Uncanny Love Tales – (048) The Downshire Star 1940

 

The Downshire Star was a 4-6-2 standard gauge three-cylinder steam locomotive built at the Northchapel Works in 1933 which had all the romance of the Flying Scotsman and the grace and style of the Mallard.

It was a stunning sight liveried in the black and gold of the DCRN, Downshire County Railway Network, pulling the Prix Deluxe first-class coaches, dining carriage, and sleeper cars, as well as second and third class wagons, and it ran from Abbeyvale to all points North via Abbottsford, Finchbottom and Nettlefield

In September 1939 best friends Lilian Baggott and Amelia Bryan met cousins and best friends, Steve Matthews and

Bill Prendergast in a second-class carriage on the Downshire Star heading out of Glasgow in the late afternoon sunshine, bound for Downshire, and romance blossomed.

The girls were returning home to be with their families while the boys had been ordered to return to the Downshire Light Infantry barracks in Nettlefield.

They said their goodbyes on the platform of Nettlefield Station and the girls reboarded the train.

It was to be the last time they would see the boys for the best part of 10 months.

Steve and Bill re-joined their regiment within an hour of saying goodbye and left Downshire the following day as part of the BEF, British Expeditionary Force, which was in France two days later.

 

Amelia and Lilian didn’t know for sure where the boys were, but all the gossip they were hearing led them to believe they were in France or Belgium, so they waited anxiously for news.

Most of the BEF spent what was known as the “Phoney War” digging field defences on the Belgium/France border until the 10th of May 1940 when the Battle of France began with a massive German offensive which rocked them back on their heels.

 

While the boys waited out the “Phoney Way” in fields of Northern France, Lilian and Amelia were toiling in the fields of Downshire.

Before war broke out Amelia was a librarian and Lilian worked as a clerk at the Tax office, but when the BEF left for France, they joined the WLA (Women's Land Army) and were sent to the Dulcets where they were, along with two other girls, assigned to Trotwood’s Farm just outside of Dulcet St Mary, and were fortunate to be working for Henry Trotwood, who was a kind and gentle man, because many farmers were not.

 

The “Lightning War” of the blitzkrieg bursting through the Ardennes Forest overwhelmed the front line of the BEF and sent the British and French lines into disarray and fought running skirmishes as they were forced to withdraw.

Eventually they were forced back to the beaches of Dunkirk from where Steve and Bill were evacuated on 2nd June after four days of hell, with both of them suffering from shrapnel wounds.

Because of the sheer numbers of casualties, the Military hospitals were swamped so a large number ended up in Civilian Hospitals.

The good news for Steve and Bill was that they were sent to St Lucy's Hospital in Sharpington which was only 15 miles from Trotwood’s Farm, the bad news on the other hand was that the girls didn’t find out until they had been there for over a week.

The moment they found out they got the midday bus from Dulcet St Mary, and the hour they spent on the bus was the longest of their lives. 

 

The reunion was very special and over the next two weeks they made the journey as often as they could, which wasn’t often enough in all of their opinions.

The time came however when they were both well enough to be discharged, and Amelia dreaded the moment they would have to part again.

“I’m going to ask him to marry me” Amelia said on the bus to Sharpington

“You’re going to do what?” Lilian snapped

“I’m going to ask him to marry me” she repeated

Now this was a very bold statement given that she was the quiet one of the two and generally relied on Lil for the boldness.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, as soon as their leave is up, they’ll re-join their regiment and be sent off God knows where” Amelia stated “And I’m not letting him go until we’ve…. You know”

“What?” Lilian asked with puzzlement

“You know, what you do on your wedding night” Amelia whispered

“Oh that” Lil said now that the penny had dropped “Good point”

 

When they reached the Hospital there were a group of patients sitting on the terrace and as soon as the girls arrived, they separated Steve and Bill from the bunch and they both proposed.

The boys having accepted the rather unorthodox proposals there were still obstacles to be overcome, Steve and Bill had to get permission from their CO to marry, and Amelia needed her parents’ approval as she was only twenty years old, and a special licence needed to be applied for. 

Nothing however was going to prevent Amelia from getting her prize, so the double wedding took place at the Downshire Light Infantry Chapel in Nettlefield on the 20th of July 1940 and they travelled on the Downshire Star to Abbottsford and spent their wedding night at the Regents Hotel.

One week later the regiment left Downshire again.

 

The girls returned to Trotwood’s farm and settled back into the routine by day and profuse letter writing by night as the worked through harvest time and into the winter, Christmas came and went and then in February came the news they had been dreading. 

On the 5th of February at Beda Fomm in Libya the Bren gun Carrier that Steve and Bill were travelling in took a direct hit from a German 88mm shell, Bill Prendergast was killed outright but Steve was hit in the chest with shrapnel and injured just enough to mean his war was over.

 

It was an anxious time for Amelia, with Steve being hospitalized so far away, but she couldn’t show it as she had to be strong for Lilian who was heartbroken, and quite often inconsolable.

But the two of them threw themselves into their work, and at the end of the day Lilian would cry herself to sleep and Amelia would write another letter.

 

It was late May by the time Steve got back to Downshire and had requested he be convalesced at St Lucy’s in Sharpington so Amelia could visit him.

When word first reached her that he was only a bus ride away she was floating on air, and the first person she wanted to share the news with was Lilian, but she didn’t want to hurt her, it would feel as if she were taunting her with her good fortune.

However, Lilian was not a fool, and she could tell by her best friend’s body language that she was hiding good news, so she followed her into the stables.

“You don’t need to spare my feelings” she said startling her friend

“What?”

“Don’t feel guilty for being happy” she explained, and they embraced

“I’m glad for you”

For ten minutes the two stood in embrace and gently sobbed in the stable.

Uncanny Love Tales – (047) The Downshire Star 1939

 

The Downshire Star was a 4-6-2 standard gauge three-cylinder steam locomotive built at the Northchapel Works in 1933 which had all the romance of the Flying Scotsman and the grace and style of the Mallard.

It was a stunning sight liveried in the black and gold of the DCRN, Downshire County Railway Network, pulling the Prix Deluxe first-class coaches, dining carriage, and sleeper cars, as well as second and third class wagons, and it ran from Abbeyvale to all points North via Abbottsford, Finchbottom and Nettlefield

 

Best friends Lilian Baggott and Amelia Bryan had been holidaying on the Isle of Skye when they heard Neville Chamberlain on the BBC announcing Britain was at war with Germany and immediately made plans to travel home to Downshire to be with their families.

Two days later they were in a second-class carriage aboard the Downshire Star heading out of Glasgow in the late afternoon sunshine, their budget didn’t run to first class and a berth in the sleeper was out of the question for the same reason.

It was to be a much longer journey home than the one they took at the beginning of their holiday, as it was to be, by necessity a stopping service, as so many troops had to return to their various military bases.

It was still the quickest way for them to get back to their destination of Abbottsford and they both enjoyed the train.

As most of the passengers were aboard for the same reason there was a tremendous atmosphere on the train, patriotism, stoicism, defiance, even pride.

 

To anyone who didn’t know them they would have sworn they were identical twins, but they would have been wrong, they weren’t even the same age.

Lilian was the older of the two, by two months and was five foot two with bobbed flame red hair and a pale complexion, green eyes and had cutely freckled cheeks.

Amelia was two inches taller than her friend and had fewer freckles, but more hair, she was also the quiet one of the two and relied on Lil’s boldness to help her in social situations.

Also aboard were cousins and best friends, Steve Matthews and

Bill Prendergast, who were also heading south from Scotland, they had also been on holiday, but in their case, they had been ordered to return to the Downshire Light Infantry barracks in Nettlefield.

Despite the fact the four of them were all from Abbottsford and had all been on the Isle of Skye for the previous two and a half weeks, and at the same hotel, they had never crossed paths.

But when they did meet up, aboard the train, they hit it off immediately and the guys were instantly attracted to the girls, not a love at first sight kind of thing, but close, and that was before they’d even heard the girls speak in their posh Carrington Chase educated voices.

Carrington Chase being Downshire’s version of Roedean, although those in Downshire thought it was the other way around, and they were voice’s that made Queen Elizabeth sound common.

 

The girls were stunningly beautiful and even wearing their travelling outfits they were still drop-dead gorgeous girls, and as the journey progressed, they were not short of admirers, and under normal circumstances they would have flirted along with them, the good-looking ones at least, but they were both very taken with the returning soldiers, and they made that perfectly clear to any interlopers.    

They were seated either side of a compartment, with the girls on one side and the lads on the other, with two elderly couples occupying the remaining seats.

Primarily the four just chatted, mainly about the declaration of war, but also the Isle of Skye, and amazed each other with the number of places they all frequented and the amount of acquaintances they had made among their fellow travellers that they had in common.

The atmosphere in the compartment was unlike anything they had known before, but as the summer afternoon sunshine gave way to dusk and then inevitably to darkness, so despite the good company and the pleasant conversation, with the rhythmic clickety clack of the wheels on the track they obviously fell asleep.

When the girls awoke the next morning, it was to the appetizing aroma of cooked bacon.

Steve and Bill had woken early and left the girls sleeping while they disembarked when the train stopped at Doncaster and followed their noses to the cooking bacon.

The girls thought it was a great start to the day, in Lily’s opinion any day that began with a bacon sandwich was a great day.

After breakfast the four of them settled down into the same pattern as the night before.

 

As the Downshire Star crossed the county border into Downshire Lilian glanced sideways where Amelia and Steve were sat facing each other across divide, each resting their elbows on their knees.   

But she had tired of the conversation even if Amelia hadn’t, so when she slipped quietly away from the table and took Bill with her and when she looked back the other two hadn’t even noticed that they had gone.

The moment they left the compartment Lilian pushed him into the nearest corner and kissed him and his response was instantaneous.

But the kiss was short and sweet as there appeared to be a constant flow of people between the carriages and the buffet.

Bill tried to resume but Lilian evaded his lips,

“No not here” she said and walked away “Come on”

And then she ran giggling down the corridor, and he ran after her until she stopped abruptly at the end of the car, where she stood fingering her hair and chewing her lip while she waited for him and then he kissed her.

 

Amelia suddenly became aware that Lilian and Bill had gone

“They’re not here” she said, “Where did they go?”

“When did they go?” he asked, and they both laughed

They were really enjoying each other’s company and the conversation but the more they talked the more she wanted to kiss him, but she couldn’t.

If Lilian was in her situation and wanted to kiss him, he would already have been kissed, but she wasn’t bold like her friend, she was the shy one so she couldn’t take the kiss she wanted.

Unfortunately, Steve was no better, he normally relied on alcohol for his bravery, but he was sober, so they both carried on and made the best of the situation, and just kept enjoying each other.

Which they did for the next five minutes or so until the train came to a jerky disorderly halt, and they found themselves nose to nose.

 

“Nice” Lilian said and kissed him again

“Very nice” Bill said

“I agree, but we’d better get back” she said

“Ok” he agreed reluctantly

“Do you think they’re wondering where we are?” he asked

“Hardly, they probably haven’t even noticed we’ve gone” she said, “And if they have Amelia will just say “oh there you are” and carry on with the conversation”

They were laughing when they entered the compartment but stopped abruptly when they discovered Amelia and Steve were still sat facing each other across divide, each resting their elbows on their knees, but were now leant forward engaged in a very tender kiss.

Lilian and Bill looked at each other, smiled, nodded, and retraced their steps and resumed their own kiss.

Downshire Diary – (80) Birthday Surprise

 

At the western end of the Finchbottom Vale lay the small market town of Childean and on the outskirts was the Dancingdean Spa Hotel.

The manager was Ian Ferguson and he was 28 years old and his father was owned a substantial share in the Hotel which influenced the decision to appoint him.

However it may have been nepotism that got him the job but it was his hard work and diligence that kept him in place and his choice of old school friend Declan Hughes as his assistant certainly didn’t hurt. 

Declan also made one or two inspired appointments Mark Humphreys and Rachel Hunt as Hospitality manager and assistant respectively and they worked as a very effective team although at times it wasn’t entirely clear who managed who.

The Sarah Busby birthday surprise fiasco was a good case in point.  

 

Sarah was a big Afro Caribbean woman who worked in the hotel kitchen and had worked there for more than 20 years.

She was also celebrating her 50th birthday which was why a large bouquet of flowers was to be delivered to the hotel and presented to her for her birthday.

However to all involved the hospitality manager, Mark Humphreys had given her the day off.

“Well you’ll have to take them round to her house” Rachel said crossly

“Can’t we just give them to her tomorrow” he said

“Oh give me strength” she retorted

“Is that a no then?” he asked

“Men” she snapped and slammed his office door

“I’d better take them round then” he said to himself

 

As it was a nice summer afternoon he decided to walk into Childean and deliver the flowers.

He walked up the path to Sarah’s house and knocked on the door but when it opened, instead of the round and jovial Sarah he was greeted by someone altogether different, younger, skinnier and prettier.       

“Hello” he said with surprise

“Can I help?” she asked

“I was looking for Sarah” he asked, and indicating the flowers. 

“I’m afraid aunty has gone out for the day” she said

“Your Aunty?” he asked

“Yes” she replied “I’m staying with her for a while”

“I’m Mark Humphreys from the Hotel” he said

“I’m Michele” she said and smiled because her aunty had told her all about him and how nice he was.

“Why don’t you come in?”

“Ok” he said recognizing the look on her face

She led him into the sitting room while she went into the kitchen to put the flowers in water.

Michele Singer was a few years younger than he, tall and slim with thick back hair, she was a skinny girl but not in a boney way she just had a skinny frame.

Her eyes were big and almost black and she had a huge toothy smile, which lit up the whole of Childean.

“Would you like tea or coffee?” She called from the kitchen

 

The next two hours passed by really quickly as they sat in the lounge chatting and he would have stayed longer had he not received a phone call from his assistant Rachel asking where the hell he was.

“I have to get back to the Hotel I’m afraid”

“Oh that’s a shame” she said “I was rather enjoying our chat”

“Yes me too”

“Are you free this evening?” Michelle asked hopefully “I could feed you”

“That would be lovely” he said as he stepped outside “7.30?”

 

Michele cooked him a lovely meal which they ate leisurely accompanied by a liberal amount of wine and after he had helped her clear away they returned to the lounge where she steered him to one of the armchairs and pushed him down and as he sat down he pulled her down with him so she was sitting on his lap.

Because she was so tall, her head was above his, and smiled at his upturned face and then she kissed him.

Downshire Diary – (79) The Matchmakers Match

 

Olivia Conway was a theatre sister at the Winston Churchill Hospital and she was a rather ordinary looking middle-aged woman just the wrong side of 50.

Olivia was five foot six inches tall and very trim, and stood an inch or so taller in her shoes, and her sisters uniform fitted her to perfection, tapered at the waist where the broad belt sat.

Her once strawberry blonde hair was now peppered with grey.

She was always smiling, but the ageing in her face wasn’t all due to laughter lines, life’s hardships and experiences were etched into her face as well, each line and furrow an event and for those who could read such signs it was like her résumé.

She was well-liked and respected at work and many of her colleagues were close friends outside of work.

But when she chose to she could be a private person and didn’t talk about everything in her private life and when she was outside of work she didn’t discuss every aspect of her work.

She had lived in the small Downshire village of Clarence in the Finchbottom Vale for 20 years and was believed to be a lonely soul as she lived alone and had never married.

When she wasn’t working long hours at the Winston Churchill she was heavily involved with Mary of Bethany church and she was very popular with the other congregants.

 

Olivia was by profession a care giver and in the village she was considered to be an angel of mercy because she would, in her own time, visit parishioners in need, she was also a matchmaker and a good one to boot.

But as good as she undoubtedly was at bringing other people together she always accepted that the sweet romances she engineered were what other people could have but not her, she wished it wasn’t so but she was resigned to it. 

But she was wrong.

 

Mark Reid was an oncology Doctor from the Winston Churchill who, along with his wife Carol, had been Olivia’s friend for many years and she had been his greatest support over the two years since he was widowed but not in the manner that she would have liked.

 

Since Mark was widowed he threw himself into his work and his patients and every time he lost another one he had to grieve all over again.

It all came to a head when 11 year old Steve Wiltshire succumbed to leukemia and he broke down completely, luckily Olivia was on hand and made sure no one else witnessed his distress.

At the end of her shift she managed to sneak Mark down in the goods lift and drove him to her home in Clarence, and on the journey home she offered to put him up and he offered no objection.

 

Olivia put Mark up in the spare room and settled him into bed and he stayed there for three days and only on the fourth day he did leave the room.

 

Mark lay in his bed, as he had since he arrived in Clarence, wishing he was in hers.

Since Carol died Olivia had been a great support to him which was greatly appreciated but over the last 12 months that appreciation had turned to love.

He did nothing about it however, as much as he wanted her, in case it ruined their friendship, which he valued greatly.

Also he didn’t want her to think less of him, he was not aware of the disposition of her own heart, if he had been he would have acted sooner.

But as he lay there on his fourth day in Clarence he chastised himself for his cowardice and decided to take decisive action so he waited until he heard her go downstairs and got out of bed, and made himself presentable.

 

Washed and shaved he opened his bedroom door and quietly left his room and crossed the landing to the top of the stairs and tiptoed down the stairs and thought he could hear something in the kitchen, so he crept to the kitchen door, which was slightly ajar, and then he looked in and he could see Olivia standing at the counter making a hot drink and he smiled, because she was wearing blue and white-striped pajamas, the old fashioned ones with a drawstring around the waist.

He walked quietly up behind her and lightly placed his hands on her waist and she gasped and leant back in his arms.

“You made me jump”

“Sorry” he said but his hands remained on her waist and she was still leant against him.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked

“I will be soon” he replied and turned her to face him

“Oh” she exclaimed and then he kissed her

And what a kiss it was, long and languid and full of latent passion and when it ended Olivia relaxed in his arms and he confessed.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long”

“Me too” she murmured

 

Later that day as they lay in her bed cuddling in the afterglow Olivia was feeling very pleased with herself for a job well done, firstly because she had finally got the man she had been in love with for years, secondly because she had not had to take the initiative, he had very definitely wanted her so finally the match maker had her match.

Downshire Diary – (78) In the Afterglow

 

It was in the late 1980’s when Gerry Cooper, a Uniform Police Constable in Finchbottom, was on holiday with a group of fellow officers.

They were staying in an apartment on the Island of Andros in the Cyclades chain.

It was a quiet island due to the fact it was a two hour ferry ride from the mainland but Gordon thought it was worth it.

 

The lads had been there for two days when quite by chance they met up with some familiar faces.

A group of girls from the Vale and among them was Jane Hull, a girl he had known since nursery school and one whom he had never looked at twice.

Not that she was unattractive, on the contrary she was lovely looking but the truth was that he just didn’t like her and never had, and he always believed the feeling was mutual, but as it turned out he was mistaken. 

 

It was a blistering hot day and the rest of his mates were taking the ferry to Tinos to visit the monastery, not that they particularly wanted to go, it was just that they had got involved with the group of girls from home.

Gerry hadn’t got involved with anyone and so didn’t fancy a trip to a monastery so he feigned a headache and cried off.

He was also trying to avoid Jane Hull, who he had manage to bump into more often than he was happy with.

So having her spend the day on an island two hours away would have been a refreshing change.

As it turned out though, due to the heat he did develop a headache and went to his room to lay down.

He went straight to sleep and awoke some time afterwards to find someone chewing on his earlobe.

His first thought was to ask himself who the hell it was that was lying next to him performing on his ear, but that thought was soon overtaken by the one that was just grateful for it, and anyway he got his answer after a few pleasurable minutes when she desisted and a blonde haired girls face suddenly appeared a few inches in front of him.

“You” he said

“Yes, do you mind?” Jane asked

“Strangely no” he replied and with his acquiescence she kissed him.

   

Gerry got out of bed and left Jane sleeping and went to the kitchen to get drinks.

Jane lay serenely in the afterglow, the sweat of earlier passions spent had evaporated and was no more and her tousled blond hair framed a peaceful face with the red glow that had previously graced her cheeks no longer visible.
Her eyes were resting, her mouth open slightly and her full lips still moist, and on her pale smooth skin no hint remained of what had passed.
The contortions of orgasm which were earlier etched into her innocent face lingered no more, but he thought they would soon be present again.
She lay beneath a silken sheet stretched more tightly across her breasts showing them in sharp relief.
The cool evening air from the open window aroused her nipples which then stood proud through the taught silk and she murmured in her sleep.

Gerry was in bed next to her, nibbling her ear lobe, when she awoke and they made love again.

Downshire Diary – (77) Oh Carole

 

Carole Bean went to the University of Downshire where she studied English at Abbottsford and it was for her, like many girls of her age, a life defining time.

She was in halls for the first year and she shared with three other girls

Amy Coates, a tall big busted girl, Alison Holmes, a skinny girl with a bad case of OCD and Claire Jarvis a quiet busty brunette.

All four of the girls were studying English in one form or another and apart from their studies they also had in common the fact they were all natives of the Finchbottom Vale.

Claire was from Purplemere, Carole from Childean, Alison from   Finchbottom and Amy from Shallowfield.

The friendship that resulted from, on the face of it, 4 very different characters coming together, lasted for their lifetimes and as they got on so well the four of them decided very early on to rent a house between them for the second and third years.

However of all the girls, Carole found herself drawn most to Claire Jarvis.

The fact that the two of them had more lectures and seminars together than the other two partly aided their closeness but it was mainly because they got each other, they shared a sense of humour as well as having similar tastes in music, a love of pizza and old romantic comedies.

But what really drew them together in her first year was something that would define her world and shake her to the core.

It happened during the Easter Holiday of their first year when Carole returned to the flat to discover Claire laying naked on the sofa and Carole couldn’t take her eyes off of her and when Claire discovered that she had an audience Carole couldn’t keep her hands off her either and they made love for the first time.

Allthough neither of them could fully come to terms with the fact that they might be gay it didn’t prevent them from adding to their lesbian experiences throughout their University years and the fact that they were in love but unsure of their true sexuality they still kept a foot in both camps by dating men as well but when it came down to the love making they still prefered each other.

 

The only time Carole really got animal pleasure with a man was in the summer before the start of her second year.

It was early August and the weather was hot and sultry and so was she, normally when she was feeling like that she had Claire on hand.

On that hot August day though Claire was at home in Purplemere for her grandmothers funeral.

Carole had the house to herself most of the time, Claire was at the funeral, Alison had gone swimming of all things, and Amy was doubtless with her boyfriend Mark enjoying each other, or so she thought but they returned during the afternoon and started enjoying  eachother the moment they arrived, and they were not quiet about it when they were doing it, and listening to the grunting and moaning  just made her hornier.

 

Carole decided to try a cold shower, which did indeed cool her down but not where it mattered and Mark was still going at Amy hell for leather directly above her head.

So she decided to go and get a drink of water but when she walked into the kitchen she found she was not alone.

“Who are you?” she barked

“Kevin” he replied nervously

“Yes but who are you?”

“I’m Marks brother” he said “He’s with…”

“Yes I know who he’s with and what he’s doing to her”

She said and Kevin blushed 

“How old are you?”

“17” he replied “And a half”

“You’ll do then” she said and dropped her towel

Kevins eyes popped out like they were on stalks and his mouth fell open.

Carole had a lovely body as Claire could testify too and it was obviously he hadnt seen one like it before.

“Do you like what you see Kevin?”

And Kevin stared open mouthed in response.

 

After she had finished taking Kevin’s Cherry seated on a kitchen chair, Carole climbed off him wearing a self-satisfied look on her face and picked up her towel and just before she went out the door and said

“You can get dressed again now”

Downshire Diary – (76) The Matchmaker

 

Olivia Conway was a theatre sister at the Winston Churchill Hospital and she was a rather ordinary looking middle-aged woman just the wrong side of 50.

Olivia was five foot six inches tall and very trim, and stood an inch or so taller in her shoes, and her sisters uniform fitted her to perfection, tapered at the waist where the broad belt sat.

Her once strawberry blonde hair was now peppered with grey.

She was always smiling, but the ageing in her face wasn’t all due to laughter lines, life’s hardships and experiences were etched into her face as well, each line and furrow an event and for those who could read such signs it was like her résumé.

She was well-liked and respected at work and many of her colleagues were close friends outside of work.

But when she chose to she could be a private person and didn’t talk about everything in her private life and when she was outside of work she didn’t discuss every aspect of her work.

She had lived in the small Downshire village of Clarence in the Finchbottom Vale for 20 years and was believed to be a lonely soul as she lived alone and had never married.

When she wasn’t working long hours at the Winston Churchill she was heavily involved with Mary of Bethany church and she was very popular with the other congregants.

 

Olivia was by profession a care giver and in the village she was considered to be an angel of mercy because she would, in her own time, visit parishioners in need, she was also a matchmaker.

Which was why she was visiting Tim Sharpe to try and rally his spirits.

There was nothing physically wrong with Tim, but he was depressed, he was 35 years old and had just lost his beloved wife Debbie to breast cancer and the light in his world had been extinguished so Olivia had decided to relight his candle and show him there were still things in this world worth living for.

 

The Cancer may have been responsible for taking his wife but to Olivia’s mind Tim’s problem was curable.

To that end she took with her Staff Nurse Selena Brown when after she had failed on her first three visits.

 

His unmarried sister Linda, was living with him and looking after him but the cure Olivia had in mind was not something his sister should administer, it was love and not familial love.

Linda let them in and then excused herself as she had some shopping to do.

Olivia and Selena walked up the stairs and found Tim lying in his bed in the unlit room with his eyes closed as if he’d fallen asleep.

But she knew he was awake, he was pretending to be asleep so that she wouldn’t be able to shower him with banalities and clichés and encouragements to make him pull himself together.

“Hello Tim” she said but there was no response as she slipped off her coat.

“I’ve bought someone with me today” she said “This is Selena”

As she had gone to his house straight from work she was still wearing her sister’s uniform, as was Selena.

“Oh dear it seems he not interested” Selena said “Oh well it appears he’s not interested in we angels of mercy”

“Oh well lets go then” Olivia said “We do have people to see who do want us to be there”

“No don’t go” he said as they reached the door

 

After three weeks she stopped taking Selena with her as she had by that stage already started to visit him on her own so she started to take her next door neighbour Darren with her but not for Tim’s benefit Darren was there for his sister Linda’s benefit. 

 

So by the end of the summer Olivia was feeling very pleased with herself, partly because she had helped Tim back from the dead so to speak by giving him something else to live for in the form of Selena Brown but also because she had, after taking Darren with her on her visits given Linda a reason to leave the house other than doing some shopping.

If only she could find someone for herself.