The village drowsed in the sun. A stream made its way past the cottages, each one with its little bridge leading to the graveled path that ran along the fronts. On the other side of the stream the pub, the village shop and the old smithy, slumbered behind closed doors.\u00a0 Everything was still, seen through a haze from up on the hill where Jack had parked the van. Even the trees in the churchyard and the manse garden were motionless against a cloudless sky.<\/p>\n
Jess and Jack looked down from the hill where Jack had parked the van.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a painting,\u201d said Jess, \u201cone of them we saw in that museum when we went with school that time,\u00a0 but not even a dog, where is every one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHoliday weekend,\u201d said Jack, \u201cand most folk will be at the fair today, the castle and grounds are open, they\u2019ll all be there trying to get a look at milord at home in his smoking jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re ridiculous, no one wears a smoking jacket, not even the royals these days, but I could do with a smoke myself, give us a ciggie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t earn it,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I\u2019m fed up of doing it outside, or in your dirty van, it\u2019s not nice. Why can\u2019t we have a place of our own, or one of them cottages, lovely they are, go in close the door, your own little place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack looked at her, sitting on the van step, her dark hair loosened in their lovemaking, fell round her shoulders but she had re buttoned her blouse, and smoothed her skirt, now she pulled her shawl over her lap and poked through his jacket pocket looking for the cigarettes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could find a place, private like, on our own, would you do it proper, you know no clothes, let yourself go like?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess\u00a0 considered, \u201cI might, but\u00a0 I want a place like one of them cottages, and a big double bed and a proper cuppa after.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re on, get in, let\u2019s see what\u2019s what down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He drove the van farther down the hillside track parking against a hedge.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive us them binoculars, Jess.\u201d He scanned the village. \u201cWhat about that one then, the blue door right at the end of the row, back a bit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I see?\u00a0 You got the glasses, give \u2018em here,\u201d she took the binoculars and peered through them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue door at the end of the row, there\u2019s a big hedge along the side.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was silent for a longtime, adjusting the lens from time to time and tipping her head and moving the glasses from side to side.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue door and them little shutters, it\u2019s lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
They watched the village for a long time, taking turns with the binoculars.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re living there, Jack,\u00a0 look the shop is open now, I can see the sign, Shop and\u00a0 Post Office, and there is a dog, asleep on the pub step, it\u2019s magic\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cRight, that\u2019s where we\u2019re going then, you stay here, I\u2019ll be back for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if someone comes, what am I supposed to be doing up her on me own? I could be attacked\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, OK, walk down, past the village and go in to the castle grounds, get a cuppa at the caff, I\u2019ll come back to the car park for you. Don\u2019t be talking to anyone neither. Now where\u2019s me overalls and that big parts box?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess watched as Jack changed into his overalls and an old cap. He took the box from the back of the van and stuffed various bits of rubbish in it, \u201cDon\u2019t want no rattling,\u201d he laughed. He tore the labels off the box and scribbled the name of the village on one side under some older printed addresses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Down in the village the afternoon stretched past tea time and in the shop old Aggie thought about closing up and going for her own tea.
\n\u201cPull down the blinds,\u201d she said to her assistant Gladys, \u201cno one else is going to come now, we might as well shut up.\u201d She shuffled off in to the back to put the kettle on. Gladys was just turning the door sign to \u2018closed\u2019 when a van drew up and a young man got out. He came in to the shop, bringing a whiff of machine oil and sweat,<\/p>\n
\u201cGot a package here for the end cottage, but no one\u2019s at home, all at the fete are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, said Gladys,\u201d that\u2019s Margaret, she\u2019s away. Aggie, when is Margaret coming back?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho wants to know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliveries, shall he leave it round the back in the shed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliveries this late, on a holiday?\u201d
\nThe young man grinned at Gladys, \u201cBacked up they are, and their truck broke down on the motorway. I\u2019m just doing the local stuff, OK, I can put it in the shed, no dog to bite me, eh?\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Gladys, \u201cshe doesn\u2019t have a dog, you\u2019ll be all right, I\u2019ll tell her to look in the shed when she comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight then, the shed it is,\u201d and he swung out of the door tipping his cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cLovely, he was,\u201d sighed Gladys<\/p>\n
Jess and Jack waited until the shadowy evening drew over the village and then crept down the hillside behind the cottage.\u00a0 Shielded by the hedge Jack picked the lock on the side door<\/p>\n
\u201cNo bolt, thank goodness,\u201d he breathed and eased it open. He and Jess stepped into a tiled back lobby with a stone sink, and then through into the front room.\u00a0 Two chairs and a dark Welsh dresser stood by the fireplace, a gate leg table folded down stood against the back wall and a clock ticked on the other wall, next to a twisting staircase. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s lovely!\u201d breathed Jess.<\/p>\n
Upstairs two bedrooms rested under the beams; one filled with boxes and trunks, the other with a brass bed, covered with a patchwork quilt, and a small table holding a candlestick.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh Jack, Jack ,\u201d\u00a0 but Jack was already tearing off his clothes and pulling her down, \u201call of them, off,\u201d he said tugging at her skirt and wrenching her blouse off her shoulders, \u201ccome on, girl .. . don\u2019t mess about \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid I earn it, then?\u201d asked Jess reaching for the cigarettes, \u201cand where\u2019s my cuppa?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou earned it, but I didn\u2019t see a stove, she must have an electric kettle somewhere though.\u201d
\nJack went down stairs and Jess sat up, she lit the candle and looked around the room. The walls were painted a smudgy yellow color and the curtains, old faded and torn along the seams were the same color with a rose pattern woven into the fabric. Dark beams ran over her head.\u00a0 There was a small iron fireplace and on the mantelpiece a collection of ornaments.<\/p>\n
Jack came back, \u201cI found a kettle and the tea, no milk though, but here, look what she had, we can have a drop of this instead,\u201d and he held up a bottle of Glen Livet, \u201cgive you new strength,.\u201d He grinned wickedly and got back into bed with her.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jess woke, \u201cJack, what\u2019s that, listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s birds Jess, the dawn chorus, we got to get going, don\u2019t want old Margaret coming back early and catching us, here get your clothes on and smooth the bed, I\u2019ll put away down stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped by the door and looked back at her, she looked beautiful, hair tumbled, her face soft, the quilt only just covering her, \u201cWe could do it again, Jess, like this, I can always find us a place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you can, Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n
She put the room to rights and gathered up her things; passing the mantelpiece she quickly picked up a china pig and put it in her pocket.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Months later two police chiefs met to discuss issues in their respective counties. They dealt with travelers, rubbish dumping, urban gangs trashing local pubs and moved on to the latest thing, a rash of break ins in outlying villages, where nothing was taken except an ornament, and no damage done, only a rumpled bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething and nothing,\u201d said one of them, \u201cthese old biddies can\u2019t remember how they left the place or what they had, dreaming they are half the time. Shall we have another round? Shout up the girl will you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk about dreaming, look at her.\u201d said his partner, \u201cWaitress!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess leaning against the bar fingering the little wooden owl in her pocket, jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can I get you?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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The village drowsed in the sun. A stream made its way past the cottages, each one with its little bridge leading to the graveled path that ran along the fronts. On the other side of the stream the pub, the village shop and the old smithy, slumbered behind closed doors.\u00a0 Everything was still, seen through a haze from up on the hill where Jack had parked the van. Even the trees in the churchyard and the manse garden were motionless against a cloudless sky.<\/p>\n
Jess and Jack looked down from the hill where Jack had parked the van.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a painting,\u201d said Jess, \u201cone of them we saw in that museum when we went with school that time,\u00a0 but not even a dog, where is every one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHoliday weekend,\u201d said Jack, \u201cand most folk will be at the fair today, the castle and grounds are open, they\u2019ll all be there trying to get a look at milord at home in his smoking jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re ridiculous, no one wears a smoking jacket, not even the royals these days, but I could do with a smoke myself, give us a ciggie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t earn it,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I\u2019m fed up of doing it outside, or in your dirty van, it\u2019s not nice. Why can\u2019t we have a place of our own, or one of them cottages, lovely they are, go in close the door, your own little place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack looked at her, sitting on the van step, her dark hair loosened in their lovemaking, fell round her shoulders but she had re buttoned her blouse, and smoothed her skirt, now she pulled her shawl over her lap and poked through his jacket pocket looking for the cigarettes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could find a place, private like, on our own, would you do it proper, you know no clothes, let yourself go like?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess\u00a0 considered, \u201cI might, but\u00a0 I want a place like one of them cottages, and a big double bed and a proper cuppa after.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re on, get in, let\u2019s see what\u2019s what down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He drove the van farther down the hillside track parking against a hedge.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive us them binoculars, Jess.\u201d He scanned the village. \u201cWhat about that one then, the blue door right at the end of the row, back a bit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I see?\u00a0 You got the glasses, give \u2018em here,\u201d she took the binoculars and peered through them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue door at the end of the row, there\u2019s a big hedge along the side.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was silent for a longtime, adjusting the lens from time to time and tipping her head and moving the glasses from side to side.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue door and them little shutters, it\u2019s lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
They watched the village for a long time, taking turns with the binoculars.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re living there, Jack,\u00a0 look the shop is open now, I can see the sign, Shop and\u00a0 Post Office, and there is a dog, asleep on the pub step, it\u2019s magic\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cRight, that\u2019s where we\u2019re going then, you stay here, I\u2019ll be back for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if someone comes, what am I supposed to be doing up her on me own? I could be attacked\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, OK, walk down, past the village and go in to the castle grounds, get a cuppa at the caff, I\u2019ll come back to the car park for you. Don\u2019t be talking to anyone neither. Now where\u2019s me overalls and that big parts box?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess watched as Jack changed into his overalls and an old cap. He took the box from the back of the van and stuffed various bits of rubbish in it, \u201cDon\u2019t want no rattling,\u201d he laughed. He tore the labels off the box and scribbled the name of the village on one side under some older printed addresses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Down in the village the afternoon stretched past tea time and in the shop old Aggie thought about closing up and going for her own tea.
\n\u201cPull down the blinds,\u201d she said to her assistant Gladys, \u201cno one else is going to come now, we might as well shut up.\u201d She shuffled off in to the back to put the kettle on. Gladys was just turning the door sign to \u2018closed\u2019 when a van drew up and a young man got out. He came in to the shop, bringing a whiff of machine oil and sweat,<\/p>\n
\u201cGot a package here for the end cottage, but no one\u2019s at home, all at the fete are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, said Gladys,\u201d that\u2019s Margaret, she\u2019s away. Aggie, when is Margaret coming back?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho wants to know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliveries, shall he leave it round the back in the shed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliveries this late, on a holiday?\u201d
\nThe young man grinned at Gladys, \u201cBacked up they are, and their truck broke down on the motorway. I\u2019m just doing the local stuff, OK, I can put it in the shed, no dog to bite me, eh?\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Gladys, \u201cshe doesn\u2019t have a dog, you\u2019ll be all right, I\u2019ll tell her to look in the shed when she comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight then, the shed it is,\u201d and he swung out of the door tipping his cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cLovely, he was,\u201d sighed Gladys<\/p>\n
Jess and Jack waited until the shadowy evening drew over the village and then crept down the hillside behind the cottage.\u00a0 Shielded by the hedge Jack picked the lock on the side door<\/p>\n
\u201cNo bolt, thank goodness,\u201d he breathed and eased it open. He and Jess stepped into a tiled back lobby with a stone sink, and then through into the front room.\u00a0 Two chairs and a dark Welsh dresser stood by the fireplace, a gate leg table folded down stood against the back wall and a clock ticked on the other wall, next to a twisting staircase. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s lovely!\u201d breathed Jess.<\/p>\n
Upstairs two bedrooms rested under the beams; one filled with boxes and trunks, the other with a brass bed, covered with a patchwork quilt, and a small table holding a candlestick.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh Jack, Jack ,\u201d\u00a0 but Jack was already tearing off his clothes and pulling her down, \u201call of them, off,\u201d he said tugging at her skirt and wrenching her blouse off her shoulders, \u201ccome on, girl .. . don\u2019t mess about \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid I earn it, then?\u201d asked Jess reaching for the cigarettes, \u201cand where\u2019s my cuppa?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou earned it, but I didn\u2019t see a stove, she must have an electric kettle somewhere though.\u201d
\nJack went down stairs and Jess sat up, she lit the candle and looked around the room. The walls were painted a smudgy yellow color and the curtains, old faded and torn along the seams were the same color with a rose pattern woven into the fabric. Dark beams ran over her head.\u00a0 There was a small iron fireplace and on the mantelpiece a collection of ornaments.<\/p>\n
Jack came back, \u201cI found a kettle and the tea, no milk though, but here, look what she had, we can have a drop of this instead,\u201d and he held up a bottle of Glen Livet, \u201cgive you new strength,.\u201d He grinned wickedly and got back into bed with her.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jess woke, \u201cJack, what\u2019s that, listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s birds Jess, the dawn chorus, we got to get going, don\u2019t want old Margaret coming back early and catching us, here get your clothes on and smooth the bed, I\u2019ll put away down stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped by the door and looked back at her, she looked beautiful, hair tumbled, her face soft, the quilt only just covering her, \u201cWe could do it again, Jess, like this, I can always find us a place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you can, Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n
She put the room to rights and gathered up her things; passing the mantelpiece she quickly picked up a china pig and put it in her pocket.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Months later two police chiefs met to discuss issues in their respective counties. They dealt with travelers, rubbish dumping, urban gangs trashing local pubs and moved on to the latest thing, a rash of break ins in outlying villages, where nothing was taken except an ornament, and no damage done, only a rumpled bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething and nothing,\u201d said one of them, \u201cthese old biddies can\u2019t remember how they left the place or what they had, dreaming they are half the time. Shall we have another round? Shout up the girl will you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk about dreaming, look at her.\u201d said his partner, \u201cWaitress!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess leaning against the bar fingering the little wooden owl in her pocket, jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can I get you?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The village drowsed in the sun. A stream made its way past the cottages, each one with its little bridge leading to the graveled path that ran along the fronts. On the other side of the stream the pub, the village shop and the old smithy, slumbered behind closed doors.\u00a0 Everything was still, seen through a haze from up on the hill where Jack had parked the van. Even the trees in the churchyard and the manse garden were motionless against a cloudless sky.<\/p>\n
Jess and Jack looked down from the hill where Jack had parked the van.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a painting,\u201d said Jess, \u201cone of them we saw in that museum when we went with school that time,\u00a0 but not even a dog, where is every one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHoliday weekend,\u201d said Jack, \u201cand most folk will be at the fair today, the castle and grounds are open, they\u2019ll all be there trying to get a look at milord at home in his smoking jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re ridiculous, no one wears a smoking jacket, not even the royals these days, but I could do with a smoke myself, give us a ciggie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t earn it,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I\u2019m fed up of doing it outside, or in your dirty van, it\u2019s not nice. Why can\u2019t we have a place of our own, or one of them cottages, lovely they are, go in close the door, your own little place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack looked at her, sitting on the van step, her dark hair loosened in their lovemaking, fell round her shoulders but she had re buttoned her blouse, and smoothed her skirt, now she pulled her shawl over her lap and poked through his jacket pocket looking for the cigarettes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could find a place, private like, on our own, would you do it proper, you know no clothes, let yourself go like?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess\u00a0 considered, \u201cI might, but\u00a0 I want a place like one of them cottages, and a big double bed and a proper cuppa after.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re on, get in, let\u2019s see what\u2019s what down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He drove the van farther down the hillside track parking against a hedge.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive us them binoculars, Jess.\u201d He scanned the village. \u201cWhat about that one then, the blue door right at the end of the row, back a bit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I see?\u00a0 You got the glasses, give \u2018em here,\u201d she took the binoculars and peered through them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue door at the end of the row, there\u2019s a big hedge along the side.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was silent for a longtime, adjusting the lens from time to time and tipping her head and moving the glasses from side to side.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue door and them little shutters, it\u2019s lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
They watched the village for a long time, taking turns with the binoculars.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re living there, Jack,\u00a0 look the shop is open now, I can see the sign, Shop and\u00a0 Post Office, and there is a dog, asleep on the pub step, it\u2019s magic\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cRight, that\u2019s where we\u2019re going then, you stay here, I\u2019ll be back for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if someone comes, what am I supposed to be doing up her on me own? I could be attacked\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, OK, walk down, past the village and go in to the castle grounds, get a cuppa at the caff, I\u2019ll come back to the car park for you. Don\u2019t be talking to anyone neither. Now where\u2019s me overalls and that big parts box?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess watched as Jack changed into his overalls and an old cap. He took the box from the back of the van and stuffed various bits of rubbish in it, \u201cDon\u2019t want no rattling,\u201d he laughed. He tore the labels off the box and scribbled the name of the village on one side under some older printed addresses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Down in the village the afternoon stretched past tea time and in the shop old Aggie thought about closing up and going for her own tea.
\n\u201cPull down the blinds,\u201d she said to her assistant Gladys, \u201cno one else is going to come now, we might as well shut up.\u201d She shuffled off in to the back to put the kettle on. Gladys was just turning the door sign to \u2018closed\u2019 when a van drew up and a young man got out. He came in to the shop, bringing a whiff of machine oil and sweat,<\/p>\n
\u201cGot a package here for the end cottage, but no one\u2019s at home, all at the fete are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, said Gladys,\u201d that\u2019s Margaret, she\u2019s away. Aggie, when is Margaret coming back?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho wants to know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliveries, shall he leave it round the back in the shed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliveries this late, on a holiday?\u201d
\nThe young man grinned at Gladys, \u201cBacked up they are, and their truck broke down on the motorway. I\u2019m just doing the local stuff, OK, I can put it in the shed, no dog to bite me, eh?\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Gladys, \u201cshe doesn\u2019t have a dog, you\u2019ll be all right, I\u2019ll tell her to look in the shed when she comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight then, the shed it is,\u201d and he swung out of the door tipping his cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cLovely, he was,\u201d sighed Gladys<\/p>\n
Jess and Jack waited until the shadowy evening drew over the village and then crept down the hillside behind the cottage.\u00a0 Shielded by the hedge Jack picked the lock on the side door<\/p>\n
\u201cNo bolt, thank goodness,\u201d he breathed and eased it open. He and Jess stepped into a tiled back lobby with a stone sink, and then through into the front room.\u00a0 Two chairs and a dark Welsh dresser stood by the fireplace, a gate leg table folded down stood against the back wall and a clock ticked on the other wall, next to a twisting staircase. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s lovely!\u201d breathed Jess.<\/p>\n
Upstairs two bedrooms rested under the beams; one filled with boxes and trunks, the other with a brass bed, covered with a patchwork quilt, and a small table holding a candlestick.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh Jack, Jack ,\u201d\u00a0 but Jack was already tearing off his clothes and pulling her down, \u201call of them, off,\u201d he said tugging at her skirt and wrenching her blouse off her shoulders, \u201ccome on, girl .. . don\u2019t mess about \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid I earn it, then?\u201d asked Jess reaching for the cigarettes, \u201cand where\u2019s my cuppa?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou earned it, but I didn\u2019t see a stove, she must have an electric kettle somewhere though.\u201d
\nJack went down stairs and Jess sat up, she lit the candle and looked around the room. The walls were painted a smudgy yellow color and the curtains, old faded and torn along the seams were the same color with a rose pattern woven into the fabric. Dark beams ran over her head.\u00a0 There was a small iron fireplace and on the mantelpiece a collection of ornaments.<\/p>\n
Jack came back, \u201cI found a kettle and the tea, no milk though, but here, look what she had, we can have a drop of this instead,\u201d and he held up a bottle of Glen Livet, \u201cgive you new strength,.\u201d He grinned wickedly and got back into bed with her.<\/p>\n
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Jess woke, \u201cJack, what\u2019s that, listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s birds Jess, the dawn chorus, we got to get going, don\u2019t want old Margaret coming back early and catching us, here get your clothes on and smooth the bed, I\u2019ll put away down stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped by the door and looked back at her, she looked beautiful, hair tumbled, her face soft, the quilt only just covering her, \u201cWe could do it again, Jess, like this, I can always find us a place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you can, Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n
She put the room to rights and gathered up her things; passing the mantelpiece she quickly picked up a china pig and put it in her pocket.<\/p>\n
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Months later two police chiefs met to discuss issues in their respective counties. They dealt with travelers, rubbish dumping, urban gangs trashing local pubs and moved on to the latest thing, a rash of break ins in outlying villages, where nothing was taken except an ornament, and no damage done, only a rumpled bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething and nothing,\u201d said one of them, \u201cthese old biddies can\u2019t remember how they left the place or what they had, dreaming they are half the time. Shall we have another round? Shout up the girl will you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk about dreaming, look at her.\u201d said his partner, \u201cWaitress!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess leaning against the bar fingering the little wooden owl in her pocket, jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can I get you?\u201d<\/p>\n
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The village drowsed in the sun. A stream made its way past the cottages, each one with its little bridge leading to the graveled path that ran along the fronts. On the other side of the stream the pub, the village shop and the old smithy, slumbered behind closed doors.\u00a0 Everything was still, seen through … Continue reading “Village Dream”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262,"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francesgilbert.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}