by Claire Frost
‘I feel a bit flat now,’ Bell said. ‘Is it weird that I’m craving a cigarette despite not smoking for at least twenty years?’
‘Here, have one of mine,’ Laura said, rooting in her bag for a battered box. ‘And don’t look at me like that, Ben, of course I don’t smoke. Except when I really need to, and this evening I think we all really need to.’
‘I wasn’t looking at you like anything,’ Ben protested, ‘And if you’re both having one, then I better had too . . . To be sociable, obviously.’
Laura cackled and handed out the cigarettes like sweeties, and they all huddled round, guarding the flame of her lighter against the evening breeze.
‘God, I needed that!’ Bell sighed, blowing out a huge plume of smoke. ‘Do you think they’re really going to close the centre?’
‘Well, if you think about it logically, it would probably make more sense for them to knock it down and sell off the land to some rich developer who can build a shiny new block of flats,’ Laura puffed.
‘I don’t want to think about it logically!’ Bell cried. ‘It’s just not fair.’ She took another drag and threw the cigarette on the ground. ‘Urgh, why do I always think I like smoking when in fact after about ten seconds I realise I really don’t?’ She stubbed it out with the ball of her foot, then picked up the stub and chucked it in the bin. ‘Sorry, I know I sound like a spoilt child, but this place is the best thing that’s happened to me in years,’
Ben rubbed her shoulder and stubbed out his own cigarette. ‘Let’s just see what the council say and take it from there. There’s no point thinking about worst-case scenarios until we have to. But we’re with you on this, Bell. Aren’t we, Laura?’ he said, staring hard at her.
‘Och, of course. Let me know what you need me to do and I’ll do it. Now, I’d better get on my way or my mum will kill me for being late, although first lend me your perfume in case she smells that cancer stick on me.’
A puff of perfume later and Bell and Ben were left staring after her.
‘She really is quite scary,’ Ben breathed.
‘Absolutely, but her heart’s in the right place,’ Bell smiled. ‘Although she can definitely put it away – I was seriously impressed at how she was knocking back that whisky like it was water. God, I can’t believe it’s work again tomorrow, is it not the weekend yet?’
‘We’re on the home stretch at least. I thought you enjoyed your job, though?’
‘Oh, I do, I’m just being dramatic.’
‘Maybe you need a holiday – when did you last have some time off?’
‘Well, not for ages, but I’m not sure I feel like going away on my own quite yet and most of my friends are coupled up and not really up for a girlie week in the sun somewhere.’
‘I may not be a girl but I’m always up for a week in the sun somewhere,’ Ben said, then quickly turned red and started playing with his shirt sleeve. ‘Anyway, I’d best be off too. Keep me updated on what the council say and we’ll do what we can about the centre, I promise.’ He gave her an awkward hug and was off down the road before she had time to reply.
Bell walked home, her mind leaping from one subject to another in a blur of random scenes that skidded into and over each other. She realised the strong G&Ts Ben had mixed were probably even more gin and less tonic than she’d thought. But however dulled her senses may be, nothing could dim the all too shocking reality of the community centre’s future. Bell couldn’t help but feel that the reason she’d been able to pull herself out of the hole of despair she’d fallen into after her relationship ended was the centre and everything it represented. And if it was allowed to crumble away and close, where did that leave her and the community she now valued so much?
Chapter Eighteen
Millie
‘I should only be a few hours, Bridget, and Wolf knows he’s allowed to have one story tape once he’s gone to bed but then it’s lights out. Thanks again for watching him this evening.’
‘It’s no problem at all, lovey, I just hope you can save that centre and stop the corrupt council trying to close it down. Me and the bridge ladies would be lost without it, I tell you.’
Millie could see Bridget was gearing up for another long monologue and if she wasn’t careful she’d miss the meeting at the community centre altogether. So she merely squeezed her arm, reiterated that she didn’t think the council were in fact corrupt, merely short of money, and slipped out of the door before the older lady was able to warm to her theme.
Despite the nature of the meeting, Millie was pleased that Bell had invited her along, especially as she’d told her a lot of the other people she knew were going were from her photography class and Millie didn’t want to seem like she was gate-crashing. Though it was true that she was just as invested as any of them – seeing the grin on Wolf’s face when he doggy-paddled through the water was enough to convince her the pool and the centre needed to remain open to everyone, all the more so as it felt like her little boy was smiling rather less than normal at the moment. She was somewhat apprehensive as she walked into the centre – she only really knew Bell of the people assembled in the large room. But as she scanned the crowd she suddenly recognised Ben from their afternoon in the park, and began to make her way over to where he was leaning against a chair while a formidable-looking woman talked at him, gesticulating heavily.
‘Millie! Lovely to see you,’ Ben said, waving as he caught sight of her. Looking a little relieved, he added, ‘I don’t think you know Laura, do you? Laura, this is Bell’s friend Millie.’
Millie said hello and tried to smile rather than look like a frightened rabbit as Laura stared at her for a second before launching into an expressive speech, waving her arms in the air at her.
‘You’re Millie, then, interesting! I know you from those photos Bell took for our homework – you’re the one with the wee bairn, yes? Och, you’re even more gorgeous in the flesh than you are in those pictures. I’m telling you now I have massive hair envy, I do. When you’re blessed only with a bird’s nest like mine you know good hair when you see it, and you definitely have good hair. Bell! I was just saying that your woman Millie here has hair to die for.’
‘Hi gang, everything okay?’ Bell asked, hurrying up to them. ‘Sorry, got caught up at work and then the bus took forever,’ she puffed.
‘At least you’re here now,’ Ben smiled. ‘Good turnout, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it feels pretty full in here.’ She turned to Millie and smiled. ‘Bridget was all right to babysit tonight, then?’
‘Yeah, turns out she and her local blue-rinse friends play bridge here fairly regularly and she even used to come dancing here back in the day. Which meant she was well up for babysitting Wolfie – though he was less pleased. He made me promise not to stay out too long in case she kept coming upstairs to check on him and, I quote, “making him choke on her funny musty talcum powdery smell”!’
‘Bless him. How’s he been the last few days?’
‘I’ll tell you later,’ Millie whispered. A general move had begun towards the rows of chairs as those at the front had noticed some important-looking people make their way to seats at the table facing them all.
‘If everyone could take a seat?’ said a middle-aged man with a slight paunch that nudged over his too-short trousers and bags that dragged his eyes down into his cheeks. Millie guessed he was from the council. ‘For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Peter Hall, council leader, and this is my deputy Michael Brown, plus we also have Sue Stevens, who manages the community centre on behalf of the council.’
Millie smiled at Sue and decided she looked like a decent sort of person, though she was reserving judgement on Peter and Michael. She glanced across at Bell and saw she was listening intently to Peter droning on about the Health and Safety Executive and how the community’s health and wellbeing was their biggest priority. She was starting to doze off, until she felt her friend bristle in the seat next to her so she tried to tune back into what was being said.<
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‘We estimate the cost of renovating both the changing rooms, fixing the damp problems in the main building and refurbishing the café to be around fifty thousand pounds.’
There was an audible gasp, though Bell didn’t utter a sound and instead gripped the arm of her chair. Millie squeezed her wrist gently.
‘As a council, we have a long history of investing in health and leisure facilities and we want to keep this centre open so the local community can continue to enjoy using it, so tonight we pledge half of this money upfront.’
There was a fair amount of cheering, noticeably from an older couple near the front of the room, but Peter held his hand up for quiet.
‘However,’ he added, and the room collectively held its breath, ‘if we can’t secure the remaining twenty-five thousand through fundraising or private donations, the council will be left with no alternative but to withdraw its pledge.’
Immediately, a murmur spread through the audience until it became contagious indignation and Millie could hear people saying, ‘Well that’s that, then, we’ll never be able to raise that kind of money,’ and, ‘Trust the council to make it look like they’re doing something when in reality they’re actually condemning the building to close right now!’
She watched Bell raise her hand and Peter cleared his throat and said loudly, ‘Yes, do you have a question?’
‘I have two, actually,’ Bell said, her mouth set in a determined line as she stood up and everyone else turned to stare at her. ‘First, what is the deadline for this twenty-five thousand to be raised or donated? And secondly, if the centre does close, what are the council’s plans for the site?’
‘Ooh, good questions, Bell!’ cried the lady Millie had heard cheering a few minutes before. ‘I told you she was a feisty one, didn’t I, Tone?’ A chuckle of laughter rippled through the crowd, and Bell half smiled but remained standing and maintained her eye contact with Peter.
‘To answer your first question, we’ve set a deadline of the end of July to raise the money.’ He was interrupted by shouts of, ‘But that’s only two months away!’ and ‘So soon?’, before he continued, ‘Should the decision be made to close the centre, it will take effect from September the first. The council will then discuss what to do about the land and whether it could be better used by interested parties.’
‘You mean greedy developers!’ one person shouted angrily before others joined in with, ‘We should have known this was all about selling the land to the posh housing companies!’
Bell raised a hand a second time and Peter wearily nodded at her. ‘When you say interested parties, do you mean the land would be taken out of use by the community and sold into private ownership? And if so, would the money raised be used to build a new, modern community centre locally?’
‘What she said!’ cheered Laura and there were several ‘Oohs’ from around the room. Millie noticed the council leader’s neck redden as he pulled at his collar unhappily.
‘No decisions have been made about what will happen going forward should we not reach the target, but we would be negligent if we didn’t consider all possibilities on the table,’ he managed to get out. ‘Now, ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately, my time is up, so I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Sue here.’ And with that, he walked out of the room, with Michael Brown skulking silently behind him. The assembled locals descended into a cacophony of noise as everyone started talking at once. Bell sat down and Millie turned in her seat to give her a hug.
‘You were amazing just then, Bell, actually amazing! He might not have said what we wanted to hear, but at least you got him to admit to the council’s plans.’
Ben appeared beside them, his eyes shining. ‘Bell, that was brilliant, you’ve got everyone fired up. Seriously, I think if everyone had a grand to spare, they’d pledge it right here and now thanks to your questions!’
‘Thanks, but sadly none of us have that kind of money hanging around,’ Bell laughed ruefully. ‘But maybe together we can do something. I think we need some kind of a plan, though.’
‘We need an action committee,’ declared Laura. ‘And you’re going to lead it, Missy, after that display!’ and she began pushing Bell towards the front of the crowd just as Sue attempted to get everyone to settle down, assisted by Sheila, who whispered, ‘Excellent work there, Bell!’ then clapped her hands together hard. The room fell silent and Sue smiled at Bell.
‘Well, I think we have our leader here,’ and everyone cheered as Bell blushed furiously, her previous calm demeanour melting away once the adrenaline left her system. Sue continued, ‘Sheila and I wanted to first thank you all for coming this evening and second invite some of you young ones to form a committee to lead the fundraising efforts. We’ll both help wherever we can, but it needs some fresh blood, not us old fogies in charge! So if anyone is up for being on the committee, please come and let Bell know. If you don’t feel able to be on the committee but still want to be involved in the fundraising – because we will raise this money! – then leave your details with me and Sheila. Once we have some firm plans in place, we can let each and every one of you know what you can do to help. Thanks, everyone.’
There was more cheering and lots of discussion as various people ummed and ahhed about whether they could commit to regular ideas meetings or if they were better suited to getting involved once the plans were in place, before forming two lines – one queue in front of Sheila and Sue, and the other around Bell. Millie noticed many of the older contingent veered away from Bell’s group and took up safety in numbers around Sue and Sheila. Eventually, everyone had made up their mind, and Millie looked round in satisfaction at the group surrounding her friend. Besides her and Bell, there was Ben and Laura, plus a couple who introduced themselves as Lynne and Marcus (Millie immediately thought ‘just good friends – yeah, right!’ having heard the whole story from Bell a few weeks before), as well as two boys and a girl who barely looked old enough to be out on their own but said they were in college and had done the photography course with the others. The group was completed by two sporty-looking women in their fifties, who both had their hair pulled back into tight buns and who Millie vaguely remembered admiring as they swam graceful lengths of the pool while Wolf splashed around in the shallow end.
‘I’m Di and this is Sarah,’ the taller of the two said. ‘We’re sisters, as you might have guessed!’ They smiled at each other and Sarah said, ‘I’m the eldest, but Di is still the one with most common sense, even now!’
‘Thank you both for joining the committee,’ Bell replied. ‘I’m sure we’ll need both sense and nonsense to help us raise twenty-five thousand pounds! As it’s getting a bit late, I wonder whether we should all go away and think about some ideas and then get together again at the weekend, maybe, to chat them through? Anyone who can’t make it then can email their ideas over and we’ll keep you updated.’
‘Sounds like a plan!’ Laura agreed. ‘Right, fellow committants, see you then.’
The group dispersed as people gathered their bags and drifted out of the building, and Millie hung back in an attempt to wait for Bell and have a chat as they walked to their respective homes. But she could see that her friend was caught up in earnest conversations with various fundraising volunteers and, checking her watch, decided she would have to catch up with Bell another day. She touched her arm gently and said quietly, ‘I’d better get back so Bridget can go home. But let’s chat on Saturday?’
Bell spun round, her face aghast. ‘Oh god, sorry, Millie, give me one minute and I’ll come with you now.’ She turned back to the old lady she’d been talking to and said smoothly, ‘Absolutely, Anna, that sounds like a great idea and I’ll put it forward at the committee meeting on Saturday. Make sure you’ve given Sheila your details and we’ll be in touch very soon. Thanks so much for coming this evening.’
She then grabbed her bag from the chair next to her and made for the door, and Millie. ‘God, people like to talk!’ she said quietly as they slipped out. ‘I
could have been there for days if you hadn’t saved me! Thanks, Mills.’
‘It was entirely selfish of me, I assure you, but glad to have been of help!’ Millie replied. ‘Although I actually did want to, er, talk to you.’
‘As long as it’s not about damp-course treatments and fairy-cake sales, then I’m all yours,’ she grinned. ‘Is King Louis being a nightmare again?’
‘Actually, no. Well, no more than usual anyway. It’s Wolf.’
‘Oh no, what’s wrong? Is he okay?’ Bell turned towards her, her face full of worry.
‘Yes and no. We were called into the school again yesterday. Not that KL could come – he’s sunning it up in the south of France with that girl from TOWIE. So I went on my own, and it wasn’t great news. The head said Wolf’s behaviour hasn’t improved and after several incidents of him getting into fights in the playground, if things don’t change they’ll be, in her words, “left with no choice but to exclude Wolf from the school”.’
‘Christ!’ Bell exhaled. ‘But that doesn’t sound like Wolf – fighting in the playground? What’s going on? That’s not the Wolf I’ve seen.’
‘No, nor me either, although he does have a bit of a temper on him. He’s like his dad, quick to get angry or upset, but also quick to forget.’
‘What does Wolf say when you talk to him about it?’
Millie looked down at her feet as they walked in time with Bell’s on the uneven pavement. ‘He just went really quiet. He admitted to fighting in the playground, but wouldn’t tell me why.’ She looked up and her eyes filled with anxious tears. ‘I’m so worried about him, Bell. He’s clearly unhappy and as his mummy I should be able to wave my magic wand and make it all better, but I can’t. I just don’t know how to get him to talk to me.’
‘Poor Wolf. And poor you,’ Bell replied, slipping her arm through her friend’s. ‘It sounds like the school isn’t doing a whole lot to help either. Maybe he just needs some space to express himself properly away from the classroom. Maybe the community centre has a kids’ drama group or something he can join?’