraising eye as she
walked to the French doors and opened them.
Roland
immediately stepped forward and hugged his sister
“Well
what do you think?” Tom asked while still admiring Julia’s figure.
“It’s
big Julia” he said laughing
“Can you
help me with then?” Tom asked
“Oh yes”
Roland replied eagerly
“Then
come and shake on it” Tom said, and Roland strode forward and shook Tom’s hand
as Julia looked on proudly.
“The
only snag is that I don’t have much in the way of tools” Tom admitted
“I have tools” Roland said
“Ok then, when would you like
to start?” Tom asked
“Now” he replied “I can start
now”
“I think tomorrow would be
better as we have disturbed Mr...”
“Nightingale” Tom said “But
please call me Tom”
“We have
disturbed Mr. Nightingale enough for today” she continued
“Ok
Julia” Roland agreed
“Tomorrow
then” Tom said
“Tomorrow
then” Roland echoed
“We will
see you tomorrow then, we’ll let ourselves out” Julia said and steered Roland
out the door “because Tom needs to rest his leg” She directed her eyes in Tom’s
direction as she said it and Tom said
“Yes
nurse”
The next
morning Tom got himself going early and showered and shaved and put on a smart
shirt.
He wanted
to give a better impression of himself than he had the day before if Julia was
going to be coming with Roland.
He was
sure he remembered her say “We will see you tomorrow” But then by the time nine
o’clock came and went he began to think he had imagined it.
However,
at 9.15 he heard the side gate go so he got up and opened the French doors, and
with the aid of his crutches he stepped ungracefully onto the patio just as the
lovely Julia walked through the gate.
She was
wearing a bright floral summer dress presumably as it was going to be a nice
day, whatever the reason he was pleased with the outcome.
She
stepped to one side and held the gate as the front wheel of a wheelbarrow
appeared, followed by the wheelbarrow itself, full of tools, and Roland who was
pushing it.
“My word
you are well equipped” Tom said and blushed as he realized he was looking at
Julia as he said it.
“Yes, I
am” replied Roland
“We’re
not too, early are we?” Julia asked “He’s been ready since 7 o’clock”
“Not at
all” Tom replied
Roland
was wearing work boots and overalls and was raring to go, Julia on the other
hand, dressed in her summer frock and sandals was not.
“So, are
you gardening or cheering from the sidelines?” Tom asked
“I’m
definitely cheering” she replied with a giggle.
“Well we
can sit out here if you’d like I’ve got chairs and stuff in the garage” Tom suggested
“That
would be lovely but let me and Roland get the chairs” she said
“Ok I’ll
put the kettle on” he said
“If you
must” she said disapprovingly
The
kettle had just boiled when Julia came into the kitchen
“Ok, you
can leave that to me now” she said and ushered him out onto the patio, where he
found Roland had just finished dusting down the chairs.
Tom
found himself unable to fathom out the best way to seat himself in the chair,
it was one of those chairs that when seated you lifted the arm rests and the
back went down and the foot rest came up.
But he
couldn’t get the chair to stand still while he lowered himself into it.
“Haven’t
you sat down yet?” Julia asked
“It’s
not for the want of trying” Tom replied, and she laughed as he tried again and
failed.
“Roland
will help” she said “Give me your crutches”
He
complied and then Roland scooped him up in his arms like he was a child, he was
immensely strong, and lowered him gently into the chair.
As
Roland toiled in the jungle, they knew he was there even though they couldn’t
see him, there were tell tail sounds of a man at work, Julia and Tom sat on the
patio and chatted
In truth
Tom initially listened more than conversed as his mind wandered and he ended up
just looking at her.
He
thought she had a pretty face and he loved her bobbed soft brown hair and the
way it framed her face perfectly.
He also
looked at her eyes and pronounced them to be hazel.
“So,
you’re a nurse” he said as she caught him watching her
“Yes”
she replied taking a sip of her tea.
“I’m a
palliative care nurse at the Pineridge Hospice”
“Wow
that’s challenging” he responded
“Well I
was in the Emergency Department at the Winston Churchill for five years.
Dealing
with the same people time and time again having done the same thing that got
them in there the previous time and knowing that after you patched them up they
would be back again the next month for the same reason, that was challenging” She
said
“So,
what prompted the change?” Tom asked
“It was
when my mum was in the Hospice and I saw the dignified way they dealt with the
poor souls who were on the edge of the abyss and the comfort they bestowed upon
them as they slipped away, and I thought that a much more important role than
patching up the drunks and addicts”
“And
when you’re not working you help your brother” Tom said
“I try
to” she said
“He has
a real passion for gardening and he’s good at it, really good, but you’re the
first person to give him a chance, I can’t tell you how grateful I am”
“I’ll be honest with you
Julia when I initially said yes it was because I could see how your spirits sank
when you thought I was going to say no, but also I thought that, well the
garden is such a mess, what harm could he do, not a particularly noble reason”
“Being honest is noble” she
said
After a few moments of
silence Tom asked
“So how did he come to be
living with you?”
“Well my
Dad worked all his adult life for Lord Mornington, as a chauffeur for most of
that time and when he died his Lordship graciously allowed my mum to stay on in
the tied house until her death.
When she
died Roland had to leave and so he moved in with me”
But I
only have a two-bedroom flat and not even a communal garden, and Roland really
misses his garden”
“Any other
family?”
“Yes, I
have an older brother, Victor, but he’s a waster, I wouldn’t have let Roland go
to him even if Victor had suggested it, which he didn’t.”
“What
about you? Any family”
“No Aunt
Rose was the last” he said
“I’m
sorry to hear that”
“Aunt
Rose loved her garden she would hate to see it like this” Tom said
“But here
we are, about to restore it to its former glory”
I looked
at my watch and realized it was time for lunch
“Let me
go and make some lunch” Tom suggested
“Nonsense
you need to stay off the leg, I’ll go and get something”
She
offered
Tom
opened his mouth to protest but Julia gave him a look that said her mind was
made up, then she leant towards him and whispered
“Roland
will want chips anyway”
“Oh” Tom
said
“What do
you want for lunch Rollie?” she shouted
“Chips”
he replied instantly
“Chips
it is them” Tom said “I’ll get my wallet”
Julia gave
him another look.
After
lunch Roland went back to work and Julia and Tom resumed their conversation
“What
about an allotment” Tom suggested
“We
tried that” Julia said
“They
said they were full, but I know they were lying”
Tom
raised an eyebrow of doubt
“They
are still advertising for new members in the local shop, they just didn’t want
a retard in their society”
She
almost cried but she managed to compose herself.
“So,
what do you do?” she asked
“I’m a
web design consultant” Tom said
“And who
do you work for” she asked having no idea what a web design consultant was.
“I’m a
freelance” he said “so fortunately I can work from home”
“Well
that’s handy” she said encouragingly
“Yes,
but even so I’ve lost a lot of work because of this” he said patting his leg “with
operation’s or hospital appointment and physio”
“That’s
not so good” Julia said
“No, but
I’m lucky really” Tom said “lucky I have some regular clients who have been
very understanding and of course I’m lucky not to be dead”
By the
end of the afternoon Roland had made significant progress cutting back the
shrubbery but there was still a long way to go.
It was a
big garden as you would expect with a 1930s detached house, it was 60 feet wide
and more than treble that in length
Tom’s Aunt
Rose always had it in very good order, and it was her pride and joy.
Roland
was loading his tools back into his wheelbarrow
“Put
your tools in the garage Roland” Tom said
“Then
you won’t need to bring them with you every day”
“That’s
a good idea, isn’t it, Roland?” Julia said
“Yes, it
is” he agreed
“Will I
see you both again tomorrow?” Tom asked hopefully, as Tom was sad to see her go
at the end of the day, it had been such a pleasant day, it had been quite a while
since he had had any meaningful conversation, especially with such lovely
company.
“Yes, if
that ok” Julia said
“I’ll
see you both tomorrow then”
The next
day was spent in the same pleasant fashion as the first one was, with Julia and
Tom relaxing and poor Roland doing all the work and all three of them loving
every minute of it.
Julia didn’t come with
Roland every day she still had to work and if she was on nights then she would
be sleeping during the day.
Then there were days when she
had housework to do or errands to run, shopping, paying bills etc, those were
the days Tom came to dislike intently.
Some days of course Tom
wouldn’t be at the house to see her if she were there because he had errands to
run or hospital appointments or physio, but they both secretly loved it when
they were both there together.
After a few weeks Roland had
cleared the garden right down to the end and cut all the weeds bramble and
nettles down to ground level and was left with two enormous piles of garden rubbish
one of them being the decapitated shrubbery.
“What now?” Julia asked
“Well I suppose we can compost
the green stuff” he said “In the bottom corner”
Roland nodded
enthusiastically
“What about the rest? Can we
burn it?” Julia asked
“Well we could, but I think we’ll
hire a chipper” Tom replied
“A
what?” she queried
“A woodchipper”
he said
“What’s
that?”
“Well
it’s a machine that you stick the woody stuff in, and it mashes it all up into
chips” Tom said
“Rollie
likes chips” Roland said and laughed, and Tom and Julia joined in.
“So,
it’s a big boy’s toy” Julia said when they had stopped laughing
“Yes”
Tom admitted “but you can have a go”
“Ok,
where do we get one?” she said
As the weeks had gone by Tom’s
mobility improved and he was able to ditch the crutches in favour of a single
walking stick and it was when he was at that stage and was at his least gimpy
that he chose to ask Julia out.
It was a very hot day, but
that wasn’t why he was sweating he had decided that he would ask her that day,
Roland was way down the end of the garden
Sorting the compost and Tom
was pacing up and down the patio, she had phoned to say she was coming straight
round from work, and the fact that when Julia arrived and she was still wearing
her uniform, not one of the sexy “Carry on Nurse” type uniforms but it was
still very nice, merely made him sweat even more.
“Would you like a drink
Julia?” he asked “There’s wine in the fridge”
“I’d love one” she said and
plonked herself down in a chair.
He got the wine from the
fridge and poured two glasses instantly drained one and filled it again, and
they sat on the patio in the evening sunshine drinking their wine
“Julia I was wondering” he
began
“And feel free to say no, but
um I thought that well um, if you were um, not on nights maybe, if you thought
perhaps um,
we might um, well you know, go
out for dinner, maybe,
On Friday”
She had been staring at him
for every tortuous second of his inept babbling, looking at him like he was a gibbering
idiot, which of course wasn’t far from the truth
“I’d love to” Julia replied
putting him out of his misery
“I thought you were never
going to ask”
“Well I’ve been meaning to
for a while” Tom explained
“What made you ask my now?”
she asked, “Was it the uniform?”
Tom and Julia had made love
for the first time after their second date and it didn’t go at all to plan, as
at a crucial point in the preceding’s Tom’s bad leg suddenly cramped up and he
fell out of bed.
When Julia had stopped
laughing and Tom’s leg had returned to some semblance of normality they tried
again.
“I’ll go on top this time”
Julia suggested
“Good idea” Tom agreed “then
if you get cramp, you can fall out of bed, and I can laugh at you”
They finally completed the
act an hour later.
It was after they had been
going out for a couple of months when summer had given way to autumn, when there
was a ring on the doorbell.
Tom was working on his laptop
in the lounge while Roland was laying turf in the garden.
Tom got up from his seat and
paused briefly to marvel at what a great job Roland had done before heading
towards the front door.
He opened it to find a short-emaciated
man standing there, he was pretty sure he didn’t know him but there was
something familiar about him.
“Yes” Tom said
“My name is Victor Wollert”
he said “Can I come in”
Tom realised why there was
something familiar about the man he was Julia’s older brother.
“No, I don’t think so” Tom
said
“Ok I’ll say what I have to
say on the doorstep” Victor said
“Go on then” Tom said
“I hear you’re exploiting my
brother Roland” he said “Using him like a slave”
“Well not that it’s any of
your business” Tom said “But I pay Roland to do my garden”
“You can’t give him money he’s
not responsible enough to have money” Victor said
“Is that right?” Tom asked
“You can pay it to me in
future” he said “and I will look after it for him”
“I don’t think so” Tom
replied
Victor leant in towards Tom
and whispered
“You will pay the money to me,
unless you want all you neighbours to know you’re taking advantage of a mong”
“A mong?” Tom said with
disgust “you have no idea who or what your brother is, do you? Now get lost”
Tom slammed the door shut and
immediately phoned Julia.
They hadn’t heard from Victor
anymore after that day and they assumed that was the end of the matter until
two months later.
Which happened to be Julia’s
day off and she and Tom were looking forward to a day together, in truth Tom
was just contemplating a cosy siesta with the lovely Miss Wollert when the doorbell
rang.
Tom opened the door and was
greeted by a rather rotund middle-aged woman with ridiculous hair.
“Maureen Cooper” she said
holding up an ID badge “Social services, can I come in”
Tom invited her in and when
Julia had made drinks, they all sat in the lounge.
“We have had a report that
you are using a vulnerable person as slave labour” Mrs Cooper stated
“I can guess who that was”
Julia said with disgust “my brother Victor”
“I can’t divulge the name of
the complainant” she said
“Bloody nerve” Tom said “He
was here demanding that I pay Roland’s wages to him, I refused which is why
he’s made a complaint”
“So, he hasn’t done work for
you?” Mrs Cooper asked
“Oh yes he has worked for me,
but I pay him” Tom said
“And how much do you pay him?”
she asked
“He gets minimum wage” Julia
interjected
“Can you prove that?” She
asked
“As a matter of fact, I can”
Tom said and stood up “I am a bit OCD when it comes to records, so yes I can”
Tom reached up to the top
shelf and took down an A5 notebook.
“This shows everything” Tom
said “This, lists all his hours, how much he earned and at the back are the
receipts for the deposits into his account”
“As you can see at the
beginning” Julia said “He did a lot more hours, but they have tailed off now
because he is only doing maintenance”
“We have before and after
pictures which shows how much he has achieved” Tom said
“What are these figures in
red?” Mrs Cooper asked and Julia and Tom both laughed
“Do you see that jar on the
sideboard” Tom said indicating a China fruit jar “That contains the money I
overpay him, if I pay him for more hours than he has worked, he puts in in the
jar”
“And those are the figures in
red” Julia said “he is no fool and he only wants to be paid for the work he has
done”
Mrs Cooper was silent for a moment
as she studied the rest of the book and then she asked
“And how many hours is he
working today?”
“Oh, he’s not working for me
today” Tom said
“But isn’t that him in the
garden?” Mrs Cooper asked
“Yes, that’s Roland” Julia
said
“And he’s gardening” Mrs
Cooper persisted
“Oh yes always” Tom replied
“For you” She said
“No” Tom Replied “Today he’s
gardening for himself”
“I don’t understand” said Mrs
Cooper
“Julia and Roland live in a
flat and have no garden, the local allotment society won’t rent him a plot
because he has learning difficult so I have given him half of the garden to
work for himself, in fact its Roland’s garden now, not mine”
“As you can see, he loves
gardening” Julia said proudly
“I can see that, but you must
appreciate how it looks, a man giving half of his garden to a virtual stranger”
Mrs Cooper said with eyebrows raised
“What if he was going to be
my brother in law?” Tom said looking at Julia
“What?” Mrs Cooper asked a
little confused
“Are you proposing to me?”
Julia asked
“What?” Mrs Cooper asked
again even more confused
“Yes” Tom said
“Not the most romantic way to
be asked” Julia added
“Well I’ve been trying to ask
all week and couldn’t get it out” Tom said
“You know what I’m like”
“Well in that case” she said “I
will have to marry you”
“You will?” Tom said and they
stood in the middle of the room and kissed
“Case closed then” Mrs Cooper
said
There only remained one
obstacle to Julia and Tom’s engagement, namely Roland, if he wasn’t happy then
Julia couldn’t marry him.
So it was on a crisp autumn
morning that Tom and Julia had chosen to ask Roland a question when they were
all sitting in the lounge, Roland was a little fidgety as he wanted to get back
to the garden and his eyes kept wandering to the window
“Would you like to live here
Roland?” Tom asked
“No” he replied very
definitely
“Why not?” he asked
“Julia will be lonely without
me” Roland said “I don’t want her to be lonely”
“I don’t want her to be
lonely either Roland” Tom said
“Which is why I thought it
would be nice if we all lived here together”
“Ok then” he said and went
back to his garden
Tom turned to Julia and said
“Ok then”
