Christmas Cheer

by Bella Osborne

  ‘Birds’, he said with a firm nod, ‘like to nest in chimneys. I’ve put a bird cowl on the top of it to stop ’em.’

  ‘Great,’ said Beth. She had no idea what that was but if it stopped the twig mess she was pleased.

  ‘Found this an’ all,’ he said, handing Beth a crispy piece of scorched paper. ‘Bit of history.’ He smiled, and started to pack away.

  Beth carefully unfolded the brown tinged paper and her heart clenched as she read the clumsy writing of a small child.

  Dear Father Christmas

  Ernie and I have tried all year to be good for Mummy.

  For Christmas I would like the new Rupert Bear book, a pencil box, soldiers and a pair of gloves.

  Love Wilfred

  P.S. Ernie would like an orange scarf and any little toys you have spare.

  Beth looked back at the fireplace. It was amazing that the letter had survived.

  ‘Caught on a ledge,’ said the chimney sweep as if anticipating her next question. ‘Sweet isn’t it?’

  ‘It’s pure magic,’ said Beth, swallowing down her emotions. She went to the kitchen, opened her favourite cookbook and stowed the letter safely inside. She didn’t know what she was going to do with it but she knew she had to keep it safe.

  Beth paid the bill and the chimney sweep gave her a certificate to say her chimney was checked and safe to use.

  Right, thought Beth, now to rearrange the huffing carpet fitters.

  Fergus had not been quite himself since they’d met Nick at the pub and Carly was running out of opportunities to tell him about the contract for her to interpret at the pantomime. The contract was actually a signed and posted one because Carly had decided she definitely wanted to do it and now she was worrying about how Fergus would react. They had been together three years and had rarely had a night apart, the exception being the recent treehouse debacle, which she knew had caused issues for Fergus. He didn’t like having to explain to people that he was deaf and, as soon as he did, half would then instantly start talking to him like he was an idiot. Carly was quite proud of him for getting home on his own without any issues but she knew it wouldn’t have been easy. So, with more than a little trepidation, she decided now was the time to tackle the pantomime.

  Fergus was looking morose as he scrolled through his catalogue of music he could no longer hear on his mobile.

  ‘I’ve had an exciting job offer?’ signed Carly. Fergus twitched but didn’t show a lot of interest. Undeterred she continued. ‘It’s to do a pantomime.’

  Fergus gave a sly smile. ‘Oh no it’s not.’

  ‘Very funny, I expect there’ll be a lot of that. So you don’t mind?’

  ‘Why would I mind?’

  Carly realized that the key piece of information had been omitted. ‘It’s in Gloucester. There will be a rehearsal and a couple of shows. I thought I could stay with Beth.’

  Fergus had stopped smiling. ‘Why can’t you come home afterwards?’

  ‘I can but they usually finish late and I thought it would be nice to stay with Beth.’

  ‘You said the cottage is a shithole.’

  Carly chuckled. ‘It was, but she’s doing it up a bit at a time and it’s livable now.’

  ‘Can I come?’

  Carly felt like she was about to kick a puppy. ‘What would you do while I was working?’ Fergus shrugged his shoulders. ‘To be honest, I thought it would be nice to have some time with Beth.’

  ‘Okay.’ Fergus looked doleful.

  ‘Okay, I can go?’

  Fergus was frowning. ‘I’d never stop you doing anything you wanted to do. I don’t ever want to be the one that holds you back.’ Things were feeling serious.

  ‘I know. I’ve sent off the contract anyway.’

  ‘Then why ask?’ Fergus’s signing actions were getting jerky. It was a sign he was getting cross; when they started getting really big that was when to worry.

  ‘I was being polite,’ signed Carly. Fergus’s eyebrows twitched and it irritated Carly. ‘I’m not a comfort blanket.’

  ‘You’re my carer now, are you?’ said Fergus but before Carly could respond he was already leaving the room. He picked up his coat and headed for the front door. There was no point calling after him, so she just watched him leave. When you were deaf you got the last word or at least the last one to be heard.

  The willow tree now offered no protection from the elements, having lost the last of its leaves. However, Ernie still liked to sit under it. Beth looked out of the bare window and took in the sight of the willow covered in frost. It sparkled in the morning sun and had a distinctly magical feel to it. It was too early for Ernie. It was too early for most people but today Jack was dropping off Doris sooner than usual and she watched him stop for a moment and take in the beauty of the tree before he knocked on the door.

  Doris barged past the moment the door was opened; she was now very comfortable in her adopted home and nicely settled in the routine.

  ‘It’s stunning isn’t it?’ said Beth, as Jack was glancing over his shoulder for another look at the willow’s crystal-encrusted fronds.

  ‘It’s the hoar frost that gives it that look,’ Jack explained and Beth nodded politely although she had no idea what hoar frost was. ‘Anyway, I was actually thinking that now’s the time to cut it back.’ he said, with a smile. His smile grew into a beaming grin as he glanced over Beth. She wondered for a moment what it was then she remembered she was still wearing her pink unicorn onesie.

  ‘It’s cold. This is warm.’ Embarrassed, she tugged on the unicorn horn protruding from the hood.

  ‘I didn’t say a word,’ said Jack, stifling a laugh. ‘I think it … suits you.’ He could no longer hold back the laughter. Beth laughed too and took a pretend swipe at him.

  ‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ she said. His eyebrows danced and he handed her the sander.

  ‘Fully charged,’ he said. ‘But it still might not make it to the end of the kitchen floor.’

  ‘Thanks, this unicorn has a busy day ahead,’ she said playfully. ‘See you later – and thank you, Jack.’ Beth had investigated the costs for hiring proper floor sanders and it had put her off. Jack’s hand sander wasn’t designed for the job, but the kitchen floor surface was quite small, especially with all the cabinets in place, and Beth was very much embracing the rustic look so if it wasn’t perfect that was okay with her.

  She was methodical in her approach and spent the next few hours inching her way across the kitchen, sanding down very old floorboards that had been hidden for years under dirt and grime. Viewed from her kneeling position, it looked damn near perfect and she was particularly pleased with herself for her hard graft and for the money she’d saved. Being in one position for a few hours had taken its toll on Beth’s back. It was no longer flexible, it had gone rigid and every sinew of her neck and shoulders ached. She eventually straightened up her fatigued body.

  Despite the top section of the stable door and window being open all day, there was still so much dust in the air it was like she’d stuck her head in a cloud. The mask Jack had given her, back in the summer, was now past its best and she let it hang round her neck on the elastic. Beth twisted and turned in an attempt to loosen up her stiff muscles when a keen wind blew in and swirled the dust around, making her cough.

  She held her aching back as each cough jarred it a little more.

  ‘You look well,’ said Petra from the other side of the stable door.

  Beth opened the bottom half and Petra stood back when the wind swirled the dust in her direction.

  ‘Sorry!’ coughed Beth, trying to usher a reluctant Leo inside. Petra covered her mouth and nose with her hand, peered into the kitchen and looked over the floor.

  ‘Wow, that is beautiful, Beth.’ She was right, it was beautiful. The years of use had given it an original patina and oodles of character. All that was left to do to the floor was to finish it with a hard-wax oil but that would have to wait until the weekend when there was no
Doris, and Leo was playing at the pub.

  ‘You look like a ghost,’ said Leo with a grin as he traipsed past his mother. ‘Denis is practising penalties on the green. Can I go too?’

  ‘Yes, if you change out of your school uniform,’ she said over her shoulder and Leo ran upstairs.

  ‘You do look like a ghost,’ chuckled Petra.

  ‘Thanks, friend,’ said Beth as she ruffled her own hair with her fingers and sent yet more dust in Petra’s direction.

  ‘I remember my father doing this back home,’ said Petra, waving away the dust cloud. ‘It is tough work.’

  ‘Do you see much of your parents?’ asked Beth, brushing herself down.

  Petra seemed to freeze. She shook her head, then relaxed a fraction. ‘No. We don’t speak.’

  ‘Oh, that’s a shame, especially for Denis.’

  ‘It is.’ Petra was staring at the floor.

  ‘I can’t imagine not speaking to my folks. I haven’t seen them for a while and I hate that, but we talk on the phone.’ Beth waited but Petra didn’t speak. She was still staring at the floor, her expression one of solemn thought. ‘Can’t whatever it is be fixed?’ asked Beth tentatively, although she was very aware that she was intruding into Petra’s thoughts.

  Petra seemed to come back to the present. She shook her head. ‘No. They do not approve of Denis. It cannot be resolved.’

  Beth tried to hide her shock. How could grandparents not approve of their own grandchild? Beth wasn’t sure what to say, so she gave Petra a tentative hug, which was reciprocated.

  Petra broke free. ‘Right, I had better go,’ she said with a brief frown, and she left.

  Beth looked about her. The cottage was starting to look better and she’d made a friend in Petra. She was even getting on well with Jack. Very gradually, things were starting to come together.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It was just before midnight and Beth was drifting into a well-earned deep sleep when suddenly banging echoed through the hallway and around the small dwelling. Who would be banging on the door at this time of night, thought Beth. She scrambled up onto her pillow and looked out of the window and into the dark. Nope, it was no good, she’d have to go downstairs. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw someone was trying the door handle and it made her freeze. Who would do that? The banging started again. She could think of only one person – Nick.

  Leo stirred upstairs. ‘What’s up, Mum?’

  ‘Shhh. Nothing. Go back to bed.’ Her voice was tight and her breathing was panicky. Her mind was awash with scenarios and none of them ended well. Beth inched towards the door while fear tried to pull her back. She wondered if she should call the police but banging on a front door wasn’t an offence. She wished she’d thought through this possible scenario before now. Perhaps she and Leo could escape out of the back of the cottage without being seen. If Nick had found her, she didn’t want to think about what he might do. Despite the dark, she could see a figure through the glass. She edged closer to get a better look and a face loomed up at the pane, distorting it somewhat and making her jump.

  Someone spoke. ‘Beth, it’s Jack. I need a big favour. Beth?’

  Beth’s whole body relaxed instantly as a wave of relief washed over her, followed by a tinge of annoyance. She opened the door and Doris trotted in.

  ‘Who bangs on a door and then tries the door handle?’ she said sharply.

  Jack looked momentarily confused. ‘It was on the off chance that you’d left it open. Look, I’m really sorry but there’s an emergency and I need to go to work now.’

  Beth smirked. ‘An emergency in IT?’ Her annoyance was forgotten, a grin was spreading across her face and her heart rate was returning to normal.

  ‘Yes.’ Jack was frowning hard. ‘I can’t explain, official secrets and everything, but trust me it’s serious. Can you have Doris?’ he asked, as he handed her his house keys.

  Beth’s smile disappeared. ‘Of course. Are you a spy?’ The question was out before she could regulate it.

  Jack gave her a stern look. ‘I don’t know when I’ll be back. Get what you need for Doris from my place. I’ll call you.’ He put up his hood and jogged into the darkness.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ said Beth to Doris. She heard sniggers from Leo. ‘Back to bed!’ she called up the stairs.

  It wasn’t the best night’s sleep she’d ever had. Doris was happy to lie on a blanket in the hall during the day but apparently that wasn’t comfortable enough for nighttime. She had paced outside the bedroom door, her claws scraping on the floor, until Beth had reluctantly let her in, and she had now made herself rather comfortable on Beth’s double bed.

  What Beth had thought was a generous-sized bed was now reduced considerably by Doris’s sprawled bulk. Although it was obvious that Doris was a very big dog, she appeared to be even bigger when she was stretched out and she was completely impossible to move despite lots of shoving on Beth’s part. Doris seemed to be in a very deep sleep and she vibrated with her dreams, making her judder all over the place, which was quite comical to witness, though it was more than a bit disconcerting to keep being woken by a dog snoring in your ear. However, she had to admit that it was a chilly night and she was secretly grateful for the warmth that Doris was sharing, but that was the only positive thing about it.

  Even without all that Doris’s presence brought, Beth’s sleep was sporadic thanks to the spectre that was Nick. She had so quickly assumed it was him at the door, and the feelings that had gripped her maddened her. She thought she had left the fear behind but she had only been fooling herself. He still had a hold on her and somehow she had to break that control.

  When Beth had finally slipped into a profound slumber, the alarm started to beep and Doris started to bark. Apparently she didn’t like being woken by the alarm, either. Three tired figures all padded down to the kitchen. Doris looked hopeful when the toast was served.

  ‘We’ll get you something on the way back from the school run,’ Beth told Doris, whose nose was inching ever closer to Leo’s plate. Beth gently guided her away and scratched her head to distract her. Doris drifted into a trancelike state; her eyes closed and her tongue lolling out of her wide jaws at an angle. She was a soppy creature really.

  ‘Is Jack really a spy?’ asked Leo a little while later while he wrestled with the inside-out sleeves of his school coat. His mother pulled them through and helped him put the coat on.

  ‘Nooo! Don’t be silly. We were joking.’

  Leo’s nose wrinkled. He was thinking. ‘Shame,’ he said eventually, ‘that would’ve been SO cool.’

  Beth gave what she hoped was a neutral smile and they all left the cottage.

  Having dropped the boys at school, Beth was now at Jack’s place. The kitchen was an odd sight. It looked perfect as usual, all clean and tidy with the exception of a meal at the table and a single glass of white wine but no bottle. Beth had a sniff. She’d only ever seen Jack drink Guinness at the pub – perhaps this double life was more intricate than her already wild imagination was conjuring up for her. The meal was lasagne with four vegetables; she raised her eyebrows at that.

  What she thought might be a bit of a search for Doris’s food wasn’t at all. She simply asked Doris where her dinner was and the dog bounded into the small conservatory and happily danced around a giant sack.

  ‘I’ve heard of buying in bulk but seriously?’

  Doris was throwing her head about in excitement. Beth found her food bowl and put a couple of handfuls into it, which Doris seemed to inhale before the bowl had properly touched the floor. While the dog nudged the now-empty bowl around the kitchen, Beth went in search of spare bowls and something to put some food in; there was no way she was dragging the giant sack across the village green. She found a cereal box in the recycling, filled it from the sack and took it, along with a spare bowl and Doris’s beanbag. If he was away another night there was no way she was sharing her bed with Doris again. Before she left, she washed up Doris’s
used bowl and the plate, cutlery and glass from the table so it no longer looked like the cottage version of the Marie Celeste.

  Beth’s phone beeped when she was struggling across the village with a large beanbag that constantly changed shape as it tried to escape from her clutches, a cereal box at arm’s length containing Doris’s food, and Doris at full stretch trying to get her nose into the cereal box. When she reached the village store, Shirley was shuffling out trolley first. The dog spotted it instantly and no amount of shaking of the cereal box was going to distract Doris from her arch-enemy the wheelie trolley.

  Doris chose the route behind Beth’s back as the quickest and spun Beth round inelegantly as the cereal box contents flew over Shirley and the beanbag finally made good its escape.

  Shirley looked alarmed when the lolloping mass that was Doris dived onto the wheelie trolley.

  ‘Mittens!’ shouted Shirley.

  ‘Bugger!’ shouted Beth, dropping the cereal box and bowl and making a dive for Doris. She missed. Doris, however, had landed with her front paws on the trolley, which was a four-wheeled variety, and was moving away because Doris appeared to be pushing it along. As it gathered pace so did Doris.

  ‘Stop her!’ shouted Shirley. ‘She’s got my mittens in there!’

  A pair of mittens was the least of Beth’s worries because Doris and the trolley were heading towards a parked car. Beth sprang into action and ran after the renegade pair. People had now stopped to watch and laugh as the comic scene played out. Doris, who was still trotting along on two legs, had been distracted by the morsels of food on the top of the trolley but when she licked up the last of them she detached herself from the trolley just as Beth caught up. As soon as Doris was no longer pushing the trolley it slowed to a stop millimetres from the car’s bumper.

  A spontaneous smattering of applause echoed across the green from the few locals who had witnessed the event and Beth waved her appreciation. Beth was breathing heavily from the short sprint, as was Doris from the excitement. At least Doris wasn’t barking, thought Beth, keeping a tight hold on Doris’s collar with one hand and the errant trolley with the other. That was when she felt it. She didn’t see it, she just felt the sharp pain when something scratched her knuckles. Beth darted a look at her hand in time to see the small white paw shoot out of the edge of the trolley lid and have another swipe at her.