Page 12 of A Christmas Celebration
‘I have,’ he confirmed. ‘Paige, I’d like to introduce you to Kathleen. Kathleen, this is Paige, Mum and Dad’s goddaughterand, as of today, your replacement Anna.’
‘Oh, my goodness,’ said Kathleen, rushing forward,reaching for my hand and vigorously pumping it between hers. ‘It’s fantastic to meet you, my dear.’
‘Likewise,’ I said, feeling rather shell-shocked.
‘How wonderful that you’re going to save our bacon!’ she gushed. ‘You really couldn’t have stepped up at a better time.’
‘Well.’ I swallowed. ‘I’m going totryto save your bacon.’
Clearly, there was a lot resting on my shoulders, certainly more than I’d bargained for and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
‘Come on,’ said Kathleen, dashing back to the library counter, whipping out a folder from behind the desk with a flourish and scattering leaflets in her wake which Archie gathered up. ‘Let’s go and have a look at the list, shall we?’
My stomach twisted a little. The folder looked extremely full. Practically bulging, in fact, and the way she emphasized the list, as if it should have upper case letters, made my heart rate pick up the pace a bit too.
‘Excellent idea, Kathleen,’ said Archie, returning the leaflets to the counter and nudging me along.
The three of us sat in a corner far away from where the majority of borrowers were browsing. Just like the shops and market square, the library seemed to be thriving too. It was a sight which lifted my spirits, in spite of the fact that my tummy was still having a bit of a moment and my heart was beating a tattoo.
‘So,’ said Kathleen, spreading papers across the low table. ‘Here we are. It couldn’t be simpler really.’
It didn’t look all that simple to me.
‘This sheet covers hospital and clinic appointments,’ she explained, pointing at one filled page. ‘The majority of which we’ve got lifts for now.’ That was something, I supposed. ‘And this one,’ she carried on, scooping up another, ‘is the fruit and veg delivery itinerary.’
‘The Dempster family, who supply the produce and have had a market stall for years, used to do the deliveries,’ Archie told me, ‘but with Mrs Dempster, Marie, getting ready to branch further out with her floristry business in the new year, they simply haven’t got the time now.’
‘We did think the delivery of fresh produce was going to have to be cancelled all together until Anna added it to the library books and prescriptions she had already taken responsibility for dropping off.’
‘Not forgetting the regular groceries,’ Archie helpfully reminded Kathleen. ‘And the orders from the butcher’s and the baker’s.’
‘Of course,’ said Kathleen, ‘not forgetting those. The people registered on the round call me once a week and I order, pick up and pack what they need, often with a discount for a bulk order and Anna, now you Paige, then drops it all off. How does that sound?’
‘So, I’m literally just the gopher?’ I asked, wanting to make sure I had no further responsibilities to worry about.
‘Pretty much.’ Kathleen nodded, not quite confirming what I had asked her. ‘There might be times when I call on you to assist with the collecting too. Say for example,if picking something up for someone clashes with my dance classes.’
‘Kathleenrunsthe dance classes, rather than attends them,’ Archie told me.
No wonder she looked so trim.
‘Would that be all right, do you think?’ she asked me. ‘It doesn’t happen all that often.’
With nothing else to occupy my time, and having already agreed, I couldn’t very well say no to this seemingly minor addition, but I was a little concerned that the parameters of the job were shifting even before I’d started it. I had been hoping for a complete rest from being in charge of anything other than ferrying, especially as my most recent experience of being in charge hadn’t ended well.
‘It’ll be fine,’ said Archie, answering on my behalf.
Kathleen was still looking at me.
‘Of course,’ I said, swallowing hard. ‘No problem at all.’
With my new, and already slightly expanded role decided upon and after a hug from a clearly relieved Kathleen, Archie then took me to the butcher’s, baker’s and the chemist’s. He thought that if I did end up doing some of the picking up it would be helpful for the shop owners to have had eyes on me first. Which I supposed was fair enough.
‘I would have thought at least the chemist’s would have had their own delivery service,’ I said as we made our way back to the car. ‘That’s pretty standard now, isn’t it?’
‘It is,’ Archie agreed, ‘but we do things differently here. Anna always spends a few minutes with the people she’sdropping things off to because they’re the most isolated in the community. Business owners don’t have any time to socialize, so this way the recipients get some social interaction and occasionally some help around the house, as well as their books, shopping and so on delivered. It’s a very worthwhile community project.’
The description of the job was growing by the minute.
