Page 40 of A Helpin g Hand for the Village Nurse

‘I told you so.’ Flo looked at it with pride and with some wistfulness. Ottilie didn’t know the ever practical and acerbic Florence could be wistful, but there was no mistaking the look. This place was gorgeous, incredible, and yet, for all that, it had taken a real effort to get up here to see. Ottilie had to wonder if it held more significance for Flo than just a pretty feature she’d wanted to share with her new friend. ‘I used to swim in there.’

Ottilie glanced at her and then back at the pool. ‘It looks cold.’

‘Freezing, yes, it can be. But on a hot day the best thing ever. Me and my friends back in the day, we used to come up here all the time. This was our local swimming pool. We’d bring sandwiches, bottles of cider we’d stolen from our dads, one of us would bring a radio we’d play until the batteries died. You could be entertained for hours up here, and only people who lived hereabouts knew it, so there were no tourists getting in the way of everything.’

‘And people still don’t know about it? Tourists, I mean.’

‘There’s only you and me, isn’t there?’

‘That really surprises me. What with Instagram and whatever, you’d think someone would have posted about it and brought everyone flocking. I’m sure there must be loads of people who’d want to come here if they knew about it.’

‘God forbid!’ Flo blurted, the old brusqueness back. ‘Imagine! People are so stupid, always looking for the next thing – some would go to a burning tyre dump if someone told them it was good!’

Ottilie had to laugh. ‘Not quite. But I sort of see what you mean, and that’s why I’m even more surprised this place is still such a secret.’

‘Let’s hope it stays that way. It’s ours.’

‘Ours? I like that it’s not overrun, but isn’t the countryside supposed to be for everyone?’

‘If you want everyone to come then it will be ruined. If people knew this was here there’d be pop bottles and crisp packets everywhere. When people learn respect, then they can come, but I’m sure I’ll be cold in the ground by the time that happens.’

‘Someone other than you and your old friends must know it’s here.’

‘Only locals, and we all like to keep it that way.’

Ottilie had to smile again at the notion that Flo must consider her enough of a local now to bring her here. ‘So you came here a lot?’

‘In the summer we practically lived up here. And this is where I met Eric.’

‘Eric was your husband?’

Flo nodded slowly. ‘He was up here one day with his mates and I was with mine. I fancied him like mad the minute I laid eyes on him. He asked me to meet him afterwards and that was that. We used to come up here all the time when we were courting.’

‘That sounds kind of heavenly.’

‘It was.’

Florence was silent for a moment as she gazed into the pool, as if it were a portal to a perfect past of long summers and young love, a past that was simpler and happier than her present could ever be.

‘You know,’ she began after a few moments, ‘I could go for a dip right now.’

‘In there?’ Ottilie stared at Flo, who nodded shortly. ‘No. As your nurse I have to say I’m strictly against you getting into that freezing-cold water.’

‘You’re not on duty at the moment, are you, Nurse? So are you anyone’s nurse at all today?’

‘Florence,’ Ottilie replied, making her tone as stern as she could manage, ‘it’s far too cold. You’ll have a heart attack!’

‘Don’t be daft. The sun’s out, it’s summer and no colder than it ever was when I used to come up here. I know what I’m doing; I’ve been in a million times before.’

‘When you were?—’

‘Young?’ Flo raised her eyebrows. ‘Yes, I do realise I’m no spring chicken. All the more reason to take a dip, as far as I can tell. I’m not getting any younger, and for all we know I could be gone tomorrow. Might as well live for today.’

‘You can’t be serious?’

‘Perfectly.’

‘But…’ Ottilie cast around for something to put her off. ‘You don’t have anything to swim in!’

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