Page 59

Chapter 59

Early June 2011

It’s the failure of a small circle of rubber that’s the start of the problem.

Tess walks around the side of the house to the back door as usual, and is quite sure Baxter will be curled up in a warm spot somewhere, very possibly on the sofa beside Georgia.

Her life is just starting to settle down a little and the new part-time job in the supermarket in Morningside, which Fiona had encouraged her to apply for, is going well.

Much to her surprise, she’s enjoying the work and the weeks have flown by.

She spends her hours organising the tins and packets so they sit with the labels facing forward on the shelves, or checking the dates on exotic cheeses and bottles of freshly squeezed orange juice and making sure those which need to be sold first are at the front.

It all appeals to her sense of order, and for a few hours a day it stops Patrick from running around in her head all the time, taking up space to which he is no longer entitled.

Loud noises are coming from the kitchen, accompanied by some forthright language.

Tess opens the door to find Georgia standing in the kitchen in her wellingtons, mop in hand.

Towels have been rammed up against the cupboards, followed by rolled-up newspapers.

Tess can see a steady trickle of water dribbling down the scullery steps.

‘What on earth?’

‘We have a burst pipe. Or a cracked joint. Something like that.’

‘Have you turned the water off at the mains?’

Georgia points under the sink.

‘I can’t turn the stopcock, it’s too stiff.

’

Tess picks her way across the kitchen, trying to avoid getting her sandals soaked, before giving in to the inevitable.

More towels are spread across the stone floor at the far end of the scullery in an attempt to deal with the damage.

She kneels down, feels the water seep immediately into her jeans at the knees, and grasps the red-painted wheel.

‘No wonder you can’t turn it off,’ she groans, ‘it won’t budge.

Give me a tea towel or something.

’

She wraps the cloth around the metal and grips it tightly.

Slowly, a degree at a time, it begins to move.

‘That’s the best I can do.

It’s off, but I think we need a plumber.

’

‘I usually ask Stan to do this sort of job for me but he’s away up the west coast.’

‘Can you think of anyone else?’

Georgia shakes her head.

‘There was the person who put the heating in, but that was a while ago. I suppose Stan might know of someone if I send him a message. Just depends if he has any reception.’

‘Right. We need to get this cleared up anyway so why don’t you go and get that sorted, and I’ll deal with the mop.

’

‘I can manage, you know! I’ve lived in this house all my life.

I don’t need to be told what to do.

’

Tess points to the bucket under the sink.

‘I know. And I’m not trying to take over, but the water must have been dripping into the cupboard since before I left for work.

Let me do this. We need a plumber, and maybe an electrician, and we need them pretty quickly.

’ She isn’t sure anything is safe.

‘And I can’t do those things, but I can manage a mop.

’

What had seemed like a quirky kitchen with a hotch-potch of vintage appliances, a post-war enamel standalone sink under the window and an electric cooker which could easily be forty years old, suddenly looks like a death trap.

Tess feels the project-management muscle inside her begin to twitch.

Georgia is gone for about twenty minutes, during which Tess has taken as much as possible out into the garden.

The chairs, pots and pans and anything electrical are now arranged on the lawn with as much logic as she had time for.

When Georgia comes back, she stands in the doorway and takes in the damage.

‘Sorry for snapping, I’ve got used to not having anyone else here.

’

Tess wrings out the mop for what feels like the hundredth time.

‘It’s OK. But the water has gone under the lino and the floorboards are wet.

And I’m not sure the sink should really be so close to those electric sockets so I’ve poked the switches off with that old broom handle.

We’re going to need to pull the table out of the way to get a decent look at the floor.

It’s all pretty sodden, I’m afraid.

’ She doesn’t want to be rude, but things need to be done.

‘Would you be able to give me a hand with the table? If we could move it across so it’s under the mantelpiece, it would be a start, and then maybe we can get the lino up on this side of the room to begin with.

’

They each take an end and manage to shunt the table across the room.

It’s almost in position when Georgia lets go unexpectedly, just at the moment Tess is giving it a last heave.

Without Georgia to steady it, the corner of the table jabs sharply into the wall and as though in slow motion, the plaster crumbles.

There is half a minute of stunned silence.

‘Oh hell! I’ll cover the repair as soon as I get paid.

’ Tess drags the table back into the room a little to assess the damage.

A chunk of plaster falls to the floor, and a vertical crack appears from lino to mantelpiece.

‘I’m so sorry.’

Georgia seems unperturbed.

‘Keith was a great decorator but he wasn’t an expert in house building.

This looks like a sheet of hardboard with a skim coat of plaster on top.

I’m not sure it’s going to be repairable.

’

‘What’s behind it?

’

‘The beast. Otherwise known as the old kitchen range.’ Georgia sits down wearily on the only chair left in the room.

‘It would have been 1960, perhaps? 1961. Yes, it was 1961. We filled in the census at that very table and I remember there being a debate about whether the scullery counted as a room.’

‘And did it?’

‘Apparently not. Annie was quite indignant about that.’

‘My dad always filled it in, not my mum.’

‘Not here. Annie’s stepmother was a census protester in 1911, and ever since then it’s always been the women who do it in this house.

The enumerators never knew anyway.

’ She looks at her grimy hands and shrugs before running them through her already dirty hair.

‘We’re going to have to sort this mess out.

’ She takes her phone out of her pocket and taps at the screen with the speed of a teenager.

‘Right. I’ve left another message for Stan.

Hopefully he’ll reply soon, and if he doesn’t, we’ll just have to manage without him.

’

Tess tries to take stock of the situation.

‘If the pipes to that sink can be blocked off, I think things would be OK for a bit. The scullery sink has its own supply. This one in the kitchen must have been a later addition?’

‘Keith put it in when he built the wall in front of the range. It was done so we could use the sink in here after the door to the scullery was locked at night. He had the wiring done at the same time, so we had a new electric cooker as well. All mod cons in the 1960s, you know.’

‘What would you like me to do? I mean, I can tell you what I think needs to be done but it’s your house and I’m happy to just be the labourer.

’

Georgia looks around the room and sighs.

‘I remember all these changes being made in the name of improvement. And it was improvement. No more hauling coal up from the coal cupboard at the end of the scullery. And much, much cleaner.’

Tess looks up at the clock on the wall.

‘I could do with a coffee before we get started, but I’m not sure about the electrics.

If we can get someone to tell us it’s safe to use the sockets in the scullery, then even if we don’t have power in the kitchen, we can manage with just the kettle and the toaster for a day or two.

And if it’s longer than that then a microwave would be helpful, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

’

‘I think,’ replies Georgia thoughtfully, ‘that I should perhaps see all this as an opportunity. Maybe the universe is telling me that it’s time for a change. ’