Old Walls - Part 4

 

Simon found himself wondering about the dominatrix in Pipers Ride; in fact the guys in camo who’d turned up at the working party generally intrigued him and made him feel as if he were missing out on something. He wasn’t sure what it was but the gap was exciting and it reminded him of being young and single, a lad among lads, they seemed free, with a lad license to lord freely over lewdness. They were living life without the invisible yoke of domesticity which ensured that Simon would never have spoken of sex workers in polite company or wielded a machete in a picnic area.

 

He found himself going online and ordering a deerhunter outdoor sports jacket in beige camo and because he couldn’t wait to fill this imaginary role he’d formed in his mind, he paid extra for next day delivery. Immediately he felt better about the future and the pathetic amount of trimmed plantlife he, along with Derrick and Shiva had gathered in their wheelbarrow. ‘Try harder, Simon’, he muttered to himself.

 

‘Shall we go then?’ Roz called upstairs.

 

He heard the tinkle of Timmy’s lead and closed his Ipad. ‘Yes, coming.’

 

‘So,’ Roz said as she slammed shut the front door, ‘we could pop over now or wait until after the walk, it might be dark by then though, it’s already gloomy and I don’t want to knock on their door in the dark.’

 

He stood on the front step and let out a big sigh. ‘I don’t know, do we really want to do this?’

 

‘Do what, meet our new neighbours?’

 

‘Yes. There’s no going back is there. Every time you leave the house then, if they’re outside it’s a case of, do I wave or not, do I shout, hello? It’s draining making those decisions. Sometimes Roz, I miss the anonymity of the city.’

 

Roz shook her head, her thick salt and pepper hair swinging either side of her chin. ‘You wanted this! We both did. We live in a community now, a bosom.’

 

Simon glanced across at her and suddenly looked very grave, ‘Yes but sometimes the bosom sweats.’

 

‘Pardon?’

 

‘The cleavage of village life can get cloying and claustrophobic. I’ve done my community turn for the day, I don’t need to speak to anyone else.’

 

Roz stepped off the porch area and began marching down the drive with Timmy on the end of his lead. ‘It’s more awkward not knowing them than knowing them actually. And the longer we avoid it, the higher the chance of friction,’ she changed her voice to a loud whisper, ‘and I know you won’t cope well with that.’

 

Simon looked over at Old Walls. It was somehow intimidating with a new family living there, the large vehicle straddling the drive. But I’m better than them, he thought and brushed away his fears. ‘Okay, let’s do it and just get it over with.’

 

There were some sounds coming from the front garden, behind the overgrown shrubs at the front. As they approached the bearded man stood up, grunting quietly, he was dressed in a black vest revealing tattoos. ‘Oh hello!’ he boomed.

 

‘Hello,’ Roz said warmly, ‘we live across the road at Fallows. We just thought we’d pop over and introduce ourselves.

 

The man seemed a bit flustered for a second. ‘Oh sorry,’ he said, ‘come in. I was just trying to tidy things up here. I need to get a lock for the shed, the door keeps swinging open.’

 

‘We won’t come in, we’ve got the dog,’ Simon protested.

 

The man was calmer now, he paused and said, ‘Okay, but you can meet my Mrs.’ He led them to the open front door, the hallway was filled with boxes, ‘Tor?’ he shouted.

 

Suddenly a teenage girl drifted into the doorway, clutching an exotic looking cat. She stood there silently staring at them but Timmy began to react.

 

‘Sorry,’ said Roz, ‘he’s not used to cats.’

 

‘Tia darling, take him upstairs to the spare room, we don’t want him to wriggle free and run away, he doesn’t know the area.’ He turned to face them and in a very gentle voice said, ‘Sorry that’s my step daughter. It’s all a bit much for her at the minute.’

 

‘What?’ said a female voice and the small blonde woman appeared in the doorway looking alarmed, annoyed even but then caught herself and smiled.

 

‘These are our neighbours across the road, they’ve come to introduce themselves. Sorry what was your names again?’

 

‘Oh we didn’t say,’ Roz laughed, ‘I’m Rosalind, call me Roz and this is my husband Simon.’

 

‘And this one?’ he pointed down at the dog, then crouched down and gave Timmy a rub.

 

‘That’s Timmy,’ said Simon, ‘he’s a Yorkshire crossed with a Border Terrier.’

 

‘He likes you,’ ’Roz said, ‘Sorry and you are?’

 

‘Oh I’m Jason but everyone calls me Jace.’

 

‘I’m Tor,’ said the woman, ‘Victoria actually but no-one’s called me that since I was a child. It doesn’t suit me. I’m too little to have a big name.’

 

Roz laughed. ‘And your daughter?’

 

‘She’s called Tia,’ Tor glanced across at her husband and folded her arms, ‘she’s the reason we’ve moved here isn’t it…’

 

‘Yes,’ said Jace, ‘she was being bullied where we lived before. We had to get away. Tia loves the countryside, she loves animals.’

 

‘Oh,’ Roz went into therapist mode suddenly, ‘I’m very sorry to hear that. It must have been so hard for you.’

 

Tor nodded. ‘Bullied for being pretty,’ she said, her voice loaded with anger.

 

‘Well she is very pretty,’ said Simon but he felt his wife’s elbow digging into his side. The couple stared at him and he changed the subject by saying, ‘So have you purchased Old Walls?’

 

‘Yes,’ said Jace, ‘I used to work with Martin. I’ve done work here before, in this house, when his dad was here. I love this house. It was perfect timing, we wanted to move to a new area and he wanted to sell. We just got a solicitor, did it all without the hassle of estate agents.’

 

Simon stared at his big arms and his tattoos, a lion’s head, a topless mermaid, the yin and yang symbol. ‘And what is it that you do?’

 

‘I’m an electrician.’

 

‘Handy,’ said Roz, ‘you won’t be short of work here, everyone struggles to get good workmen.’

 

‘Oh I mostly work on big projects, stadiums, exhibitions, that sort of thing.’

 

‘Well it’s lovely to meet you all,’ Simon said briskly.

 

‘Yes,’ Roz smiled warmly and stood for a few seconds, making it clear she was friend not foe, ‘If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate, we’re just across the road.’

 

They pulled away and spent the first few moments of their dog walk in silence, both their minds swollen with the fullness of the encounter, processing the information. Roz deliberated about what to say, she feared triggering her husband but then decided that anything she said might trigger him.

 

‘They seemed nice,’ she said in a positive voice.

 

‘Mmmm. I wasn’t sure about Victoria.’

 

‘Tor. She calls herself Tor.’

 

‘You didn’t have to play the therapist you know, when they said their daughter was being bullied.’

 

‘I didn’t! We barely spoke about it. You didn’t have to say she was pretty. What a stupid, vapid thing to say!’

 

‘I was trying to be nice.’

 

Roz opened the gate which led them onto a track through a field. She released Timmy’s lead and he ran off, excitedly sniffing the ground. ‘Remember when Charlotte was bullied on that school trip?’

 

Simon looked confused. ‘No..’

 

‘You must remember! Those boys threw her sleeping bag over the cliff and I had to drive all the way to Charmouth in the evening. She came home distraught.’

 

‘Oh,’ Simon couldn’t remember a thing but he wanted to avoid the consequences of admitting this so said, ‘yes I think I do remember now. What a terrible thing.’

 

Roz looked at his face and knew the truth. ‘Honestly where were you when our daughter was a child?’

 

Simon walked on for a bit with his hands clasped behind his back. ‘Simon was busy earning the money,’ he said calmly.

 

Roz scoffed. ‘People who talk about themselves in the third person are detached from their identity.’

 

 

‘Maybe I want to adopt a new identity,' Simon was imagining himself in his new deerhunter jacket now.

 

‘Here’s hoping.’

 

‘Roz, look Timmy’s rolling in something. Stop him!’

 

‘