Page 44 of Autumn in Sycamore Park
Hedgehogs and Chilli Sauce
Jennifer woke up with a start.She rolled over, receiving a whine from Bonky and a lazy miaow from James as she shifted the pair off her legs. She rubbed her head, for a moment all sorts of crazy thoughts going through her mind as she tried to recall last night’s events.
She had definitely drunk too much. More than she had in years. Had she pulled Tom? No. It had been extremely tempting, but she could clearly remember him waving goodbye as he walked back up Willis Lane, having walked both Angela and herself home. Had Angela pulled Greg Downton? She was less certain about that. She definitely hadn’t been seen by Rick, but Greg had given her a long hard stare at one point, as though looking at a mirage. With a little luck, he would have forgotten by Monday.
Bonky was whining to go out. Throwing on some clothes, Jennifer grabbed the little dog’s lead and headed for Sycamore Park.
It was a beautiful October morning. The sun shone through trees beginning to turn orange and red. Letting Bonky nose around the bushes, Jennifer bought a coffee and a breakfast roll from Pete’s van and sat on a bench to let her hangover clear. After a few minutes of the chilly breeze ghosting her face, she began to smile. A little spider was spinning a web on a corner of the bench, and she gave one of the new threads a gentle nudge. The spider, disturbed, raced back to the bench, taking up residence on her knee for a couple of minutes before resuming its activities.
A month after moving to Brentwell, she felt like she was finally beginning to spin her own web. She had new friends, she had ambitions, and she was quickly building up a series of memories that kept a smile on her face. When she looked back on her time with Mark she found it hard to smile at all: so many times he would come home on a Friday and announce he was leaving early on Saturday for a golfing or some other team building event. Then there were voicemails left on their house phone which felt like a foreign language, congratulating Mark on some achievement he’d never even mentioned, or inviting him to yet another event. There was the time he came home with a brand new Lexus, the how and why he had purchased such a thing a mystery to Jennifer as she continued to slowly fade away into invisibility.
‘I am me,’ she said out loud. ‘I am Jennifer Stevens of Willis Lane, Brentwell, a school teacher at Brentwell Primary.’
‘Wow, how drunk did you get yesterday?’ came a voice from behind her, and Jennifer nearly fell off the bench as she jumped up and spun around. What was left of her coffee splashed across the grass, and she had to make an awkward grab for her breakfast roll wrapper as the breeze threatened to send it cartwheeling down the path.
Tom, wearing his caretaker’s overalls, was crawling on the ground behind a line of nearby bushes.
‘Oh, sorry about that,’ he said, standing up. ‘I didn’t mean to startle you.’
Jennifer picked up her litter and brushed herself down to regain her composure. ‘Are you spying on me?’
Tom laughed. ‘Absolutely not. Come and have a look at this little chap.’
Jennifer squatted down beside Tom, who had lifted up a branch of the nearest bush and was peering underneath.
‘See him?’
‘Oh. That’s a … hedgehog?’
The little ball of needles shifted a little. ‘I scared him,’ Tom said. ‘He should be finding somewhere to nest for the winter by now, but it looks like he’s a little late. Luckily I have some hedgehog houses around the back of the shack over there.’
‘Some what?’
‘I’ll show you.’
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of thick gardening gloves. As he did so, Bonky came wandering over.
‘Quick, don’t let him get too close,’ Tom said. He pulled on the gardening gloves and scooped up the little hedgehog while Jennifer put Bonky back on his lead. ‘Right, this way,’ Tom said.
Around the back of the shack were a line of what looked like rabbit hutches but lower to the ground and without any way to see inside. A small opening allowed access, and Tom lifted up the top of the nearest one to reveal a bundle of straw.
‘They can go in and out as they please,’ he said. ‘The tunnel is too narrow for foxes or badgers to get in, so they’re safe. We’ll just put him in here for a bit and let him nose around to see if he likes it. Once he’s got his smell in there, he might decide to come back.’
He put the little hedgehog down in the straw. It immediately uncurled and began to nose around. Tom smiled as he lowered the lid.
‘Right, I think I owe you a coffee,’ he said. ‘Plus, I haven’t eaten yet this morning. Can I interest you in seconds?’
Jennifer smiled. ‘Sounds great. Uh … I was just wondering … I didn’t pull you last night, did I?’
Tom laughed. ‘I’m afraid I’m not in the business of taking advantage of drunken women. I made sure both you and Angela got safely into your houses, alone and with both your possessions and integrity intact. However, I was flattered by the attempts.’
‘Attempts … plural?’
Tom laughed again. ‘You got very affectionate after your fifth or sixth tequila. I’m surprised you’re looking so fresh today.’
Jennifer, glad the chill wind was hiding her blush, shrugged. ‘I suppose I must still be young.’
‘That kebab you nailed outside Gossip Bar would have soaked most of it up.’
