Page 84 of Hope and Happiness in Bluebell Wood
‘Jonah said you’d been away for a while. Did you have a nice holiday?’
‘It wasn’t really a holiday,’ Callum says, laying his hammer down on the church pew, but not expanding any further.
‘What was it, then?’
‘Did you want to see me about something?’ he asks, his tone suddenly changing. ‘Only I have to get this pew fixed and back inside the church before it rains.’
I look up at the sky but only see white fluffy clouds against a bright blue sky. Nothing that suggests rain is imminent.
Fine, if you want to be like that, I think, my resolve deepening even further.You’ve just made this so much easier for me.
‘Yes, I did. What part did you play in Cuckoo Land Homes being given permission to build their houses in Bluebell Wood?’
Callum looks surprised at my question.
‘What do you mean?’
‘What I said. I’m asking what you did to allow this new development when the majority of the village is so against it.’
‘What makes you thinkIdid anything?’ Callum asks, looking less surprised and slightly more annoyed now.
‘Do the words a significant donation to the church roof restoration fund and a new stained-glass window mean anything to you?’
‘How do you know about them?’
‘Let’s just say a not-so-little bird told me.’
Callum stares at me, then it dawns on him. ‘Colin Cuckoo.’
I nod.
Callum sighs heavily and sits down on the pew. ‘No one was supposed to know about that yet. The donations were going to be announced after the houses had been built. The play park and the village hall are the only things to be common knowledge, and not too many even know about the play park yet – that’s quite a new development. Sorry, unfortunate pun,’ he says, screwing up his face.
‘Why?’ I ask, almost feeling sorry for him. He looks genuinely distressed now.
‘Why was it supposed to be kept secret,’ Callum asks, ‘or why did I help them to get the necessary permission to build?’
‘The latter?’ I ask quietly. Merlin is happily sniffing aroundby the church so I walk over and sit next to Callum on the pew. ‘It doesn’t seem like you to go against the village in this way.’
‘We desperately need a new roof,’ he says, waving his hand in the direction of the church. ‘I know all churches seem to constantly have a restoration fund for their roofs on the go, but this onereallyneeds one. I had a structural engineer in a few months ago; he said it’s got eighteen months at the most before it collapses in certain places. If that happens the church won’t be fit for use. No church, no services. No services, no congregation. No congregation . . . ’
‘No vicar?’ I finish for him.
‘Exactly. They’ll move me somewhere else. I don’t want to go somewhere else, Ava. I like it here. I like the people. I like the pace of life. I like the fact I’ve made a difference to the local area.’
‘What about the stained-glass window?’ I ask, forcing myself to continue, when what I really want to do is console him. But I have to remain calm. Callum made it quite clear on Easter Sunday that he didn’t want me to be the person to console him. ‘Just another sweetener?’
Callum nods. ‘Before my time here, a broken window on the south side was replaced by plain glass panels because they couldn’t afford at the time to replace it with much more expensive stained glass. I was still wavering when the donation was suggested to facilitate a new roof, so when they said they’d sponsor a new window as well, I’m afraid I folded. It’s such a beautiful church, Ava; it deserves a spectacular window to celebrate all that is good about the village it stands in.’
‘But will the village be as beautiful when all these new houses go up?’ I ask. ‘I think not.’
Callum looks distraught. ‘I know I’ve let the village down.But what was I supposed to do? It’s not just the church that needed things; Bluebell Wood desperately needs a new village hall, too. Have you seen the old one? That’s likely to go the same way as the church any time soon. It’s not fit to house the clubs that use it on a regular basis. That’s why I insisted they build a new one, and then when you became involved in all this, something struck a chord again, and I went back to them and insisted on a play park too. That idiot Cuckoo was reluctant, of course, but he eventually folded when I said I’d pull my support. It probably wouldn’t have made any difference at this late stage, but I think he quite likes having the local vicar on his side, so he agreed.’
‘Is that why you’ve been so busy since Easter?’ I ask.
Callum looks at me with a puzzled expression. ‘Er . . . no, that was something else that caused me to be away from the village.’
He doesn’t expand any further.
