Page 77 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
The child inside had stayed frozen in time after I lost Mum and Dad, so I’m always turning back to the books I loved before then, for some kind of comfort.
When the customers had gone, laden with bags of books and wearing the slightly stunned expression of those whose credit cards have taken a hit, Pearl came through and offeredme a coffee, then admired my modest selection from the shelves … before producing the Venetian mask book, which she said she’d put away until I’d had a chance to look at it.
‘But no obligation to buy it, of course,’ she added.
But the photos in it were wonderful, and even if masks were a bit out of my field, I knew I had to have it.
Luckily another customer came in just as I’d finished my coffee, so I managed to pay for my purchases before Pearl persuaded me into buying anything else …
In the courtyard, Jester was lying on his furry cushion outside Thom’s workshop, which had both halves of the stable door open, and thumped his tail when he saw me. Thom looked out and said if I still wanted to go and explore the junk shop, he’d come and collect me in about an hour.
I’d forgotten he’d said he would go with me and he must have mentioned it to Simon, too, because when I opened the door to his knock, they were both there.
‘You don’t mind if I come too, do you?’ asked Simon, whose sandy hair was rumpled into an untidy crest. ‘I’ve been working on a big consignment of fascinators all morning and they aresoboring to make compared to hats!’
‘Of course I don’t mind,’ I assured him.
‘Good, because I love a good rummage around Arthur’s Cave!’
It wasn’t far, and they pointed out Terrapotter opposite, where the garden pots had come from.
Arthur’s Cave was on a corner with windows on both sides filled with a very strange collection of objects.
‘He keeps the good stuff in the main part of the shop, then there’s a lean-to veranda thing at the back, an outbuilding and a yard full of garden stuff,’ said Thom. ‘Come on!’
We followed him in, stopping just inside while our eyesadjusted to the dim light. The floors were wooden boards and a thin mist of dust seemed to hang in the air.
‘’Allo!’ said a reedy voice from the gloom. ‘What can I be doing you for?’
‘We just want a rummage round, Arthur,’ Thom said.
‘Oh, it’s you two, is it?’ he said. ‘I’m going to charge you for rummaging, if you don’t buy anything this time.’
‘We’ve brought a new customer with us today, so you never know,’ Thom said, indicating me.
‘And I bought all those antique wooden hat blocks from you only a few months ago,’ said Simon, sounding aggrieved. ‘They cost me a fortune!’
‘I let you know about them, didn’t I? Knew you’d be interested,’ said Arthur, eyeing me curiously. ‘And if this lady has any particular interests, and wants to leave me a contact number, I’ll do the same for her.’
‘Thank you! My name’s Garland, and I just want a good look round, though I’m always interested in things connected with dressmaking and costume – tailor’s dummies, old sewing equipment, that kind of thing.’
‘Might still be a tailor’s dummy down in the basement,’ he said, rubbing his nose thoughtfully.
‘If there is, we’ll find it,’ Thom said cheerfully, then suggested we go outside first and work our way back in.
There wasn’t anything of interest in the barn-like building. It was all huge dilapidated Victorian mahogany furniture, and the garden section outside was mostly broken birdbaths, old sinks and a few rusty gates.
The glazed lean-to building looked a lot more interesting and I headed straight for a rack of doors.
‘What are you looking for?’ asked Simon.
‘Honey said she’d seen a stable door and Garland wants one,’ Thom explained. ‘And here it is.’
He slid forward an old stable door, that had been stripped back to bare wood.
‘Doesn’t look bad …’ he said. ‘Have you got the measurements?’
I got my notebook out and a tape measure, and they wrote down the dimensions and compared them.
