Firestarter

by Collins, Patsy

  Louise grimaced.

  'Are you OK, Louise?' Nadeep asked.

  'Fine, I've just got a bit of a headache.'

  Alice had some painkillers in her bag, but rather suspected the only way they'd make Louise feel better was if one of them, preferably Alice, were to swallow about three packetfuls.

  As the others dispersed, Louise said, 'Well come on, if you're coming.' She went out.

  Pulling on her woolly gloves, Alice followed.

  Louise sighed, then went back inside the building, returning with a large pair of bright red rubbery gloves. 'Way too big, but waterproof.' She thrust them at Alice.

  'Oh, thanks very much. I... I've got some painkillers if it'd help?'

  'What? Oh no, I'll be OK when I get some fresh air.' After a moment she added, 'Thanks though.'

  Outside the building, Louise opened a plastic tub which was in the corner of a small fenced off area of concrete. She extracted a piece of shiny black plastic.

  'So what exactly is it we're going to do with the mud?' Alice asked.

  'I'm going to hold you face down in it. You don't have to do anything, but I expect you'll struggle for a bit before you drown.' She didn't say it like it was a joke.

  Louise strode away leaving Alice to wonder if following was really such a good idea. The wooden shed was dry, had a heater and kettle and if she died there someone would find her body.

  Chapter 11

  'Won't there be witnesses and too many people who know I was with you?' Alice spoke as calmly and reasonably as she could. Probably Louise was just grouchy and not a homicidal maniac, but there was no absolute guarantee of that.

  'Good point.' She gave what might have been a quickly suppressed grin. 'OK, I'll just have to kill you with hard work.'

  'That'd be easier to explain away.'

  'You'd better not be some kind of fitness freak who actually survives this.' She really did smile that time.

  With all the layers she was wearing and the way she had to half trot to keep up with Louise's long stride Alice knew she didn't give the impression of being super fit.

  'I've been to a gym!' she told Louise.

  'Me too. It was bloody awful.'

  Louise gave the piece of black plastic she'd collected earlier a shake, revealing that it was two heavy duty rubbish sacks. She handed one to Alice.

  'Basically anything manmade goes in there. Bits of wood, even sawn planks or whatever can stay as long as they don't have metalwork or plastic coatings or anything. When it's full leave it outside the staffroom and collect another. Rinse and repeat.'

  Although it was tricky keeping them on, Alice was grateful for the gloves even before she put her hands into the mud for the first time. Interesting was the word Alice had used to describe conservation work when talking to Hamish the previous day. It wasn't the one she had in mind after hours spent pulling shopping bags, bottles and fishing line out of foul smelling mud with Louise. Mostly it was just ordinary rubbish, but the thick, smelly gunge clinging to it made everything far heavier. Anything a bit bigger was hard to pull out and when it eventually came free, Alice was sent staggering backwards. Some things were too difficult for one person to shift; Louise and Alice dragged what had probably once been a child's mattress out of the mud and back to the wooden building. Later they did the same thing with a big piece of plastic sheeting.

  The other woman wasn't exactly chatty, but she did assure Alice the work they were doing would be very beneficial to the birds and other wildlife who fed on the shoreline and river banks. It was keeping Alice warm too and had to be burning calories.

  Whenever Alice stood and stretched to ease her aching back she saw Louise haul out a large piece of debris or throw the full bag over her shoulder and march off towards dry land with it. Alice was reminded of the first time she'd gone with Tony to his gym. A woman wearing pristine trainers, obviously new and expensive workout clothes, and a full face of make-up had taken the rower right beside the one Alice was trying to figure out how to use.

  'You'll want to turn the resistance level down I should think,' she'd drawled, then put hers up to ten.

  Alice had done the same, then matched the woman stroke for stroke. She was hot enough to believe in spontaneous human combustion by the time the other woman stopped, but somehow found the strength to stand up and make it to the water fountain. Leaning on it for support she'd gulped down a few mouthfuls. The other woman hadn't passed her, maybe Alice would have the satisfaction of seeing her slumped in an exhausted heap? She'd looked round to see the woman pounding away on a treadmill set at a ridiculously steep angle. Alice hadn't been able to lift anything heavier than a coffee cup for days and had learned her lesson. Well sort of. She kept going, but didn't try to compete with Louise's work rate.

  Alice knew she'd have stiff muscles the next day, but the exercise would do her good. Treadmills, steppers and rowing machines were nothing compared with the workout she was getting amongst the reeds and willow roots and it went on for hours and hours. At least it felt like it when they stopped for a break and returned to the staff room.

  Although desperate for the loo, Alice hadn't liked to say in case Louise thought she was just making an excuse to stop working. Now they had stopped, Alice headed straight into the toilet. Wrestling her way out of enough clothes to make use of it took some time and Louise had a coffee ready for her when she came out.

  It was only just gone half past ten! Would she be expected to keep this up until dark? And even more importantly, would there be food? It hadn't occurred to Alice to bring anything with her other than the sausage she'd cooked for Hamish's crow and the emergency chocolate she kept in her bag. If this wasn't an emergency she didn't know what was. She fetched the bar, snapped it in half and offered one part to Louise.

  After a moment's hesitation, Louise reached forward and took it. 'Thanks,' then as Alice turned towards the sofa intending to slump into it, 'Don't sit there, the springs are gone. The big blue armchairs are probably the least uncomfortable.'

  Alice crashed into the twin of the one Louise occupied. Not for long though. Louise had finished her drink, used the toilet and was putting on her coat before Alice had finished her chocolate. She gulped down the last of her drink and began covering herself up again. It didn't take too long as she abandoned several layers, confident the work would ensure she didn't get cold. She was right.

  Even though fewer layers made it a little easier to move, Alice stumbled several times taking yet another full rubbish sack back towards the building. Only the weight of the bag acting as a counterbalance stopped her pitching headlong into the disgusting ooze. Louise was having no such difficulty shifting her load, despite having filled and moved three bags to each one of Alice's. She set the latest one down then came back and took Alice's.

  'OK, I've decided to let you live. You can stop now.'

  'It might be too late.'

  'Don't die out here, that'll make me look heartless.' She opened the door and guided Alice into a big blue chair, then made her another coffee. 'Drink that and I'll go fetch lunch. Are you vegetarian or anything?'

  Alice shook her head. Food? She could just sit still and Louise would bring her food? This must be how someone lost in the dessert feels when they reach an oasis. It seemed just a few minutes later when she heard a car horn beeping several times. She didn't have the strength to wonder why, much less get up and find out. It didn't matter. Louise, smelling of chips, was back to explain.

  'That was what passes for a dinner bell round here.'

  They were soon joined by the others and everyone was given a paper wrapped parcel as they came in. Alice opened hers to discover the most delicious battered fish and chips in the whole world ever.

  She was hardly aware of Hamish, who'd perched on the arm of her chair, until a third of the way through her meal. When she did look up at him he seemed amused.

  'No good asking if I can have some of your chips then?'

  'Not a chance, pal.' She shielded them from view
by folding over the paper.

  'Louise and Alice obviously got on really well,' Nadeep said.

  Alice hoped he wasn't thinking of taking up mind reading as a career.

  'Yes, that's a truly impressive heap out there,' Hamish said.

  Oh, got on with the rubbish clearing. Yes, they'd done that all right.

  'You can't have stopped all morning,' he said.

  'We didn't,' Louise admitted.

  'It was too cold to stand around doing nothing,' Alice said. It wouldn't have been too cold to sit in the building, but to be fair she'd come to work.

  As a reward for her efforts, Hamish said he'd take her into a hide for a closer look at the birds she'd been helping. The rest and the food had revived her and having Hamish for company restored her spirits. She was actually looking forward to seeing the birds, especially the one he'd helped rescue.

  'Look what I've got,' she showed Hamish the microwaved sausage.

  Everyone who was left in the staff building stared at it.

  'Did you cut that off someone?' Louise asked.

  It was then Alice realised it did look rather like an amputated body part. 'Well, he was annoying,' she said. 'I thought Snowball needed it more.'

  'See!' Louise stuck her tongue out at Hamish. 'Told you Snowball was the best name for him. You should know better than to argue with a woman.'

  'I'm learning,' Hamish said.

  There was no sign of Snowball-Sausage so Alice left the snack where Hamish thought he'd be likely to find it. 'He's a lot less tame than he used to be and he doesn't know you, so he could be nearby keeping out of sight.'

  'It's the wellies, isn't it?' Although the mud had worked its magic for a time, the long grass she and Louise walked through between it and the car park had restored them to their hideous brightness.

  'Could be. Come on, let's get them out of sight.' He pushed open the door to the hide.

  From the outside it looked like a garden shed. The inside, other than being clutter free and having a huge window, did little to alter the initial impression. There was a wooden bench to sit on and look out the window onto the water and yet more mud. A narrow shelf, presumably for people to rest their binoculars on, ran the length of the window. Nothing much seemed to be happening out there.

  By the door a large blackboard stood ready for people to record their sightings. Yesterday's figures looked sparse, or perhaps there just hadn't been many non-feathered visitors to record the levels of the other kind? Huge charts on the walls meant Alice didn't have to admit she couldn't tell a tern from a gull.

  'Gosh, I didn't know there were so many different types of sandpiper!' she said after studying it. She had realised a sandpiper was a bird, although she'd imagined them as tiny songbirds, not the lanky things depicted.

  'We get all those here. We might be lucky today, but it's a bit early in the year.'

  'Oh. I suppose that's why it says migrant? Sorry, I really don't know anything about birds.'

  'No? What about those?'

  She joined him on the bench and looked where he was pointing. 'Oyster catchers!'

  They watched amused as the long legged birds seemed to race each other up and down over the silt. With their bright orange beaks constantly opening and closing they seemed to chatter amongst themselves.

  'They're definitely planning something,' Alice decided.

  'Like what?'

  'Maybe they're going to fly in formation and impersonate a pterodactyl or something?'

  'Now that's a murmuration I'd like to see,' Hamish said.

  'A what? Oh it's the big flocks making patterns in the evenings isn't it? Do oyster catchers do that? I thought it was just starlings.'

  'Some other species do, but you're right it is mainly starlings. Have you seen them at Portsmouth harbour?'

  'No.'

  'I'll take you sometime, it's well worth seeing.'

  'I'd like that. What are those?' Alice pointed to a group of birds, which although similar looking to the oyster catchers, were surely something else.

  Hamish moved closer. 'The mostly white ones with upturned beaks?'

  'Yes. I like them too.'

  'They're avocets.'

  Alice looked from one to the other. The avocets were altogether more delicate looking and had no red at all. Now Hamish had pointed out their beaks she could see it wasn't just that the avocet's were thinner and black which made them different. The shape was pretty weird. 'I think I'd recognise them again.'

  'I'll test you next time. That's if you'd like to come again?'

  'I would, yes. Oh, swans!'

  'Two points to you.'

  And two future dates arranged. Both involved bird watching. Was that a problem? No, she didn't think so, it was only because they were in a bird hide and she'd expressed an interest, not because he was forcing his hobby on her. She wondered if the Portsmouth starlings really were worth seeing. The murmurations she'd seen on Springwatch had been impressive, and from what she remembered that was just along the coast at Brighton. Obviously they only showed the best bits on TV, but Hamish could well be right about them being worth seeing and afterwards they'd be handily close to all the bars, clubs and restaurants at Gunwharf Quays.

  Hamish put his arm around her and she snuggled up as close as she could. They stayed watching the birds, with Hamish explaining distinguishing features, as it grew dark. She didn't feel cold until Hamish stood up. It was as though he took her body heat with him and she started shivering.

  'Alice, you're freezing. Sorry I hadn't realised.'

  'I'm fine really, though I could do with something to warm me up.' She gave what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

  'Hot chocolate back at mine?'

  'Sounds like a plan.'

  Hamish fetched a bag from his car on the way back to the staff building.

  'I'll just get changed. Sorry, I didn't think to suggest you bring anything to change into. I carry spare clothes automatically.'

  She looked down at her filthy clothes. 'I'm going to make an awful mess in your car.'

  'Hmmm. My fault though. The coat's the worst. If you don't mind taking that off, I'll start the car so the heating gets going.'

  He handed her a thick knitted sweater from his bag, turned the small fan heater towards her and switched it on full before going out. She bundled up her dad's coat so the mud was on the inside and put on the clothes she'd removed during her coffee break with Louise. On top of that she added his jumper. It was cosy and there was plenty of room. Anything of Tony's, had he allowed her to wear it, would have been a much snugger fit over her many layers.

  Hamish returned, pulled off his boots, socks, sweater and jeans! She knew from her earlier experience there wasn't room to get undressed in the tiny bathroom and the kitchen was barely any bigger, so he really didn't have much option but to get changed in the same room as her. And he was a gorgeous, hunky fireman so she had no option but to watch.

  She couldn't see much. His top half remained covered with a long sleeved polo shirt and although he'd removed one pair of socks he still wore another which came up to his knees, so really it was just his thighs. That wasn't too disappointing; those were some seriously muscular thighs! In moments they were covered again and he was ready to leave. Alice was feeling considerably warmer by then. She thawed further on the drive to his place. During the journey the car was filled with the pungent smell of river mud.

  'A hot shower might be a good idea,' Hamish said once he'd parked the car.

  'A very good idea,' Alice agreed. And if her overworked legs were too tired to hold her up and she needed someone with strong muscular thighs to lean on, whose fault would that be?

  Hamish's narrow hallway contained a bicycle as well as a rack of coats and row of footwear. She added her boots, but not the filthy coat which they'd left spread over the back seat of Hamish's car to dry out. Hopefully the mud would then shake off. His flat was much like hers in terms of size and clutter, but a lot less brightly coloured and more open pl
an. It wasn't untidy exactly, but in the living area, piles of books, a remote controlled helicopter and various electronic gadgets topped the cupboards and coffee table. She liked it.

  Hamish gently pulled her into his arms and she let her body slump against his as he held her. They stayed like that for a few moments, then he kissed her ear, her cheek, her lips. He kissed her until she was no longer aware of the ache in her legs, the pain in her arms and soreness of her back. All that mattered was his mouth on hers, his arms around her and that he never stop, never let go.

  When he pulled away slightly his breathing was heavy and his voice low. 'Right, now let's get you out of these muddy clothes and properly warmed up.'

  With his arm around her, he got her to the bathroom. When he let go to switch on the shower she sank down so she was sat on the toilet lid.

  He chuckled and knelt down to remove her socks, all three pairs. 'Come on then, lift your arms,' he said when her feet were bare.

  She obeyed and he stripped off layer after layer, throwing each in turn out into the hallway. It took a while as he kissed her again between every item of clothing.

  Chapter 12

  When Hamish had removed everything but Alice's final T-shirt and jeans he stopped.

  'You'd better see to the rest yourself or I won't be responsible for my actions.'

  Irresponsible was just fine with her.

  'And we won't get anything to eat and I definitely need something to eat.'

  So did she, but her hunger for him was stronger.

  'Pepperoni pizza with extra cheese?'

  Ah, well maybe she could satisfy both appetites. It was still early and the food would give her more strength to enjoy what she hoped would follow.

  'Yes please.'

  'Right. Chuck your clothes outside the bathroom door and wear my dressing gown when you've finished.'

  The water was the perfect temperature; almost too hot but not quite. It revived her sufficiently that she was able to wash her hair and body with Hamish's toiletries. It was a good thing she wasn't the kind of girl who worried about being seen without make-up, she thought as she dried herself, wrapped a towel round her head and put on Hamish's dressing gown. Anyway, even without mascara and lippy she probably looked better now than she had when she got into his car at the wildlife sanctuary. She felt better too; the hot water had eased her aching muscles and the tension in her back.