by Peter Martin
‘Garry, go and investigate, will you please? For me.’
‘All right, all right, but I won’t be able to see anything, will I?’ The question went unanswered. However, as he was already out of bed, with Delia not far behind, he thought he may as well carry on.
‘Try the lights again,’ she suggested.
He tried the bedside lamp but still no joy, so he walked over to the door and turned the handle, opening it to see who was there.
‘Delia, I don’t know who it was, but there’s no one about now.’ He was glad he’d neither mentioned what had happened the previous night, nor the tall stranger he’d come across in the darkness of the hallway earlier.
‘Well, I heard somebody outside the door a couple of minutes ago.’
‘That’s as maybe, but no one’s outside now, honestly. Take a look yourself if you don’t believe me.’
Delia frowned and shook her head, shying away from his suggestion.
‘Let’s just forget about it shall we? For all we know it could have been anybody, even a member of staff checking on something.’
‘All I can say is, I don’t like it. This place gives me the creeps.’
‘Perhaps it’s connected to the power cut –’
‘How can that be?’
‘Let’s face it, if we were at home and there’d been a power cut late at night it wouldn’t be pleasant either. Now would it? But we can’t do anything about it, right now. Best go back to bed - I’ll talk to Lena in the morning.’
Delia said nothing, but when they got back into bed she moved up close to him. Obviously realising they had no choice.
‘Hope everything’s all right with Tom and Cassie.’
‘Of course, it is, how could those noises have anything to do with them? Come on we may as well try to get some sleep.’
But Delia was fidgety and seemed to be awake for a long time, eventually, however, she drifted off to sleep; leaving Garry to conclude the person Delia had heard and the weird character he’d come across, were one and the same person.
<><><>
When he woke the next morning, much to his surprise, Delia wasn’t lying beside him, or anywhere in the room. So he quickly got dressed, visited the bathroom, and on his return was relieved to find Delia sitting on the bed.
‘Where did you get to?’ He asked.
‘I’ve been to check on the others.’
‘And –’
‘There’re all fine, so I’ve no idea what that noise was last night. They never heard a thing.’
Garry didn’t answer. He could see she was still in a tis, so instead he walked over to the light switch and switching it on said, ‘Good. At least the power’s back on. But I’m still determined to ask Lena about it when we go down to breakfast.’
<><><>
The family were waiting for them on the landing, blissfully unaware how their mother was feeling. The main topic of conversation on their way downstairs being how to spend the day. It seemed last night’s power cut was all but forgotten. Not even Chris mentioned it, instead he complained, or rather insisted, much to Cassie’s embarrassment that he hadn’t slept because of the heat. But secretly Garry guessed that wasn’t the case. Had Chris been awake for most of the night he’d probably have heard the commotion on the landing as they had, and would be moaning about it. Garry did his best to get on with his son-in-law, but at times with such a negative outlook on life, it was difficult. He only hoped his attitude wouldn’t put a damper on this holiday.
As the dining room door was open, they all barged in, but at the sight of Lena, sitting on Greg Faye’s lap behaving like a mischievous schoolgirl, everyone but Adam stood still. They were at the top of the table at the far end of the room, kissing like young lovers. Garry felt the colour rise in his face, he was embarrassed, and not knowing what else to do he coughed as if to clear his throat to announce their arrival.
Lena turned her face towards them, seemingly a little surprised. Straight away she slid off Greg’s lap and looking towards her son and his entourage her manner changed to that of the night before, all sweetness and light saying, ‘Garry, Delia, everybody – please come on in, do sit yourselves down. I imagine you’d like breakfast wouldn’t you? Let me call Benson, I’ll arrange for him to bring you some food up at once.’
Tentatively they came into the room, Greg nodded to them all with a smile. Any awkwardness Garry had envisaged over last night was not present.
Lena spoke to Benson on her mobile, and within a few minutes, he brought in the trays of food for them.
‘So how are you all?’ Lena said, once everyone had settled down. ‘I trust you had a good night’s sleep, even if it was a bit hot. Oh, I want to apologise for that stupid power cut last night. I’m afraid it does happen every so often; it’s because the generator isn’t powerful enough, so I’m told. I’m getting it upgraded, but these things take time, unfortunately. That’s one of the few disadvantages of living on a remote island, and I gather it happened at a crucial part of one of my films. Hopefully, it didn’t spoil your enjoyment too much.’
‘A little frustrating maybe, but we can live with it,’ Garry told her.
‘And what about the argument going on outside our bedroom door? Would you happen to have an explanation for that, Lena?’ Delia asked.
‘Oh, I don’t know anything about that, but I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. I’ll look into it for you, see what I can find out,’ Lena explained.
Garry sat stock-still for a few seconds, anxious someone would ask Delia what she was referring to, but luckily no one did. Delia’s remark had been overshadowed by how uncomfortable everyone felt with Lena’s behaviour. She needed to display a little more dignity, instead of openly flaunting herself with Greg Faye.
They ate breakfast in relative silence which appeared to irritate Lena. Last night’s power cut and her insensitive behaviour with Greg had taken the edge off their holiday. She must have detected this as she suddenly stood up and looked into space obviously trying to think of a way to restore the previous good mood. After a few seconds pondering she said, ‘Listen, I’ve got a big surprise for you all today, something that will absolutely blow your minds.’
‘Oh really Lena, that sounds exciting. Are you going to tell us what it is, or what?’ Delia asked.
‘Later.’ She said coldly. Delia smiled, but from her demeanour, Garry envisaged friction between these two in the near future.
‘You may laugh Delia, but I promise when you find out – you’ll be astounded. But it can wait. For the time being, why don’t we go for a swim? The sun is warm the water is cool - so what are we sitting around for? And then after our swim, we can talk more about my surprise.’ Lena grinned from ear to ear.
At that, she stood up. ‘Hurry up you lot, go and change,’ she shouted as she and Greg made their way through the French doors and out onto the veranda.
She removed her long white dressing gown to reveal yet again another bikini showing a little too much of her figure. Greg soon followed suit. Garry watched the lovebirds, as he now thought of them, from the dining room and conceded, if not for the age gap, they were very well matched – while she performed the role of a mannequin, he strutted about displaying his physique.
While everyone else had gone to change into their swimwear, Garry and Delia decided to give swimming a miss, preferring instead to watch everyone else by the poolside. Garry knew his wife had been totally spooked last night and her quietness said so. He also knew over the years she’d been a good wife and mother, and not one for making snap decisions, but the way she looked at Lena suggested she could see right through her and hadn’t been taken in by her feeble excuses.
He now turned his attention to the pool to see Greg dive in, followed closely by Lena. They’d both swum about six lengths before everyone came back from upstairs to join them.
Closely watched by Cassie and Chris, Adam jumped in the shallow end of the pool, equipped with his plastic arm bands.
Tom and Jan
e, however, boldly dived into the deep end and started swimming.
Within a few minutes, Lena swam up to Adam, and playfully splashed him with water; daringly Adam hit the water with the palm of his hand sending a spray of water directly into her face, causing her to shriek with laughter.
‘Come on Adam, I’ll race you,’ Lena said egging him on. Adam took up the challenge, with Lena pretending she couldn’t keep up. He squealed with laughter, triumph written on his face as he touched the other side of the pool.
But then when Adam got out, Lena was off back to Greg’s side, intent it seemed to keep up with him, length after length of the pool they swam non-stop. In Garry’s opinion, they were showing off wanting to impress their audience, which would, after all, come naturally to both of them. They’d certainly got plenty of stamina, he had to admit.
At last, both of them emerged from the water, neither appearing to be out of breath, which was understandable in Greg’s case – he was a lot younger.
‘I can still keep up with the best of them.’ Lena boasted, looking pleased with herself.
‘Yes, I can see that.’ Garry agreed.
‘Mind you these days it’s hard work keeping up to this standard, I have to exercise two or three hours a day. But it keeps me healthy, on top of the world, the best I’ve ever felt in my life. You ought to try it yourself, it does wonders for your love life,’ She said it in jest, but Garry chose to ignore her comment, and raising his eyebrows said, ‘Yes, well, unfortunately, I’ve had other things on my mind these past few months.’
‘Oh, don’t be so stuffy! Don’t forget, your worries are over now. You can look forward to a very bright future,’
Lena overlooked the fact that Garry had just lost his mum. From her point of view, all that mattered was money and possessions, and Greg of course. He felt sorry for her in a way, she’d never know what it was like to bring up and have the love of a family. And even in times when money was short, the only thing you wanted in life was the best for your family.
Now Garry could see she was bubbling over with this surprise she’d got for them. Her life had been spent in the limelight and in view of the whole world, but part of her was childlike, unable to keep a secret and itching to spill the beans.
Delia had been unusually quiet but now abruptly asked ‘Why do you say that, Lena? We don’t have any worries.’
‘Well, I’ll explain myself in due course. You’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?’
‘You’ve certainly built this up. I can’t imagine it’s anything we haven’t already got.’ Delia remarked.
‘Delia, you’re in for a fantastic surprise. Don’t worry, it will soon become clear.’
‘I can’t wait to find out what it is, Lena, I’m really getting so excited,’ Adam said, his face a picture of joy and expectation.
‘Young man, you’ll just have to be patient. If you want something badly enough, eventually you will get what you want – isn’t that right Garry?’
‘Well, as I see it, it really depends on what that ‘something’ is.’ Garry replied.
While everyone went to their rooms to get changed Garry and Delia sat in the drawing room waiting for their return, contemplating what this big surprise could possibly be. But whereas Garry could see the comical side to Lena’s behaviour and the dramatic way she dealt with things, Delia couldn’t. In fact, Garry knew Delia found Lena belittling and manipulative.
‘Ah, at last,’ she began. ‘How nice to have you all together. It’s time I told you about my little surprise. I imagine the suspense is killing you. Can’t wait to see the looks on your faces.’ Lena clapped her hands with joy. ‘Well, if you’ll all follow me, everything will soon fall into place.’
She looked towards Greg who nodded.
‘Are you going to give us all a present?’ Adam piped up.
Lena smiled at him knowingly. ‘In a manner of speaking, yes.’ She held out her hand to Adam and he walked along with her.
Looking at each other puzzled, the family walked from the drawing-room into the hall, and out onto the drive at the front of the house. From there they went past the gardens, over to a grassed area about two hundred yards from the main house, and at this point Lena stopped dead in her tracks, gazing about smiling. Everybody looked around wondering just exactly what they were supposed to see – it was just open ground. Very odd this Garry thought, wondering why she’d brought them here?
‘Here we are then loves,’ Lena said. ‘Right everybody – can you tell me what you see right in front of you?’
Garry was truly mystified. Perhaps he was missing something, but there was a smile on his face as he stated the obvious, ‘Well Lena, there’s nothing here but a large expanse of grass.’
‘That’s it exactly. The ground standing before you has been earmarked for a new building project, totally separate from the main building. Three houses are to be built here, all next to each other, all magnificently constructed. One is for you Tom and Jane, another for you Cassie, Chris and little Adam and then the last house is for you Garry and your lovely wife. I have the plans back at the house, so you can see exactly how they’ll be laid out. Each house has an allocated amount of land. The size and shape of the house have to follow the plans I’ve had drawn up, but the internal layout can be changed in a number of ways to suit each family’s needs. It means you’ll be able to help design your own little palace, with whatever furnishings you wish. What do you think about that?’
‘Wow!’ Adam exclaimed. ‘Can I have my own bedroom with a big bed and spider man wallpaper and bedclothes?’
‘I don’t see why not,’ Lena said laughing.
‘Are you serious?’ Garry asked, astonished by his mother’s offer.
Lena cried hysterically, in her over-expressive way, ‘Garry, I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. Listen, I want my whole family at my side. I know, I may seem to be the picture of health to you all, but I realise I’m not getting any younger. One day, perhaps sooner than I think, the offers of films will dry up, and then what shall I do? You are the only family I have to speak of, and if I can’t spend my money on you then who can I spend it on? It means I’ll always have you close by, but at the same time you’ll each have your own house, and therefore a measure of independence.’
‘Lena, it’s a wonderful gesture. But don’t you think you’re moving way too fast?’ Delia remarked. ‘We’ve only been here a couple of days and already you’re contemplating such a monumental step. It’s a bit over the top, to say the least. Surely you can’t expect us to give up everything back home to live over here, at the drop of a hat. And what if it didn’t work out - where would that leave us? I can’t speak for the others of course but personally, I think you’re expecting too much from us too soon.’
Lena frowned, and for the first time looked a little downhearted. ‘You’re right, Delia, I am. Perhaps I’m getting carried away with it all, but these last couple of days with you have been the happiest of my life. Is it wrong for a mother to want her family around her?’
‘No, not all Lena, but…’ Delia began.
But Lena wasn’t ready to give in so easily and cutting in said, ‘You’ll be here for a few more days yet, won’t you? So please just think about what’s on offer. Take as long as you like, and remember everything, from the layout to the fixtures and fittings will be to your own taste. If you like, we can even arrange for your own things to be shipped over from England – expense is no object as far as I’m concerned. Just imagine, none of you need ever work again. You can stay here with me, and when I’m on location we could travel the world together.’
‘You’re being extremely generous Lena,’ Tom said. ‘It’s been a dream of mine to have a house built exactly the way I want it. But the question is, do we want to completely change our lives?’
After a few seconds when everyone seemed lost for words, Cassie said sympathetically, ‘That you should want to do this for us, a family you never knew existed until a few weeks ago, i
s a lovely gesture. But it’s almost too much to take in. I know everyone daydreams about winning the Lottery and giving up work, but in reality – do they want to?’
‘I hear what you’re saying Cassie, but I just wanted to make amends after how I treated your father when he was a little boy.’ For once a serious expression came on Lena’s face.
‘Can I really have my own room just how I want it?’ Adam asked, tugging at Lena’s sleeve. ‘And go in your swimming pool, and on the playground when I want to?’ He’d clearly given much thought to the things which mattered to him. And it brought a smile to Lena’s face when she confirmed, ‘Haven’t I already told you, you can, young man? It’s going to be the biggest and best bedroom you’ve ever had. And you can swim whenever you want to.’
So far Chris hadn’t spoken, but from his facial expression he’d definitely got an opinion. He’d not only had misgivings about their visit to the island in the first place but didn’t appear to be enjoying his holiday either, making it quite out of the question for him to even contemplate living here. Garry sensed Cassie was anxious from the look she was giving her husband and he only hoped there wouldn’t be an unpleasant scene.
Chris was a proud hard working guy, he only worked in a factory and disliked the offer of handouts. Nonetheless, he and Cassie were good parents and did their best for their little boy; now Lena was trying to win Adam over with goodies and treats which it appeared didn’t go down well with his parents.
Garry smiled lovingly at his mother, finding it difficult to come to terms with all of this. ‘Lena, it’s unbelievable that you should want to do something like this for us. But honestly, it isn’t necessary. We’d be more than happy to come over and visit you when we can.’
‘I won’t hear of it. As I’ve said, I want my family here when I come home, not just four grey walls and a great big empty house. What’s the point of you visiting me every year? We’d never get to know each other.’
‘We’re not about to abandon you, Lena,’ Garry assured her. ‘There’s no need to worry. And besides, as Deel said, it is early days. We’re only just getting to know you.’
