Interrupted Journey

Chapter 6 - Stabilise

It was quiet when I returned to the house. Susan had taken the girls down to feed the chickens and Rebecca, Angela and James were still down with Laura.

I collapsed into one of the chairs at the solid, wooden kitchen table which was always the heart of the farm. The living room had always been kept 'for best' though, with so many people on the farm, it was starting to see more use. The kitchen was a large room with a Welsh dresser along one wall and a large, heavy wood-fired stove along another. Pots and pans hung on the walls and a window over the sink looked out onto the yard and the lower field beyond. A door in a corner gave access to the stairs down to the cellar.

Andrew, her wealthy son, had repeatedly offered to pay for a more modern fitted kitchen with a gas stove but Mam had, of course, refused. I gave thanks for her stubbornness with every warm meal that she cooked on that stove.

There were still piles of food everywhere, of course, and I made a mental note to organise help to get them sorted away. Alice had a relatively low tolerance to clutter and I could see her shoulders tense every time her eyes fell on them.

As I sat looking round the familiar kitchen, I noticed the ticking of the smart carriage clock on the Welsh dresser. It had always been there but I'd never noticed it running before.

"I didn't know that clock would run," I said to Alice who was busy preparing another of the peculiar meals, based on what remained from the freezers.

"Young Gary asked if he could 'ave a look," Alice replied. "Turned out as how t'works just needed a bit of a clean."

I gave a nod. It would be very useful to have a working clock. A couple of times I had found myself studying what amounted to a not particularly attractive bracelet and eventually I had got round to taking my wrist watch off.

"We'll have to set it when we get a couple of sunny days," I said, almost to myself. I also made a mental note to get Susan and the girls to start marking off the days in a calendar. We would need that for farming and weather prediction.

"Can I do anything, Mam?" I asked when I had rested for a couple of minutes.

"T'stick box needs fillin' but I was going to ask the young 'uns when they come in."

"I'm on it," I said, hauling myself to my feet. "They're out playing soldiers and, if I know Laura, they won't be in any fit state when they get back."

I was still shifting firewood when our military recruits returned with a small explosion of noise. The three of them just collapsed, exhausted, into the chairs at the kitchen table.

"Have fun?" I asked James.

"Remind me never to think about joining the army," he grumbled.

"You could ask Laura to be gentle with you," I joked, knowing you had about as much chance of persuading one of the local hills to move out of your way as persuading Laura to change her training regime.

"The trouble is she makes you feel so good about yourself," Angela grumbled. "You don't want to let her down. And that Samson..."

"Mum!" Rebecca exploded, shocked at the idea.

"Well, he is a hunk!" she half whispered to her daughter in a conspiratorial tone.

"You're too old," her daughter said.

"I'm no older than he is." Angela was genuinely shocked.

"You're both too old!" Rebecca insisted.

"Oh that's alright," Angela laughed. "As long as it's a general age prejudice rather than just me."

"Dad, I think you and Susan are setting a bad example," James observed.

I joined the general laughter, happy that he had so casually acknowledged our relationship. I had been slightly concerned that he might have considered it a betrayal of his mother.

When Gary appeared for the meal that evening with the rest of the off-duty military contingent, I talked to him about the clock and was given the clear impression that he enjoyed tinkering with mechanical things.

"I don't suppose you know anything about ancient Diesel engines, do you?" I asked him, more in hope than expectation.

"Well, I wouldn't really say ancient, but my dad had an old transit van that we used to keep on the road."

"I've got a job for you, young man," I told him.

"Mike," I called across the room, "please may I borrow Gary tomorrow? He can give Ned a hand with that old tractor."

"You're not helping?" James asked.

"I'm going to the farm shop down in Amberford," I explained. "We need to pick up some stuff for the farm."