Page 55 of A Christmas Celebration
‘I do as a rule,’ I confirmed, ‘but the cat was poorly so I offered to take her to see Will to set the owner’s mind at rest ahead of the weekend. Anyway,’ I rushed on, ‘how come you’ve been called out, Will? I’m guessing it’s not to see any of the dogs.’
They were all still nudging around him at various heights, trying to get his attention. Just at that moment the back door opened again and, along with another blast of bitterly cold air, Angus, Archie and Mick came in. They were all bundledup and their cheeks were glowing. I made a mental note to wrap up extra warm before I headed anywhere.
‘We’re ready for you now, Will,’ said Mick, sounding rather grave.
‘Morning, Paige,’ said Archie, looking only marginally happier than Mick. ‘How was the tour of the distillery?’
‘I still haven’t had it,’ I told him succinctly. ‘Something came up and I had to leave before we got started.’
‘Right,’ said Angus, clapping his hands together before Archie had a chance to ask what, ‘that’s enough chat. We’d better get on.’
The men ventured back out into the near dark and Catherine explained what had prompted them to call Will out.
The evening before, Mick had gone to shut the ponies up and found one of them a little lame. Usually, he would have treated her himself. Given that he had years of equine experience, he had the measure of what to do and it wouldn’t have been an issue.
However, with the ponies poised to pull Angus around the market square in Wynbridge as part of the illumination celebrations, he had called Will in for a second opinion. The ponies also gave sleigh rides at the Winter Wonderland and he and Angus didn’t want anything to jeopardize that. Unless, of course, the pony was still lame and then she would be rested and receiving further treatment.
By the time Catherine explained what was going on, Will and Angus were back.
‘Well,’ I heard Angus say as they stamped their boots on the mat, ‘it’s disappointing, but she comes first and it can’t be helped.’
‘I’m sure she’ll be fine in time for the Winter Wonderland,’ Will reassured him, ‘but today’s trip to town is out of the question.’
They came back into the kitchen and Angus shook his head. I knew he must have been feeling upset that his trot around town was cancelled, but true to form, he was more concerned about his pony’s welfare and her recovery than missing out on shouting a few extra ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’s!’
‘So, no lap of honour tonight then?’ asked Dorothy.
‘Nope,’ said Will.
‘Can’t you phone around to see if anyone could lend you another pony?’ I suggested.
‘Sadly not,’ said Angus. ‘Pulling that sleigh is an art form and the ponies have been trained and regularly schooled with it here throughout the year.’
‘So, what will you do now?’ Dorothy asked. ‘You can’t cancel.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of it!’ Angus shuddered. ‘Perish the thought. It was bad enough when we thought there was going to be no switch-on! We can’t have it happen now without Santa and his sleigh.’
He sounded as though he’d forgotten that he was the man in the red suit and believed that it was the real Father Christmas who was set to descend and hand out the presents Dorothy had told me the Women’s Institute members had spent the best part of the week wrapping.
‘Mick and Archie are now loading up the sleigh on the trailer,’ he explained, ‘and I’ve already phoned Chris Dempster. We’re going to drop the sleigh in the market square now, before it gets busy, rather than hide it at the council office car park as we usually would and there’s a team on standby to set up a sort of tableau to make more of a feature of it.’
Personally, having had a peek at it in the stable, I thought it was enough of a spectacle in itself, but Angus sounded keen on the extra festive dressing and I was impressed by how quickly the people in town had swung into action.
‘And I better get on,’ said Will. ‘I’m on call this weekend and have a few things to do at the practice between calls.’
‘Thanks for coming out,’ said Angus, slapping him on the back.
‘It was no problem,’ he said. ‘Mick was right to trust his gut. And Paige,’ he added, ‘let me know if Bella doesn’t bounce back during the next couple of days, won’t you?’
‘Will do,’ I said, wishing he hadn’t mentioned her again.
‘Bella?’ Angus frowned.
‘Never mind,’ said Catherine. ‘Go and see Will off and then we’ll check your suit one last time.’
‘Yes,’ said Dorothy, looking pointedly at his rotund figure. ‘There’s only a little allowance left on the seams now.’
With the wheels of Operation Switch-On running smoothly again, I wasn’t needed and so I headed to town to pick up the few groceries and some extra cleaning supplies that Alberthad asked me to collect – and to check that Kathleen hadn’t been spreading the news about mine and Brodie’s unexpected coming together on the dance floor. I might have been feeling like aStrictlyprofessional as a result, but I’d rather keep the details of what had occurred under wraps.
