Page 91 of The Village Midwife
Zoe was distracted by Alex, who was talking to Victor and the man with the sheep. Why wasn’t he looking for her? She’d been at the surgery stand for ages now, and he had to know she was there. She didn’t expect a dramatic race into her arms, but a wave and a smile would have done. It was strange too – it suddenly occurred to her that there was no sign of Billie. Perhaps she’d simply decided this sort of event wasn’t for her, but Zoe couldn’t help worrying that all wasn’t well. It might also explain why Alex was being so evasive, though she didn’t see what being distant towards her would achieve.
‘Earth to Zoe…’ Ottilie’s voice brought her back to the conversation.
‘Sorry? What was it you wanted?’
‘Nothing, only to know why you keep staring at your neighbour like you’re trying to work out some massive long division sum.’
‘I’m not; I merely happened to be looking in that direction.’
Ottilie raised her eyebrows.
‘OK, maybe I am. It’s just that he’s barely even noticed me today. Like deliberately not looked at me.’
‘Should he have done?’
‘Well, no, but…he kind of asked me out yesterday. And I kind of said yes. And we said we’d get together after all this was done.’
‘You little madam! And when were you going to tell me this?’
‘I meant to, but…well, I felt like I would jinx it if I told anyone.’ Her gaze went back to the alpaca enclosure. ‘Although, I think I already have.’
‘You said you’d get together after the event is done, and it’s only just started. And he’s trying to make inroads with the localsto get them onside so nobody makes a fuss about his pods. So maybe it only looks that way because he’s focusing on that. If you think about it, he’s sort of working.’
‘He can’t even say a quick “hello” and “I’ll catch you later”?’
Ottilie gave a vague shrug. ‘I know, but it’s the best I’ve got.’
‘What are you two whispering about?’ Lavender called over from a plastic seat where she’d settled to devour a breakfast sandwich from one of the vans.
‘You,’ Ottilie fired back with a grin.
‘Oh, of course, you’re discussing how amazing I am.’
‘Exactly.’
Lavender went back to her sandwich. ‘Ask a silly question…’
An hour later, from a stage set up at the far end of the main street, a man with the most boring voice Zoe had ever heard gave a speech about the history of Thimblebury, its mention in the Domesday Book, how important it was to the surrounding area (not very, Fliss whispered in Zoe’s ear) and how proud he was to be celebrating with them. Nobody actually knew who he was, which led Fliss to ponder that he was some regional council nobody who happened to draw the short straw for the gig. As she tried to absorb at least some of the information, Zoe munched on a donut from the slushie van, which wasn’t on a par with the rustic, home-cooked fare that was available on offer elsewhere, but the bag Ottilie had purchased smelled so good she’d been unable to resist. And as Ottilie reminded her, they could take the girls out of Manchester, but they couldn’t take the funfair-and-junk-food-loving Manchester out of the girls.
Fliss and Lavender had both gone into the bag too, and the only person at their NHS-themed stand who wasn’t eating one was Simon, who, said Lavender, was far too virtuous for his own good. He had a grain salad under the table for his lunch, andwhen he’d added this information, Fliss had simply laughed out loud.
Most of the crowd were facing in the direction of the stage where the random council official was holding forth, but it seemed a lot of them were having equally as hard a time paying attention as Zoe was. They looked at him every so often, and some even offered lukewarm applause, but most seemed preoccupied with scanning the displays and planning what to do the moment he was done and it was socially acceptable to move away. Judging by the reactions of the youngsters present, they all wanted to go and see the miniature sheep and Victor’s alpaca, which was understandable. Their parents, however, were more interested in the food, and the flavoured ciders and gins at the pub stall – which was also understandable. More than once, Zoe glanced over to where Victor and Alex stood together watching the speech, but Alex never looked her way once.
She’d guessed that his leather bag contained his finds, and she was yet more convinced of this as a man with a bow tie and a flat cap made his way through the crowds and shook hands with both him and Victor. The man opened out what looked like a miniature landscape on a display board. It was hard to see from this distance, but it looked like it might represent the hills around Thimblebury, and it had little huts on it. Alex studied it with him for a couple of minutes while the man pointed out features as he spoke, and then Alex opened his leather bag to show him what was inside. Was this their archaeology expert? Zoe thought it must be. Perhaps he’d expressed interest in the quincentenary celebrations and they’d rescheduled their meeting from the previous evening so he could kill two birds with one stone. She resolved to go and find out as soon as she had a spare moment.
There was a ripple of polite applause, and then it seemed the man with the boring voice was done, and then someone else gotup and started to talk about the importance of community and how Thimblebury typified those values. While he was slightly less boring than the first man, nobody had a clue who this was either.
And then Mrs Icke, who currently held the honour of being Thimblebury’s oldest (and most cantankerous, Ottilie said) resident was helped onto the stage and told a rambling story that nobody could really follow, but it was something to do with evacuees who’d come during the war to stay with her family and who’d never seen sheep before. From what Zoe could gather, Mrs Icke took a very dim view of children from the East End who’d never seen sheep.
Last but not least was a representative from the tiny German town that was twinned with Thimblebury (nobody seemed to have a clue about this either, and nobody could pronounce its name) who wished them all well and hoped they’d enjoy the oompah band who’d come over with him, and that got the biggest applause of the day so far.
‘Right…’ Fliss wiped sugar from her hands and surveyed her team. ‘Now that’s all done with, let’s con some locals out of their pocket money, shall we?’
‘I’m on it.’ Zoe said, collecting the satchel she’d brought with her for money and the book of raffle tickets. ‘I’ll have a wander, see if I can guilt some of them into buying a ticket.’
‘That’s the spirit,’ Fliss said. ‘Make sure you lay it on thick. And if they don’t buy one, threaten them with me – that ought to do it.’
Zoe gave a salute while Ottilie grinned and Lavender simply nodded.
