Page 11 of All Wrapped Up

I’d kept an eye on The Mermaid door and there hadn’t been a stampede of early meeting attendees clamouring to get in yet. In my current state of depleted confidence, I wasn’t sure if that was something I should feel relieved about or not.

‘All right,’ said Ash. ‘And like I said before, I really am sorry not to be there.’

‘I’ll put you down for double duty next time,’ I said sardonically. ‘Let’s catch up later.’

‘Yes, let’s do that. Good luck, Clemmie. Not that you’re going to need it. You’re going to do Moses and the town proud.’

‘Thanks.’ I tried to smile. ‘I’ll hopefully see you soon.’

As it turned out, I was going to need a miracle rather than a dose of luck to make the meeting a success.

‘Where is everyone?’ I heard Jemma hiss to Lizzie as the three of us stood and looked around the almost empty pub as the meeting start time ticked closer.

I glanced over at Jeanie who gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up from behind the bar, and as much as I appreciated it, it wasn’t consolation for the lack of people.

Yes, I’d been worried about facing a crowd, but the show of disinterest was embarrassing and not at all what Lizzie had prepared me to expect.

‘I thought you said you were going to tell everyone about tonight and that more locals would be available if we waited until midweek?’ I rather tersely said as we looked across at the many empty tables.

‘I thought the autumn festival idea was a popular one around here and that folk were keen to see the idea Moses had actually come to something?’

‘It was,’ she said, looking around again and sounding confused. ‘It is. They are.’

‘Where’s Joanne?’ Jemma asked.

‘On a video call with Aiden,’ Lizzie told her. ‘For once, she didn’t seem all that excited about it, but she did say she’ll try and come along later if she can.’

‘I don’t think we’ll be here later,’ I muttered.

Just at that moment, Bella came bustling in with a woman I didn’t recognise. They had a dog each and I could see that the cute spaniel with a sparkly pink collar that Bella led in was far better behaved than the other woman’s terrier.

‘Jasper,’ she scolded as he pulled at his tangled lead. ‘Come on. Settle down.’

I hoped I wasn’t poised to be heckled by a pooch, because he looked intent on creating mayhem.

‘Let’s give it a few more minutes,’ Lizzie said with concern.

Fifteen minutes after the official start time, we decided that the few people who had bothered to turn up to hear what I had to say, were going to lose interest if we didn’t kick things off, so Lizzie cleared her throat and made a start.

‘So,’ she finished up, having explained that the autumn festival had been miraculously saved and would now be going ahead, assuming there was more interest in it than was represented at the meeting.

‘Without further ado, let me introduce you to Clemmie, who is going to be in charge of running the festival, with Ash working alongside her.’

I shakily got to my feet and looked at the few faces in front of me. Aside from Bella, her friend and Jeanie, there didn’t look to be much in the way of enthusiasm or interest exuding from any of them.

‘Where is Ash then?’ a guy at the bar asked gruffly.

Sitting slightly away from the rest of us, I wasn’t sure if he was part of the meeting or not.

‘Good evening,’ I said, hating the wobble in my voice that let everyone know how nervous I was.

‘I’m Clemmie and, as Lizzie has just said, I’m going to be taking on the idea Moses had to celebrate autumn in the area and overseeing the Wynbridge Autumn Festival this year.

’ Lizzie let out a whoop which, mortifyingly, no one joined in with.

‘And, as she also said, I will be running it with Ash but he has unfortunately been delayed this evening and can’t now join us. ’

‘Along with everyone else, by the looks of it,’ the guy then laughed.

‘Oh, shut up, Jason,’ Evelyn, the pub owner, snapped.

‘With time being so short to get things up and running now we’re already into the ber months,’ I pressed on, laying a hand on my notebook for a boost and looking to Lizzie for further support, ‘we thought it would be a good idea to get going as soon as we can and gather as many people together here tonight to—’

‘Not many people.’

‘Are you going to pipe down, or am I going to have to throw you out?’ Evelyn barked and we all winced.

The guy, Jason, shrugged and shut up, but still looked belligerent and given that he was right in my eyeline at the bar, the sight of him put me completely off my stroke. I had no idea what I had been going to say next.

‘So, what have you got in mind?’ Bella kindly asked, when I didn’t say anything. ‘Will it be a weekend of events or are you planning for things to happen right throughout the season?’

She could have guessed the answer, of course, because we’d discussed it during my first visit to the pub, but I appreciated the question as it pulled my focus away from the heckler and back to the ideas written in my notebook.

‘If we can drum up enough interest,’ I began, ‘and before you say it,’ I loudly said, looking directly at the jeerer, ‘I know the number of you here tonight doesn’t bode well,’ that raised a bit of a laugh, ‘I was thinking it would be great to have things running right through the season and with some whole community events scheduled for half term when all age groups could be more involved throughout the day. Ash and I have been working hard to come up with suggestions that will hopefully appeal to everyone.’

‘But is that what Moses had in mind?’ someone asked.

‘As you well know, Moses didn’t have time to come up with more than the idea of piling some pumpkins up in the market square and auctioning them off,’ Evelyn pointed out.

‘But I’m certain his vision would have grown, just like Clemmie and Ash’s already has, if he’d had the time to develop it,’ Lizzie added.

‘Fair enough,’ sniffed the person who had asked.

‘Can you give us some examples of what you have in mind, Clemmie?’ the woman with Bella asked with a kind smile.

I opened my notebook and began working my way through our extensive list, explaining the details of some of the ideas if their purpose or connection to autumn wasn’t immediately obvious.

‘I love the craft workshop ideas,’ Lizzie said keenly. ‘I can take those on and run them in the gallery so long as the scheduling doesn’t clash with what I’ve already got booked.’

‘Thank you, Lizzie.’ I nodded, practically wilting with relief that at least one thing was going to come off. ‘That would be fantastic.’

‘Wynbridge has no finer craft tutor,’ Jemma chimed in.

‘And the gallery, overlooking the square, will be the perfect space for the sessions,’ I further said. ‘We can definitely work around what you already have lined up, so we’ll get together to discuss that.’

I could also imagine people making leaf garlands to hang around the square and knitting pumpkins in the café next door.

That would make it a proper social occasion with an opportunity to chat and enjoy Jemma’s bakes as well as contribute.

I had seen posters on display around town from a local yarn bombing group so it would be great if they got involved.

‘And I’ll ask my husband, Tom, about the town hall availability for some of the other things,’ said Jemma, typing notes into her phone. ‘He works for the council, so he might have an idea as to where the spring bulb planting could take place, too.’

That was one of my favourite ideas and I hoped it would have a genuine whole community appeal if it could happen somewhere in the local park.

Assuming enough people got behind it and I could talk someone into either donating the bulbs or convince everyone who wanted to plant some, to pay for them, of course. That was another issue to iron out…

‘Well, I think this all sounds wonderful,’ beamed Bella and the general nod of heads showed that most of the select gathering were at least considering it.

‘Yes, yes, it’s all very twee and wholesome, I’m sure,’ Jason, who was still at the bar, nastily piped up, and it was obvious that he wasn’t part of that group.

‘But you’re going to need hordes of volunteers to pull it off and as you can see,’ he cast his eyes around and spread his hands wide, for dramatic effect, ‘no one’s really bothered about it after all. ’

‘Those of us who are here are bothered,’ said Lizzie, rallying to the cause. ‘And we can all contribute something.’

‘But not enough to make it the great seasonal spectacular this newcomer is suggesting,’ he huffed.

I looked at the scarce faces and as much as I hated to agree with him, I had a horrible feeling that he was right.

I had been hoping to talk to business owners who might be willing to host food and drink nights, landowners who had known Moses and who might want to get involved with the all-important pumpkin picking and carving competitions, the knitters who loved yarn bombing opportunities and readers who might enjoy an autumn themed book club…

Disappointingly, none of those people had turned up, and even though a few names had been suggested regarding hosting events, if the people behind those names and venues weren’t in attendance, then was there really any chance that they’d want to be involved?

In spite of Lizzie’s insistence that the festival was wanted, practically no one had turned out to support its inception and that lack of eagerness and commitment didn’t bode well for the future of the event.

Perhaps the pumpkin auction Moses had initially envisaged and a couple of crafting workshops, would be all Ash and I would end up having to manage after all.

‘It’ll be a health and safety nightmare with this few of you,’ Jason continued, hammering his point home.

‘Right,’ said Evelyn, opening the hatch in the bar that separated her from the customers, ‘that’s your lot. I think we’ve heard more than enough negativity from you.’

‘And who even are you to the town?’ Jason said angrily to me as he hopped down from his stool and fixed me with a glare I didn’t think I had done anything to deserve.

‘Half of us have never laid eyes on you before and yet here you are, swanning in and trying to take over as if you own the place. I daresay you never even met Moses, did you?’

I felt my eyes prickle with tears of embarrassment and my cheeks flame.

‘Ignore him,’ said Lizzie as he banged through the door and into the square with Evelyn in hot pursuit.

But how could I ignore him? My unknown status as a Wynbridge local had been one of the first things I’d flagged, when she’d asked me to take the festival on.

Lizzie might not have acknowledged it, but why should anyone listen to me when they had no idea who I was or, come to that, knew how much I loved autumn?

I should never have been seduced into saying yes as a result of Lizzie’s honeyed words and my own vivid imagination.

‘Take no notice, Clemmie,’ Lizzie said more loudly when I didn’t respond.

‘He doesn’t talk for the rest of us,’ said Jemma.

‘Though he does have a point,’ said a woman who had been listening throughout the meeting, but hadn’t spoken up before. ‘I’m not saying you’re not up to the job, my love, but I don’t recognise you either.’

‘I live in a cottage outside of town,’ I told her, the words catching. ‘I’ve been there about a year and a half, but have kept myself to myself while I was… renovating it.’

And I would be keeping myself to myself again after tonight.

‘Do you mean the cottage on Lark Drove?’ The woman frowned.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Rowan Cottage. Do you know it?’

‘Vaguely,’ she shrugged.

‘I’ve given him a piece of my mind,’ Evelyn bristled as she marched back in. ‘Don’t pay any heed to anything he says, Clemmie. He’s all bluster and no substance.’

‘And I’ve yet to see him leave the pub without either you or Uncle Jim chasing him out,’ said Jeanie, with a smile, but I couldn’t see the funny side.

‘Next time, I’m barring him on sight,’ Evelyn declared, as everyone began to drift away or talk among themselves.

‘You’re not bothered by him, are you?’ Jemma asked me as the meeting staggered to an unsatisfactory close without anyone announcing it was over.

‘You’ve not really taken any notice?’ Lizzie chipped in straight after.

‘Of course, I’m bothered,’ I told them both. ‘And I have taken notice, because he’s right, isn’t he? Hardly anyone turned out tonight and it will be impossible to get the festival successfully off the ground with such little interest.’

‘You’re not giving up, Clemmie?’ Lizzie asked, looking stricken.

‘With a turnout like this,’ I said, looking around, ‘I can’t see as I have any choice. I hate to say it, but you overestimated enthusiasm for this idea, Lizzie. I think you mistook your eagerness to bring Moses’s idea to life for everyone else’s.’

She, Jemma, Bella and her friend Holly, tried to convince me otherwise, but I wouldn’t be swayed.

Too few people wanted the festival to go ahead and a blow-in being in charge and attempting to turn it into something it hadn’t started out as was most likely the reason no one had turned out to support it.

I was better off keeping my head down, my own counsel and right out of town.