IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW

 

In sunshine or in shadow

Your love sets me aglow

In perfect calm or raging storm

Your love keeps me warm

In times of drought or flood

Your passion warms my blood

In summer bright or winter dark

You are always in my heart

Those Memories Made on Teardrop Lake – (78) A Solicitor’s Restraint

Pangbourne, Parker and Knowles were a firm of Shallowfield Solicitors with a very good reputation and a varied clientele and they handled a wide variety of legal work and kept a healthy number of Solicitors and large number of staff gainfully employed.

 

One of whom was 64 year old widow Winifred Knowles, one of the partners, and she was a driven woman and a workaholic, and during a long and successful career where she took no prisoners, the practise was her life and she was known by the staff as the Black Widow.

But in truth her ruthless and uncompromising streak only came to the surface after the loss of her husband whom she adored.

Before the black day of her husband’s death she had been a vibrantly sexy and deeply loving and sensual being.

 

She met her husband when she was a junior and he was a client.

He was a writer who was suing another author for plagiarism.

Winifred fell for him hard on the day of their first meeting and she could think of little else afterwards and it was obvious to her that he felt the same way, but as the months slipped by nothing happened and she was growing increasingly frustrated, and the case was all but concluded, but being the 1970’s it was considered bad form for the woman to make the first move so she had to take alternative action.

 

Stephen Sturges sat on a straight backed leather chair at the conference table in the Argyle Suite at the Worsted Viper Hotel in Purplemere as he waited for a meeting with his solicitor Winifred Knowles.

He wasn’t sure why the meeting was there and not in her office as all the other occasions, he didn’t ask and he didn’t really care he was just pleased to be seeing her again.

The Argyle Suite was one of the prestige accommodations, very plush, all polished wood paneling and leather upholstery and heavy velvet drapes at the windows, which were drawn.

“Sorry I’m late” she said in her posh plummy tones as the tall, slender and extremely attractive woman strode into the room on her magnificent long legs.

“That’s ok” he responded nervously

Winnie was in her late twenties and wearing a tailored business suit and gold rimmed spectacles.

She sat down in one of the high backed leather chairs, opened her briefcase and quickly removed a pen and a document and then slowly went through the salient points, and leaned forward for him to take the document which also allowed him to get a good look inside her gaping blouse.

He took his time because he knew that after a couple of signatures their business would be concluded and he didn’t wish to stop admiring the view.

At their previous meeting she said that everything would be tied up with a bow after their next meeting.

Reluctantly he tore his eyes away for her assets and signed the paper and slid it towards her.

“Excellent” she said

As she put the papers and pen back in her briefcase.

“And that’s all the legal stuff out of the way” she added and her hand came back out holding lengths of white legal ribbon.

“What are they for?” Stephen asked

“Well you remember at our last meeting I said everything would be tied up with a bow when next we met?” she said

“Yes”

“Well what I had in mind was that it would be you who would be tied up” she said wickedly

“Oh I see”

“So do you want to play?” she asked as she played with the ribbons “Or perhaps something like this”

Winifred slithered on to his lap and kissed him

“Oh yes” he replied excitedly “definitely more of that, but what if someone comes in?”

“Don’t worry” she assured him “we won’t be disturbed”

“If you’re sure” he said and kissed her

“I think just to be on the safe side we should go next door” Winnie said as she stood up and took his hand

“What’s next door?” he asked suspiciously

“The bedroom” she replied

“Oh” he exclaimed and stood up and she led him by the hand towards the bedroom door.

“No wait” he said urgently and her heart sank because she thought he had a change of heart, but she needn’t have worried because without letting go of her hand he scooped up the ribbons from the table

“We might be needing these”

SPEECH IMPEDIMENT

Each morning, we stood at the bus stop

Not together, but in proximity

Day after day, week after week

I would glance at her in admiration

But I would never speak to her

There would be an occasional nod

And sometimes a smile

I would have liked to ask her out

I had almost done so many times

But my nerve would always go

So often I formed the question in my head

But the words wouldn’t come out

I always steeled myself

For the big moment, but it never happened

Then one day

When she looked particularly alluring

I thought to myself

This time will be different

This time I have rehearsed,

Though only on the cat,

This time I will do it.

So armed with a well constructed sentence

I made my move

I took a deep breath

Turned to face her,

The sentence looping through my head

Over and over

I opened my mouth to speak

But the sentence did not appear

Instead jumbled words tumbled out

From my anxiously dry mouth,
But not in the order I intended

Some words inappropriately joined together

Giving an all together different meaning

That may have caused her to be offended

It had gone better with the cat.

I just stood there

Spouting my nervous stuttering gibberish

I thought she must think me such an idiot

And fully expected her to laugh in my face

But instead she smiled at my nervousness

And reformed the words into a sentence,

The very sentence I had rehearsed,

Spoke it back to me

And then smiling broadly, answered yes

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 

She had a distinct aura

That pervaded the senses

Femininity, without vanity

Beauty, without conceit

Forthright, but not brash

Confident but not cocky

Refreshingly sincere

Intelligent but not haughty

Wit without cruelty

Laughter without malice

Principled and scrupulous

Morality without piety

Could no one else see it?

Was I in a minority of one?

Surely I am not alone

In my admiration of her

As she looks at me

What does she see?

She looks at me appraisingly

What does she see?

How is she evaluating?

Is there an attraction?

Yes but more than that alone

Then simultaneously

In mutual acquiescence

We reached the conclusion

It was simple recognition

Of the similarly disposed

Of kindred spirits

We are soul mates

BREATH OF SPRING

 

She Entered

Like a breath of spring

And her presence

Altered everything

She walked in

With such a delicate air

Heads turned

To watch the maiden fair

She then returned

From whence she came

But didn’t leave us

Quite the same

We hoped to see again

That breath of spring

Whose presence

Altered everything

Those Memories Made on Teardrop Lake – (77) Welcome to the Claremont Hotel

Shallowfield sat on the southern edge of the Finchbottom Vale and was bordered on the other side by the Dancingdean forest and the town’s fortunes had always relied largely upon forestry and agriculture for its survival.

In the post war years with rationing and a shortage of work a lot of people moved away from the area and it only just survived and the community around Teardrop Lake fared even worse.

Only a few of the houses around the Lake were thriving, a lot of the houses had been rented out and those that hadn’t were in a poor state of repair, some too such an extent they were little more than ruins.

But by the 70s however things were beginning to change, thanks mainly to tourism as a result of an increase in leisure time.

This trend was reflected by the fact that the previously derelict Shallowfield Lodge, which had been inherited by a young couple from Lincolnshire, Rob and Sheryl Brown, was being turned into a Hotel.

From then on Shallowfield went from strength to strength which was echoed by the fortunes of the Claremont Hotel.

It was once the home of a wealthy Downshire family but like so many similar great houses in the county it fell into disuse as the fortunes of the owners suffered after the Great War.

It had had many reincarnations since then, particularly in the years between the wars and had been used for many things over the post war years but it wasn’t until the 60s that it became The Claremont Hotel.

However things had got tough in the Hotel trade with the success of Travelodge, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express and so places like the Claremont needed to offer something extra to attract the guests. 

 

In the early summer a new manager was appointed, Matthew Millward, and he was an instant hit with the locals because he was young, tall, dark and handsome, physically fit, well-toned and had a reputation as a fair minded guy, which had very much preceded him.

He was 28 years old and his father owned the Millward Manor chain of hotels and he was grooming him to one day take over the reins of his worldwide hotel empire, the problem was that Matt had no head for business and he felt that he was more of an artistic soul.

Which could possibly have been ignored but for the fact that he had broken off his engagement with the granddaughter of his father’s oldest friend.

However that in itself wasn’t what had him exiled, it was Elaine’s attempted suicide, not that his action had caused her mental meltdown, it was rather more her mental instability being the deciding factor that forced him to end the engagement.

So it was decided to send Matt to the Claremont Hotel where he could do no real harm until the dust settled.

When he first found out he was being sent to Shallowfield, Matt was very unhappy, he was a city boy, born and bred, and he viewed being sent to the country as purgatory, but no one was more surprised than he was when he found that he actually loved it, it was a beautiful place, it was quiet and the air was clean and he felt immediately at home.

 

After the broken engagement and the resulting fall out he decided that Matthew Millward would not under any circumstances get himself romantically entangled while he was on punishment duty.

But there is a very apt saying which goes “never on your own doorstep” which he had clearly never heard because on his first day he fell head over heels for the Hospitality Manager, Sarah Poole, although in his defence the feeling was mutual.

 

He had met the staff informally at the beginning of the day and then chose to do a walk around and meet people again where they worked.

He had noticed her among the group dressed in her uniform of a blue skirt and jacket with a crisp white blouse.

She was five foot eight with short red hair, in a pixie cut, mesmerizing green eyes and a cute figure with curves in all the right places and long slender legs.

Sarah was 26 years old and wasn’t looking for a relationship either because she was married, albeit to an alcoholic who hadn’t shown her any marital attention for two years but she was still married to him nonetheless.

Sarah had worked at the hotel since she left school, five years in  housekeeping, five more in hospitality, and for two of those as Manager and she loved her job.

 

When Matt went on his walkabout he could see Sarah Poole as soon as he walked into the lounge, she wasn’t wearing her uniform but he recognised her from the earlier meeting because of her stunning legs and the other thing he noticed when he finished staring at her legs was that she was definitely flirting with him. 

“Hello” he said “Shouldn’t you be working”

“I’m on my break,” she answered with a smile

“Oh I’m sorry,” he said “I was just looking for someone to show me around, not to worry”

“No I’ll do it” she said eagerly and picked up her bag

“But I need the loo first”

“Well ok then” he said and five minutes later she returned looking flushed and surrounded by a cloud of freshly applied perfume and he noticed her makeup had been repaired.

He clearly spent a little too long studying her because she blushed and said

“We can go now”

And she strode off

“Great” he said and broke into a jog to follow her as Sarah led him down a corridor, and through a door that said staff only.

 

Sarah soon regained her composure and the tour continued and lasted for about an hour and they talked casually like old friends all the way and when they were done they headed down the back stairs to complete the tour.

Which was when Sarah slipped on the bottom step and fell against Matt and inadvertently pushed him back against the wall where she had a rush of blood to the head and kissed him.

A kiss which took him by surprise but only for a second and then he was joining in and her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Well I’m not sure this is what my dad had in mind when he sent me here” He said when they finally came up for air

“Oh God” she exclaimed “This is bad, this is very bad”

“I don’t think it’s so bad” he said

“No it’s really bad” Sarah said extricating herself from his arms “I’m a married woman” 

And she rushed away mumbling to herself

“I know that he’s gorgeous, and I know that you really like him, and that was a smoking hot kiss, but none of that matters, because you can’t have him”

Even though she really wanted him with every fibre of her being.

TIME IS A GREAT HEALER

Time is a great healer

That’s what they said

That’s what they told me

After you were dead

Banal words of wisdom

And benevolent attitudes

Empty words and gestures

And worthless platitudes

Only one thing

Can ever take the pain away

And you’re not coming back

No matter how hard I pray

I just wish with all my heart

We could have gone together

And I would not feel so lonely

And I’d be with you forever