Page 18 of My Lemon Grove Summer
‘Gardening for me and Billy,’ pipes up Sherise with positivity.
‘I can just pitch in where I’m told to. Good at taking orders,’ says Ralph matter-of-factly.
‘I just have some emails to send first.’ Tabitha shows her white teeth.
‘Instead of searching for inspiration, you seem to be constantly searching for phone signal,’ says Barry, echoing what we’re all thinking, and we laugh. I feel a sense of relief. Maybe it isn’t going to be so bad staying here with these people. They seem nice. We’re getting along.
All in agreement, we set out for town like Robin Hood and his band of assorted merry men. Mount Etna has a really smoky top to her this morning, I notice. The white cloud, like a collar around her neck, seems to have doubled since yesterday, and there’s a steady stream of vapour rising up like wisps of hair from her head. She looks like an old woman with troubles on her mind.
There’s a strange mood in the air, a feeling of worry, which stays with us as we walk into the silent, empty town. The occasional twitch of a net curtain or the squeak of a shutter suggests that there are people around, but they’re not coming out to welcome us. The sooner we get into the houses, the sooner the locals can get to know us and we can start our new lives.
Chapter Ten
Turning off the main road towards the street of houses, expecting to see a team of builders working in the early-morning sun, pulling out all the stops, grateful for any help on offer, we stop and stare. There is no one there. No one at all. The houses are as quiet and empty and sad as they were yesterday.
We walk slowly towards the first house, our previously high spirits now dragging behind us. It has broken and listing shutters on the upper floor, over a crumbling balcony. I reach out and try the front door, but it’s locked. Not to be put off, I try the next house down, which is in a similar condition. But that’s locked too. I rub at the dirty window and try to see inside.
‘If we can just get in, at least we can see what needs to be done,’ I say determinedly. I’m like this once I get an idea in my head. I find it hard not to see it through, whether it was winning an argument when I was a teenager, or determinedly learning to read when teachers despaired. Some, like Valerie, might call it single-mindedness. Others, like the care assistants in the home I grew up in, would use the word ‘stubborn’. One thing I am determined about is that I don’t want my life to be as chaotic as my mum’s. I don’t want to be the mess she ended up. That’s why making my future with Lennie is the right thing to do. Maybe her life might have been different if she’d met the right person, who knows?
Things changed for me the moment Valerie scooped me up and took me home. I saw a different way of living then. A warm, inviting one. Not like the rules and regulations and wariness I felt at the children’s home. Always on my guard. Never trusting anyone. Life at Valerie’s was ordered, but happy, and safe. That’s what I want for my own family.
‘There’s plenty of us,’ I continue. ‘If we concentrate on one house at a time, we could get loads done, and then the builders can do the jobs we can’t fix.’
‘Good idea,’ they all agree.
‘I’ve been a cleaner all my life!’ says Sherise, putting down the bucket she’s brought with her from the farmhouse full of rubber gloves, cleaning fluids and cloths. ‘Billy worked the farm, I cleaned at the school. Cleaning I can do, eh, Billy? Especially if it’s for us.’
He smiles affectionately at her, but there’s a sadness in those saggy blue eyes. I can tell he still hasn’t come round to the idea of staying here if he doesn’t think he’s going to get any land.
‘The sooner we get in, the sooner we don’t have to listen to Barry’s snoring,’ Ralph says drily, and we all look at him and then realise he’s making a joke, as he releases his first, small smile.
‘Ah, Barry, it’s a sweet noise,’ I say.
‘My last wife said it was like a warthog.’ Barry hooks his thumbs into his belt and kicks at a loose stone on the ground as we all laugh.
‘Right, let’s try and find a way in,’ I say, buoyed up once more and feeling like we can achieve anything together.
‘On it,’ says Ralph, scanning the buildings in what I assume is a military fashion.
Sherise and I practically clap our hands together in excitement. Our houses might not have been ready for us, but with a bit of ‘can do’ attitude, we’re going to make this happen!
By the looks of it, Ralph has spotted a window with a broken catch on the first floor of the last house, and starts to look for a way to climb up to it.
‘Billy, can you just give me a leg-up here?’
Billy moves in to help, and as Ralph starts to scale the wall, we all cheer and clap.
‘It’s like watching Spider Man!’ says Sherise.
‘Hey!’ A deep voice stops us in our tracks, making me jump. ‘Hey!!Stàtivi! Arresto!Stop, you all!’
We turn to see a tanned bear of a man in a tight-fitting T-shirt showing off his washboard stomach under a worn leather jacket. He holds up a hand and walks towards us. A huge hand, the size of a shovel. Ralph jumps down from the wall and nods warily.
‘Hopefully he’ll have the keys,’ Lennie says brightly, pointing out the obvious, which I hadn’t thought of. He always seems to manage to find the positives, like all the reasons we should come out here for starters, and why we should stop chasing after Mr and Ms Right and realise what’s been under our noses all along.
‘Hopefully,’ says Ralph, brushing dust from his trousers.
I shield my eyes from the bright sun as the man mountain marches towards us.
