The Guest Who Stayed

by Roger Penfound

  The next morning Jed went with Dan to repair a damaged barn on an outlying farm. Jed sawed vigorously, cutting new planks to size whilst Dan removed the rotten wood. After two hours of working in silence, Dan suggested they stop for a break. He produced a flask of tea which they took turns to drink from as they rested on a fallen trunk.

  “Alice and me was talking last night, Dan, when you was down the pub. She’s got me thinking a bit about my future and what I needs to be doing to get on.”

  “She was talking to you about that was she?” replied Dan with a laugh. “In that case, she’s got her sights on you and there’s no mistake.”

  “Oh, I don’t think she meant it like that. We’re like brother and sister, me and Alice.”

  “In my experience, Jed, once a woman starts talkin’ to man about his future he better watch out. She’s got her sights on ‘im.”

  Jed was slightly taken aback by Dan’s comments and he lapsed into silence as he pondered their meaning. If Dan was right and she had ‘her sights on him’ then he had certainly missed the signs. What did Alice want? Was marriage on her mind? Jed hadn’t thought seriously about marrying. He felt completely unprepared for any commitment to anybody other than himself. And if he was to marry, he’d always felt that Flora was his more likely partner, with her easy ways and fatalistic approach to life more easily matching his own style.

  “And why do you reckon I’m in her sights, Dan? It’s not as if I’ve got much. Alice is an ambitious woman and I don’t see her thinking I’ve got a lot to offer.”

  “You ain’t got much at the moment but I’d say you got prospects. That’s what a woman wants Jed – a man with prospects.”

  “It’s my prospects that I wanted to talk to you about, Dan. I think we’re a very good team and you taught me all that I know. But I don’t earn much and if I’m going to better myself I’ve got to be thinking about how I can earn a bit more.”

  “Well, you know I ain’t making a lot of money. People round here don’t have much. Sometimes it takes them months to pay me and some never do. So I can’t do much in the way of paying you an extra wage. But there is somethin’ I’ve been thinking about a while now which might make you want to stick with me.”

  “What’ve you got in mind?” asked Jed, his interest suddenly aroused.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll leave it till this evening and tell you over supper, otherwise it’ll be dark and we still won’t have this job done.”

  Simone slipped into the barn where her bike was kept, using her feet to disperse the hens which gathered round her looking for food. She had brought a small box of eggs and some potatoes which she placed in the front basket strapped to the handlebars. If the Germans stopped her, they would think that she was indulging in a bit of black market trading and turn a blind eye as they normally did. She felt around the waist of her shirt, just to make sure that the documents were safely strapped to her body.

  Pulling the bike away from the barn wall, it was only then that she noticed the flat tyre. She cursed quietly and tried to think where the puncture repair kit was kept. Already she was running late and agents were instructed not to wait more than five minutes at a rendezvous in case something had gone wrong. She knew that if the English found out she was late they would try to stop her. She didn’t much like the English. They were superior and treated the French as if they had already lost the war. Unlike Yvette who seemed to attract the attention of the English, Simone was regarded merely as a courier.

  Seizing a pump which was hanging from a nail on the wall, she prayed it was a slow puncture that would get her to her destination about two kilometres away. By the time the tyre was inflated, she was running seven minutes late. She would have to pedal fast to make up time.

  Gloom was setting in as she wheeled the bike out of the barn. To avoid being seen she ducked down under the parlour window as she passed along the wall. The bedroom window was her last hurdle and then she was free to go. Bending low, she passed underneath the open window pane. Suddenly she froze. Goose pimples erupted along her arms. She could hear sighing, gasping. Crawling past the window, she stood up at the far side. From here, she could just glance past the tattered curtains and see into the room. There, on the bed that she shared with Yvette, were two naked bodies fused together in a hungry embrace.

  Simone felt sick in the pit of her stomach. Her sister was breaking the rules they had agreed – no fraternising with the English. They were here to fight and die. Relationships were no part of this. Simone had not wanted to get involved in this espionage in the first place but Yvette had persuaded her. Yvette had wanted revenge – revenge for a deep hurt that she harboured inside her. Simone was drawn unwillingly into Yvette’s vendetta, not realising how high were the stakes in this deceit.

  She listened as the love making reached a climax and then subsided into quietly murmured endearments. She was jealous, angry, hurt. She had feelings too – but no one ever noticed. Instead she had to endure his furtive glances towards Yvette and whispered exchanges.

  She had to focus. She had to make the rendezvous. With her head spinning she mounted the bike and pedalled out of the yard and into the lane beyond. But inside, her heart burned with a smouldering fury.

  After returning late from work, Dan and Jed both scrubbed up and ate a simple meal by the fireside. As usual, neither spoke whilst they concentrated on the important task of satisfying their hunger. It wasn’t until Dan had wiped his plate clean with a chunk of bread that conversation resumed.

  “I said I had an idea that might make you decide to stay with me.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, Dan, it’s not that I want to ...”

  “Just hear me out, lad, will you? You know that I’m getting a bit old and stiff and I can’t work like I used to. And there’s only one thing that happens to old people like me with no money and no one to look after them – they end up in the workhouse. Now, that would kill me so I need you to carry on working with me and I’m prepared to slowly let you take over the running of the business till you eventually own it – if that’s what you want. But the trouble is, Jed, there’s no rich pickings in this trade so you ain’t going to make lots of money. But there is one thing I can do which might change your mind.”

  “You got me all ears now, Dan, what is it then?”

  “Well, they say an Englishman’s home is his castle, that’s if you got a home in the first place. Most youngsters like you finds it very difficult to rent a place let alone have their own home. So here’s where I can help you. Twenty year ago, I think it was, I did a big favour for a local farmer here – Grimes, his name was, Herbert Grimes. There was bad floods that year and the water from the brook overflowed and washed away two of his barns. Well, I worked with ‘im for two days – day and night without sleep to save those barns and get them put up again. At the end of it I presented my bill to ‘im and full of apologies he told me he hadn’t any money to pay. When he’d called me out he didn’t give a thought to how he was goin’ to settle the bill. Well, there wasn’t much I could do about it. But he’d heard me talkin’ about building’ a house, ‘cos in those days it was still in my mind to marry and bring up a family somewhere. So what he done, he give me a bit of a field he owned right on the edge of the town. It was all done legally so I have the deeds as proof I own that land. Now, as it happens, I never did meet that wife or have that family so my little plot of land just turned into a wilderness. People walk past it now and think it’s just a rough bit of meadow that belongs to no one. But they’re wrong. It belongs to me and I’d be happy to give it to you to build your own house for you and maybe that family of yours.”

  “You mean you’d give it to me for nothing?”

  “On one condition, you stay with me and gradually take over the business.”

  “Dan, I don’t know what to say. That’s a right generous offer. To have a bit of land and build me own house, it’s – well, it’s a dream.”

  “Of course, you’ve got to build the house but I�
�ll give you a hand and we can always call on a bit of help when it’s needed. You’ll have to borrow some money to buy the bricks and all the other stuff you need but I think I know someone who’ll loan you that and you can pay a bit off each month.”

  “Where is it, Dan, where’s the land? I’ve got to see it.”

  “It’s about half a mile from here down a little road called Duck Lane. Why don’t you go and take a look? Take Alice with you. She’ll certainly think you’ve got prospects then.”

  Jed arranged to meet Alice the next day during their lunch break. They sat together on a wall in the market square, eating pies that Alice had bought from the bakers.

  “You’re going to build your own house? How can you do that? You’ve never built a house before. How are you going to know where to start?”

  “Dan’ll help me and there’ll be plenty of others to give advice. Folks have been doing it for hundreds of years round here so it can’t be that difficult.”

  “It’s incredible, Jed, you owning a house at your age. You’re really going to be someone round here.”

  “Why don’t we go and see the land tomorrow?” suggested Jed, “Both of us, together.”

  “Are you sure you want me to come too?”

  “I don’t see why not. You said about us being partners, you know, special friends. I’d like you to come and tell me what you think.”

  At which point Alice leant across and kissed Jed lightly on the lips.

  “It’s OK, Jed. We’re special friends. Kissing’s OK between special friends.”

  The next day was a Saturday and Alice finished working at lunchtime. Jed met her outside the bakers shop and the two set off to find Duck Lane. Walking south of the market square, they followed the main road out of the town in the direction of North Walsham and Norwich. The houses here were solid brick built structures with their first floors overhanging the street to offer some measure of protection to pedestrians below. Professional people and artisans lived here. There were brass plaques on the walls of houses proclaiming various services such as ‘dress making’, ‘tooth extraction’ and ‘herbal medication’.

  Jed spied a landmark ahead which Dan had told him to look out for – an old Methodist church sat at the intersection of the main road and a small track. Jed and Alice turned down this track which soon led them away from the main road.

  “It’s a funny name, Duck Lane,” said Alice.

  “Dan said there used to be a duck farm down here and the ducks were always wandering all over the place. I think it went many years ago. Look just there,” said Jed, pointing to a small cottage with a well in the garden. “Dan said to look out for that cottage and the plot is just beyond it.”

  They were now in a narrow part of the lane with high hedges growing either side. There was no apparent way into the fields beyond and no obvious plot of land. Jed peered into the hedge on the left of the lane to find some sign of access.

  “Look, Alice, there’s an old gate here. It must be years since this gate were last opened.”

  They both pulled and pushed at the gate which creaked noisily on ancient hinges. This action gradually created a gap in the hedge and revealed a first glimpse of the plot beyond. Jed crawled through the hole first and then helped Alice through, taking care not to cut her on the razor edge thorns.

  They found themselves standing on a plot of land waist high in meadow grass and ringed by trees. Birds sang noisily and flitted between strands of tall grass which swayed gently in the breeze. The scene had a timeless quality about it, as if it had been waiting since the beginning of time to be discovered. They both stood in silence, taking in the peace and serenity of this secret place.

  “It’s beautiful,” ventured Alice at last. “It’s a like private world. Can you imagine a little house right there in the middle?”

  “It’s much better than I thought,” replied Jed. “I’d imagined a bit of waste land at the end of the village, sort of derelict.”

  “It’s so private,” whispered Alice as if her words might be overheard.

  They walked through the long grass into the middle of the plot. The perfume from wild flowers filled their nostrils.

  “I would be very happy here, Jed,” said Alice, almost in a whisper. “I can’t think I’d want for much else. Except, of course, a husband to look after and make happy.”

  Jed turned to her, comprehension slowly dawning.

  “What are you saying, Alice? Are you meaning me and you together – married like?”

  “Why not, Jed? We make a good team and we get on well. I reckon we’d make a good husband and wife.”

  “But what about being in love?”

  “Who’s to say we’re not? Sometimes you can be in love and not realise it. It takes something to happen, like a big change in your life, to make you see the people in your life differently. Like I’m seeing you differently now, Jed. Before I saw you as a nice enough young man – perhaps a bit naive.”

  “And now?”

  “Now, I’m seeing a man emerge, a man with a future, a man who seems to know where he’s going. That’s what a woman looks for in a man, someone who’ll provide.”

  “What about us, Alice? You know, being intimate and all that?”

  “That’ll come with time, Jed. We’ll learn together. You’ll see.”

  “Well, I don’t know much about romance and loving, Alice, there’s not been much of that in my life to tell the truth. I might not be any good at it.”

  “Then I’ll teach you. Take your jacket off and lay it on the ground.”

  “Now?”

  “Just do what I say.”

  Alice slipped Jed’s jacket from his shoulders and laid it in the long grass. Then she pulled him down by her side.

  “The first thing you got to learn, Jed, is kissing. That’s where it starts.”

  She took his head in her hands and kissed him fully on the lips. Jed closed his eyes and let his body respond. He felt goose pimples on his back and a stirring in his loins as Alice pressed her body firmly against his. He felt her tongue slip into his mouth and make contact with his own tongue. Still he remained passive as Alice took control, kissing, nibbling and biting. His hands which had lain limply by his side now took hold of Alice as she lay across him. He held her waist then ran his hands down to her thighs. He’d never before held a woman and the sensation enthralled him. He felt the softness of her body and the roundness of her curves. His kissing became more passionate and he pulled Alice tighter towards him, locking their mouths together. He felt his hands touch the bare flesh on the back of her legs and started to move them further upwards.

  “See, Jed,” said Alice, brushing his hands away and pulling her lips from his mouth, “it isn’t difficult and you’re getting the hang of it just fine. But to do it properly you really got to be married. A little bit of kissing and cuddling is OK beforehand but the marriage bed is the proper place for this type of thing.”

  “Does this mean we’re engaged to be married?”

  “Not till you ask me, Jed, and I accepts. That’s when we’re engaged.”

  “Well, you got me thinkin’, Alice, that marrying you would be something I’d like a lot. I mean, I don’t want to live in this house on my own and I don’t know any other lass I want to marry. I mean, there was poor Flora and I did sometimes think that she and I would be a good match.”

  “I’d forget about Flora,” said Alice, hastily. “Flora’s never going to marry outside of her church. If she does marry, her husband’s going to be chosen for her by the elders. It’s sad, Jed, but there’s nothing you can do about it now.”

  “Well, don’t you think I should discuss it with Dan? He’s like a father to me and I like to get his advice, especially on something as important as this.”

  “You could do but you’re a proper man now and deciding on the woman you’re going to marry is something only you can do. Dan’ll know that and he’ll respect you all the more for it.”

  “So do you want to marry me, Al
ice? Do you really love me?”

  “We’ll grow to love each other, Jed. That’s how it works. We’ll be strong and we’ll be a good couple. We’ll support each other and we’ll make our way so that people respect us and look up to us. Why don’t you ask me to marry you?”

  “You mean now, here?”

  “Why not? It’s the place where our future home’s going to be and the place where we’ll bring up or children. Say it nice now, Jed. Ask me to marry you.”

  They were both on their knees in the grass facing each other. Jed studied Alice’s face. He saw the urgency and intensity in her look. She smiled nervously at him. He felt the breeze on his face and he looked up to the sky above, noting briefly that dark clouds were racing in from the North Sea. He felt Alice’s grip tighten on his hands and he looked her straight in the eyes.

  “Alice, Alice, my love. Will you marry me and be my wife?”

  “Yes, Jed, I will.” And she leant forward and kissed him again.

  The Guest Who Stayed: Chapter 8 – Spring 1921

  By early March of 1921, the worst of the winter weather had passed and spring flowers were beginning to push their way through the softening ground and brighten the dormant countryside. Buds were appearing on the trees and early blossom was beginning to bloom in the cherry and plum orchards around Frampton.

  Alice and Jed visited the plot again and made final preparations for the building work to begin. They decided to position the house in the middle of the site where it would be surrounded by garden. Another area was designated as the site of a workshop for Jed as they had already decided that when Dan retired, he would run the business from home and save on the cost of renting the workshop. They hadn’t considered what would happen to Dan who lived above the workshop but Alice persuaded Jed that this could be dealt with at a later time.

  It was a sunny Monday in mid March when a small party gathered to witness the first sod being turned. Dan had been invited to attend and also two of his drinking friends from The Fox and Hounds. Alice brought a flagon of cider and five cups so that they could toast the occasion properly. Jed stood poised with a heavy duty spade as Dan prepared to make a speech. He cleared his throat and puffed out his chest in a gesture befitting the solemn occasion.