Sibilant
whisperings
Greeted me
For it was I
Who stole their glee
The
gathering
Looked upon me
As the architect
Of their misery
They
could barely
Keep their hate inside
At this wedding
Without a bride
It
was all my doing
With my petty jealousy
And with it in me
I had made her flee
Beneath the moonlit sky
I looked at a star and wished
Then later that moonlit night
Beneath the moon we kissed
The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa which had become very important to the lives of those living in the village community with St Giles’ Church at its hub.
It was a busy
village with all the usual amenities you would expect, in addition to St Giles’
Church there was a village Hall, and primary school of the same name.
There was also the
Trinity Methodists Church, two pubs, Étienne of Normandy and the Saracen and
Stephenson’s General store which included an off-license, newsagents and Post
Office.
The General Store was run by Ilyas Patel, although it
was his young wife Anjuli and her Aunt Shula who did all the work, along with a
few additional staff.
One
of the shops regular customers was David Cross, who was a Taxi Driver, and he
didn’t like Ilyas, he was a surly old goat, old enough to be Anjuli’s father in
fact he was old enough to be David’s father, at a push, who spent most of his
time sat on his arse watching cricket.
He
thought his wife and her Aunt were both lovely though, Anjuli was ten years
younger than him, and her aunt was ten years older.
They
were both tall and slim with thick black hair with big almost black eyes and
huge toothy smiles, which lit up the whole shop if not the village.
David
and Anjuli had become good friends since she arrived in the village, in fact he
was the one who picked them up from Abbeyvale Station, and on the journey, he
discovered that they shared a love of Agatha Christie books, and they had had
many conversations on the subject since.
But
although Ilyas always gave him a wary look he held no feelings for Anjuli other
than those of an Avuncular and a friend.
Anjuli
was from a very poor family so to be married into the Patel family, even to a
disgusting old man was desirable for her family, if not for her, but she
tolerated her lot and made the best of it and on the plus side, as a husband he
made few demands on her in the marital bed, and she and her sister in law Shula
had become very close friends.
She
too had been married to an older man, but he had died very soon after the
marriage and as a young widow she was of considerably less worth than an unwed
young woman, so her lot was to be a skivvy with no status in the household, not
that Anjuli ever saw her that way, and that was clear to everyone.
On
one occasion David called in at Stephenson’s at the end of his shift but
instead of being greeted by Anjuli’s warm smile,
Shelley
Prangnell was on the till and she was wearing an uncharacteristic frown
“Hello
Shelley, are you ok?” he asked
“Yes
thanks Mr. Cross” she answered, and her expression changed and there was a hint
of the smile that generally played about her lips.
After
he left the shop he headed to the Saracen for a pint before he went home, and
it was when he was in the pub that he heard the news that Ilyas Patel had
collapsed in the shop.
It
happened shortly after lunch and luckily Dr Marshall was actually passing by
the shop on the way to the surgery when it happened, and then attended to him
and stayed with him until the ambulance arrived.
The
next day David had a fare to St Bernadette’s Convent Hospital in Abbeyvale, and
as he did the last time Ilyas was in hospital, he went up to the ward to be a
shoulder to cry on, but on that occasion, he overheard one of the nurses make a
comment about him not even waiting until her husband was cold, Anjuli sneered
at the suggestion and her Aunt pointed out his presence was in the capacity of
an Avuncular and a friend.
But
upon his arrival on the ward he detected she looked a little anxious,
especially as the judgmental nurse was on the ward.
“Hello
David” she said nervously “What brings you here?”
“The
same thing as always” he replied
“I’m
here for you, and Shula, as your faithful friend in a time of need”
“Thank
God” They replied in unison and hugged him.
The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa which had become very important to the lives of those living in the village community with St Giles’ Church at its hub.
It
was busy village with all the usual amenities you would expect, in addition to
St Giles’ Church there was a village Hall, and primary school of the same name.
There
was also the Trinity Methodists Church, Stephenson’s General store which
included an off-license, newsagents and Post Office, and two pubs, Étienne of
Normandy and the Saracen, and it was at the Saracen where Jake Price and Kevin
Dunn liked to drink.
Kevin
and Jake had been friends since preschool and when they left school aged 16
they both started work as labourers with Jakes Dad, who was a self-employed
builder.
By the time they reached their
early twenties they decided to go out on their own and were doing very well for
themselves, in a much smaller way than Jakes Dad and did the smaller jobs the
bigger builder’s weren’t interested in, along with a lot of hard landscaping.
Apart from working together they also spent a lot of their spare
time together, and one of their regular haunts was the Saracen, and it wasn’t
just the beer and atmosphere that drew them there.
They were also very interested in two of the barmaids,
Jane Stone and Jenny Lock, and Kevin Dunn’s partiality was for
Jenny, but he hadn’t been able to separate her from her best friend Jane long
enough to ask her out.
Jane and Jenny had also been friends since childhood and were both
the youngest daughters of farming families and lived on neighbouring farms.
They also had part time jobs at the pub and the Palace because
they were saving up to go on holiday together.
When Kev and Jake walked into
the pub, the former walked up to the bar while the latter paid a visit to the
gents.
When Kev got to the bar there
was no one serving but he could hear Jane and Jenny talking beyond the bead
curtain.
“Jim and Tina said they will
swap shifts with us on Sunday if we want them to” Jane Said
“Really?” Jenny asked, “So we
don’t have to work on my birthday?”
“No we can have all day off”
she replied
“I can’t believe it” Jenny
said excitedly and then suddenly appeared through the curtains
“Oh” she said on seeing Kevin
standing at the bar and as was her habit when she saw him she blushed.
“Hello Kev I didn’t know you
were there” she said
“Hello Jen” he said, “How are
you?”
“I’m fine” she replied “Do you
want the usual?”
“Yes please, pull one for Jake
while you’re at it, he’ll be in in a minute”
When she had placed to two
foaming pints of Mornington Ale on the bar he offered her the money and she was
about to take it he dropped it and as they both reached for it, he avoided the
note and took hold of her hand instead and gave it a squeeze, and she blushed
and Kevin smiled
“I hope you enjoy your
Birthday” he said and she blushed again.
“I hope you get a birthday
treat” he added and she dropped the money he had just given her.
Jenny
spent the next 20 minutes sneaking glances at Kevin as he laughed and joked
with Jake, every now and then he would throw a glance at her and she would look
away.
There
were a number of girls who approached them, and Jenny looked daggers at them,
but whatever they were after they left without it, but then she had no more
luck with Kev than any other girl did.
Sunday
was a filthy wet day as Kevin drove through the village and he spotted Jenny at
the bus stop, she was tucked into one corner and he wouldn’t have recognised
her had he not already known she was there.
He
sounded the horn and stopped in the bus bay before lowering the window.
“Happy
Birthday!” he called
“Oh!”
she exclaimed “Thank you”
“Do
you want a lift?” he asked
“No
thanks I’m waiting for Jane” she replied
“Well
how about getting in and keeping dry” he suggested
“Yes
please” she said smiling broadly and quickly got in the car.
“Where
are you going?” he asked “on such a miserable day”
“I
don’t know” she replied, “It’s a surprise, Jane organised something and said to
meet her at the bus stop”
“I
see, well how about I keep you company until you get your surprise” he offered
“Lovely”
she said beaming her cute smile
They
sat in the car for about twenty minutes chatting and laughing before she said
“Where
has she got to?”
“She’s
at the Palace” he replied
“What’s
she doing there?” she asked
“She’s
on a date” he replied enigmatically “Well I suppose you might say it’s a double
date”
“A
date? Who with?” Jenny asked
“Jake”
“She’s
on a date with Jake?” she said “why didn’t she tell me?”
And
then she added disconsolately
“Who
are the other couple?”
“I
was hoping you’d ask me that” he said and then waited
“Well
tell me who it is then” she said with as much interest as she could muster
“Us”
he said and then there was silence for a full minute as she processed the
information and she replied
“Say
that again”
“Us”
he repeated “We are the other couple”
“We
are?”
“Yes,
does that meet with your approval?”
“Oh
yes” she replied with a giggle
“Good”
he said as he put his arm around her “Do you want your Birthday present now?”
“Is
it a kiss?” she asked hopefully
“It
is” he replied “Happy Birthday” and put his lips to hers and after a long five
minute embrace they came up for air and he said
“We’d
better get going, they’ll be wondering where we’ve got to”
“No
not yet” she said alarmed “I’d like another one of those Birthday presents
first”
After
fulfilling her Birthday request, and several subsequent ones, they arrived at
the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa half an hour later.
Where
did it go?
That sense of one
The feeling of togetherness
Of mutuality, symbiosis
Thinking each other’s thoughts
A consciousness shared
Breathing in unison
A single beating heart
Speaking in a single voice
When
did it happen?
At what point?
Did we separate?
When were we torn asunder
Split like an atom
Dissected like conjoined twins
To breath alone
To stop sharing one heart
And speak for ourselves
How
could it be?
When I looked at her with love
A stranger looked back
Independent and solo
Individual and free
Thinking on a different plain
Breathing different air
Heart pulsing with a different beat
Speaking a foreign tongue
On Valentine’s Day
The bat said to his girlfriend
“You're fun to hang around with”
And the paper clip said to the magnet?
“I find you very attractive”
