The Christmas Menagerie

by Minna Howard

  ‘I think he’s doing well. It’s hard to come into the year when it’s started and everyone else has known each other since they were at nursery. He’s in the class above mine,’ she said. ‘How’s he finding it?’ She addressed Jules who’d just appeared with a tray of drinks.

  ‘He’s okay, missing his mates in France. He’d known them since he was three.’

  David asked her what she’d like to drink and went to fetch it. Cynthia hovered beside Jules having barely acknowledged her, looking bored. She kept her eye on him as if afraid he might disappear in a puff of smoke.

  Giles said, ‘So you’ve got rid of all the animals you were coping with over Christmas? I must say it was very good of you to take them all in suddenly like that, don’t you think so, Cynthia?’ He turned to include her. ‘Though I think we should have done our share of caring for them over the holiday period. Dickon would have loved it.’

  ‘I don’t know why people still used it,’ Cynthia said archly. ‘Frightful place.’

  ‘It didn’t use to be,’ Giles said firmly, ‘but like the rest of us they got old and it got too much, so my dear,’ he smiled at Amelia, ‘you were wonderful and came to the rescue.’

  ‘I enjoyed it, mostly.’ She glanced at Jules. ‘I was a bit of a nuisance not knowing so much about them and bothering Jules when he must have had so much else to do.’

  ‘He did, with animals suffering from serious conditions,’ Cynthia said icily.

  ‘Oh, he didn’t really mind,’ Giles said cheerfully to Cynthia, who frowned at him. ‘He kept us amused with the stories – oh, not about you, my dear.’ Giles put his hand on Amelia’s arm. ‘I know nothing about animals except for dogs and horses.’

  Cynthia threw her a withering look and seemed about to make another remark, when Amelia heard her name being called and turned to see Jamie and Wilfred bearing down on them.

  ‘Our saviour! Cleo had a lovely time with you.’ He turned to the group. Cynthia moved away, looking exasperated.

  ‘If she hadn’t taken her in, we would not have been able to join our friends for Christmas in the South of France,’ Wilfred announced to them all before embracing her.

  ‘Don’t forget what I said about your garden. We’ll be round soon to give it some shape,’ he added.

  ‘Thanks, that would be lovely.’ Amelia rather dreaded it, thinking she’d have to offer to contribute to it and wondering how much it would cost. She had spent more than she wanted on doing up the house, but her daughters had told her to get everything done while things were upside down with the builders in, which she knew was sensible.

  David returned with two glasses of wine and handed her one. Leonora was the life and soul of the party and entertained them all about her adventures in the South of France over the years, while James and Wilfred interrupted with stories of their own.

  Cynthia stood firmly beside Jules, glancing round the bar as if perhaps hoping to see someone more interesting to talk to. David, the other side of her, tried to include her in their conversation about other concerts put on here, though it was difficult not to be side-tracked by the pantomime playing out between Cleo’s two owners, and Leonora and Giles. Jules joined in the conversation with David, including Amelia.

  ‘If I’d known you’d be here, Amelia, I’d have brought the key to the kennels with me for you to give to Rufus,’ he said. ‘I told Sophie when I saw her in the street, that Dodi gave me a set of them for him. I’ll take them into the surgery tomorrow morning.’ He glanced at Cynthia to include her. ‘I’ll leave them there for him to pick up from Cynthia. I’ll give you the number so you can ring him,’ he said to Cynthia, who looked bored. He turned back to Amelia. ‘So if you see Rufus before you go to work tomorrow, Amelia, please tell him they’ll be there.’ He smiled at her. ‘I understand Rufus might live in the house.’

  ‘Yes. I know he’s keen to get the kennels going again, though he knows it might be quite a challenge.’ Amelia was surprised Jules seemed so sanguine about it, though she suspected he’d be a hard task master if they did try and open them again without getting them up to his high standard.

  She didn’t know Rufus and she wondered if he would keep Sophie in check. Once she’d got her teeth in a cause she hung on like a dog with a bone. She hoped she’d follow Jules’s insistence that the kennels must be restarted from scratch and fully inspected before they would be allowed to open again.

  ‘It will be expensive. I understand Rufus and Sophie are getting up a petition to have them reopened,’ Jules said, watching her reaction.

  ‘Oh, that’s the first I’ve heard of it. I’ve been so busy with my work at school, I’ve no idea what’s going on there.’

  Cynthia overhearing the conversation, said in a bored voice, ‘They are wasting their time, just being a nuisance. Even if they could afford to rebuild it, who is going to run it? Or perhaps your daughter is?’ She turned to her with a pitying expression, as if Sophie had no other goals in her life.

  ‘No, I’m sure she’s not. She’ll be going back to her fiancé in London very soon. She lives with him, not here with me. Her job in London finished before Christmas, but she’s going back soon to find another. I’ve no idea what Rufus has in mind for the place, but whatever it is, he’s doing it with his aunt’s blessing,’ she said firmly, not wanting Jules to lump her together with Sophie and Rufus’s wild ideas and take against her.

  ‘Well, you could fool me,’ Cynthia drawled. ‘Sophie rang me in the office yesterday, asking for the keys. She said they were getting in a builder to fix it up. She’d didn’t sound as if she was going back to London any time soon.’

  27

  People were beginning to return to their seats and the conversation was over. Cynthia threw Amelia a look as if she was something she’d found under her shoe. Amelia turned away, wondering why she was so snooty. Was she just jealous of any woman who Jules spoke to?

  Jules had now moved away from her and David and was talking to his uncle. Wilfred was beside her.

  ‘I have made a plan for your garden. It is so unimaginative as it is. I know it’s not your design, Amelia, but we’ll get it lovely for you.’

  ‘Thank you. I had so much to do to the house, I never got round to it. Besides, the builders dumped so much of their stuff there,’ she said.

  ‘So you have to look out at that dreary scene every day,’ he said sympathetically.

  She laughed. ‘Surely it’s not that bad, Wilfred.’

  ‘Oh, but my dear it is… worse than bad, some people have no imagination. They just throw in a few plants and call it a garden. A garden has to have a soul, speak to you.’ He closed his eyes as if imagining one, probably his.

  It was a relief that the bell had gone for people to return to their seats. ‘I look forward to your artistry,’ she said. ‘You are both so kind to do it for me.’

  ‘A pleasure, isn’t it, Jamie, to resurrect her garden?’ Wilfred said as they turned to go back to their seats

  ‘Of course, we’ll come round soon and plan it out, then we will be all ready to plant for spring.’ He gave her a little wave before turning away to follow Wilfred to their seats.

  Jules, about to follow the others, turned back to face her. ‘So, tell Sophie and Rufus I’ll take the key into the surgery first thing tomorrow morning so they can go to the house, but do let me know their plans if they really are going to try and rebuild it.’

  ‘Thanks, Jules, I’ll tell them.’

  David put his hand under her arm to lead her back to their seat. ‘All this kennel business sounds a bit dramatic,’ he said.

  Amelia sighed. ‘Sophie is a great one for causes and goes all out to support them. Otherwise I doubt she’d have cared what happens to it one way or another.’

  ‘I’d leave them to it. Jules is more than capable to deal with it,’ David said as they wove their way to their seats and settled down for the next half of the concert. ‘It seems he’s getting a lot of flak for closing it, but he wouldn’t do anything he did
n’t think had to be done.’

  The second half of the concert was a spikier kind of music with odd cords, which Amelia found rather unsettling. When it was at last over, it left her feeling agitated, instead of full of warmth and peace.

  They did not see Jules and his party again among the seething crowd struggling to get out and home. David took her arm to steer her through the throng. Just as they reached David’s car his mobile went. He took it out of his pocket and glanced at it, before saying, ‘So sorry, I must take this. Get in and keep warm. I won’t be a minute.’ He unlocked the door of the car for her and she got in.

  She tried to watch him under the dim lights in the car park, but he’d moved away into the shadows, so she could not see his expression. It was quite a long call and she wondered if it was bad news, or perhaps work-related. She didn’t know much about his job only that he worked in advertising. Had it just been a friendly call from a friend, she thought he would have told them he’d ring them back later.

  At last he got back into the car. His face under the yellow light seemed taut, upset. He apologised for being so long, saying he hoped she hadn’t got cold.

  ‘No, I’m fine, it will soon warm up now the heater is on.’ She wondered if she should say something. The call had obviously upset him.

  He started the car and backed carefully out of his space weaving between some other cars doing the same, so it resembled a strange dance. The car park was packed this evening, and patience was needed to get out of it. At last he achieved it and they were back on the road.

  They sat in silence for a while, which was unlike him, after he’d talked all the way here, mostly telling her about the concert. She was tempted again to ask if everything was all right, but she decided instead to talk about the concert first, to break the awkward silence, asking what he’d thought of the second half.

  He discussed it rather vaguely as if he’d lost all his energy. She said, ‘Don’t answer if you don’t want to, David, but is something wrong?’

  He stared ahead, his headlights cutting through the darkness. ‘I just wasn’t expecting it. It was… well, my girlfriend, Lucile…’ He winced when he said her name. ‘We decided to have a spell apart, but it seems now…’ They’d reached a village dimly lit by tall streetlights. He bit his lip and she saw the gleam of tears in his eyes. He struggled to speak, then said, ‘Well, she’s found someone else. They are going to get married.’ He turned briefly to her, his face anguished. ‘When we were together, she said she didn’t believe in marriage, she thought it was a trap. I went along with her, but now…’

  ‘I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say. These things are so hard.’ She put her hand on his thigh, wondering why, if he still had feelings for this woman, he was showing an interest in her?

  ‘I feel… shattered,’ he said. ‘I thought there was a chance that we’d get back together again after a break. I wonder if she knew this new man all along and was away skiing with him over Christmas.’

  She didn’t know what to say, feeling sympathy for him. They’d reached her house now and he drove in and turned off the engine and sat there, his head bowed. She wondered if she should ask him in. It was past midnight and Sophie and Rufus were probably asleep, they got up so early.

  ‘Come in.’ She took the door key from her bag and before getting out of the car, feeling he might want to talk more about it, share his pain with her. He followed her to the door, standing close behind her, his hand on her waist as she unlocked the door.

  A blast of music hit them, the lights blazing in the hall and living room. Sophie bounded into the hall. ‘Hi, have a good time? Who was playing?’

  She felt David move away from her; he wouldn’t want to stay now. She felt a moment of relief. ‘Have some coffee, a drink.’ She turned to him put her hand on his arm, feeling she should at least ask him in.

  ‘No thanks, it’s getting late,’ he said, his eyes blank.

  ‘Stay, we’d love to hear about it all,’ Sophie said eagerly.

  ‘No, thanks, I’d better get on.’ He turned to leave. Amelia was worried for him. He’d drive carefully, wouldn’t he?

  ‘Thanks for such a great time, I hope things work out,’ she said quietly so Sophie wouldn’t hear. ‘Let me know if you want to talk.’

  ‘It was good to see you.’ He went out into the dark night and she shut and locked the door, feeling sad for him.

  ‘So, was the concert good? See anyone we know?’ Sophie asked her as she came into the living room. She turned off the music and before Amelia could answer, said, ‘Rufus and I are making plans to reopen the kennels. He has a friend who’s a builder and he could stay in the house. The house by the kennels, not ours.’ She laughed when she saw Amelia’s expression. ‘We thought we’d take the house over, bring back his aunt and uncle if they’ll come, and get the kennels up and running again whatever Jules says.’

  28

  It was the weekend at last and Amelia was relieved to have a couple of days off. She’d been so busy at school and worn out by the evening, she’d forgotten about Jules saying he’d leave the key to the kennels at the surgery with Cynthia for Sophie and Rufus to pick up. So, knowing how frantic Sophie was about getting them, she was surprised when Jules rang early on Saturday to tell Sophie that if she was really interested in seeing the kennels, he would meet her and Rufus there this morning and let them in.

  ‘Okay, fine, yes in about an hour, we’ll be there… thanks. What? No, we haven’t changed our minds. We didn’t know the keys were there or of course one of us would have picked them up.’ Sophie sounded slightly defensive. ‘Well, thanks we’ll see you then.’ The call ended and she turned to face them, frowning.

  ‘That was Jules, he said he left the keys to the kennels in the surgery on Thursday and is surprised we didn’t collect them, but no one told us they were there,’ she said indignantly.

  ‘That’s right, he left them there on Thursday. I remembered him saying at the concert that he’d do that,’ Amelia said. ‘Sorry, I suppose I should have told you, but it’s been a manic week and it completely slipped my mind. Anyway, he told Cynthia to contact you, I heard him, to tell you they were there.’

  ‘She… no one told us. Jules has just found them still in the surgery. He was quite annoyed until I said we hadn’t been told,’ Sophie explained, ‘even though I rang earlier in the week to ask. Anyway, he’s meeting us there so we can see how bad it is. Why don’t you come with us, Mum?

  ‘Yes, let’s all go,’ Rufus said, ‘then you can see if Jules was right to shut it down so leaving all those pets for you to care for over Christmas. I feel you are as much a part of this as us, Amelia.’ He grinned at her.

  She had shopping to do and her lesson plans, but why not go? She’d been so affected by this kennel closure, that she might as well see them. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that Jules would be there.

  They set off in Rufus’s car and about twenty minutes later, on a road surrounded by farmland they reached the start of a drive, with fields either side of it and ancient trees. Beside the gate was a faded notice declaring: ‘Birchwood Kennels, Cattery and other pets welcome. A home from home.’

  Jules was there already and had unlocked the gate and was waiting on the driveway inside. When he saw them, he started his car and they followed him up a tree-lined drive, bumping along and bouncing off potholes. Rounding the corner, they saw a large house of faded red brick with the skeletons of creepers crawling up to the roof. Jules stopped his car outside it and got out with Dickon.

  Amelia, Sophie and Rufus joined them. They faced a stable block with an archway between them. There were a couple of birch trees with their silver bark beside them, which, Amelia supposed, gave the house its name.

  ‘This is where the animals you had used to live,’ Dickon said, bounding up to her. ‘Dad will show you how dangerous it was to leave them here.’

  Sophie was looking round with interest. Jules, having greeted them, handed Rufus the keys, explaining w
hich one locked the gate to the drive, the house and now the kennels.

  ‘Thanks, I’ll try and remember. I never had to lock anything when I was last here as my aunt and uncle saw to that.’ He took a breath, looked round. ‘I must say the place looks a lot sadder than the last time I saw it, the flower beds full of weeds. If only I’d known sooner, then I might have been able to help them.’

  Jules said, ‘Don’t beat yourself up about it, you were away studying. You are here now.’

  Dickon was running all over the place, full of life as Amelia remembered him before he started school. He ran though the archway and then back towards them. ‘It’s all broken back here,’ he announced, ‘some of the roofs are missing.’

  ‘Keep with us, Dickon,’ Jules said. ‘I told you there would be dangerous places and we don’t want them to fall on you.’

  Jules caught Amelia’s eye, his expression almost defiant.

  Sophie had gone very quiet. She glanced at Rufus, who looked worried. He went towards the arch followed by the rest of them. Jules unlocked a door in the archway, and they had a glimpse of what must once have been a stable, with an old desk in the centre and pictures and leaflets mouldering on the walls.

  ‘Apparently, they left their animals here and they were taken later to the kennels by Dodi or Jim, so no one saw the state of them,’ Jules said.

  ‘And they have no roof or even a door,’ Dicken went on.

  Rufus looked more and more unhappy as they went through the arch and turned down a muddy path. There was a group of buildings round a small yard. Amelia thought how nice they must have been when they were new. Each place had its own small hut and a run at the front, though now some of them were cobbled together with rope or bits of wood and bricks, and two, as Dickon had said, had lost their roofs completely.

  Dickon acted like a tour guide pointing things out. ‘Animals could get out of that one and look at the hole in this bit!’ Finally, Jules said gently, ‘We can see it all, thank you, Dickon. You and I will get going now. We’ve got shopping to do and you need another school jersey.’ He glanced at Amelia.