Page 80 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
For several long minutes, this was absolutely nothing. If he hadn’t been so skinny, I’d have thought he was stuck and I was just wondering whether to pull him in again when, very, very slowly, he inched forward and vanished, the flap slapping closed behind him.
I dashed to the living-room window and squinted sidewaysat the open latticework of the porch, where I could just make out his ghost-grey shape sitting on the mat, statue still.
When I went back into the hall and, kneeling down, pushed open the flap and looked through, he turned and made a silent face at me.
‘It’s OK, Golightly. You can come back in any time you want.’
He made the hideous face again, then turned his back on me once more and, with a sigh, I opened the front door and slid out, closing it behind me, so I could demonstrate the amazing ability of the cat flap to open both ways, just like his old one. Then I went back in, closing the door quickly when he seemed about to follow me.
I stood in the hall listening … and then a blue-grey head slowly appeared and a pair of yellow eyes regarded me balefully. Then there was a rattle and he was gone.
This time, from the window, I watched him very slowly move across the cobbles before sliding through the garden railings and vanishing into the bushes.
He’d be safe enough in there, so long as he didn’t emerge on the other side and leg it off into town.
There was no way I could settle to doing anything else, so I took a kitchen chair outside and put it by the porch in a spot the sun had just reached, then sat drinking coffee and waiting for the return of the traveller … or even some sign that he was still there.
Thom must have been up and working early, because the door to his workshop opened and he came out, tossing down Jester’s cushion. Jester, hard on his heels, immediately curled up on it and Thom, turning to go back in, spotted me and waved.
‘I’ll be over in ten minutes,’ he called, and it was only then I remembered he’d said he would fit the door and put the castoron the sofa today. Golightly’s release into the wild had entirely distracted me.
‘Sunbathing?’ he asked, when he carried his big toolbox and several long strips of thin wooden batten over.
‘I’ve just let Golightly out for the first time. He went in that direction.’ I gestured at the garden.
‘How did it go?’
‘Well, he didn’t exactly skip off to the theme tune ofBorn Free, but I’m hoping he just has a little potter round the garden and comes back again. If he’s stillinthere.’
Thom, from his greater height, could see more of the garden than I could and peered across, shading his eyes.
‘I think he just fell off the lowest branch of the cherry tree in the middle. But don’t worry,’ he added hastily, as I sprang up, ‘there’s a nice soft flowerbed right underneath.’
‘He doesn’t usually climb on to anything higher than a low armchair.’
‘He’s probably never seen a tree before, though, so maybe it was too much to resist. Or perhaps some innate instinct took over?’
‘Maybe,’ I agreed. ‘I’ll stay out a bit longer and watch him. Do you want a cup of coffee?’
‘Love one. I’ll drink it out here with you and then, if Golightly seems OK, I’ll fit that door for you.’
I took out another chair for him and made more coffee. When I sat down next to him, he assured me he could see the entranceway to the mews and Golightly had not gone out.
‘It’s kind of you to keep doing all these handyman things for me, because you must have other things you’d rather be doing.’
‘Not really. I enjoy it. I might do a little more to that Burmese puppet later, though, because I want to finish it so I can start on the Maria Marten marionette. The only othercharacter they need is the stepmother and I’ve got a female marionette in stock that will do.’
We sat out there in the surprisingly warm sunshine, discussing the puppets and the costumes I would make for them.
‘The Marinos should all be back by the end of the month and I’ll introduce you and tell them you’re taking over the costume making.’
‘I’m looking forward to seeing some of their puppet performances. It will be a new experience.’
I’d been so interested in what we’d been discussing that I’d forgotten about Golightly, but when I remembered and turned to look, Thom said quickly, ‘Don’t worry about the cat – he hasn’t gone out of the mews.’
‘I think I’ll stay out here a bit longer anyway and see if he comes back,’ I said.
‘I’ll go and get on with the door. I can give you a shout if I need anything.’
