Page 35 of Second Chances at the Farm on Muddypuddle
‘I’ll go on my own, and you can be Mr Boring all by yourself.’
‘I’m not boring,’ he protested.
‘Prove it!’
Walter pulled a face. He didn’t think he could. In fact, he was fairly certain that hewasboring. Maybe playing board games and so on was the sort of thing that might help alleviate the loneliness he had been feeling…
It looked like he would be going to bingo after all!
CHAPTER EIGHT
Beth had never seen a cribbage board before, and she gazed at it with a mixture of puzzlement and disbelief. The block of wood was about a foot long and had a succession of tiny holes drilled into it, running along its length in two parallel rows of two. Four small brass pegs had been set in the board.
Walter moved all the pegs to the one end of the board, saying, ‘The winner is the first to reach 121 points.’
Beth didn’t have a clue how points were gained, and she was even more bemused when Walter produced a pack of cards and began to explain the rules.
They sounded rather complicated.
When Beth had booked them into Half Board (so called, she found out, because the session was only ever half a day) she had imagined Scrabble, or Monopoly. But Walter’s eyes had lit up when he had spied the crib board, and she didn’t have the heart to refuse him when he’d suggested a game.
He even seemed enthusiastic about teaching her to play, although she suspected he might change his mind when he realised that the rules were going over her head. Blankly she stared at the hand he’d dealt her, wondering what she was supposed to do with it. His explanation of her having to decide which two cards to discard, had passed her by.
‘Walter?’ someone said, and Beth glanced up to see a dapper chap in his seventies, with salt-and-pepper hair and a moustache beaming down at them.
‘Remember me? Stanley Childs?’ the old fella asked, holding out his hand. Walter began to struggle to his feet, but the man gently pushed him back down. ‘Don’t get up,’ Stanley said. ‘I heard you’d broken your leg.’ He turned his attention to Beth. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce me to your lady friend?’
Beth snorted. Lady friend, indeed. And she didn’t need ‘introducing’; she was perfectly capable of introducing herself.
‘Beth Fairfax,’ she said, before Walter could open his mouth.
Stanley shook her hand, holding onto it for longer than was strictly necessary. His gaze locked onto hers. ‘Charmed,’ he said. ‘Fairfax… Now where have I…? Oh, yes! Otto’s better half, Dulcie. You must be her sister.’
Beth rolled her eyes and giggled, despite herself. Walter shot her a cross look.
Stanley didn’t appear to notice. ‘How long are you in Picklewick?’ Stanley asked.
‘Permanently,’ Beth replied.
‘Are you living at the farm?’
‘No, she’s living with me,’ Walter interjected.
‘I see.’ Stanley’s eyebrows shot up.
‘It’s a temporary arrangement,’ Beth leapt in before Stanley got the wrong end of the stick. She didn’t want him to think that she and Walter were an item, not when Stanley was so handsome and suave. She wasn’t too keen on his moustache, which was a bit too handlebar-ish for her liking, but the rest of him was easy on the eye, and she bet he was a hit with Picklewick’s female contingent – the older ones, that is. Such as herself.
She was so glad she hadn’t had to twist Walter’s arm to persuade him to come with her today. If she’d had to come on her own, she probably wouldn’t have bothered. Or rather, she wouldn’t have had the courage. Walking into a roomful of strangers terrified her, especially when they undoubtedly knew each other. She would have felt like the new girl in school, and probably would have turned tail and run. Now, though, she knew Stanley, so if she did come on her own next time, she mightn’t be quite as nervous.
‘I’ll leave you to it,’ Stanley was saying.
Beth didn’t want him to go. And the reason was that she really didn’t want to learn how to play cribbage – or any other card game, for that matter. She had her eye on a group of ladies who were setting up a game of Cluedo, which was more to her liking.
She said to Stanley, ‘Do you know how to play cribbage?’
‘I do. Why, would you like to challenge me to a game? I warn you, I like to win.’
‘Good. So does Walter.’ She got to her feet. ‘Take my place. I’m sure Walter would prefer to play against someone who knows what they’re doing.’
