Page 46 of Autumn in Sycamore Park
Angela laughed, then rubbed her head. ‘What happens on the dance floor stays on the dance floor,’ she said, giving Jennifer a wink. ‘Although if you bury Regina quickly enough and come back to help me out, I might spill my secrets.’
‘I’ll see what I can do.’
A couple of dozen people had gathered for the proposal meeting. Regina, looking sinister in a sharp black dress suit, gave an hour long PowerPoint presentation so dull a couple of elderly people in front of Jennifer actually started to snore. She droned on and on about decontamination tanks and water flow indicators and all manner of other jargon that left Jennifer wishing she’d paid a little more attention during geography class. They were forty-five minutes in before Sycamore Park was even mentioned, and then Regina spun the angle that Big Gerry’s corner was unsafe, unused, and unimportant, tapping her palm as she repeated the Three U’s mantra.
By the time she had finished, Jennifer was so bored she was practically ready to offer the school field if Regina would just shut up. When Regina said, ‘Any questions?’ she joined her hand to a couple of others that lifted with tired disinterest.
‘Will you replace the lost area of parkland with a new park elsewhere?’ asked an old man in the front row.
‘Studies have shown that park usage has declined sharply in the last decade,’ Regina said. ‘Such land could be put to better uses.’
‘Okay….’
Another hand went up. ‘Don’t you like trees?’
‘On the contrary, I have several in my garden,’ Regina said, a thin smile on her lips, then lifted her pointy, spear-like arm in Jennifer’s direction.
‘I’m a teacher at the local school,’ Jennifer said. ‘Some of those trees are hundreds of years old. You’re not just planning to destroy part of the park, but part of the town’s history. How do you feel about that?’
‘You can’t keep everything, just because it’s old,’ Regina said. ‘Otherwise we’d all be living in mud huts and driving Robin Reliants.’
A couple of people actually laughed at Regina’s pitiful attempt at a joke. Jennifer, still numb from the presentation, couldn’t find the will to argue.
‘So, are we done here?’ Regina said, looking around.
Jennifer wanted to argue more, but a shuffling of chairs announced that the rest of the audience was keen to leave. She dutifully stood up and followed the others out, feeling like she had just got out of an overlong detention.
‘There’sno way they’ll pass it,’ Angela said, putting a bowl of stew down in front of Jennifer. ‘They can’t. They just can’t. When I saw one of those posters, I thought it was a joke. Cutting down Big Gerry is bad enough, but to turn the whole area into a water treatment plant … impossible. The woman’s gone mad.’
‘What would you do?’ Jennifer asked.
Angela shrugged. ‘Change the café’s name to the Treatment Plant View Café?’ She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It would ruin me. Who wants to sit and look at something like that? It doesn’t matter how good the food is. I suppose I could turn into a takeaway, but people don’t tend to order stews and salads for takeaway, do they?’ She shook her head. ‘We’ll have to just hope the council doesn’t pass the motion.’
‘I’ll send out another letter at school tomorrow,’ Jennifer said. ‘And I’ll set up an online petition and ask the children’s parents to sign it. We can’t give this up without a fight.’
‘You’ll get in trouble again,’ Angela said. ‘Didn’t Greg give you a warning?’
Jennifer lifted an eyebrow. ‘Um, Greg? Are we on first name terms with my school headmaster now?’
Angela chuckled, then shrugged. ‘Oh, he stopped by this morning for breakfast. A very pleasant man. I don’t know why you don’t like him.’
Jennifer grimaced. ‘It’s not a case of not liking him, it’s that he’s my boss and I have to revile him by default.’
‘Well, perhaps you should give him a bit of leeway. Oh, and he said his favourite so far is Louis.’
‘Louis? What are you talking about?’
‘It seems there’s a snitch in your staffroom keeping him up to date with all the latest nicknames. He likes Louis the best. As in Louis Pasteur. Pastor? He thought that one was pretty inventive.’
Jennifer chuckled. ‘That was one of Amy’s. She’ll be delighted but terrified at the same time.’
‘I don’t think he knows who’s making them up. I got the impression he was rather flattered that someone would bother.’
‘So, are you two like … an item?’
Angela gave another delightful chuckle. ‘Oh, dear, I’m far too busy for a toy boy.’ Then she leaned forward and giggled, almost childlike. ‘But, you know … I won’t be fifty-nine forever.’
‘You will.’
