Page 81 of Hope and Happiness in Bluebell Wood
‘Now come on, love. We’ll take responsibility for that rubbish,’ he says, pointing at the sweet wrapper. ‘Oi, Jay, pick up your rubbish, mate.’ He gestures to the guy who had dropped the wrapper.
Jay shrugs and pulls out one of his earphones. ‘What’s up, Bert?’
‘Over there,’ the builder says, pointing again. ‘Pick it up. Now!’
Jay nods in recognition, and mooches off to collect his litter.
‘Better?’ Bert asks me.
‘Hardly.’
‘Look, love, we can’t take the blame for every bit of rubbish in the whole of the village, now, can we?’
‘It’s funny, I’d never seen one piece of litter in Bluebell Wood before today, and since you’ve all arrived, I’ve seen four. Three of which have been on or near this building site.’
Bert isn’t looking at me with quite such a kindly expression now. ‘Look, I’ll try to make sure the boys are a bit more careful, will that make you any happier?’
‘Nothing will make me or any of the other villagers any happier about this.’ I gesture out into the field. ‘No one wants this development.’
‘Someone must have wanted it or I wouldn’t be standing here now waiting for instructions, would I?’
‘Look, I don’t blameyou,’ I say, feeling myself soften a little. ‘You’re just doing your job, I know that. It’s the money-grabbers at the top I blame.’
‘I think she might be referring to me,’ a whiny voice says, and I see Colin Cuckoo stepping out from behind one of the forklifts with a clipboard in his hand. Unlike Bert, who is wearing denim jeans and a checked shirt under his hi-vis jacket and yellow hard hat, Colin is wearing a grey suit with a white hard hat, and his trousers are tucked a bit too neatly into a pair of green Hunter wellingtons. ‘Am I right?’
‘You said it,’ I reply drily.
‘Look, Mrs . . . Miss?’ He waits for me to say my name.
‘My name is Ava, as I told you the last time we met.’
‘So you did, so you did. My apologies, how could I forget?’ He smiles a cheesy smile. ‘Look, Ava, I’m not a monster; I know there are a few people none too pleased about this development.’
‘That’s an understatement, from what I’ve heard.’
Colin continues unabashed. ‘However, as I told you on Easter Sunday, we have tried to listen to everyone’s concerns and the development has been adapted to provide some additional extras to the village.’
I look at him quizzically. ‘Like?’
‘We are providing – at great expense, I must tell you – a brand-new built-for-purpose village hall. The original, I understand, is pretty rundown.’
‘Yes, I’d heard about that. What else?’
Colin smirks at me. ‘Not easily pleased, are you?’
‘No.’
‘We have also recently agreed that Cuckoo Land Homes will provide a new children’s play park as part of the development – something you can’t deny you are also short of here.’
He was right, there wasn’t anywhere for children to play safely.
‘That’s good, I suppose . . . ’
Colin shakes his head. ‘It’s more than we originally agreed to, I can assure you. And lastly, as part of our original deal, we have already donated a rather sizeable sum to the church fund for repairs to its exceptionally leaky roof, and we’re also sponsoring a new stained-glass window – with a bird theme, of course.’ He gestures to one of the Cuckoo Land Homes signs that have now sprung up all around the site.
I stare at him. Callum hadn’t mentioned the church was gaining anything out of this.
‘We may not have many of you villagers on our side, but it seems we do have the big man upstairs.’ He looks up and crosses himself, then his beady eyes fall back on me. ‘If you have any more issues with this development, may I suggest youspeak to your local vicar? Because I can assure you, Ava, he’s very much in favour of the benefits it will bring to the church and the village as a whole.’
