Old Walls - Part 5

 

‘It’s funny how the brain works isn’t it, Roz. Memories locked away, sequestered, I don’t mean important memories, just mundane things, details, you think you’ve forgotten but they’re actually still there.’

 

Simon was sitting up in bed with his hands clasped in his lap, speaking to nobody in particular but hoping his wife would listen and respond and having no intention of shutting up if she happened to still be sleeping. Roz hadn’t long fallen back asleep after experiencing a long period of being wide awake listening to him snoring. She made a faint humming sound to acknowledge her husband’s comments.

 

‘I had a dream about Jason’s shed,’ he said, raising his voice, ‘it was very vivid actually. I can still picture it all in my mind’s eye.’

 

‘Oh..’ Roz said as she turned over to face away from him, stretching and sighing.

 

‘Yes, there was a man living inside it and his name was, Narcolepsy,’ he laughed, ‘of all things, anyway, I wanted to warn the family about it, about this man, Narcolepsy, a hermit or whatever he was so that they could evict him but I just couldn’t wake up, you know, wake up inside the dream. I saw Jason in his garden, he was mowing the lawn but I just kept falling asleep and I was lying on the ground so he couldn’t see me as I tried in vain to wave my arms around.’

 

Roz opened her eyes and stared at the bedside lamp. ‘So you were Narcolepsy. It was you in the shed, Simon.’

 

‘No! It wasn’t me, there was a horrible, gnarly little man inside the shed, a threat to the family. He’d been living there the whole time that Old Walls lay empty and I had to warn Jason, Jace or whatever his name is but I was just too sleepy to speak or stand up or anything. It was like I’d been drugged.’

 

‘I was sleepy, just now. I wish you hadn’t woken me up. Why don’t you go and put the kettle on.’

 

‘Anyway, the point is, when I woke up, I suddenly remembered that a long time ago, Martin borrowed some loppers from me.’

 

‘Mmmm.’

 

‘Yes he did. It was the last time he visited to tidy the front garden at Old Walls and I don’t recall him ever giving them back. I do remember thinking at the time, I’ll remind him when he returns but we never saw him again did we, and then I just forgot…until now. They still must be in that shed, they must be. I could have done with those at the working party the other day.’

 

‘You can ask Jace the next time we see him.’

 

Simon decided immediately that he wouldn’t do this. ‘Yes, that might be complicated to explain though. I don’t think he’d buy that, you know, by the way my tools are in your shed, no he’d smell a rat.’

 

‘Tea Simon!’

 

He got up out of bed and went down to the kitchen. It was while he was letting Timmy out the back for his morning wee that the doorbell rang and it was a delivery for him, the camo jacket he’d ordered. As quietly as possible he whispered, thank you, and closed the front door, being careful not to rustle the packaging.

 

He went to the lounge where there was a large mirror and put the jacket on over his pyjama top, it was a bit bulky, enough room for a few layers underneath but it made his shoulders look broader, and being quite a narrow man, this gave him an increased sense of power. He made a few athletic movements, watching his reflection closely, then turned around, craning to observe his back view,

 

Disturbed by the sound of Roz speaking on the phone and getting out of bed, he quickly removed the jacket, placed it underneath some coats on the coat hook in the hall and stuffed the packaging away in a kitchen drawer full of plastic bags.

 

He was squeezing the teabag against the side of Roz’s cup when she came in, fastening her dressing gown tightly around her waist.

 

‘Have you not made it yet? It’s chilly down here,’ she said while holding the phone to her ear, then carried on speaking to her caller. ‘I’m sorry Charlotte, I’ve got a client in the morning. Hang on, I’ll ask your father…’ She placed her hand over the microphone.

 

‘What does she want?’ Simon whispered, a sense of dread on his face.

 

‘She wants to know if you can look after the boys at eleven tomorrow morning, she’s got somebody coming for a cello lesson.’

 

Simon shook his head very quickly, ‘I’m on community food bank duty tomorrow, it’s my turn.’

 

Roz cocked her head and looked at him pleadingly, ‘Maybe skip it. I’m sure they’ll cope without you, there’s normally too many, you’re all tripping over each other.’

 

Simon was adamant, ‘No, there’s flu going around. I could be the only one who turns up.’

 

‘You speak to her then!’ Roz placed the phone on the kitchen surface. 

 

Simon could just about hear his daughter speaking, ‘Hello, hello Dad, are you there?’

 

‘Hello Darling, how are things?’

 

‘Erm, quite stressful actually. Did Mum say? I’ve got a cello lesson booked for tomorrow and the boys are home, there was a swap and I’ve got no childcare. Do you think you could come and watch them for a couple of hours or take them out?’

 

‘No, no, no, sorry Charlotte, I’m booked to do the community food bank tomorrow. I’m needed there. Oh what a shame. It’s a pity you couldn’t have told me earlier, a bit of notice is always helpful in these situations.’

 

Charlotte went silent and then let out a heavy sigh. ‘It’s so hard to work when you have young children, even for a few hours. I thought maybe you could cancel your voluntary thing, just this once, the girl I’m teaching has an exam coming up, it’s a booster lesson to make sure she’s prepared.’

 

Simon enjoyed seeing his grandsons when Roz was there but he wasn’t keen to babysit for them alone, ever. Deep down he knew it was feasible to cancel the food bank but he just didn’t want to do it. ‘I’m sorry Charlotte, not this time. The food bank stuff is important, some folk are struggling out there. You’re lucky you know, Ben earns very good money..’

 

‘Okay, okay, don’t worry Dad. I’ll see if one of the neighbours can do it. I’ve got to go, Kester is crying. Bye Dad.’

 

‘Oh,’ he stared at the phone then handed it back to Roz, ‘that was a bit abrupt.’

 

‘I feel bad. I can’t cancel my client though.’

 

‘She wanted those two children. Anyway she needs to give us more notice. This is our time now. She’s very lucky, Ben works so hard for her and the boys.’

 

Roz hovered for a while, wringing her hands as if wracked with guilt. She picked up the tea and went back upstairs to get dressed, pausing halfway to ask, ‘Did I hear the doorbell earlier?’

 

‘It was just somebody selling solar panels.’

 

He peered out of the window at Old Walls. The obnoxious pick-up truck was absent and he could just make out Tia’s exotic cat seated on the window sill staring across at him. 

 

Simon pictured the orange-handled loppers in the shed and hatched a rough plan in his mind to retrieve them without the discomfort of any contact with Jace. He spent the remainder of the day feeling a low level buzz of excitement in his tummy.

 

Their day was spent doing domestic chores, he followed Roz around Sainsbury's pushing the trolley and making snippy comments about how much they were spending. It was true that Roz enjoyed buying the more premium food products and wines because it was her belief that life was too short to eat boring food. 

 

In the afternoon, he cut the lawn, the final cut of the year, perhaps. It grieved him that it was full of moss and patches of some sort of ferny little weed. He thought about Mel’s huge garden, perfect lawns, borders bursting with flowers but Mel and Annabel had a gardener, indeed they had everything.

 

Roz came out clutching a tea towel. ‘The grass looks nice,’

 

‘Mmmm, ‘ he nodded, ‘it needs scarifying, then it will look awful for a while. It’s getting dark. Are you taking Timmy out?’

 

Roz looked confused. ‘Yes, I was waiting for you. Dinner is all prepped.’

 

‘I.. I wasn’t going to join you this evening, if that’s okay. I’ve got some things, some admin to do.’

 

‘Admin?’

 

‘Yes,’ he nodded, ‘I want to check my diary and offer Charlotte some babysitting dates going forward.’

 

Roz looked very confused. ‘Oh,’ she said, her head appearing to shift backward an inch or so as if a wind of hope was blowing on her, ‘Really? She will be very pleased that you’re doing that.’

 

‘Mmmm,’ Simon nodded, ‘well we will have to see when I’m available and whether my dates will align with her needs.’ He reached into the hallway and passed his wife the dog lead.

 

‘I'll need my jacket, Simon.’

 

He passed her the garment and took the tea towel off her, holding open the front door to usher her out as she clicked the lead onto the dog's collar. ‘How long will you be, approximately? Timmy seemed quite restless when we got home from shopping.’

 

‘No more than three quarters of an hour. It’ll be dark before then anyway.’

 

‘You take your time.’

 

Simon watched her walking down the drive until she was out of sight, then he slid off the top layer of coats from the hook and retrieved his new camo jacket and put it on, it felt stiff, new. He opened the front door and had a quick look across the road. Jason wasn’t home from work yet which was unusual. It’s not dark enough yet, he thought and decided to give it another ten minutes.