Page 101 of Hope and Happiness in Bluebell Wood
‘Aren’t you the one that was here the other day?’ the man asks, looking at me. The one giving Cuckoo Boy grief?’
‘Yes, I was.’
‘Nice one,’ he says, to my surprise. ‘Royal pain in the arse,he is. None of us like doing jobs for his lot. But we have to go where the money is, don’t we? Sorry your village doesn’t want these houses. Just between the three of us, I think you’re right: it’ll ruin the look of the place. A lovely little old-fashioned village like this needs houses sympathetic to the current ones, not the sort we’re building. But that’s Cuckoo all over isn’t it – cheap and not very cheerful.’
I’m not sure what to say. I hadn’t expected this response at all.
‘Thanks,’ I say eventually. ‘Just a shame we can’t do anything about it now.’
The builder shrugs. ‘That’s life, I guess; money always wins in the end.’
Callum remains strangely quiet throughout this exchange.
‘Right, I’d best be getting back to the site, enjoy your . . . ’ He waves his hand between us and grins. ‘Yourwalk.’
We watch him go.
‘Are you all right?’ I ask Callum, who still hasn’t spoken.
‘You heard him: “Money always wins in the end.” He’s right, isn’t he? Everything always comes down to that – even I was swayed by the promise of it.’
Callum looks so pale that I’m actually quite concerned.
‘There has to be another way,’ I say with determination. ‘There must be a way of stopping this development, and yet allowing Bluebell Wood to get all the things it desperately needs.’
‘Unless you’ve got a stash of gold coins sitting around in an unused bank vault somewhere, then I really don’t think there is.’ He gestures towards the building site. ‘I allowed this to happen, and now I have to live with both the consequences and the guilt.’
Not if I have anything to do with it, you won’t, I think, even more determined than ever to help him.
Thirty-two
‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’ Linnet says on Saturday morning as she drops Robin off at the cottage. ‘I feel like I’m imposing on you.’
‘Not at all,’ I reassure her. ‘I love having him round. We have fun, don’t we, Robin?’
Robin nods enthusiastically. ‘Lonan is getting us a bird table,’ he announces. ‘I’ve asked him for one like yours where the birds bring gifts.’
‘I don’t know if he’ll be able to manage that,’ I reply, looking uneasily at Linnet. ‘But I’m sure he’ll get you the best one he can.’
Robin nods, seeming to accept this. ‘Are you going now, Mum?’ he asks. ‘I want to show Ava my project.’ He lifts the carrier bag he’s holding up in front of him.
‘Sounds like I’m not wanted any more,’ Linnet says, but she smiles at me. ‘We hope to be back around six-ish, depending on trains. Possibly a little later. Is that all right with you?’
‘Of course, take all the time you need. Now go and enjoy yourself.’
Linnet kisses Robin on the head and then she walks back up the path, where I can see Lonan in his car waiting for her at the top. I wave to him, and he waves back.
‘Right, what shall we do first?’ I ask Robin as I close the door.
‘Have you fed your birds yet?’ Robin asks eagerly.
‘Nope, I waited until you got here,’ I tell him. ‘I thought you might like to help me do it.’
‘Great!’ Robin says, putting down his bag and hurrying towards the kitchen. ‘Let’s do it now.’
We collect our bird food and head outside to the table. We fill the hanging feeders first, so I don’t see anything unusual until we come to the table. As always, the flat of the table is covered in the husks from the previous day’s food, but once we start to clean it away to make room for the new seed, something appears in the corner.
‘What’s that?’ Robin asks, peeking over the top of the table. ‘It’s something metal.’
