Page 77 of Boundaries

“Mum was trying to get hold of you,” I explained.

Jenna nodded her head thoughtfully, “I’ll text her. She is such a worrier.”

“OK, well. See you later. Love you,” I replied.

She smiled and the entire room lit up.

After rechecking my appearance in the mirror in the hallway, I set off outside to find Mattie and Alex. Alex was in the process of turning the car and as he reversed back and pulled the handbrake on, I joined them in the backseat.

The journey to Swaffham was easy. The chatter between us flowed well. Alex’s eyes would shift to mine on and off through the rear-view mirror and there was a slight awkward vibe but nothing that huge considering I caught these two guys in bed together. It was in the past at the end of the day, and I for one had decided I would start to live for the future. No regrets.

The way Mattie and Alex spoke to each other was quite playful and the gaming element came out once or twice. I didn’t feel totally left out by their conversation as I too had played Call of Duty for years with my brother. We joked about high scores and it appeared that I wiped the floor with both boys with my online rank.

It felt nice and easy and a bit like I had Alex back in my life again but as a friend this time. The way it should always have been.

My thoughts darted back to Mason as I watched Mattie occasionally place his hand on Alex’s knee. The loving gesture made my heart contract and even though I was the one to get hurt initially by their union, I was happy he had found someone. Coming out after years of pretending to be straight couldn’t have been an easy thing to do on your own. I was proud of my brother and of Alex too.

I asked Alex about his mother and it appeared she’d turned a corner. I was pleased for him as he hadn’t had it easy in the past, having lost his dad when he was only fourteen.

Looking out of the window at the passing countryside, I wondered how it would feel to be able to sit in a car with Mason and drive somewhere together without having to hide. Jenna and Nixon were a couple and everyone seemed to accept that now. Well, apart from our parents, I wasn’t’ sure how they’d react when the learned Nixon was back in the picture. Nix said he had spoken to my dad and so who knew. I pushed off thoughts of those two into the back of my mind. Their alliance had drained away so much energy over the last few years and I was glad I had at last taken Mason’s advice to leave them to it. My life was slightly less stressful without worrying about what my sister was doing.

I wanted to text Mason and ask him to meet me at the fair but of course there would be too many people there. They’d see and then things would get even more complicated.

*****

The Swaffham Village Fair was an annual event and drew in people from surrounding villages both far and wide. The green itself was in the centre of the village, a stretch of grassland which sat in front of the old hall, a building which was frequented by the town’s council.

The council was made up of old busybodies that were probably bored senseless who discussed issues such as excess litter in the area and general crime. They were in no way putting the world to rights. Their agenda contained dull things, as very little happened in Swaffham, maybe how to tackle the occasional bit of graffiti, but that was about it.

Mum had been on the council once until she’d confessed to sketching her entire plan for the refurbishment of her bedroom during an elongated debate about the new colour for the hall door. My eyes narrowed as they spied said door in the distance, it appeared that dark green had been the favourite. Shocking.

There was a smell of fresh grass in the air which cancelled out the usual smell of the countryside. I inhaled that freshness as my eyes skated over the various stalls; cheese counters, leather products from handbags to belts and what appeared to be a pet stall which held all things dog. The beer tent was the one with the largest queue, no shock there then. But the coconut shy and Mr Crawley’s meat stall were also quite popular.

There was a taped-off area down the opposite side of the old hall where there would be horse jousting later. Mrs Lonsdale’s son, Simon was usually one of the knights. There was also a brass band playing, it was made up of old timers who were probably riddled with rheumatism, the bum notes they kept playing suggesting something wasn’t quite right.

After thanking Alex and Mattie for the lift, I set off toward Betty and Chrissy who were already stuffing their faces with hot dogs.

“Hey you,” I began as I approached them, motioning toward what I assumed would be their breakfast, “hungry much?”

Betty wiped a blob of ketchup off her chin and then continued to feast, replying with her mouth full. Nice.

“It’s great for the hangover,” she managed between chomps.

Chrissy grinned, “You should have been there. Adam looked well fit,” she informed me with a wink.

We moved away from the burger stand and over to an area which was close to the taped-off joisting zone. The stalls ran all the way around the perimeter of the green in a circle like a clock with that separate section cordoned off for the horse show.

A road went around the entire green but this had also been blocked off to stop cars coming down. The section was pedestrianised purposefully. On the roads, there were a variety of street acts and games for the kids. There was also a police car for children and teenage girls to sit in it appeared. I had a small digital camera in my bag and took a couple of shots. One of Betty sitting in the back as if she had been arrested.

We also got chatting with a couple of firemen who had brought one of the engines, also for the kids to enjoy. Betty got well excited when they sounded the siren for her. Whist she was taking selfies, I got speaking with one of the firemen, his name was George. We were in front of the engine and I noticed it appeared to have a camera mounted just above the license plate. I knew my cameras.

“So, there’s a camera on the front. Is that for training purposes?” I asked George.

“No, all our vehicles have cameras fitted, all the way around now. It’s to capture the crowds after an incident.”

“Why?”

George, who I kept wanting to call Sam for obvious reasons (as in Fireman Sam) cleared his throat and said, “In arson attacks, the instigator usually come back to savour their glory, admire their handywork. The amount of people we’ve caught due to having camera evidence is quite impressive.”

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