Fireworks to Thailand

by J. R. Bonham

  At the badminton club, she heard about another club which played on Saturday evenings. It was mixed-sex, so she didn’t think Geoff would like her playing with men! She didn’t pursue it until one day the subject came up again and she thought, ‘Why not? Maybe we could play together again like we used to. I’ll ask him.’

  “I’ve been asked if we would like to play badminton on a Saturday evening. It is supposed to be a really good club, with men and women, a good standard I am told. As we don’t do anything then, perhaps we could play together again. I could use some of my babysitting vouchers, I’ve got loads as we don’t go out much and we don’t use them for anything else, do we? After all, you learnt to play so you might as well try again, it’s really good exercise too. You could be really good if you practised,” Jan cajoled.

  Geoff relented and started to play on Saturday evenings; he thought if he didn’t go and Jan went on her own and played with men, he would lose her to someone else. It was one way he could keep an eye on her. He surprised himself that he actually enjoyed playing again.

  Until one evening when there was a round-robin competition. They drew partners and Geoff’s was an elderly woman, Kate, who couldn’t move very well. Jan’s partner, Sam, was young and strong and a very good player. Jan and Sam won every round and they won a trophy each. Geoff was not best pleased.

  They got home and Jan put her trophy on the television, in pride of place, feeling very pleased with herself. She had never won anything like that before.

  “I couldn’t have won with Kate, she was far too slow.” Geoff was despondent.

  “Yes, that was bad luck. It’s only in the luck of the draw you know. And I was lucky. Sam is a very strong player indeed.”

  “Are you having an affair with him?”

  “What! I hardly know him! What on earth are you talking about?” Jan was surprised by his outburst.

  The row about Sam lastly nearly three hours into the night, back and forth until Jan was utterly exhausted. She couldn’t believe how he would think she was having an affair with him. She had never given any indication of being interested in anyone else, ever. Before she finally went to bed, thinking that surely this silly row must stop soon, she took the trophy down from the television and hid it away in a cupboard.

  Geoff never played badminton again.

  Chapter 11

  Ken and Audrey eventually sold the big house to some people who were going to use it as a rest home for the elderly. It was very suitable for this type of business as it was arranged on only two floors – and there was space for a lift from the hall up to the bedrooms. The larger bedrooms could be split into smaller ones, plus the addition of en suite facilities. The ground floor rooms would be suitable as one large dining room plus one huge lounge for the residents to sit and look out at the garden. The big kitchen was also on this floor. The basement was suitable for on-site key workers and offices. The gardens could be worked – one-half with flowers and sitting out areas and the other half, around the back, a kitchen garden where vegetables and herbs could be grown. Ken had in the past mown the lawns and Audrey tended to the vegetable patch, but the bulk of the work had been done by a jobbing gardener for a few hours a week.

  They would miss the big house, but it was far too big for them. They had moved there when Jan was only three. They were young themselves then and loved parties and entertaining in general. The house was ideal for parties. They had converted the cellar, where one-half housed the boiler and the washing machine and the other half was used for the parties. They knocked down a wall where there had been two rooms to make one large party room. Jan’s piano was in there where she used to go and play, away from the main part of the house so no one could hear her practising her scales.

  Ken had built a large wooden bar at one end of the big room and fitted it out with optics. Every six months or so they would hold jazz parties. They had many friends in Bristol and its environs, who enjoyed attending the famous parties. Ken’s friends in the pub where he went after work all played an instrument and sometimes about ten musicians would turn up in one sitting. The mainstay of the jazz group was – Enoch on piano, Bob on trumpet, Robin on guitar, George on saxophone and Brian on drums. They all had various friends who would come and jam with them. It was great fun. The parties gradually dried up when Audrey was diagnosed with manic depression and couldn’t cope.

  Ken and Audrey moved into a rented flat while their new house was being built. It was nearby so Ken was able to keep an eye on the builders. Project managing was something Ken was good at; overseeing the work done by someone else.

  They moved into the new house with Nicky, the dog. It was an L-shaped house on three floors. It had to fit into the land which had been a row of garages and so there was a very small garden. Just enough for Nicky to go out and relieve himself on the patch of grass. On the ground floor was a double garage with a utility room behind and another room which Ken lined with wood cladding. He added a wooden bar and, with the addition of some optics, he had his very own den. He installed a one-arm bandit which he had found in a skip outside an old pub in Clifton, one which was being demolished. It didn’t look like there was anything wrong with it, apart from using old sixpences, which were obsolete by then. He managed to get hold of some coins, just for use on the one-arm bandit machine. There were no windows in this room and the door, from the utility room, was kept locked with shelving on the outside. To all intents and purposes, there was no room in evidence. Ken used the bar at times when his friends came around. They could lock themselves in and no one would know they were there. They could get up to all sorts, with drinking and gambling if they so wanted.

  When the grandchildren made visits over the years, they found out about Granddad’s den. What an exciting place to be, they thought. They loved to ask Granddad if they could play with the one-arm bandit so he would give them a handful of sixpences but stipulated that if they won, they couldn’t take them away. He would give them a packet of Smarties instead and they were happy with that.

  The rest of the house was more usual with a large sitting room, kitchen and dining room on the first floor and four bedrooms on the second floor. There were two bathrooms, one was en-suite to their master bedroom. There were stairs up to the flat roof where there were fantastic views all over Bristol. The flat roof was to make up for the lack of garden space – and for Audrey to sunbathe whenever the mood took her and where she wasn’t overlooked.

  Meanwhile, the auction went ahead and they bought the little cottage in Shaleham. It needed some work, so Ken decided what he could do and got workmen in to do the rest. He enjoyed DIY, so every time they went down to Devon he took his bag of tools and set to work. It was all ‘shipshape and Bristol fashion’ – literally! – within six months.

  Once Audrey had been properly diagnosed with manic depression, she was put on the right medication – but it was never quite right. The summer always made her episodes worse.

  She had been feeling quite stressed with all the moving about from the big house to the flat and then to the new house. It was getting on for summer and her manic depression was back. Her behaviour, because of her illness, was such that Ken didn’t know how to cope with her. He was afraid that if he went to the doctor and had her sectioned, she would never forgive him. His life wouldn’t be worth living. He had done this before when she started getting out of control. She had been sectioned for 28 days under the Mental Health Act a few years before, and she never let him forget it.

  Ken took Audrey down to Devon to see if she would calm down a bit. Unfortunately, he left her to her own devices and went back to Bristol to bury himself in his work.

  It was while she was there on her own that she went completely off the rails. She would ask the local electrician in to do some odd jobs and try and pay him in tea bags. Or she would make a fire on the newly-laid kitchen floor. She would go to the pub and try and get someone – anyone – to buy her drinks.
Or she would try and set up a tab for her drinks and then not pay the tab. She had money in her purse but she didn’t think she would use that for some reason, saying her husband would pay when he came back.

  One day Audrey got friendly with someone who bought her a drink and they hatched a plan. She had inherited a large diamond ring from an aged aunt and the latest valuation was many thousands of pounds. She gave the ring to her new ‘friend’ and then rang the police to say she had been mugged. Ken was summoned back to Devon immediately to help the police with their enquiries. They told him that Audrey was trying to get the insurance money for her diamond ring after she had been mugged. She couldn’t give any details of the mugger because it had all happened so quickly. From the police point of view, it was all very suspect. Ken had to explain Audrey’s mental state, and a doctor was called and he confirmed her condition. She was sectioned for another 28 days until reports could be made on her mental health. It appeared that alcohol seemed to be a factor that was best avoided.

  The diamond ring was never recovered.

  Audrey’s condition rather alienated Ken with the Shaleham people, as none of them really understood. It was a difficult time for him. Her medication was controlled up to a point, but occasionally she would lapse when she forgot to take her pills.

  In Bristol, too, she had started to alienate all their friends, their oldest and dearest friends, because of her condition. They didn’t understand her or her condition. One by one they turned their back on Ken and Audrey. The parties had to stop because no one would come anymore.

  The worst thing she did, from Jan’s point of view, while Audrey was in one of her manic states one day, was that she told Jan that, as she was child number three, she was a mistake. They only wanted two children – and when they had their girl and a boy, Clare and John, they thought that was ‘it’ – until Jan came along. Her father had always been a bit cool towards her, and she knew that Clare was always his favourite. Maybe that was why she didn’t do as well as expected at school and she had always been labelled the naughty one. She always seemed to get into trouble.

  Chapter 12

  Jan and Geoff packed their suitcases and went off to Spain for a short summer break. She had worked out that they could afford it as long it was only for ten days – somewhere cheap. His mother’s rent money was accumulating so they had decided to use it for luxuries like holidays. Jan was pleased they went when they did because soon enough Louise would go to senior school and her school work would become more serious for her.

  They had never been abroad before as a family, so it was a real adventure. Jan had made sure that the children had everything that they wanted for their holiday.

  They arrived at their hotel, right on the beach in Mallorca. It was the island of choice for Jan’s parents too and they recommended it to Jan and Geoff. Audrey and Ken had been going for years to Mallorca and always went to the same hotel because they knew the people who owned it. Even though they had enough money for travelling further afield, they always came back to where they felt most comfortable. Jan didn’t want to stay at the same hotel as her parents. It was a bit more upmarket and old fashioned which is why her parents liked it. And it was more expensive which is why Jan decided to try somewhere else.

  “Come on, who wants a swim?’ Jan called out when they had finished unpacking.

  “Me!” said Louise.

  “Me!” said Steven.

  “Me too,” Geoff copied the children and at last felt like he was starting to relax and enjoy the holiday.

  Steven still hadn’t quite learnt how to swim on his own without help, although he was almost there. Jan remembered to pack his water wings, although she hoped that if he was in and out of the water every day he would soon be starting to swim without them. She was right!

  “Look, Mum, look Dad! No water wings!” Steven shouted to them on the third day.

  “That’s wonderful, well done,” Jan shouted back. She didn’t like people who shouted but just this once she felt it would be OK. People would understand how delighted he was.

  The holiday went by all too quickly, but they all had a thoroughly good time.

  “We must do this again!” Jan suggested.

  “Yes, we must,” said all three in unison.

  Louise and Steven were growing up so fast and Louise, in particular, was a very good student gaining good marks in all her exams. She passed the 11-Plus and went to Torquay Girls’ Grammar School. Her first day there was very traumatic – for Jan. She cried as she took her to the bus and saw her off. Her little girl going to big school…

  “Don’t cry, Mummy,” Steven tried to comfort her.

  She took him to school and then went off to work.

  “I know what that’s like,” Sheila told Jan when she had explained why she was a bit quiet. “When our Alex went to senior school I was in bits.”

  Sheila and Jan told each other everything. They had become firm friends. Sheila had divorced Eric and she was living on her own with her two children, Alex and Lynne.

  “Oh, I’ll get over it like everything else. I take it all in my stride. Just got to get on with it I suppose,” Jan mused. “I know she has to go to school but they’re growing up so fast.”

  Jan picked up Louise from the bus after her first day at school. Louise was full of it. She told her mother all about all the friends she had made.

  “There’s Liz and Beth. They’re both called Elizabeth, so that’s one way to tell them apart.”

  “Of course!” Jan agreed.

  “Then there’s Heidi, but I’m not sure about her! Maria seems a nice girl. Oh, and there are identical twins, Patsy and Prunella but I can’t tell which is which! You remember Emily from junior school, well, she’s gone into another class but I sometimes see her at break time.”

  And so it went on. Jan switched off after a while although she was interested to know that her friend Margaret’s older child was in a different class to Louise.

  “Shall we play Scrabble?” Jan suggested.

  “Oh, yes! Come on Steven,” shouted Louise to her brother who was in the living room just about to turn on the television. “We’re playing Scrabble and I’m going to beat you this time!”

  “I was going to watch something on TV. Oh, all right but you won’t win you know!”

  They were all fairly competitive in the games they played. As well as Scrabble, Jan had taught them Monopoly and some card games. She had played a lot when she was little, the whole family played many different games. She remembered when she was 14, her father was laid up with a bad back and could hardly move. His bed was moved downstairs and when she came home after school they would always play Scrabble.

  She had been disappointed in the past when she had asked Geoff if he would play. He had never played any games before and didn’t want to learn. Jan thought that he was afraid of losing so he decided not to be put in that position in the first place.

  Jan played Scrabble with the children and it was a close run score.

  “Ha, ha! I win,” Louise said.

  “Only by two points!” Steven interjected. “If I had put my last word on a triple you would be dead meat!”

  “Yeah, yeah, empty threats,” Louise taunted him, but all in jest and good humour.

  Jan was pleased that Louise won. Jan nearly always hung back with her best tiles so that one of the children could win. Not every time, though.

  “Can you pack it away now? Your father will be home soon and I must start preparing supper.” With that, Geoff walked through the door.

  “I’ve been overlooked yet again!” he protested.

  “What d’you mean?” Jan asked.

  “Promotion is what I mean. People much younger than me are getting promoted. I just have to stay in the same position as when I started. The Principal doesn’t like me and that’s all there is to it,” Geoff moaned.

 
“He’s near retirement age, isn’t he?”

  “I wish he would go tomorrow!”

  “So the feeling’s mutual?”

  “You bet it is!”

  They ate their supper in near silence as Geoff fumed. Jan thought she could almost see the steam coming out of his ears!

  The children went upstairs afterwards to do their homework.

  “Have you forgotten it was Louise’s first day at the grammar school? You could ask her how she got on, couldn’t you? She was full of it when she came home but you rather put the mockers on her good mood,” Jan complained.

  He went up to talk to Louise and she opened up about her first day at school. He was delighted that she coped with it so well and that she took everything in her stride without any problem. He wished he had her tenacity.

  The principal at the college did retire the following year. The new principal looked at Geoff’s promotion prospects and told him when an opening came up he would be first in the queue.

  They went over to stay at Betty’s that weekend.

  “I thought this weekend I would teach Louise some cooking. I’ve bought her a special apron and we’re going to make some scones – then if there’s time we’ll make a Victoria Sponge cake for tea,” Betty enthused.

  “You’re spoiling us again!” Jan laughed, but she was delighted that Louise was going to learn to do some cooking because that is something Jan herself was going to teach Louise. “Thanks for that and then one weekend when we’re home, if she’s still interested, I will teach her some more. But I think I’d better include Steven too. It’s important boys learn to do these things too.”

  Betty didn’t think much of that idea. She didn’t think boys needed to learn to cook. Why would they when the woman they marry would do it? She had voiced her opinion before to Jan but she didn’t agree. She thought that all boys needed to know how to do domestic jobs and she would teach Steven to iron his own shirts too. It came about sooner than she expected because she developed tennis elbow which was very painful.