Monthly Online Book Review and Listings Magazine ~ July 2009

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 THAT WOMAN!

 by Phyllis Owen

    The day dawned warm and dry, promising a glorious day, and the cloudless sky was a bright blue, the sun glimmering across the fields.  Janet took a deep breath and smiled when she heard the faint gurgling of the stream below her garden.  ‘That reminds me, I must plant the roses this morning.’  Picking up the basket of plants on the verandah, she walked into the garden.  She had prepared the ground late yesterday afternoon so all she had to do was put in the plants.

  As she began tucking in the rose bushes, she chuckled when two rabbits began leaping about like hyperactive kangaroos.  ‘Sorry to disturb you lot but you’ll have to find another home.’  Then she heard a woman call over the fence, ‘I wouldn’t plant the roses there,’ she suggested, ‘They’ll need more sunlight.  Rather plant them on the other side of the garden,’ adding, ‘Fancy coming for a cuppa?’

  ‘Janet called, holding back her anger.  ‘Sorry, I have a lot to do.’

  ‘I’ll come and help,’the woman insisted.

  Her new neighbour was always leering over the fence.  You couldn’t hide from her.  ‘Will be going into town,’ she told her.  Picking up the basket with the remaining plants, she hurried back into the house.

  Janet stood at the kitchen sink, fuming.  ‘That woman!  I suppose she’s right about the roses,’ she muttered, ‘but I wish she’d mind her own business.’  She began to wash up.  Taking a deep breath she hissed, ‘I was hoping to spend the morning in the garden, but with her around giving advice, she’d be a nuisance.’  When, Dan, her husband had died suddenly she sold their large home in the city and moved to the Devon coast.  They had spent many happy holidays here.  Brenda, her daughter, and only child, had qualified as a teacher and decided to move in with her and teach at the small school in the town.  Everything worked out perfectly and they couldn’t be happier.   Life was sweet.  Then Anton, the head teacher, and Brenda, fell in love, married and moved into the school house.  They were close by, but nothing was the same. 

   Then that woman moved in next door.

  Sighing, she looked at the surrounding well kept bungalows with their neat gardens and an occasional large tree.  She could hear the gulls cry, dip and glide against the sky and the faint bleat of sheep from the hills together with the sound of a tractor chugging noisily in a faraway field. 

  Just then she heard a loud bang and saw smoke coming from the open window next door.  She jumped, her legs feeling like a half-set blamange. 

  Rushing across to the house she opened the door and saw the woman lying on the kitchen floor, smoke pouring out of a pot on the stove, a lid nearby.   Quickly turning off the stove, she put the pot and lid into the sink.

  ‘Aunt Sophie, what happened?’ she cried, helping the old lady up.

  ‘Sorry love.  I put oil in the pot, added the lid, switched on the stove, then went to the bedroom for a handkerchief.  Didn't think it would heat up so quickly.'

  Janet’s heart beat fit to burst.  Then the floodgates of memory opened and crowded into her mind.  Aunt Sophie was her mother’s baby sister, a mere ten years older than her.  She had never married and was always a willing helper.

  Feeling bad about the way she had behaved towards her aunt who had helped her on many occasions in the past, she put her arms around her and said, ‘We’ll clean up then you can come to me for tea and a nice chat.

    Sophie looked at her and a smile came rushing up from deep inside her lighting up her whole face.  ‘I’d like that, Janet.  I so wanted to be near you, my only living relative.  When I saw this house was up for sale, I contacted the seller, accepting their price without any haggling or coming to see the place.’  She chuckled.  ‘Just as well it was in good condition.’

  For a moment the ache in Janet’s heart since Brenda left, was erased.  She felt not so much that something has ended, but more like something else has just begun.  She smiled and gave Aunt Sophie a big hug, adding,  ‘Let’s go next door for our cuppa.’

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