Chapter 3 - Hidden Talent

“So Chris, how was the experience?” enquired Neville. “Did you get to see many places along the way?”
“Neville, we saw all sorts of things. We posed for pictures under the Taj Mahal in India, saw the Sydney Opera House, and even took a ride on the Amazon river.”
“I hope you have pictures. Ones that I can put in my shop window,” said Neville.
“Sure we do Uncle Nev,” piped up Jake. “And I didn’t realise just how many people were living around these places either. Opened my eyes to how different places live around these famous places.”
“There are people living along the Amazon River?” asked a bemused Derek. “I thought it was a rainforest?”
Andy joined the conversation too. “Yeah Derek, people live almost everywhere these days.”
“Guess that’s what the world population increase is doing,” boomed Simon.

Over in the kitchen, there were excitable giggles. “So what do you want to know about Jake then Lauren?” pressed Jackie. “I got a little bit of inside information from when I worked with Neville, after all, Jake is Neville’s nephew.”
“Really?” Lauren was surprised. “Neville? He’s the oldest looking yet youngest of the older guys isn’t he?”
“That’s our Neville,” said Violet. “Things do happen in weird ways sometimes, that we don’t even know what’s going on.”
“Anyway, Jake, he’s twenty-six, and you’ve seen what he looks like. He even said you’re out of his league, so if you do like him, he’d be a fool to say no,” said Jackie, intent on making a positive statement.
Violet seemed a little reluctant to join in the conversation. She wanted to know how the boys were getting on, as it was starting to get a little late. It had been a long day, and she was feeling it.
Lauren and Jackie were still in an intense conversation. “Well, I’m twenty-two, and I think he’s adorable.”
“Each to their own,” sighed Violet.
“That’s true Vi. Are you ok?” asked Jackie.
“Not really. I just want my Chris and my bed. It’s been a hectic day,” replied Violet.
Lauren had perked up when she’d seen Jake, and was now chattier and showing that she could be outgoing too, and fitted in. “I’ll see what I can do,” winking at Jackie, “To help you out Violet,” said Lauren.
“Thanks.” Violet plumped herself down on a stool, as Lauren walked towards the sitting-room.

Andy, Chris, and Drake, were all perched on the settee. Simon and Derek were in the armchairs, Neville was on the box of bits. Jake was stood by the TV in the corner. Lauren walked in. “Hi boys.”
Simon boomed, “I can’t be a boy, I been lookin’ after these kids for years round here.”
“Ok boss, I’ll let you off. By the way, Chris is it? You might want to go check on Violet. Drake, I think Jackie could do with a hug too,” Lauren continued. “Neville, would you mind if I poached Jake for a few minutes?”

Chris and Drake reluctantly got up, and on their way to the kitchen, Andy called out, “Back home, under the thumb again,” grinning as he said it.
“Sure Lauren, as long as he comes back in one piece. He’s got a bit to catch up with, but tomorrow I’ll let him rest,” replied Neville.

Jake was a little surprised. “B-b-b-b-but you,” he stuttered a little. “You heard what I said outside.”
“Yeah,” she winked. “I like that really. Come with me and we can talk a little.”
They made their way down the hall towards the back door and the porch. “Ooh, a little bench, perfect for two people,” she mused.
“Yeah, but that’s where Violet smokes, if I remember right,” said Jake. “Surely you wouldn’t want to be around a smokers area.”
He shuffled untidily a little. “I’m a smoker too.”
Lauren took him by the hand, and gazed into his eyes. “That’s not a problem for me,” she said, as she pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Shall we?”

Back in the kitchen, Violet was struggling to say anything. She thought she was fine, but it was clear to Chris that the wine had gone to her head. She wasn’t one for drinking much, and it showed. “Come on you, lets get you upstairs to bed. You looked exhausted.”
“I’m fine,” she slurred, swaying side to side on the stool. “Just get me another drink.”
Drake called through to the sitting room. “Andy, think Chris might need a hand with this one.”
“I just want a drink Drake, what’s the problem?” her speech was getting more slurred and difficult to understand. Andy strolled into the kitchen. “Violet Anderson,” he scolded. “You are in no fit state to have another drink.” With that, he looked at Chris, “On three? One, two, three!”, and the two of them proceeded to navigate her up the stairs to bed.
“I really really love you Chris,” said Violet, in a last-ditch attempt to show she was ok.
“I love you too my pickle,” he romantically replied. He gave her a sweet kiss on the lips, and with Andy’s help, got her into bed. “Goodnight my princess, I shall be up shortly, just going to say thanks to the guys for being there with you.”
Before he’d finished his sentence, she was snoring a little, looking peaceful and as beautiful to him as she always had.

In the sitting room, there were the three stalwarts of the community. Derek, the postman, Neville, the grocer, and Simon, the Post Office clerk. “I think it’s nearly got to be time for us to be heading off. Sun’s down, Jake can look after himself,” said Neville.
“Think we should at least wait for Chris and Andy to come back down,” boomed Simon. “Would be kind of rude to just up and leave without saying bye.”
“That’s a valid point,” agreed Derek.
It wasn’t long before Chris and Andy had rejoined them though.
“Sorry about that guys,” Chris apologised.
“It’s ok,” Derek responded. “I guessed it was something to do with Violet.”
Andy went to the kitchen and got Drake and Jackie, Chris headed off to the porch to get Jake and Lauren. “Come back to the sitting-room for two minutes, we’re going to call it a night and let this old boys get along home. Their jobs won’t run without them.”

Everyone but Violet was now congregated in the sitting room. Jackie was perched on Drake’s knees, Lauren and Jake were stood hand-in-hand. Chris stood up by the TV. “On behalf of myself, Jake, and Andy, we would like to thank you all for being there for us upon our return. No doubt you shall hear more in depth about our travels over the next few weeks, but it’s nearly time to call it a night. Derek, no-one will get their post without you, Simon, while you are teaching Lauren, no-one will replace your internal post office knowledge, and Neville, your shop thrives while you are there. We should really let you go home. Once again, many thanks.”
Turning to the others, he briefly continued. “Andy, you got the single room. Drake, you and Jackie have the en-suite shower room, and Jake, you and Lauren have the double room that sits just above the porch.”

As Simon, Derek, and Neville headed towards the door, Chris shook each of their hands. “A pleasure as always. We have a great community spirit here.”
“Have a good evening,” boomed Simon.
“I’ll be posting in the morning,” cheered Derek.
“Don’t forget your essentials,” added Neville.
“We wont,” chorused everyone else.

“Right folks, I’m going to get my head down too. Don’t want Violet to think I’ve abandoned her up there, goodnight,” said Chris, and with that, he went upstairs. Andy soon followed, as did Drake and Jackie.
Jake and Lauren however, were far from tired. They had been told earlier in the evening that they both could have the next day off. “Shall we watch a little bit of TV?” asked Jake. “Or shall I give you, a pleasant surprise?”
“We’ve got all day for the pleasant surprise, let us just relax for now,” giggled Lauren.
“Shh, we don’t want to wake anyone up,” laughed Jake.
It wasn’t that long, however, before they curled up on the settee. Lauren was cosy in Jake’s arms, and he was over the moon.

The following morning, the first to awake was Lauren. It must be something in the youthfulness of her appearance, and how she’d looked after herself while away at university. She was of sporty physique, mousey-brown hair, and at five foot four, she didn’t need to wear heels with Jake. Her eyes twinkled like the stars in the sky, and her eyes were just as blue as crystal clear waters. Stirring from her comfortable position in Jake’s arms, she soon had him awake.
“What are we going to do today?” She asked, as he rubbed his eyes.
“First thing I’m going to do is have a shower at least,” he replied groggily. “I think that might help me wake up a little too.”
“I could always join you,” she said, fluttering her eyelids. “That is, if you want me to.”
“I wouldn’t mind, but no-one else is awake yet,” he responded. “Although, it is a bit of a thrill.”
“The choice is yours hun,” she winked. “I can wait or have a bath instead.”
“If you have the bath, and I have the shower, I can prepare one of my surprises,” he winked back.
“Oooh. I love surprises!” Lauren was getting a little excitable.
“Remember everyone’s still asleep,” he chuckled.

The sun filtered in through their master bedroom window. Where everyone had left quite tired last night, they hadn’t been closed properly, and as a result, Violet woke up with a start. Had the last twenty-four hours been just a dream? Was it all in her head? She rolled over and saw him, all innocently adorable in her words. Pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, she pressed her lips gently against his forehead and got herself out of bed.

Having had his shower, Jake was frantically trying to find his instrument. Yes, he had a hairstyle that was more commonplace in the music industry of late, with which, his uncle had advised him, to consider learning the guitar. He had been practising for four years, learning chord shapes, patterns, and popular songs based on basics of this. Glancing over at the door to make sure she wasn’t there, he spotted a piece of paper on the floor. Reading what was on it, he was able to locate the strings, and he even had a little barring helper. In the guitar world, its called a capo. Now he had the guitar, he had to just check that it was in tune. So very quietly, he played about with the strings to tighten them up if they were too flat, or loosen them so they were too flat to re-tighten them.

Nothing like a relaxing bath time, she thought. New to the village, but accepted pretty much instantly by everyone she’d met here, even at just twenty-two, she found herself empowered with this. And also having met Jake, she was anticipating a day filled with fun. What surprises did he have in store for her? She was interested in finding out. So instead of soaking for an hour in the bath as she normally would, she only stayed in there for half an hour, and got herself dressed. Going back to the bedroom she thought Jake was in, all she found was a note. A little bemused, she read the note that had been left for her, (it did, after all, have her name on it). It asked her to go to the post office and ask Simon where the ‘free to roam’ field was. Now she was more excited. She liked adventure, and she liked open spaces too. So taking the note, she headed to ask Simon where this field actually was.

Jackie was already up. She’d been awake for the last hour or so in fact. Yet Drake was still fast asleep. For her, she begun every morning with a five mile run, which took her in almost a circle, but today, she felt over energised. She did the first five miles as normal, and with this extra bundle of energy, decided she’d carry on and redo the whole loop. For some reason, she was able to complete it, and even though she was a little out of breath, she found that her ten mile time was only slightly slower than two lots of her five mile time. Maybe one day she would be able to run the half-marathon, starting at the nearest city and ending up back in the village.

Pushing open the door to the post office, Lauren realised the bell sound would alert Simon that someone was about. Knowing the code to the lock on the door, she let herself in the staff area. “Good morning Simon,” she said.
“Good morning Lauren,” he replied. “What can I do for you today? I thought you were meant to be off somewhere with Jake?”
“I am, he left me a note that asked me to meet him in the ‘free to roam’ field. Now I’m not too familiar with where everything is yet, so could you tell me how to get there?” She asked.
“Oh, he’s on a surprises day is he? He’s full of them I can tell you,” grinned Simon. “If you turn left out of the front door, walk until you reach a church. Turn right at the church and you will see a stream, with a little bridge. Once you cross that bridge you are in the field that you are looking for. Just think, right at church, over the bridge, you’ll be fine.”
“That’s all?” she reacted surprised.
“Yup, That’s all. Have a good day.” Simon went back to sorting out the letters that people had given him in passing through that morning.

She’d rolled out of bed, and had herself a refreshing shower. The sun was up and shining brightly again, but today, there were a few fluffy white clouds. It really didn’t feel like it was autumn, yet the leaves were still turning gold, brown, orange, red, and yellow, and still falling from the trees. Chris was still sleeping peacefully, so she decided against waking him up, and went and made herself a coffee. This time she used a standard white mug. After all, it was more likely to be just a normal day. A normal day with a twist, of course, Chris was home and she’d missed him terribly. Coffee and a cigarette. Her perfect way to start a morning. Some people had tried to tell her to quit, but that wasn’t likely any time soon.

Having navigated her way to the ‘free to roam’ field, Lauren was a little nervous by now. Still uncertain as to where she was to go, she thought she’d have a little wander. As she did so, she heard the sound of music filling the air. It wasn’t the sound of the wind in the trees, there was no breeze. It wasn’t the sound of the stream, although that was flowing and making a little noise. It sounded a little familiar. She had studied music at university, and wondered where this familiar sound was coming from. Using her ears more than her eyes to follow the sound, she nearly slipped down a rabbit hole, but after about fifteen minutes of looking, she found one of the best surprises she could have imagined.

Jake was strumming away, the guitar strap round his neck holding the guitar in place so he could stand up to do so. Playing a select blend of romantic songs, he was unaware that she had spotted him. Yes, there was a tablecloth on the ground, along with a picnic hamper. A breakfast picnic hamper? Of course, it was the most important meal of the day. He then heard a beautiful singing voice. So beautiful it was like time had stood still. Passing it off, he thought it was just in his head, yet, it was the tune to the songs he was strumming. A little confused by this, he continued to mix it up, but every song the voice seemed closer than the last. Opening his eyes, he froze once again. Only this time, he stopped playing the guitar, took it from around his neck, and set it on the ground.

“You like surprising people too?” He giggled shyly.
“Its not wrong is it?” she quizzed him.
He chuckled a little louder. “No, its not wrong. I just didn’t realise someone would know all the words to all the songs I know how to play. Above all that, I didn’t anticipate such a beautiful voice.”
Now it was her turn to be shy, “I can’t sing. I failed my singing part of my music exams at uni.”
“Now those lecturers clearly don’t have a clue, they must be older than Derek and out of touch.” he replied. “Come over, take a seat. And if you look over there,” he said, pointing back to the field she’d walked past, “you’ll see a few cows and sheep grazing in the same place.”
“That’s awesome. I didn’t know you played guitar either,” she was a little surprised, yet more composed than he was. “Anyway, lets eat first, we can talk and find more out about our talents, a little later on.”
Before they sat to eat, he took her in his arms, and gave her the comforting hug that reminded her of the night before.