by Paul Kelly
“You’re thirty-nine,” she said with raised eyebrows, “I wouldn’t have thought you were that age.”
“I must be if you are twenty-three, “ he replied with a grin. “And don’t forget I have been divorced not once, but twice and I have a little son into the bargain.”
“Ah! Cameron. How is he now? Better I hope.”
“Yes, he is much better now thank you and driving me mad with that rabbit under my feet all day.”
“So you’re not working now, then?” Freya enquired.
“School holidays ... and as I told you, I think ... didn’t I, that I am self-employed.”
“Yes, you did ... but does that mean that you cannot be earning now?”
“Evening pupils,” said Robert, ,”but thankfully, I am able to use my lounge for the work and Cameron plays in the bedroom. I don’t know which one of them makes the most noise, Cameron and his rabbit or my ‘screeching’ youngsters.
At that moment, Jenny came from behind a curtain with a large cardboard file in her hand.
“Is everything alright?” asked Freya and Jenny nodded, but she didn’t look too enthusiastic
“I have to come back in a week, or go to the clinic as arranged and that’s not too good,” she said and then she saw Robert who offered her a coffee, apologizing that it may be cold and that he could easily get her another, but she refused and said she would rather get home as soon as she could as she was a little tired.
“I hope you and the baby are well,” said Robert as he looked at Freya to make sure he was saying the right thing and she nodded.
“We’ll be making a move now,” said Freya, “Jenny should get her feet up this afternoon now and I should be back at the cafe. I’m late for my shift already.”
Freya and Jenny started walking towards the hospital entrance when Robert put his hand out in front of them.
“You’re not going by taxi, are you?” he asked, but before either Freya or Jenny could answer, he said they could get into his car as he was doing nothing in particular and he would see the two of them home. Jenny arrived at her flat first and Freya, seeing how pale and drawn she looked, told her to have a good rest and not to come into the cafe the following morning if she didn’t feel too well.
“I’ll explain to Mr. Haggerstone,” she said and Jenny giggled, “What with my excuse for you and your excuse for me, he’ll think he’s got a right pair of comedians on his staff list, don’t you think?”
“Do you think he’ll sack us?” asked Freya and she stifled a laugh with her hand,
“You can come in the front now, if you like,” said Robert and Freya readily did as he suggested. She was beginning to feel that perhaps there might just be something in Robert’s attention that could mean more than she had previously hoped for.
“Can I ask you AGAIN why you were at the hospital?” she said as she pushed her hair back from her forehead and Robert said nothing to her for a moment as he looked to ensure that he was free to drive away from the kerb.
“What was that you said?” he asked, “Oh! yes, the hospital, well, I had come to the cafe this afternoon to find out what shift you would be on and Mr. Haggerstone told me that you would be going with Jenny to the hospital.”
Freya looked at him in surprise as he continued.
“ I thought I might kill two birds with the one stone, so to speak and I was hoping it would be different from the last time I went there and that was about four years ago, so I thought I would have a check up myself as it’s about time I had one, but it’s still the same ... the hospital I mean,”
“Four years ago?”
“Yes, I had a little trouble, but it’s much better now.”
“You’re not ill, are you?” she asked with concern.
Robert looked to his right to observe a motor cycle as it sped past his car.
“Ill? Oh No, nothing like that. I’m fine.” he said and looked ahead again to his driving.
“But it’s not usual to attend a hospital if you are fine,” she said and Robert grinned.
“You are very persistent, aren’t you?”
“I’m sorry, I just thought ...”
“Well don’t ... but if you must know, it’s ‘men’s trouble, that’s all. Nothing that would interest you.”
Freya blushed and held her breath for a second.
“Oh! I am sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s just that I thought you might be ill or something.”
“No, as I said I am fine, but I did have a good laugh the last time I went to this hospital and I really didn’t want the same thing to happen this morning. I just wanted to have a check up that’s all. Nothing to worry about.”
“A good laugh ... in the hospital?” she asked and screwed her face up in surprise. “Hardly the place to go for a laugh, I would have thought.”
Robert grinned again.
“I went to the reception desk and I was a little embarrassed to say why I had come to the hospital,” he went on.
“With this . . . ‘men’s trouble?” Freya asked with her eyebrows raised in expectation.
Robert laughed again.
“There’s no use asking you not to laugh if I tell you about it, is there?”
“Cross my heart,” she replied and waited whilst Robert manoeuvered his car into a side street
“Well, I approached the desk and there was an elderly lady waiting there with beaded eyes waiting to find out about my trouble and I didn’t know how to put it into words,”
“O.K. and what happened then? I’m not laughing.”
“Not yet,” said Robert., “But I looked long and hard at the dear lady and then I thought ... I know, I’ll tell her in a way that won’t be too embarrassing for me and even less embarrassing for her, “ he said.
“Yes?”
“Well, I told her that it was trouble with ... with ‘my friend downstairs’ “ he said and Freya waited for what was to come next, thinking she understood what Robert meant.
“Yes?” she asked again and Robert laughed some more.
“That dear lady nodded to what I told her and then she asked me for my friend’s name ...”
Freya and Robert both laughed together until they reached the cafe.
“Thanks for the lift,” she said, “but I’ll have to go now. I should have been on duty since twelve, but I think Jenny explained the situation to old Bugger . . .... er, Mr. Haggerstone,”
“Take care, Freya and I hope all goes well with Jenny.”
“And I hope all is well with the ‘men’s trouble’ she said “and I’m not laughing. Honest I’m not.”
Chapter Sixteen
Mr, Haggerstone was kinder to Freya than she thought he might be, considering she had taken so many liberties with his working schedule. She was about to apologize again when he put his hand in the air.
“Nothing to worry about,” he said, with a look of toleration in his eye, “but what’s all the mystery about? You need time off and Jenny needs time off. I can’t understand it. Of course I know that you ladies need time off for your ‘private things’ whatever they might be, but I don’t understand why there are so many enquiries about you when you’re not here. You are very, very popular, it seems.”
Freya looked at old Buggerlugs in amazement without the slightest idea of what he was talking about.
“What persons are you talking about, Mr. Haggerstone? Who has been enquiring about me when I wasn’t here?”
“I don’t know who she is. She never gave a name, but she looked a devious sort of character.” he said and Freya wondered all the more.
“What did she look like? I mean was she dark or fair, tall or small, which?”
Old Haggerstone looked about him as if he would remember better in that way.
“Dark, I think. Yes, dark an
d quite tall. Gypsy looking with small eyes. I never trust a person with small eyes or eyes that are too far apart,” he said and Freya was puzzled. She could not think of any person who resembled that which Buggerlugs described. and she resolved to forget about the matter unless it should come up later when and if that Gypsy looking person with the small eyes that were too far apart ever came into the cafe again.
“Mr. Haggerstone, I was only helping Jenny to ...”
“Yes, I guessed that,” Mr. Haggerstone replied with a huge sigh “I’m not blind, you know. I can see that Jenny is pregnant, but why the mystery? Is she married or not? That’s what I’d like to know.”
Freya was stuck for an explanation. On the one hand it was none of old Buggerlug’s business whether Jenny was married or not, but on the other hand, he did regard her as a good waitress and it was obvious to him or to anyone that she wouldn’t be able to work for very much longer.
“Mr. Haggerstone ... Jenny is in a spot of trouble at the moment and she needs my help. She is not married and the man who should be the father of her unborn child doesn’t want to know.”
Old Buggerlugs raised his eyebrows and banged on one of the cafe tables, making the cups and saucers jump.
“I don’t understand you young people at all, “ he screamed, “Have you no morals? Don’t you realize the great importance it is to bring a child into the world?”
Freya could appreciate his concern, but she was worried about his anger.
“Mr. Haggerstone, everybody makes a mistake at some time. Surely you realize that,” she said and he glared at her.
“It’s no mistake to unbutton or unzip your bloody flies, is it. That takes time to do and to even think you might do it ... I would say. Wouldn’t you?”
Freya hung her head and shrugged her shoulders. She thought again of Sammy Boyle and how he wouldn’t think twice about unzipping his flies. He was well prepared for any action of that kind, time and time again, but she knew she could never explain that to old Buggerlugs and besides, she was ashamed to say that she had ever been married to a man like Sammy Boyle. It was hard enough for Jenny to know that, but Buggerlugs was a very different kettle of fish. He was a gentleman and Freya liked him for what he was.
“I don’t suppose it would do any good to tell her she’s a bloody idiot, would it,” said Mr. Haggerstone, referring to Jenny as he walked into the cafe kitchen, “Too late for that now, I expect, but I do feel very sorry for her, because that ‘creature’ who got her into this situation won’t give her a second look now. You can take that from me.”
Freya knew that old Buggerlugs was right in what he thought and said, but she also knew that Jenny was past expecting anything from the ‘creature’ who put her in the family way.
She went through her duties in the cafe with a light heart and wished Sammy Boyle into the depth of hell.
***
Two days later just as Freya was getting ready to go home after her afternoon shift in the cafe, a tall dark woman of gypsy appearance blocked her entrance to the cafe door. Freya stared at her. She did not know the woman but she remembered the description that Buggerlugs had given her.
“Can I help you?” she asked the woman, knowing that Buggerlugs would be another few minutes before he came on shift and she would never leave the cafe unattended if there were people waiting to be served. The tall dark, lady stared back into Freya’s face
“I am looking for a lady called Freya,” she said and Freya gasped with surprise. Could this be the famous or infamous Sarah who had been the second wife of Robert? If she was, she looked totally different to what Freya imagined her to be. But yes, just as old Buggerlugs had said, the eyes were small and too far apart, but there were lots of people like that ...
“I am Freya,” she replied and the dark lady smiled,
“You must be the latest conquest of Mr. Peterson,” she said and there was a sarcastic tone to her voice.
“I know Mr. Peterson, but we are in no way a partnership or a relationship, or whatever you like to call it.” replied Freya, but the dark lady simply grinned and dropped her eyelids as if to say she had heard all that Freya had to say, before ... .
“They all say that,” she said, “but if you want to go on as you are, so be it. Just look out for a downfall before very long.”
As the dark lady spoke, she turned away from Freya and made towards the cafe door.
“Can I ask ... ?” Freya called out after her. “Can I ask who you are?” she continued, but the lady never looked back and didn’t say another word.
Later that day, Freya telephoned Robert and told him of her experience with the dark lady hoping he might throw some light on the matter.
`Robert listened intently to what Freya had to say, but even he was puzzled.
“Are you sure that was Sarah you spoke to?” he asked, but Freya was uncertain. It was only a hunch, as she couldn’t understand who else it might be.
“I can’t be positive,” she replied, “but when I asked her who she was, she just left the cafe without saying another word.”
“But how did she introduce herself in the first place?”
“Again, I don’t know. It was Mr. Haggerstone who told me that a tall, dark lady with small eyes that were too far apart had been enquiring about me, that’s all.”
There was a long pause on the phone before Robert spoke again.
“Sarah, “ he said, “Rita ... that’s what it must be. Rita has been talking to Sarah. They don’t like each other and they don’t get on, but when there’s dirt to spread or gossip to be had, they join forces.”
Freya was lost for words when she heard what Robert had to say.
“So you say it must be Sarah, yes? ... but why would she want to contact me. I haven’t done anything to harm her, or Rita for that matter, have I?”
Robert sighed into the phone.
“You know me and that’s enough to give them food for thought. They don’t want me, neither of them, but they don’t want to share me with anyone else. That’s what it is,” he said and Freya had hope in her heart when she heard him say those words ... ‘Share me with anyone else ...’
“But we share nothing together, other than friendship, I hope ...” she said and Robert gave another deep sigh.
“Isn’t that enough?” he asked, but Freya did not enthuse. She had hopes for more ... much, much more, even if she knew that what she wanted was a dream.
“What do I do now then?” she asked, “I don’t suppose this Sarah, if it was her, will come back to the cafe again. She has seen me now, so perhaps that’s all she wanted.”
“You could always come and see Cameron. I know he would like that. It’s his birthday tomorrow. He’ll be nine then,” he said, “Or is it eight . . . I can never remember. . . Do you have the time?”
Freya bucked up when she heard Cameron’s name. She loved the little boy and of course she was delighted that he wanted to see her again.
“I’m free in the afternoon tomorrow as I have the late shift at the cafe. Will that do, if I come to your place about 2.O pm?”
“That’ll be fine. I won’t tell him you’re coming. I’ll make that a surprise for him, but Freya ...”
“Yes, Robert?”
“Freya, I have a pupil coming to my flat about two or two thirty. She’s in her third year of violin practice and one of my most promising pupils, so will you manage if I leave you to help yourself to tea or whatever?”
“Sure. That’ll be fine. Would you mind if Cameron and I listen from a distance. We won’t disturb your lesson but we love to hear you play.”
“Bring your ear plugs along because this dear lady is good, but she has a long way to go and I have to listen to all the scrapings and tell her she is doing fine.” he said and Freya giggled.
“I’d love to be able to play the violi
n myself,” she said, “but I’d be terrified of being taught by you.”
“No pain; no gain, they say, so get your sleeves rolled up and have a go.”
Again Freya giggled.
“I might take you up on that, so beware. I’ll see Cameron tomorrow, Bye.”
“Bye.”
Chapter Seventeen
Freya tucked her little present into her handbag as she made off to visit Cameron. She hoped he’d like what she got him, even if she knew that he had talked to her a lot about it, but she wasn’t in the habit of entertaining ‘young men’ who were aged ten, coming up to ‘sixty five’
She approached the flat with a little nervous giggle as she thought of Cameron’s face. She really loved that little boy and she wasn’t ashamed to show how she felt in front of his father, however when she rang the doorbell, she was more than a little surprised that Robert ushered her in with a dark look in his eye and she wondered what she had done wrong to deserve such a cold welcome, but Cameron ran to her immediately he saw her and she hugged him for a moment before she reached for her handbag and produced the ‘batman’ cape and mask, all wrapped up neatly in a little plastic purse, that she thought he might like from the number of times he told her about it ... and he did. He jumped with joy and cuddled her as Robert stood by with that same look in his eye.
“Freya,” he said and even his voice sounded harder than she had heard him speak before, “Freya, I’d like you to meet ... Sarah,” he said and a tall, dark figure appeared from somewhere in the hall. Cameron cowered when he saw her and threw his arms around Freya, holding close to her as if he was afraid of something ... or SOMEONE. “I have a pupil waiting for me in the other room,” Robert went on and tapped Cameron on the shoulder, which meant he had to behave himself. “so if you ladies could entertain yourselves for a little while, I’ll be back as soon as my pupil has gone. Shouldn’t be too long.”
Cameron stared into Freya’s face and nodded towards the bedroom, as he tugged gently at her hand.
“If you will excuse me,” she said, hoping Sarah would take notice as she left the lounge to follow Cameron.