Page 27 of He's the One

“Yeah, though it was a couple of months ago so maybe it’s not relevant.”

“We had no new masons join us on this job.”

“Then it’s unfair dismissal. He’s lying. You should sue him or something. It’s not fair. He shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”

Theo’s indignation was touching, albeit misplaced.

“I don’t think you can link me being sacked with him saying he needed more masons a couple of months ago. Anyway, I don’t want to work for someone who doesn’t want me as an employee. Best to move on. Just accept that life’s unfair.”

“Life should be fair.”

Col wanted to hug him. “But it isn’t. Believing that dooms you to disappointment. The best we can do is choose how to respond to things that fuck us up.”

“Then fight back. Take him to court.”

“I can’t afford it and even if I had the money, it would get me a reputation for being difficult. It’s not worth it. Maybe there’s a better job around the corner.”

“I worried I might have got you sacked.”

“How come?”

“Darnley, he’s the guy I told that I’d tripped, well, he lives to make my life unpleasant. It’s the sort of mean thing he’d do.”

Col frowned. “Why would Frank Nyman take any notice of him? Anyway, it’s done. Nothing I can do about it. Apart from having to put up with an arse for a boss, what’s it like working here?”

“Depends what I’m doing. I don’t like working in the gift shop trying to persuade people to buy over-priced tea towels featuring breeds of sheep, or coffee table books no one will ever read about the generations of Wetherbys who’ve lived here. Though I’m an expert on breeds of sheep now. You never know when information like that will come in handy, particularly in a pub quiz. Not that I’ve ever done a pub quiz but did you know there are more than sixty different types of sheep in the UK? More than in any other country in the world. Ones like the Beulah Speckled Face, Dorpers, Lonks and Zwartbles.”

“You made those up.”

“No, I really didn’t. I can also tell you about breeds of ducks, hens and dogs. Working in the shop is very boring.”

“I wonder if you can spot my entry in the poultry photograph class.”

“You know about hens too?”

“You’ll see.” Col thought Theo might laugh when he saw it. Maybe the only one who would.

“So what are you doing now?” Theo asked. “You’ve not found another job? What do you actually do? Does your blackmailing mother live near here? How old are you? Do you have any brothers and sisters? What’s your favourite colour? What food won’t you eat? Do you think the earth is flat?” Theo groaned. “Pretend I didn’t say any of that. Especially that last one. You must be able to see the earth is curved when you’re high up doing stone work. I wanted to check you were normal.” He groaned again. “Pretend I didn’t say that as well because it’s obvious there is one person here who is nowhere near normal. That would be me.”

“Cute though.”

Theo’s eyes widened.

“You need to be at around 35,000 feet to see the curvature directly. And if the earth is flat, ships that reach the horizon must have a nasty shock. My parents live about seven miles away. One brother. Favourite colour is blue. I don’t like liver. I’m twenty-five and I’m still looking for another job. What I actually do… Well, I want to carve stone into finished products for installation intobuildings, so if you hear of any vacancies for that… But I’d take almost any type of stonemasonry job or I could work here in the garden.”

“How are you with foxes?” Theo whispered.

Col frowned. “Foxes?”

“You don’t hate them and want to shoot them, right?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Slow movements, follow my lead, okay?” Theo moved to one side and beckoned.

Col turned to see a fox standing about twenty feet away.

“Isla! Where’ve you been?” Theo asked. “I brought you something.”

---