Page 24 of The Runaway Wives

‘Snowy’s back!’ she shouted, hurrying over to the little cat, then sitting on the chair beside him and stroking him.

‘Thank goodness for that!’ Babs came out with a small dish of milk which Snowy lapped up eagerly. Then he followed them into the house and curled up on Dee’s lap on the sofa.

‘I’m going to miss you when I go home,’ Dee said softly as she stroked him.

‘You could always get a cat.’ Babs handed her a mug of hot chocolate. ‘I think I might get another dog when Geoff stops being a stupid bugger. It will do him good to have a dog to walk, stop him getting any more crazy ideas.’

‘Maybe I will,’ Dee said. She was going to miss this cottage too. And Port Telwyn. This was only her second day here but she felt more alive and accepted than she’d done for a long time.

When she returned home she was going to talk to Nigel, she decided. Things had to change.

17

BABS

Monday

‘Do you think this is suitable “clean up the beach” wear?’ Babs asked, walking into the kitchen and doing a twirl. She was wearing bright yellow shorts, a daisy print scooped neck T-shirt and daisy patterned trainers.

‘Perfect,’ Dee replied. She was wearing shorts again, tailored khaki ones that buttoned at the waist this time, with a plain white V-neck T-shirt, and suddenly felt a bit drab compared to Babs. Maybe she should experiment a bit with brighter colours, she thought. She did like turquoise, which wasn’t exactly dull, but she never wore red, yellow or orange, thinking they were too loud. Or was it Nigel who had said that? She’d get a couple of brighter outfits when she and Babs went shopping. ‘We’ve got time for breakfast then we’ll be off.’ She flicked the kettle on and plugged in the toaster. ‘I’ve been around to Edna’s and brought Snowy’s dish back – the cat food had gone so I’ve washed the dish and given him some fresh food.’

‘You’ve been busy. Have you heard how Edna is?’ Babs took the butter and marmalade out of the fridge as Dee put four slices of bread in the toaster.

‘Yes, I phoned the hospital, explained that we were the ones who’d raised the alarm and asked how she’s doing. Thankfully, she’s recovering well but has twisted her ankle and hurt her hip in the fall. The policewoman phoned me a few minutes ago, too, she’s been in touch with Edna’s son, Martin, who is her next of kin. He’s driving down today. He lives in Yorkshire so it’s a bit of a trek for him. She asked if she could give him my phone number, and, of course, I said “yes”.’

‘That’s good news – not the injuries, of course. I wonder how Edna will manage when she comes home? Perhaps she’ll have to sleep downstairs for a while.’

The toast popped and Dee put it on two plates. ‘I wondered about that too. She’s not going to manage those stairs until her hip and ankle recover. I guess she might want a stairlift but I don’t know how expensive they are and how quickly they can be fitted. I thought that maybe we could go and visit her in Truro hospital later, then we can see if there’s anything we can help with.’

‘Good idea.’ Babs spread a thick layer of butter then marmalade on her toast. ‘And how about we go shopping before we visit Edna? There’s quite a big shopping centre in Truro, we can get you a cossie so we can go for a swim in the sea.’ She bit into her toast and waited for Dee’s reaction.

Dee nodded. ‘Okay. Why not?’

Babs grinned in delight. It seemed like her friend was getting a little more daring, which was fantastic. She adored Dee but she definitely needed to loosen up a bit.

They finished their breakfast, left Snowy sleeping in their backyard and headed down to the beach, it was already a hive of activity. Babs was surprised at seeing such a good turnout. Glenn called everyone together for a safety briefing.

‘Always make sure you wear gloves and be aware of sharp objects.’ He passed around a box containing heavy duty plastic gloves. Then he handed out reusable buckets, thick plastic bags, rakes and shovels, a sifter, and hand sanitisers and biodegradable wipes with explanations on how to use them. ‘Remember to use sun cream, handle sharp objects carefully and stay hydrated,’ he said.

‘You’d think we were going on a dangerous expedition in a jungle instead of picking up a bit of litter,’ Babs murmured.

Glenn spun around, he’d obviously heard her comment, and fixed her with a steely glare. ‘Litter can cause accidents. I don’t want to ruin my day by having to rush one of you to hospital because you’ve cut your hand on a broken bottle or tin can.’

‘That’s me told,’ Babs said, resisting the temptation to salute. Honestly, Glenn could be a bit of a jobsworth, but then he was in charge of the group so had a responsibility to them all, she reminded herself. And his daughter had cut her leg on something dumped on the beach, she remembered, feeling a bit guilty. Sometimes she spoke before she thought. Well, most of the time actually. Perhaps she should try and be a bit more diplomatic, like Dee.

Cath took over then, telling them how to sort out and dispose of wastage, differentiating between trash and recyclables and keeping a tally of the type and amount of trash collected. ‘It’s important information, and helps with future planning,’ she said.

They were divided into groups and assigned a different area of the beach to work on, then off they went. Babs and Dee were in the same team, with a woman called Teresa. Thank goodness they weren’t with Glenn, Babs thought as she pulled on her gloves and set about cleaning up the beach. She knew he was only doing his job but she didn’t think she’d be able to cope with him watching her every move and calling her out if she did something wrong.

Fifteen minutes in she was amazed at the amount of rubbish she’d collected, and understood why Glenn had been so upset. There were literally hundreds of cigarette butts, numerous plastic bags, broken bottles – which gave her the shivers remembering how she’d walked barefoot on the beach yesterday, not to mention cans, food wrappers, straws, used condoms – yuck! – balloons and rubber bands. All of this could be harmful to wildlife and people. ‘I can’t believe people can dump all this stuff,’ she complained to Dee. ‘There’s plenty of bins on the beach. It’s selfishness.’

Dee glanced at her, amused. ‘You sound like Glenn – but yes, it is.’

When they all stopped for a break half an hour later, they all had full trash bags, and recycling buckets.

‘What do you actually do with all this?’ Babs asked Glenn.

‘We weigh and record it, as much as we can. The data is useful to raise public awareness of the amount of litter dumped and the impact of it on the environment. Then I take it in my van to local trash and recyclables pick-up points,’ Glenn told her. ‘We do three beach clean-ups a month, at different locations, but we can never seem to get on top of the trash.’

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