Page 33 of Autumn in Sycamore Park
Well, they were now.
‘That’s the spirit.’
‘What? I didn’t do anything.’
‘Yes, you did. You just growled under your breath. I heard it. You’re giving him the mental cold shoulder, aren’t you?’
‘I’m trying.’
‘Let’s focus on the future. This pie is still slightly warm. Let’s get into it before it’s cold. Then we’ll go down and take a wander across the courtyard, figure out where you’re going to set up your stalls for the harvest festival.’
‘Okay, sounds good. Any word from the council on Big Gerry?’
Angela laughed. ‘Regina Clover was over there this morning with a tape measure, measuring the circumference of the trunk. She kept running out of length. Me and Tom had a right laugh.’
‘You and Tom?’
‘Yeah, didn’t you bump into him? He was doing a little weeding over there first thing, but he had to go and pick up some supplies.’
‘Oh.’ Jennifer made a mental note to walk eastwards around the park rather than westwards next time.
‘You sound crestfallen.’
‘I’m really not.’
‘Are you sure about that?’
‘He’s just a caretaker.’
Angela lifted an eyebrow. ‘Is that what you think?’
‘I didn’t mean—’
‘I imagine someone who cuts grass for a living is a step down from an investment banker, but are you sure one is better than the other?’
Jennifer blushed, feeling a little embarrassed by her assessment. ‘I didn’t mean it like that.’
Angela patted her on the arm. ‘You’ll figure it out one day,’ she said. ‘I was the same as you when I was younger. I grew up at the end of a lane on the edge of a forest, yet all I wanted to do was live in a big city and do all the things big city people do. By the time I was forty, all I wanted to do was live at the end of that lane again. Unfortunately, by the time I was forty, that lane no longer existed and neither did the forest. I had to settle for a happy medium, but on my days off I drive up to the woods and go mushroom picking or something else.’ She chuckled. ‘Wild swimming in freezing cold ponds, that kind of thing.’
‘Seriously?’
Angela shrugged. ‘You don’t know happiness until you get out of five-degree water in the middle of January and wrap a warm blanket around you. Heavenly.’
‘Can I come next time?’
‘Sure.’
Jennifer sighed. ‘I’m useless,’ she said at last.
Angela laughed. ‘No, you aren’t. You’re just young. It’s a flaw we all go through, but it passes in time. By the time you reach sixty, you’re pretty much the finished article.’ She shrugged. ‘A shame I’ll never get there. Being fifty-nine forever has its downsides.’
Jennifer smiled. ‘I bet.’
‘Right, let’s go figure out your festival plan,’ Angela said. ‘Just to the right of Big Gerry, that’s where you’ll get the most traffic. You want your class’s stall to do the best, don’t you?’
Jennifer laughed. ‘Of course.’
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