Page 10 of Hope and Happiness in Bluebell Wood
‘Yes, thank you.’
While Jenny loads my shopping into the basket, I find my purse and swipe my card over her payment machine.
‘There you go, lovey,’ Jenny says, passing me the basket. ‘I’m sure we’ll see you again if you’re staying here a while.’
‘Yes,’ I tell her, choosing not to mention my online supermarket order due tomorrow, which I’m certain Jenny wouldn’t appreciate. ‘I’m sure you will.’
Merlin and I are finally allowed to leave the shop. I think twice about whether to go to this farm shop – I’d already had more than enough interaction with people for one day, but then I see a little robin land on the hedge in front of us – I’m sure it can’t be the same one from before, but it reminds me that Iwillhave to get some bird food sometime soon. Clearly Evelyn had cared about the birds that came to her garden as much as the garden itself, and it was becoming quite obvious she’d only left Bluebell Wood because she’d had to go and care for her daughter. I didn’t want things to be spoilt for her upon her return.
So Merlin and I walk towards the farm shop together, with me taking as many deep calming breaths of the fresh country air as I can, and Merlin also sniffing, but instead at as much of the fresh country soil as he can.
Bluebell Wood is a very pretty place, the majority of which is set along the main road that runs the length of the village. There are small roads adjacent to ‘Hill Rise’, as the main road is called, but many of them are closes, and cul-de-sacs that don’t go anywhere except to the owners’ houses. At the bottom ofthe aptly named Church Street I spy a small, pretty-looking church and I wonder how many residents of Bluebell Wood are a part of its congregation.
Eventually, when we’re almost at the end of the village, we reach Peacocks Farm Shop. I pause a moment with my hand on the gate. ‘Come on, Ava,’ I tell myself. ‘You coped with Jenny. This will be fine too.’
Two friendly-looking black Labradors come bounding up to us as we enter, and immediately begin sniffing around Merlin. Merlin, knowing his place, stands very still, waiting for them to finish. When they’ve decided he’s friend not foe, they sit playfully back on their haunches with their heads bowed, waiting for him to respond.
‘It’s okay, they’re quite friendly,’ a bulky grey-haired man wearing a checked shirt and brown corduroy trousers calls as he comes out of the main shop building. ‘You can let him off his lead if he’s all right with other dogs?’
I look down at Merlin, who looks eager to be freed. So I unhook his lead and he immediately races off with the Labradors as they begin chasing each other around the yard. Merlin obviously has a lot fewer issues with socialising than I do.
‘What can I help you with?’ the man asks, smiling at me.
‘Jenny at the shop told me you might sell wild bird food here?’ I try to inject a confident tone to my voice, even though my insides feel far from this.
‘And she’d be right. What type are you looking for?’
‘Er . . . is there more than one brand, then?’ I ask, surprised.What if the birds that came to Evelyn’s garden have a favourite and I get it wrong?
‘Not brand – type. For instance, do you have pigeons and doves you want to feed, or blue tits and sparrows?’
‘Oh, I see. There was a robin this morning; I think he was looking for food.’
‘Right, well, that’s small birds to start with. Robins like a bit of seed, but they love their mealworms.’
‘Worms?’ I ask, trying not to grimace. ‘Live ones?’ I have visions of me attempting, unsuccessfully, to dig the cottage garden in search of worms wriggling through the soil.
‘No!’ the man laughs. ‘We sell dried worms. Although your robin would love you if you gave him live worms – save him digging for them!’
I force a smile.
‘Why don’t you come in and have a look at what we have – that might help you decide.’
‘All right then.’ I look around at Merlin still playing with the other dogs.
‘He’ll be fine with my two,’ the man reassures me. ‘They won’t let anyone in here without telling me about it, and they won’t run off.’
I still hesitate – partly because of leaving Merlin, and partly because I’ll have to go into the shop without him. He’s become my security blanket over the last couple of days – albeit a particularly hairy one.
‘He’ll be perfectly safe, love. Honest,’ the man says again. ‘I’d trust those two with my life.’
I glance one more time at Merlin – he looks far too happy to prise him away from his new friends, so I follow the man into a huge barn filled with fresh fruits, vegetables and more pet food than I’ve ever seen gathered in one place.
‘Wow, you have a lot of stuff in here,’ I tell him, my guard dropping for a second as I look around me.
‘Thank you; we aim to please here at Peacocks. I try not tostep on Jenny’s toes by selling anything she does. But I like to give my customers lots of choice. I’m Gavin, by the way,’ the man says, turning back to me. ‘Gavin Peacock, we’re a family business.’
‘I’m Ava,’ I say, feeling I have no choice but to introduce myself this time. ‘And my furry friend out there is Merlin.’
