It was the start of summer
when Danny Pellegrino drove through the country lanes of Downshire on his way to
the Dancingdean Forest.
He stopped at a petrol station on
the outskirts of Childean to fill up with fuel and to check he was on the right
road.
Danny was unfamiliar with the area and although he had a
satnav in the car he was quite frankly a bit of a technophobe and refused to
use it, except in the event of an emergency, like when he was lost.
He paid for his fuel and thanked the girl for the
directions and was soon underway again.
According to Claire, at the garage, he was less the ten
miles from his destination, Shallowfield.
Danny was thirty two years old and an Artist by profession,
and rather successful one at that.
He had only recently returned to England after working on a
large sculpture commission in Canada.
He was fortunate that he was able to turn his hand to many
artistic forms but his great passion and joy was oil on canvas, subject matter
was unimportant his taste covered all and sundry.
Unfortunately painting was not considered sexy enough by
the art world in the 21st century for him to earn a living, unless
he specialized in portraiture, so he tended to only paint for his own pleasure.
Which was why he was on his way to Shallowfield, on the
edge of Dancingdean Forest on a glorious day in May.
After nine months away on a project that was dogged with
problems and took twice as long as he planned, he found himself sorely in need
of some R&R.
His home, such as it was, was in Abbottsford where he had a
flat and a studio.
But for his R&R he had rented a cottage for the summer
in Dancingdean Forest, overlooking Teardrop Lake, where he was hoping to
reconnect with his passion for painting and re-center himself.
And after a few months of
peace and quiet he would be ready for the next project which was another
commissioned sculpture that would take him to Australia.
Unfortunately Danny hadn’t
exactly followed Claire’s directions to the letter and he ended up deep in the
Dancingdean Forest and not in the town of Shallowfield, and when after a couple
of miles it dawned on him that he had taken a wrong turn he had to choose
between turning around or pressing on.
He chose the latter and after
a couple of miles he was rewarded with some signage.
He slowed down when he saw a sign on the right hand
side of the road saying "East Lakeside" with an arrow pointing
back across the road.
He indicated left and took the turning which was
forty or so yards along the road.
It an unmade lane which led through dense forest
and was quite lumpy and bumpy and seemed to go on forever, he was glad he had
decided to hire a Range Rover.
All of a sudden he turned a corner and was
immediately upon a crossroads, so he came to a halt.
The sign post indicated the perimeter road was left
and right so he went straight on.
Immediately after the crossroads there was a fork
in the lane so he came to a halt again, the left fork was sign posted
"Lake View Cottage" while the right apparently led to "East Side
House".
The former was the cottage he was renting,
the latter was where he was to pick up the keys, so he took the right one.
He parked the car outside the large red brick
Early Victorian Villa that was East Side House.
Danny had been driving for about three hours,
so when he got out of the car he had a good stretch.
He wasn’t a big man, 5’ 8” and quite wiry,
with skinny legs that made his baggy shorts look even baggier, but he stretched
himself up to his maximum height before slamming the car door. His craggy
features and tanned skin made him look older than his thirty two years but not
drastically so.
He brushed his Sandy coloured hair off his
forehead and walked towards the house.
Danny opened the little wooden gate and took
a step onto the path.
“Can I help?” a voice said and woman suddenly
appeared from behind a shrub.
The combination of the two things in quick
succession caused Danny to momentarily leave the ground and his heart to almost
leave his chest.
“Michael Angelo” he exclaimed.
Since he left Art College, Danny had done a
lot of Art Workshops at schools and youth groups in his spare time, and he had
conditioned himself to replace all his conventional curses with the names of
Artists hence the exclamation of Michael Angelo.
“Ah, you must be the artist chap” the woman said.
She was a tall slender woman in her sixties
with grey hair and tanned skin.
“Amanda Summers” she said pulling a work
glove off and offering the un-gloved hand to him.
“Sorry if I startled you”
“Danny Pellegrino” he responded and shook her
hand
“I’ll be fine when I get my breath back”
“Follow me” she said followed by a chuckle
“and we’ll find Julia”
Julia Summers was Amanda’s sister in law and
they lived together in East Side House with their niece Penny Davies.
They found Julia in the kitchen where she was
washing vegetables at the sink.
“Julia! Mr Pellegrino is here for his key”
Amanda announced.
Julia immediately turned around, she was
almost the same age as Amanda, all bar a couple of months, but with darker hair
and a little more meat on her bones.
She quickly dried her hands and reached out one
of them to him and said.
“Mr Pellegrino how lovely to meet you”
“Call me Danny” he said “And it’s nice to
meet you too”
Just then they were joined by an attractive younger woman in her late
twenties.
“Ah Penny” Julia said “This is Mr Pellegrino who’s renting the cottage
for the summer”
Penny, a gawky and ungainly young woman, stepped forward
and appeared to trip over a sunbeam.
She then side swipe a kitchen stool, almost knocking it completely over,
but she recovered enough to take his hand.
“Hello” she said a little red faced
“Hello” he responded and smiled and thought that she had an
unconventional way of making a first impression.
Julia went in
the Range Rover with Danny as he drove up to Lake View Cottage, so she could
show him around.
But as soon as
he got out of the car he was transfixed by the scene before him.
The view of the
lake from the cottage was spectacular.
The lake was
shaped like a teardrop, hence its name, and surrounded by the ancient woodland
of the Dancingdean Forest.
It wasn’t a huge
body of water, just over two miles long and almost a mile at its widest point.
But he thought
it was simply beautiful and it remained relatively unspoilt which was the
reason he chose it.
Teardrop Lake
and the surrounding woodland was privately owned and divided into twelve
parcels, each with one significant dwelling on it although there were a number
of cottages dotted around the woods as well, some in use and some not.
It was both
idyllic and peaceful, there was little or no noise pollution and although the
lake was used there were no speed boats or jet skis, only rowing boats, canoes,
dinghies and skiffs.
As he took in
the vista of the deserted lake, he asked
“Are there ever
any boats on the lake?”
“Do you want to go on them or paint them?”
Julia retorted
“A bit of both really I suppose” he replied
“Though I’ve never sailed before”
“That’s ok, I’m
sure Penny will take you out” Julia offered
Danny gave her
a sideways look.
“Don’t worry she's
as clumsy as hell on dry land but on the water she’s as graceful as a nymph”
Danny still looked doubtful and Julia laughed
as she suggested she showed him around.
It was the first time he had seen the cottage
in the flesh, the pictures on the web gave him a pretty good idea of what to
expect but now he was there he thought it was just perfect, and the small
conservatory would be very beneficial to him on the inclement days, of which
there were bound to be a few during an English summer.
After Julia had left him alone Danny unloaded
the Range Rover and got himself settled in.
Later he sat on the terrace and made some
preliminary sketches of the lake as the sun was setting, the first of many he
suspected.
The next morning it was raining big time and
so he contented himself in the conservatory for the day and got himself
properly set up.
The day after he planned to go and get some
groceries, in the car if it was raining again and on foot if it wasn’t.
When he awoke he found the sun was shining
and it was a much more pleasant day.
He wasn’t sure how long it might last so he
had breakfast and set off just after seven on foot in the general direction of
Shallowfield.
He had looked on Google Maps the night before
and didn’t think there was too much cause for concern but he put the Satnav in
his backpack just in case.
He set off along the lane, which formed the
southern half of the perimeter road and made mental notes of interesting scenes
along the way that he might like to sketch on another day.
That was what was occupying Danny’s thoughts
as he walked along.
He was about half an hour into the walk when
the peace was suddenly disturbed by the arrival, behind him, of Penny Davies,
the gawky niece of the Summers from East Side House.
She was riding a mountain bike, and to
Danny’s mind she appeared no safer on two wheels than she did on two feet as
she braked sharply and almost ended up amongst the trees.
Fortunately she pulled up just in time.
“Are you ok?” Danny said
“Yes” she replied in an exasperated tone.
She dismounted and then caught her foot on a
tree root and stumbled.
Danny realised she was embarrassed so he
decided to quickly change the subject.
“How come you’re up and about so early?” he
asked
“Work” she replied and started pushing her
bike along the lane beside him
“Oh?” he said
“Yes, I work at the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel on
weekday mornings” Penny explained “and three afternoons a week at the
Shallowfield garden centre”
“Good for you” Danny said
“What about you? Why are you up at this
time?” she asked
“Finding my way around and doing a bit of
shopping” he said “As long as I don’t get lost”
“I’ll walk with you as far as the Lodge, you
can’t get lost after that” she offered and laughed
They walked in silence for a little way and
then he said
“Your Aunt said you might take me out on the
water”
“Really?” she said with surprise
“Yes” Danny replied
“She said you were as graceful as a nymph on
the water”
“I see” she said guessing how the rest of the
conversation had gone.
As they were in sight of the Lodge she
remounted her bike
“I don’t always fall over my feet” she said
and started peddling
“I just get nervous when I’m around new people”
“So will you take me out on the water then?”
Danny called after her as she peddled away all knees and elbows, her blonde
hair trailing in the wind.
“YES” she shouted
Danny followed the Lane past the Hotel, which
then ran parallel to the River Brooke as it flowed from the head of the lake and on towards
Shallowfield and beyond.
Penny had given him directions to the General
Store which he followed to the letter and then he bought rather more than he
intended.
He loaded his backpack to the gunwales and
bought a “Bag for Life” to take the rest.
The combined weight of his shopping was very
heavy indeed and he was sweating profusely by the time he reached the
Shallowfield Lodge Hotel on the return leg.
As luck would have it a benevolent neighbour
came to his aid, when a car pulled alongside him
“Can I give you a
lift?” asked a middle-aged lady in a nurse’s uniform.
The Samaritans
name was Kay O’Neill and she lived in Lakeside Villa, the next house along from
his cottage.
“That would be
very kind, thank you” he replied “I’m staying at...”
“I know where
you’re staying” she said “you’re the artist chap”
“Yes I’m Danny” he
said as he got in
“Nice to meet you
Danny, I’m Kay” she said
Kay worked at a
nursing home in Childean and was just returning home after a night shift.
Kay dropped him
at the head of his lane and he thanked her for her kindness.
He thought if
all his neighbours were as nice as Kay then he was going to have a very
pleasant stay.
Penny Davies
was twenty eight years old and was not a native of Dancingdean and she certainly
hadn’t envisaged the life she was now living.
That life
changed just after she had graduated from Abbottsford University with a first
in history which was to be followed by a career in either education or academia.
Everyone told
her a Masters was a “shoe in” for her and that she should go for it.
It was almost a
week to the day after she decided to do just that and go for her Masters that
her mum was diagnosed with cancer.
After two years
of false hopes and failed treatments Penny and her mum moved in with Julia and
Amanda Summers at East Side House.
Penny did a
series of part time jobs, in between caring for her mum, over the three years
it took her to pass away.
Despite the
fact it had been almost five years coming it hit her very hard.
And along with
losing her mum, she lost her confidence and her focus which was why she was
still living with her Aunts two years later and still doing menial work.
It was almost a week after Danny’s shopping expedition,
as he sat in the conservatory preparing a canvas that Penny tapped timidly on
the window.
She had resisted the idea of taking him
sailing and she had a week long internal struggle during which she resolved
several times that she wasn’t going to.
But she kept thinking back to the last time
she had seen him and how he had changed the subject after she had tripped over
a tree root in order to spare her embarrassment, she thought that was kind and
he was also very funny.
So she decided in the end in a spirit of
friendship that she would after all take him sailing.
As she walked towards the Cottage she noticed
movement in the conservatory, so she altered course and watched him through the
glass.
He wasn’t at all her type, there was not a
hint of tall dark and handsome in fact he was more like short fair and craggy.
It was that thought that filled her head and
put the smile on her face that she was wearing when he noticed her.
Danny looked up and saw the gawky smiling
girl with her face pressed up against the glass and he couldn’t help but smile
back.
“Come round” He called “the door is open”
Penny nodded and did as he said
“Hi” she said as she entered “Do you fancy
going out on the water? It’s a perfect today for sailing”
“I’d love to” he replied “But don’t you have
work today?”
“I went in early so I’m done for the day” she
replied
“Ok then I just need to give this another
coat and clean my brush and I’m ready”
“What are you doing then?” she asked
“It’s just like an undercoat” he replied “I
paint all my canvases blue before I start”
Penny gave him a bemused look
“White canvases are…. Scary” he said
“That sounds a bit wimpy” she responded and
giggled as she sat down
“It’s a psychological fear” he replied
indignantly
“So what are you going to paint once you stop
being frightened?” she asked still giggling
“The Lake I suppose” Danny replied
“Is that your thing then, landscapes?” Penny
asked
“No, not really but I think I will do a few
while I’m here” he replied
“What do you prefer to paint?” she asked
“Anything and everything” he replied
“Well there’s
more to us than the lake you know” she said sitting forward
“Really?” he retorted
“Yes, we have two follies, a Watch tower, and
Olwen’s chapel as well as a waterfall, brooks, streams, a 16th Century
Bridge and lovers leap”
She stated proudly
“Wow, then I look forward to seeing them” he
said
“You’ll need a guide” she suggested
“Are you volunteering?” Danny asked as he
cleared his paint and brush away.
“Yes, alright” she agreed and was both
secretly pleased with herself and annoyed at the same time
“Good” he said “I’ll just get changed”
In the ten minutes he was gone Penny had a
good nose around and looked appreciatively through his sketches.
As they walked down to the Summers Boathouse
Penny asked
“So do you make a living from painting?”
“Why? Don’t you think I’m good enough?” he
asked, he had seen her looking at his sketches and water colours
“I didn’t mean that” she said fearing she had
upset him, then she noticed him smiling
“I know what you meant, and no I paint for
pleasure, what pays the money are sculptures and installation, arty stuff” he
said
“It doesn’t sound like you like it very much”
Penny reflected
“It’s not that I don’t like it exactly” he
explained “it’s just that when you do commissions you are always producing
something that comes out of someone else’s head and not your own”
“But you love to paint” she said
“Yes I do, but the other stuff pays me enough
so I can spend a whole summer painting by Teardrop Lake and go sailing with
you” Danny said
Penny nodded and then smiled as she watched
him out of the corner of her eye.
They walked along the jetty and climbed down
into a small single sail Dinghy.
Danny wasn’t altogether sure he wanted to go
sailing when he saw the size of the boat.
But he didn’t want to appear any wimpier than
he already had so he kept quiet and let Penny do her thing.
And as he watched her deftly handle the boat
with not a hint of clumsiness he thought to himself that she really was a duck
on dry land and a swan on the water.
They virtually had
the lake to themselves apart from a couple picnicking in a small skiff in the
middle of the lake, Penny smiled when she spotted that they even had an
umbrella on board.
She couldn’t make
out who the couple were although she thought the woman might have been the new
doctor but she hadn’t seen her that many times to be certain.
After about twenty minutes of taking in the
lakeside scenery Danny said
“This is fantastic, I wish I’d bought my
camera or a sketch pad”
“There’s not really enough room for sketching
I’m afraid” she replied
“But we could come out in the skiff next time
and then you could sketch or paint”
“What would you do?” he asked
“I could watch you work or I could fish”
Penny suggested and realised that without thinking she had asked him out.
“Do you like to fish?” asked Danny
“Yes” she said and nodded
“But not as much as sailing” he observed
“No, not as much as sailing” she agreed
“Then I’ll bring a camera next time” he said
“Thanks for that Pen” he said once they were
back on dry land
“It was brilliant, I can’t wait to do it
again”
“I haven’t put you off then?” she asked
“Not at all” Danny said
“Well I can’t do it tomorrow as it’s my
friend India’s birthday and we’re going into Abbottsford to spend her Birthday
money” she explained
“But I can do Sunday after church”
“Church!” he asked
“Yes, I go with my aunts”
“Your Aunts make you go to church?” Danny
asked
“No, I make them” She corrected him
“Oh Sorry” he said
“That’s ok, I take it you don’t?” Penny asked
“No I don’t” he admitted “though not out of
conviction”
“There’s hope for you yet then” she said
brightly as she headed towards the house
“I guess there is” he agreed and she stopped
and called out
“Sunday at one then Danny”
When Sunday came he spent the morning on the
terrace painting, but it was a hot sultry day with barely a breath of wind, so by
lunch time he had already retreated indoors.
But before he did so, he looked down at the
glassy water of the lake and even with his limited knowledge on the subject
Danny doubted very much that they would be sailing that afternoon.
He ate his sandwich and was sat drinking a
cup of tea when Penny arrived and she was carrying a parcel.
“This came for you yesterday” she said
“Excellent” Danny said “Thank you”
Coleman Bowers from the Shallowfield Lodge took the
Hotel Skiff around the lake twice a week delivering the mail and small parcels
and one such parcel had been dropped off at East Side House the previous day for
Danny.
“What is it, more paints?” she asked
“I hope not” he said ripping open the package
“What is it then?” she said craning her neck
to see
“It’s my Sandra Bullock collection” he said
holding up a DVD
Penny just gave him a rather pitiful look.
“What?” he said “I like her, she’s a much
underrated talent, and I forgot to bring them with me”
“You know you can download films now, you
don’t need the discs” she said
“I’m an old fashioned boy” he said
defensively and Penny just laughed.
“I am” he insisted which only made her laugh
more, when she stopped she said
“We won’t be sailing today by the way”
“I thought as much” Danny said “so what do
you suggest?”
“Well, we can take the Skiff out but it’s
going to be far too hot to just sit out on the water, so I thought we could
take it down the lake to India’s and then head up into the forest where it’s
cool”
“Sounds good to me” he said
“And as its Sunday we can go up to Olwen’s
Chapel to begin your enlightenment” Penny said
“Really?” he retorted
“Yes, but seriously you’ll like it up there it’s
very atmospheric” she said “and then maybe on to Shoe Buckle falls to soak our
feet in the cold waters”
“Ok
then skipper, lead the way” he said
“Come on then land lubber” Penny said and
tripped on the rug
“Don’t say a word” she said and they both
laughed
The laughter continued as they walked down to
the Summers boat house, with her poking fun at him about his taste in movie
stars and him reciprocating with jibes about her clumsiness.
Penny was at the outboard motor as the Skiff
crossed the Lake and Danny was sat beside her.
“So why do you
have to take your Aunts to Church?” he asked
“Well it was when
my mum was ill” she explained “she made me promise not to let them lapse”
“Was that likely?” he asked
“I’m afraid so”
she said and laughed
By the time they
got halfway across Danny had moved seats and was furiously snapping
away with his camera.
“You get a different perspective altogether from
out here” he said
“It’s not bad is it?” she said “I’m so lucky
to live here”
The rest of the crossing was spent in
contemplative silence until they came in sight of the Harris’s jetty.
“There’s Indie” Penny said and waved
On the jetty was a tall tomboy of a girl with
short dark hair, wearing baggy shorts and an equally baggy t-shirt and with
some unfeminine footwear on her feet.
“Hi Indie” Penny called
“Hey Pen” she called back
Penny came alongside the jetty and quickly
tied up.
Once on the jetty Penny introduced him
“This is Danny”
“Hello Danny” India said
“Hi India and Happy birthday for yesterday”
“Thanks” she replied
“Where to first?” India asked
“The Chapel” Penny replied putting on her
backpack
India was already wearing hers
Danny had his by his feet with his camera and
some basic artist materials in and quickly put it on and broke into a trot to
catch up with the girls.
The Chapel was Olwen’s Chapel and the Olwen
in question was an Anglo Saxon Lady who was one of the early converts to
Christianity but her pagan husband’s tribe would not accept the new faith and
she was forced to worship secretly in the forest.
Her chapel was in actually just an assortment
of stones on the forest floor arranged around a granite altar stone in a
woodland clearing.
It had been rediscovered early in Queen Victoria’s
reign and had been lovingly maintained ever since by a local preservation society.
The three of them yomped up the hill and the
moment they entered the forest they instantly felt the coolness of the shade.
But even with the drop in temperature it was
still quite hard going climbing up the hill.
But when they arrived Danny had to agree with
Penny’s assessment, it was indeed atmospheric.
They spent a very pleasant hour there and he
sketched the two girls, as they sat on the altar stone.
From there they headed towards Shoe Buckle
Falls, so named, so legend had it, after a 17th century fugitive Cavalier
who was pursued into the forest by parliamentarian soldiers but disappeared in
the vicinity of the falls and all they ever found of him was his shoe buckle.
The falls were not grand or spectacular but
they were nice enough.
The water tumbled and spilled over the rocks
gathering briefly in deep pools and then tumbling down again to the next pool.
It was dark beneath the ancient trees and
refreshingly cool as the misty spray settled on them.
The rocks and trees closest to the falls were
covered in bright green lichens.
Danny sketched the two girls again this time
as they soaked their feet in one of the deepest pools.
It was early evening by the time they
followed the path of the falls back down towards the perimeter road.
As they approached
the old bridge he caught sight of something glistening in the water, so he
braced himself against a tree trunk and reached down and picked it up.
It was about the
size of a pocket watch and was made of some kind of Perspex.
“What is it?” the
girls asked
“It looks like a
bit of Perspex that was used on world war two aircraft, German I think, Messerschmitt
probably” he replied
“How did it get here?”
India asked
“It would have
fallen to earth after the plane was hit by either cannon fire or flack” he said
and slipped it into his pocket he thought he could do something with it when he
had a spare minute of two.
All afternoon the girls had regaled Danny with
the stories and legends of the area and when they reached the now disused 16th
century stone bridge he quite naturally asked
“Does this have a name?”
The girls
looked at each other and then Penny replied
“Yes, it’s
called a bridge”
And she and
India went into hysterics, and Danny couldn’t help but laugh himself, they were
still laughing when they reached the road and then Penny stumbled on a pothole
and that set them all off again.
After saying good bye to India they set off across
the lake.
The temperature had dropped and there was now
the slightest of breezes.
“Thank you” Danny said
“For what?” she asked
“For a lovely afternoon” he confirmed
“No need for thanks” she said “it was fun”
Danny looked at his watch and was amazed to
see how late it was, no wonder he was hungry.
“It’s later than I thought” he said
“Me too” Penny agreed “I’ve missed supper
again”
“Have supper with me then” he offered
“Can you cook?” she asked him suspiciously
“I can” he replied
“I don’t mean “can you microwave”” she said
“No I really can cook” he insisted
“Ok then”
“You’re not a fussy eater I hope” Danny added
“No, I’ll eat anything as long as there’s
plenty of it” she said and laughed
Danny made them a pasta dish for supper and
opened a bottle of wine and afterwards they chatted as she sat on the couch and
he sketched.
Then after her third glass of wine the long
blinks were setting in so he walked her home.
Over the following weeks, when she wasn’t
working, Penny continued to show Danny the sights around Teardrop Lake or took
him out on the lake itself as their friendship deepened.
But it wasn’t just getting out and about, Danny
was producing an abundance of watercolours and sketches and his beloved oil’s.
His most favourite times with her were when
they would take the Skiff out on the water.
Penny would be at one end fishing with her gangly
legs hanging over the side and he would be at the other painting or sketching
pictures and more often than not, they were of her.
On one perfect afternoon in July she said
“Let me know when you’re bored with the view
and I’ll move the boat”
“I can’t imagine ever tiring of painting
this” he replied
Penny thought he was referring to the lake
but Danny was looking at her when he said it.
The following Sunday Danny shocked Penny into
silence when he said he would accompany her and her Aunts to St Mary’s for the
Sunday service.
It was perhaps because he wouldn’t see Penny
for the remainder of July that prompted this unprecedented decision, in fact she
would be away until halfway through August because her and her Aunts were off
to Canada to visit with family.
The day after they left for Canada, Coleman
Bowers delivered a package to him.
“Miss Penny asked me to deliver this to you,
personal like” he said
“Thanks Mr Bowers” he said
Normally he would only deliver parcels to the
main houses on the Lake but he didn’t mind going up to Danny’s, he liked Danny,
he liked him because he called him Mr, Coleman liked to be called Mr.
When Coleman had left Danny opened the parcel
to find it was a second hand copy of a local history book.
In addition to the book there was a map of
Lake, with hand written notes and instructions, and there was also a letter with
it which read
“This should help you find your way around
while I’m away.
Read and digest the book, there will be a
quiz when I return.
Pen x”
His first solo outing was to the Watch Tower
in the Forest to the Southwest of the Lake, which was reputed to date back to
the time of the Armada but the truth of that had been disputed by historians,
but in truth nobody actually knew.
But when he got there he found it a bit
disappointing, it was not dissimilar to the towers you see dotted all over the Mediterranean,
then on his way home the heavens opened.
Later as he sat in the cottage he wondered to
himself that he might have found it more interesting if not for the absence of
Penny with her enthusiasm and joyous laughter, perhaps she was the missing ingredient.
He decided he would read the book she had
given him but he would wait to see the places of interest indicated on the map until
Penny returned and she could show him personally.
What he did do however was to revisit places
he had already seen with her.
One of his favourite haunts was Olwen’s
Chapel, he found it very calm and tranquil and he felt connected to Pen there.
While Penny was away even Sandra Bullock
couldn’t distract Danny from his thoughts of her.
He was unsure exactly how, when he had only
gone to the Lake for R&R, he found his mind was awash with thoughts of
Penny Davies.
The purpose for renting the cottage for the
summer was Rest and Relaxation and not a Relationship and Romance.
Falling for her was certainly not in his
itinerary.
Even before she went away he had been quite
productive during the summer and when he sat in the cottage and he looked
through his sketches and watercolours he realised more than half of them were
of Penny as were a number of oils and the canvas on his easel.
While she was away he painted even more.
Mid-August came
and Danny was like a man possessed frantically trying to finish a large Canvas
of Penny sitting on the Olwen’s Chapel Altar stone, that he lost track of the
days.
It was only
when he bumped into India one day as he returned from Shallowfield with some supplies
that he realised.
“Are you
looking forward to this afternoon?” Indie asked
“This
afternoon?” he responded
India would
have been at something of a loose end herself while Pen was away and would have
been counting the days but for the fact she was otherwise engaged helping a
convalescing soldier, she had assumed quite rightly that Danny would not have
been so distracted.
She knew Penny
liked him and she was pretty sure he liked her back.
“Penny’s coming
home today” she said
“No she’s not
back until the 19th”
Danny said
“It is the 19th”
India pointed out
“What? Oh God
how did that happen” Danny exclaimed
“I have to go”
“It’s ok, you’ve
got hours yet” Indie said and laughed
“She’s going to
ring me when she lands”
“Oh ok” Danny
said more calmly
“I can ring you
when I hear if you like” Indie suggested
“Yes that would
be great” he said “Thanks Indie”
When he got
home he put the shopping away and then had a shave and a shower and after he’d
tidied himself up he tidied the cottage and then he stayed in the rest of the
day waiting for the phone to ring.
Danny didn’t
possess a mobile phone, partly because he was a technophobe and partly because
he didn’t like to be disturbed while he was working.
So he had to
wait for India to call on the landline, and it was after lunch before the phone
rang.
But when he
answered it, it was just to receive the information that the flight had been
delayed and she wasn’t due home until the early hours.
Danny thanked
India for calling then packed a backpack and headed off to the Chapel.
He was awake at
first light the next morning and didn’t bother trying to go back to sleep and
so he got up and got himself ready for the day early.
After that he
tried to fill the time until the clock ticked inexorably on to a time that
would be considered decent to knock on the door of East Side House.
At 6.30am he was
sitting at the table eating breakfast on the terrace and wondering what he
could do next to pass the time.
The only thing
that came to mind was to pour himself another cup of tea.
Penny had had a
lovely holiday, she liked Canada a lot, and it was always great when she got to
see all the family, it was tinged with a little sadness though as the last time
she was there she was with her mum who, it turned out was saying goodbye.
It was a busy
trip and they had a lot to fit in so she was kept busy, but in the quiet
moments her thoughts turned immediately to her artist.
Over the summer
they had become good friends, but while she was away it surprised her just how
much she had missed him.
And then there
was the added complication of the return journey, which was long and fraught
and subject to every conceivable delay.
A journey that
left her with all too much time to think.
When she
finally did get home it was 3 am which meant a further delay before she could
see him.
Penny didn’t
bother going to bed although her aunts both did, instead she showered and
changed and watched the clock until it reached an hour when she could arrive
nonchalantly at his door and believably claim that “she was just passing”.
At 6.15am she
decided to take a slow walk up to Lake View Cottage to check for signs of life,
and she was in luck.
“Do you have
another cup in there?” she said and Danny turned around sharply
“Hey” he said
and got up “you’re back”
Danny got up
and kissed her on both cheeks
“Did you miss
me?” she said hopefully
“Every minute”
he said “sit down, I’ll get another cup”
“Did you have a
good time?” he asked as he returned
“Yes it was
great” Penny said “I’m glad to be back though”
“Thanks for the book and the map by the way”
Danny said
“No problem, did you use them?” she asked
“I read the book and went to the Watch Tower”
Danny said “but I thought I’d wait until you got back to see the others”
“Why?” she asked
“It’s more fun with someone else” he
confessed
“We could go somewhere today” she offered
“Only if you’re not too tired” Danny replied
“it must have been late when you got home”
“I slept on the plane” she said “We can do
one of the Folly’s”
There were two Folly’s in the area around the
Lake the first one was built in the early 19th century by the local
Nobleman, the Earl of Dancingdean who had it built for himself, in the style of
a Castle Keep, on top of a hill and then had the surrounding Forest cleared so
everyone around could see his standard flying from the turret.
The second was erected by Ezekiel Cooper who lived
on the opposite side of the Lake and was not of the nobility, he made his money
in the cotton Mills of Lancashire.
And in response to the Earl’s construction he
had built a gaudy Folly of his own in the Victorian Gothic style and like his
noble adversary he had the surrounding Forest cleared so everyone around could
see his standard flying.
Over the intervening years however the forest
had crept back to reclaim the hills and only a small clearing was maintained
around each of the structures.
The one they were headed for was Coopers
Folly, which was only about half a mile away from Lake View Cottage as the crow
flies.
Close to the cottage it might have been but
it still took them an hour to climb the hill to the Folly.
And despite the coolness of the early morning
they were hot and breathless by the time they made it up there and were ready
for a rest.
As they sat in the clearing in front of the
Folly in the warming sun, Penny sat next to Danny while he sketched the
Victorian monstrosity and asked
“How did you know I didn’t get home until late?”
“India rang me yesterday and told me your
flight was delayed” Danny replied
“Did she?” Pen asked “Why?”
“Because I asked her to” he admitted
“Why?” she asked again
“Because I missed you” he said without
looking up “and I wanted to see you as soon as you got back”
Penny closed her eyes and took a deep breath
and said
“I missed you too”
Danny raised his eyes from his sketch pad, leant
over and kissed her.
When they had returned to
the cottage later that morning, when they had made the less gruelling climb
down, hampered or assisted by the fact they were holding hands all the way, she
fell asleep on the sofa while Danny made tea.
And a contented Penny
Davies slept all day long on the sofa in the conservatory as Danny painted her.
The next day Pen
called her friend India bright and early and told her she had news and then Penny
abandoned her new boyfriend for the day and went in search of her best friend so
they could share in each other’s news.
They met up at
Olwen’s Chapel, Penny chose it because she said later that it was there that
she realized she loved him.
Pen was there
first and waited about ten minutes before India appeared from the trees.
Penny got to her
feet and ran to meet India
“It happened
Indie, it happened” she said
And then she gave
her best friend a blow by blow account of the previous day.
When she had
finished enthusing about Danny she said
“We just need to
find someone for you now”
“Well it’s funny
you should say that” Indie said
Over the next couple of weeks, apart from
work and the occasional outing with India, Penny spent all of her free time
with Danny.
Either on the water, in the woods or posing
in the studio.
One of the outings she took with her friend
Indie was to the French market in Abbottsford on a very special shopping trip.
Danny drove them
there in his car after church.
He wasn’t privy to
where they went or what they bought and he had to amuse himself in the Phoenix
Shopping Centre until he was summoned, and as he didn’t have a mobile of his
own Penny gave him hers.
His reward when he
met up with the high-spirited pair loaded down with shopping bags was to carry
the bags and buy them dinner.
During his last two weeks in the cottage, Danny
and Pen went to every place of interest in and around the Lake and as he
expected Danny found the Watch Tower was more enjoyable when he went there with
Pen.
But each enjoyable day spent together took
them a day closer to the end of his summer on Teardrop Lake and his departure.
On the last weekend before his holiday ended all
the residents on the Lake were invited to the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel, for the
proprietor’s Rob and Sheryl
Brown’s wedding anniversary.
Every year they
issued an open invitation to the residents of the Lake, which they had done
since they first opened the Hotel.
As they walked along the lane on the Southern
side of the Lake, Danny was at the back of the group and looking admiringly at
Penny.
“She’s a bit of an ugly duckling isn’t she?” Aunt Julia said suddenly
“Not at all” Danny replied “She’s lovely”
As they watched the admiration spread across his face Julia and Amanda
smiled to each other.
“Do you love her
Danny?” Amanda asked
The question took
him by surprise, he hadn’t really considered it.
“I didn’t come here
to fall in love” He thought to himself then he looked at Penny as she laughed
and joked with the other residents, then at her Aunts and then at Penny again.
“Look at her” he
said “how could I not love her”
“Then I think
you should tell her that” Julia said and the Aunts took an arm each and they
began to close the gap on the others.
When they were on
their own Penny asked suspiciously
“What were my Aunts
talking to you about?”
“Your Aunt Amanda
asked me a question” he replied enigmatically
“What question?”
she enquired
“I don’t know that
I should tell you, nosey” he replied
“Tell me” she
begged
“Well if you must
know” Danny said “She asked me if I loved you”
“And what did you
say?” she asked coyly looking at the ground
“I said I couldn’t
love you any more if you were Sandra Bullock”
“I love you too
Danny” Penny said and wrapped her spindly arms around his neck and kissed him.
After a few
moments she uncoiled herself and said sadly
“But you’re
leaving in two days”
“Ah, I meant to
talk to you about that” Danny replied
“What?” she asked
urgently “What?”
“I thought I might
stay on for a while”
And then they
kissed again.
