The fortunes of Shallowfield 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, to Abbottsford, Abbeyvale and beyond and it only barely
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 been were in a poor state of repair, some too such an extent
they were little more than ruins.
But by the 70s things were
beginning to change, thanks mainly to tourism and an increase in leisure time.
More importantly these people
had money in their pockets.
This trend was reflected by the fact that the derelict Shallowfield
Lodge, which had been inherited by a young couple from Lincolnshire, Rob and Sheryl Brown, was being turned into a hotel.
Its completion formerly marked the
rebirth of Teardrop Lake and the revival of the busy
village of Shallowfield went hand in hand.
One
of those houses that was just hanging on was Chapel House which was the family
home of the Walker family and although only the older members of the Walker
clan lived in the large rambling pile year round it was were the family
gathered in numbers for special occasions and of course Christmas.
Among
those drawn back to Teardrop Lake each year were the four Walker girls,
sister’s Jane, Kathy, Margaret and the baby of the family, Liz.
And
over the years the numbers grew with the addition of boyfriends, husbands and
then for the older two girls, children.
And
it was on the whole a very loving family and among their number were Paul Biggerstaff and Liz Bradshaw but they
felt love of a very different kind.
The
problem was they were not a couple, they were married however, just not to each
other, and they were in fact brother and sister in law.
Paul
had been married to Liz’s sister Margaret for over four years and they had been
in love with each other for all of those and their mutual attraction was
obvious to them both from the first moment they were introduced, but they knew
instinctively that they could never act on it.
And for over four years
they kept their feelings in check, at least until Christmas in 1970.
They managed to avoid
each other most of the previous year, apart from the summer holiday and Christmas.
Because they kept each
other at arm’s length they appeared standoffish to the rest of the family but
appearances can be deceptive and beneath the surface they were in turmoil.
Because of what appeared
to be an intense dislike of each other the rest of the family took great
delight in pushing them together just to watch them squirm.
One afternoon after Liz
had helped
clear away the dinner dishes she had just exited the kitchen into the hall when
she met Paul coming the opposite way, they paused not knowing which way to go
when Aunty Vi pointed out quite loudly
“You’re under the mistletoe”
“You have to kiss” Aunt Edith
added “its and bad luck not to”
“It’s actually against the
law not to” Aunty Vi chipped in
“What law?” Liz asked
“Christmas law obviously”
Aunty Vi replied
“Rubbish” Paul said
“Tosh” Liz agreed but by now
the rest of the family and gathered and they spontaneously started chanting
“Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss”
Delighting in their
discomfiture without understanding its nature.
Eventually with no escape
Paul and Liz agreed to kiss, just to shut everyone up, and no one understood
why they made such a palaver about one simple peck beneath the mistletoe, which
was hoped might break the ice between them.
Once the crowd had dispersed,
Paul and Liz went their separate ways and independently decided to assuage
their embarrassment by overindulging in mulled wine, amongst other things.
Later that afternoon when
those members of the family who had not decided on an afternoon constitutional,
were asleep beside the roaring log fire, Liz drained her glass and tottered to
the loo and when she emerged she met Paul walking towards her also slightly the
worse for drink.
They paused in the middle of
the hall and looked at each other
“Look!”
she slurred pointing above her head “Mistletoe”
“Yes
it is” he agreed
“We’re under the mistletoe”
she slurred again “And you know what that means”
“We have to kiss” he
responded “it would be bad luck not to”
“It’s actually against the
law not to” She added superciliously
“Well if its Christmas law
and its Christmas then we must” he concurred
So
she stood on tip toe to face him and puckered up and gave him a Christmas kiss
and as her lips touched his it was evident that it was so much more than a
Christmas kiss or even a drunken expression of their lust.
The
kiss lasted for a full ten minutes and might easily have gone on for another
ten had they not heard the family return from their walk.
Fortunately
they were loud and boisterous which gave the kissing couple time to go their
separate ways unnoticed.
When they reflected on it
later the nature of the kiss had surprised them both, once they started they
didn’t want to stop, but stop they did, it was not just a perfect Christmas
kiss, it was perfect on every level, and having broken the ice with a kiss,
they wanted to repeat it.
But the next morning in the
cold, sober, light of day, they felt guilty, really, really guilty, but not just
for weakening, the guilt came because the kiss revealed that they were not just
attracted by naked lust, after the kiss they realised it was love, so they
avoided each other for the rest of the week.
They had both decided
they would not get drunk in case they let their guard down on New Year’s Eve
and kissed again.
But about half an hour
before midnight they met again in the hall and there was a nervous tension
accompanying them because it was the sight of their perfect kiss, a kiss which could easily have led to something else,
and would certainly have gone on had they not been interrupted.
“Here we are again at the
scene of the crime” he said trying to make light
“Do you mean the kiss?” she
asked and he nodded
“I do”
“It was some kiss” she added
wistfully
“Yes it was” he agreed and
then they both stood looking around awkwardly, lost in remembrance of the kiss
seven days before.
“It was only a drunken snog
though” she said
“Do you think it was just the
mulled wine then?” he asked
“Probably” Liz replied
indifferently
“It might be nice to know for
sure” Paul said after a moment’s thought
“Like an experiment?”
“Yes, just so” he agreed
“Well I suppose in the
interest of science I suppose we could”
She replied and like she had done the week
before she stood on tip toe and touched her lips to his and the experimental
kiss began.
It was a long kiss, a hot kiss, a passionate kiss and overall a perfect kiss, even more perfect than the previous one,
a kiss against which every kiss that followed would be compared to.
After five minutes they heard
a door open but this time neither of them were in any mood to stop so they just
relocated to the boot room and kissed again.
That New Year’s Eve experiment proved two things
conclusively, firstly that the drunken snog was not made perfect by the alcohol
but by the participants and secondly that they were hopelessly in love.
