Page 13 of Echoes on the Wind (Borrowed Time #2)

The first few weeks in the new job went well, and I quickly fell back into my old routine of early starts and long days of manual labour. Mr Carter had invested considerable sums in equipment that helped get the jobs done faster, but the amount of land we had to cover was three times as much as the farm back in Cwm Newydd, so it still felt like we rarely stopped from one day to the next.

Ellis and I worked well together, and we’d often chat the days away while we rotated fields and gathered crops. He was a few years younger than me, I’d found out, from a family of five sons from Caerphilly, and he’d been working at the farm for over two years.

He seemed keen to get to know me, too. A little overly keen at times, actually. But I’d noticed that none of the other farmworkers made much effort with him, so I put his eagerness for friendship down to being somewhat lonely, and tried to be vague when he would ask me questions about my past .

As we reached the end of April, work at the farm went into overdrive, and Mr Carter had taken on an extra farmhand, Dylan, to help us cope. The upcoming May Day Festival meant that orders had tripled as shops made sure they had enough stock to get through the festivities, so he was a welcome addition, even if he did eat into my overtime pay.

With calving season also in full swing, I’d spent most of the morning showing him around the milking shed, filling the churns ready to go over to the dairy for processing.

“You’re a fast learner,” I said as he heaved another churn onto the cart. “Come and take a break for five.”

He’d had little experience, from what he’d told me, but had picked up the milking technique quickly, and we were further along than I’d anticipated.

“It’s easier than I thought it would be,” he replied, wiping the sweat from his face. “My last job was labouring with a builder’s merchant, so I’m used to heavy lifting. I didn’t have much to do with cows, mind.”

I took a seat on one of the bales and grabbed the sandwich from my lunchbox that Betty had made me that morning, before offering him the boiled egg that she’d put alongside it. He waved it off but sat opposite me, sipping cold tea from his flask. “So what brought you to farmwork?”

“I was laid off. Some mining company contracted a builder for a load of houses. They did the work, but the mine didn’t pay up, so the builder couldn’t pay the merchant, and the merchant couldn’t pay me. Edith, that’s my wife, she’s pregnant again with our second, so I had to find work quickly, and this was the first thing that came along.”

He paused for a second, then sat upright, holding his hand out as though to reassure me. “That doesn’t mean I won’t take it seriously. I’m a fast learner, Mr Jacob, and I’ll do all that’s asked of me. I can turn my hand to anything for a few shillings.”

“It’s alright.” I laughed, brushing crumbs from my shirt. “I’m not your boss. As long as you don’t make my job any harder, we’re good. It doesn’t matter how you got here. I was in publishing before I got my start on a farm, and I didn’t have a bloody clue what I was doing in the beginning.”

“Well, it beats going down the mine,” he replied. “I’m 20 next month, and I’m the only one in my family who’s managed to avoid it so far. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“How’s it going in here?” Ellis called out as he came through the barn door.

“Terrible,” I joked, and Dylan began to laugh. “No, he’s done good. Fast learner.”

I pointed over to the cart filled with churns, and Ellis nodded his approval, then came and took a seat between us.

“Mr Jacob is a good teacher,” Dylan said, and he flashed me an appreciative smile.

“Did he teach you where to take those?” Ellis asked, pointing to the cart, and Dylan gave him a nod. “Good. Get them taken over, then.”

His comment seemed a bit rude, and I rolled my eyes towards Dylan and shook my head. “He’s not your boss, either,” I joked, but Ellis didn’t look happy that I’d said it .

“It’s fine,” Dylan said, getting to his feet and grabbing the cart. “I need some air, anyway.”

As he left the barn, Ellis poked around in the brown bag that Betty had packed my lunch in. He’d taken to doing that most days. Sometimes, he would wait to be offered any items that I didn’t want, but sometimes, he’d just help himself.

“What’s this?” he asked, pulling out the letter that I’d received that morning.

“Read it if you like,” I replied, and his features dropped somewhat as he handed it back to me.

“I can’t.”

“Ah, sorry,” I said, tossing him the boiled egg to apologise for any embarrassment. “It’s from my friend, Mair. She’s written to tell me that she will be visiting soon.”

I’d been missing Mair terribly since I moved to Bryncoed. Receiving letters was nice, but it wasn’t the same as being able to sit and chat like we used to, and neither Gwyn nor I were allowed enough time off work to make the trip back to see her, so I was excited by the prospect of her arrival.

Ellis shrugged unenthusiastically, then turned his attention to the egg, leaving a silence between us.

“Don’t forget I’m leaving early today,” I said.

Despite the increased workload, we’d worked out a rota between us where one or the other, depending on who had Saturday off, would finish at half day on the Friday to give us a bit of a longer weekend.

“Anything exciting planned?”

“I’m just meeting Gwyn for some food and cards at the house,” I said. “I need to go and pay for the bike and pop to see my brother, too. ”

“You play a lot of cards?” he asked, then he reached over and touched my hair. “You’ve got a little something,” he said, pulling out some straw and holding it in front of my face.

“I’m not very good,” I admitted. “Gwyn always wins, but we try to have a game every so often, and Gethin plays, too.”

“I’ll teach you,” he said, flashing me a big smile. “I’m great at cards. I’ll teach you how to win every time.”

“I think I’m unteachable,” I said with a laugh. “Though a nice win would come in handy, so I could pay that bike off.”

“Is Gethin going to be there today?” he asked.

“I think so,” I replied. “He told me this morning he has a favour to ask me. Something about the festival.”

“It’s a shame that I have to work. I love cards.” He left a silence hanging there that I didn’t know how to fill, so I just smiled at him again.

“I’d better crack on,” I said, rising to my feet. “I want to get everything done before I go.”

“Yes,” he said. “Me too. Those sacks won’t deliver themselves. Do you need anything from town?”

“No, I’m good,” I replied, then he disappeared out onto the farm.

When I was finally finished with all my jobs, I grabbed my bike from the back of the yard and rode down into town to see my brother in the hope that I might be able to convince him to skive off for the rest of the afternoon and come for a coffee with me .

I pulled up alongside some railings near the gate and jogged up the steps to his office on the bridge over the tracks. Without knocking, I pushed straight in and found Lee sitting with an elderly, suited man who looked less than impressed by my intrusion.

“Sorry,” I said, and I hung back near the door, waiting for them to finish.

Lee’s office at the mine offered little in the way of comfort or decoration. Filing cabinets lined one wall, covered in dust, and all with broken handles or missing name tags, and one drawer remained constantly open, a danger to all shins that went by.

His desk, which had one leg that was a different shape and colour from all the others, was littered with trays filled with paperwork and envelopes piled at least a foot high on either side. Lee told me during a previous visit that there used to be a secretary who kept on top of such things, but budget cuts meant that her services were deemed surplus to requirements, and he was now left to tackle it alone.

“If there’s anything else I can do for you, Mr Nebworth, please just let me know,” Lee said, rising from his seat and reaching across the desk to shake the hand of his guest. “This is my brother, Thomas,” he added as they made their way to the door. “I’m sorry for his intrusion. Tom, this is Mr Nebworth, the inspector.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said with a smile, and he gave me a slight tip of his hat as he made his way to leave. Lee gave me a look like he’d just dodged a bullet and came to stand next to me while his guest exited .

Perhaps a little too loudly, and also a little too soon, I carelessly asked, “What did he say about the spoil tip?”

The man stopped in the doorway and turned back to face us, and Lee swore under his breath.

“What was that about a spoil tip?”

I turned to my brother, sure that I’d messed up, but his outward demeanour remained calm, and he smiled at the inspector as he approached us.

“Oh, it’s nothing. All taken care of,” Lee said, acting blasé.

“What’s taken care of?” the inspector asked, turning to me. “Speak, boy.”

I didn’t appreciate his tone, and I’m sure my face said as much, but for the sake of my brother, I tried to bite my tongue and downplay things. “It was nothing, really. Just a little fall. Honestly, it was my own fault. Nothing to worry about.”

He stared me up and down for a moment, then, seemingly satisfied, he turned without a word, picked up his briefcase and exited the office.

“That was close,” I said, this time making sure he was out of the room before I spoke.

“You and your mouth,” Lee replied, taking a seat behind his desk. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I just wanted to see you, to see how you are.”

“Why? What’s up?” He leaned forward in his chair, elbows on the desk like a counsellor, and I leaned back, grinning.

“Nothing’s up, honestly. I had to come down to town to pay a bit off my bike, so I thought I’d call in on the way. ”

“You’re still paying that off? Do you need money? Because I could give you some.”

The idea of it made me smile. I’d spent years having to bail Lee out of various scrapes, lending him money to pay off debt collectors or to buy food, and now here I was, sitting in his office while he ran a huge mining operation and offered me a loan.

“Thank you, but I’ll be fine. Times aren’t that hard yet. Are we still on for tomorrow?”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“Dinner. At ours. Don’t you remember?”

“Oh that, yeah, of course I remember,” he replied, but it was obvious that he’d forgotten. “We’ll be there.”

Just then, an alarm sounded out on the grounds, and Lee immediately sprang to his feet. “Not again,” he said, grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair. “I’ve got to go sort this out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He rushed across the office and out of the door, leaving me alone to see myself out. As I exited and stood atop the stairs, a group of men came rushing across the tracks towards one of the larger buildings and began grabbing shovels before running off again in the opposite direction.

My heart began to thud as I considered there may have been a cave-in or explosion of some sort, but as I raced to the bottom of the steps and looked towards where the men were running, I saw the whole side wall of one of the buildings had collapsed, sending a huge pile of coal sprawling along the tracks and bringing all the carts and horses to a standstill. In the distance, I could just make out my brother, waving his arms and directing people to get it sorted .

To avoid passing through the incident, I wheeled my bike around the back of the mine until I came out on the corner of the high street, and continued on foot towards the bike shop. I didn’t have many payments left to make, but I’d been late with the last two due to Mr Carter being late with wages, incurring a two-shilling charge each time. Not wanting to incur another, I parked the bike on the rack outside the shop and entered to clear this week's debt.

“Hello,” I called out as I entered.

“Ah, Mr Jacob, I wasn’t expecting you,” the shopkeeper said with a smile.

“Well, I promised I wouldn’t be late again,” I said, stopping at the counter and reaching into my pocket for my money.

“You don’t owe anything,” he said. “It’s all clear.”

I wondered if he was perhaps having a joke at my expense, but if he was, he showed no sign of it, and for a moment we were both stuck in silence, staring at each other.

“There must be some mistake.”.

He reached below the till and brought out a large brown book, then slammed it down on the counter with a thud. He thumbed through some pages, glancing up at me every now and then as though I was inconveniencing him, until he came to a stop on a page with my name on it. He turned it around to show me, and on the line where he’d kept a record of my payments, a black line had been drawn through it all and ‘ paid in full ’ was scribbled at the end.

“But, who…?” I asked, confused at the evidence he’d presented.

“I’m afraid I cannot say. ”

“Confidentiality?” I asked.

“No, I wasn’t here. Matthew took the payment, and as you can see, he hasn’t written the name of your benefactor.”

“Right,” I said, putting the money back into my pocket, “I guess that’s something to be glad about today, anyway.”

I turned to look at him as I was leaving the shop, still waiting for him to tell me it was a joke, but as I reached the door, he simply gave me a wave, and I rode off home without him calling me to come back.

Gwyn was alone on the sofa when I got in, reading the paper and chuckling to himself about something on its pages, and I propped down beside him, leant over and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“I love you,” I said with a smile, “but you didn’t have to do that for me.”

“Do what?” he asked, staring at me blankly.

“Pay off my bike. I didn’t have much left to pay, but thank you. It’s a lovely gesture.”

“I didn’t pay it off,” he said. He rested the paper down in his lap and turned his body more towards me. “We’re meant to be saving, remember.”

“You must have. It can’t have been Lee because he just offered to give me money to pay for it.”

“Well it wasn’t me,” he said, laughing nervously. “I promise. But I’m sorry I didn’t. You know I would have if I was able to.”

“Are you teasing me?” I asked. I sat upright and away from him, thoroughly confused.

“I’m not. Why would I? I don’t know who paid for your bike, Tom, but it wasn’t me. ”

Nellie arrived home late again that evening, and it was clear that a storm was brewing over the house. Gethin, seemingly determined to prove a point, had set himself a place at the dining room table, complete with an empty plate and cutlery, and sat there in silence, waiting for her return.

Gwyn and I tried to act as though we were unaware of their recent problems or his current petty spectacle, but as the minutes ticked by, the tension was becoming increasingly awkward. When he could take no more, Gwyn suggested we go to the pub for a few hours until the coast was clear.

We’d invited Gethin, hoping to shake him from his mood, but as expected, he politely declined, and was still seated at the table by the time we got changed and left.

The Crown Inn, despite being a fairly new-looking building, was obviously well worn in. Judging by the number of doors dotted along the walls, it must have been a maze of rooms, but we were only permitted entry to one, which was dark and dingy, lit only by two lamps along the wall, and was so cramped with people that it was standing room only.

“Go find somewhere to stand,” Gwyn said as we passed under a sign that read ‘ Men Only ’. “I’ll go get us some drinks.”

I pushed my way through the crowd of men until I found a gap near the back of the room and stared around awkwardly while I awaited his return. Everything about the place seemed harsh and unwelcoming, created for convenience rather than comfort. The basic wooden furniture, coupled with the brownish-red painted walls, made for a cold atmosphere, only barely lifted by the otherwise jovial attitudes of the increasingly inebriated patrons.

“Here, take this,” Gwyn said as he weaved through the men with two tankards in his hands. I took one from him, and we moved against the wall, fighting for space. “So did Mair say when she would be arriving?”

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “She just said that we should expect her soon, and that you better have a good explanation ready for why you haven’t been writing home more.”

He smirked into the rim of his beer, then took a sip and wiped the foam from his beard. “Is she bringing Zack and Iris?”

“She didn’t actually say. God knows where we’d put them all. Nellie got a letter from her as well, so she probably knows more than us. Hopefully, Gethin will be in a better mood when she arrives.”

“God help him if he isn’t,” he joked. “Mair won’t stand long for his pouting and shouting, even if it is his house.”

“Look,” I said, pointing to a group of men who were making their way for the door. “Grab those seats.”

The stools at the table felt as uncomfortable as they looked, and the one I’d picked had one leg shorter than the others, causing me to rock from side to side every time I moved. Still, it was better than standing in the crowd, hoping nobody barged into me hard enough to knock my drink from my hands.

From our table, I now had a clear view of the bar. Behind it was what appeared to be a glass-panelled wall, but as the landlord and the barmaid took turns serving the men in our room, the panels would periodically swing open, revealing another room behind them.

On that side, where the walls were decorated with wallpaper and paintings, and the seats upholstered in patterned materials, the men were dressed in suits and jackets, and there were considerably fewer of them, too. They would wait on their drinks, giving smug glances into our section, then once served, pull the panels closed and retreat to the comfort of their lounge, out of sight of the rest of us.

It was while I was trying to get more glimpses into that area of the pub that Ellis came into my eyeline and waved in our direction. I returned his smile but stopped short of inviting him to join us. Even though the room was crowded, I was enjoying having time with Gwyn alone, but as Ellis collected his pint and brought two extra for us, it became obvious that we would have company for the rest of the evening.

He looked around for somewhere to sit, then took the stool of a man who had gone for a refill and pulled it around the side of the table so that he was sitting right in the middle of us.

“I thought you were playing cards,” he said, sounding almost accusatory.

“Plans changed,” I replied, shrugging it off. “This is Gwyn, by the way. You haven’t properly met yet. Gwyn, this is Ellis from work.”

“Nice to meet you,” Gwyn said, holding his hand out.

Ellis stared at it for a moment before finally shaking it. “And you,” he replied, then he turned his attention back to me. “Have you been out for long? ”

“Not really. We’ve only just managed to get a seat.”

“Yeah, it’s busy tonight. You should have told me you were coming out. I’d have joined you.”

“We weren’t going to,” Gwyn chimed in. “We only decided at the last minute.”

Ellis raised his glass to me and smiled. “Well, I’m glad. It beats drinking alone.”

“The more, the merrier,” Gwyn said, raising his glass as he called out, “ Iechyd da i bob Cymro, twll tin i bob Saes. ”

About ten men around us raised their glasses, cheering loudly, and I raised my own, laughing at his tongue-in-cheek toast, even if it was slightly at my expense.

“You understood him?” Ellis asked, and he twisted in his seat to look at Gwyn before turning back to me. “What did he say?”

“Ah, sorry,” Gwyn said, patting him on the back. “I assumed you spoke Cymraeg .”

“Can you?” Ellis asked me.

“Not much,” I replied. “But I can get by. He thinks he’s being funny, but he’s just jealous that I come from the better side of the Severn.”

“Pah!” Gwyn said, hitting his empty glass down on the table. “Never! Now, admit that Wales is better, or I shall have them send you back.”

“It has its perks,” I joked, rubbing my foot along Gwyn’s beneath the table. “Admit that England is better, and I’ll get the next round in.”

“I’d rather die of thirst,” he joked, flashing his handsome smile at me, and he grabbed the empties from the table and took them to the bar with him .

“That was a bit rude, wasn’t it?” Ellis said once Gwyn was out of earshot, and I raised a confused eyebrow at him.

“What was?”

“The English stuff. I mean, you’re sitting right there. He could be a bit more respectful.”

“Ellis, it was a joke.” The smile from Gwyn’s teasing subsided as I tried to work out if Ellis was playing along or if he genuinely thought that Gwyn was being insulting. “He wouldn’t say something if he thought it would offend me. He’s not like that. Everyone here teases me about being English. I think it's funny.”

He put his hand on my leg and shook his head at me. “Ah, shit, Tom. I’m sorry. I thought he was being serious.”

Gwyn returned to the table with three glasses of whiskey, and Ellis immediately stood to his feet and headed to the toilet without a word.

“He’s a strange one, isn’t he?” Gwyn said, moving to the now vacated seat.

“He’s alright. I think he’s just a bit awkward. He thought you were actually making fun of me for being English.”

“I was,” he said, grinning, and I jabbed him in the arm. “It’s a terrible affliction for you to have to live with.”

“Right, that’s it,” I replied, feigning offence. “I’m moving back to Cambridge.”

He grinned at me again, then leaned in close and whispered, “Let’s drink up and go home, and I’ll show you all the reasons why you should stay. ”

An excited smile crept across my face, but it faded as he pulled away again, and I saw Ellis standing right there, staring at us.

A chill rolled over my whole body as I realised he might have heard us, but I forced a calm smile and gestured for him to sit back down, acting as though nothing had happened.

“I think I’m going to call it a night,” he said, and he leaned over between us for his glass of whiskey and necked it.

“Are you sure?” I asked, keen to keep him around so that I could suss out the situation.

“I’ve got no money left, anyway,” he said, smiling faintly. “Enjoy the rest of your evening, gents. I’ll see you on Monday, Tom.”

Before I could convince him to stay, he turned for the door and left.