Mother Nature

Jane Scoggins

Lynette was furious. She strode out of her cottage banging the door behind her. The collar of her jacket turned half in and half out as she hurriedly pulled it on as she walked. She swept out of the garden gate, turning right down the lane, striding purposefully along the narrow path. Within minutes she was in sight of the cottage that was her intention to visit. The few minutes walk had not softened her resolve or her anger. The cottage, long since without a front garden gate was in poor repair and the garden full of weeds and wildflowers. The owner Mr Jack Stone had said for years he preferred his garden to be more or less left to nature for the birds and bees to enjoy. He knew this antagonised his tidy neighbours with their neat front gardens, but he didn't care. In fact he enjoyed it. He thought it harmless fun and they should be less straight laced and have a bit more humour. On one occasion two representatives from the village gardening committee had called on him to tell him they were entering the best kept village competition.  They asked him if he would be so kind as to tidy up his front garden and remove the tractor tyre and rusty car door from his old Capri. He smiled benignly at them and said he would think about it. They all knew he probably wouldn’t. That was more than two years ago. The car door was still resting drunkenly against the tractor tyre as Lynette walked up the path towards the back door of Jack’s cottage. He came to the door almost immediately when Lynette knocked. He was drying his hands on a kitchen towel and beamed at her.

 ‘Hello Lynny, what's up?’

 ‘Don’t you Hello Lynny me, Jack Stone!’

 ‘Your Tom has been at it again, putting it about no end, and this time it's my Suzy!’ she retorted irritably.

  Jack, a charismatic wiry man in well fitting Levi jeans and checked shirt, gave a slow smile and tossed the towel nonchalantly behind him onto a kitchen chair.

‘Now now Lynny, what’s this all about? Come on inside.’

‘No thanks, I’m OK on the doorstep’ was her terse reply.

 Lynette and Jack had known each other most of their lives. They had been at school together. Jack had been two years ahead of her and the local terror on two wheels. He had also been quite popular with the girls in his late teens. He had been cheeky, flirty and a bit of a lad. Good looking too with blue eyes and a flop of soft brown curls nearly to his shoulders. His way with the girls gave him kudos with his male friends. He had chased a beauty of a girl from the next village for months as a bet before she succumbed to his charms. Within months of dating Jack, she was pregnant, so they got married. It only lasted a few years before she took their little boy and went off to live with another man who could offer her a better life. He had not shown his emotions when she left but he took to drinking and womanising again for a while and never remarried. His son visited for occasional weekends and holidays during his early years and then reappeared on the scene as a more permanent fixture aged eighteen. A handsome taller replica, of his father, with the same blue eyes flop of curls and cheeky grin. They settled into a partnership collecting and selling on scrap metal, tyres and wood. The large back garden that was once been planted with vegetables now made way for a different spread of greenery; a tarpaulin under which some of their booty hid. Their van and trailer, usually out and about all day during the week, rested every evening and Sundays on the grassy driveway. The younger man just as charismatic as his Dad accompanied him to the pub on Saturday evenings and soon became known and well liked by the local girls with whom he flirted.

 ‘Not much I can do about it Lynne, I can’t keep him from going out can I?’Jack said leaning against the door frame.

 ‘He goes around the village making a nuisance of himself and you know it. More people than me have told you that. You should take some responsibility’

 Jack smiled his slow smile and shrugging his shoulders, apologised.

  ‘Sorry Lynny, I’ll tell him off. What else can I do?’

 ‘You know very well what you can do!’

Jack winked. Lynette considered there was no more to be gained from the conversation so she turned on her heel and headed back home. By the time she had put on the kettle and brewed a cup of tea, she had decided what to do.  A couple of days later she invited Tom into the house, put something into his drink, and made a phone call. When he was drowsy she helped him into her car and drove the eight miles to Malvern. Mr Price was prepared for her appointment. Afterwards, the drive home was uneventful. Back at her cottage, she left him to sleep before giving him a meal and then sending him on his way. Suzy gave birth to three beautiful kittens and despite being a young first time mother managed very well to care for them. The randy Tom began to show signs of being less so, and fewer kittens were born in the village. He seemed to be as happy curled up at home with Jack of an evening as out and about prowling gardens looking for love. He held no animosity towards Lynette. In fact, his selective memory was focused on the meal that she had given him previously. He would sometimes walk down the lane to see her. She would bend down to stroke him before offering him a few of Suzy’s crunchy biscuits.

Copyright Jane Scoggins