Page 66 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
I’ll give Viv a copy, too! I think she reallyisstarting to feel inspired and I do hope so. She’s a very good poet, concise and drily witty. If her muse does takes wing, she may haunt the museum. I hope you won’t mind.
I emailed back, assuring her I wouldn’t. Viv could come and go as she pleased. In fact, if she hung around enough, she’d probably get roped in to help, once I began to set up the displays.
After breakfast, I thought I’d better pop out to Rani’s Minimart again, this time using the short cut through the gatebetween my cottage and the puppet theatre. It saved a long trek and would be handy for popping out for milk, fresh bread, or anything else I ran out of.
While I was putting my shoes on in the hall, Golightly seemed to notice the cat flap for the first time and headbutted it in a tentative fashion. When it remained closed, he looked disgruntled and stalked off back into the living room.
‘Wait till Sunday,’ I called after him, because there was no way I was going to try letting him out before that.
It wasn’t yet eight o’clock, but I could hear all the noise of a market being set up in the square – the clang of the metal poles that held up the stalls, engines revving and voices. I ought to have a look round that later.
I was back with a loaded bag in no time and was surprised when I entered the mews to see Honey, standing with Viv at the front of the museum, admiring two huge terracotta garden urns at either side of the steps. They certainly hadn’t been there ten minutes ago.
Honey called me over, so I left my bag on the doorstep and went to see.
‘Aren’t they splendid? I got them from Terrapotter and they’ve just dropped them off.’
‘Terracotta?’ I queried.
‘Terrapotteris the name of the business. They make all kinds of garden pots, but specialize in huge ones, in both antique and modern designs. They’re up the Thorstane road out of Great Mumming, opposite a good junk shop.’
‘These pots are made to a very ancient design, but with modern embellishments,’ Viv whispered, but now I was closer, they looked more as if they had been dredged up from the seabed, because they were encrusted with seaweed, barnacles and all manner of sea life …
I said so and Viv replied, ‘Yes, that’s what I think, too. They’re lovely.’
‘I’m not sure what to plant in them yet, but I’ll talk to Josh, who keeps the gardens tidy, and see what he suggests,’ said Honey, then gave an enormous yawn.
‘Sorry – I worked late last night and haven’t had enough sleep,’ she said. ‘Look, there’s Thom coming out with Jester. He ought to see my lovely pots, too.’
She waved and beckoned, but Viv made a small squeak like an alarmed rabbit, and scuttled off round the mews garden and through the gate to go behind Pelican House.
Thom, joining us, stared after her with faint astonishment. ‘I don’t think Viv likes me very much!’
‘It’s not just you, she’s like that with most strangers, especially men,’ Honey said. ‘I’m only surprised she talks to Garland, but I think that’s because she’s related to me and I’d talked about her a lot … but also possibly because she’s so small and appears unalarming.’
‘“Appears” being the operative word,’ said Thom, grinning. ‘She’s small but fierce, and has a fiery temper when provoked far enough.’
‘Oh, don’t remind me!’ I said with fervour. ‘I’m never going to lose my temper again, in case I turn berserk, like last time.’
Honey gave that attractive tilted smile. ‘I think that was a one-off event caused by extreme provocation, though we women do need to keep a bit of edge or we get walked over.’
‘It would be a brave man who tried to walk over either of you,’ said Thom.
He duly admired the spectacular terracotta pots, then said, ‘I’m working on an amazing antique Burmese puppet – the one I told you about, Garland. Why don’t you both come and have a look?’
Jester got off his cushion to welcome us into the workshop and then sat grinning amiably with his tongue hanging out while Thom showed us the wonderful old marionette, which was on the workbench.
‘There are twenty-seven specific characters in Burmese puppet theatres and this one is Zawgyi, the Alchemist. I think the clothes are basically original but have been repaired and new embellishments added later.’
The figure was dressed mostly in slightly faded red garments: a flared coat and trousers under a sort of skirt, and a matching red cap and slippers. Everything was trimmed with gold.
‘That sort of skirt affair he’s wearing is called apaso,’ said Thom.‘He’s one of the nicer characters.’
‘It all looks a bit of a tangled mess at the moment,’ said Honey.
‘It needs restringing and some repairs – conservation rather than restoration. It was found jumbled up in a box of junk in an attic.’
‘Wouldn’t it be lovely if we found some like this in your attic on Sunday, Honey?’ I said.
