Continuing with the story I started based on the model I recently made, here is the next chapter. Would love to know what you think.
The previous instalment can be found here.
CHAPTER 1 – Tygrove
It was a crisp sunny spring morning in Tygrove as Rose shuffled along the street towards the butchers. Tuesday was always groceries day and she loved nothing more than visiting all the local merchants to get her weekly perishables. The new supermarket on the outskirts of the village threatened to put them all out of business. There was little enough to do as it was, without losing the butcher, baker and greengrocers from her already shrinking high street.
Kenneth had been running the local butchers since he was old enough to hold a knife. Rose fondly remembered his father too, who proudly handed the small local shop down to his son on retirement. Bill could now be found pottering around his extensive vegetable garden or sitting in the dinghy just off shore with a fishing rod, if he really wanted to get away from the local gossip.
Despite losing his wife of 71 years a couple of months ago, Bill seemed to be doing ok. He still went to the bridge club, popped into the local pub once a week and shared, for a small fee, his vegetable patch produce from a stall at his front gate.
Tygrove was once a teeming mill town, until the early 1970’s. Now factories stood empty and most employment required a 45 minute commute to the nearby town of Prestshire. Bill was determined to not desert the village he had lived in all his life, and wanted to do his best to make sure the small local businesses didn’t either.
‘Hello Rose, top of the morning to you’ Kenneth greeted as Rose pushed the old door open and stepped inside. ‘just my usuals’ she said, as she put her empty bags on the counter for him to fill.
Rose really was not in the mood for small talk this morning, however she gave Kenneth her best Í’m just fine’ then pulled out her mobile phone to make it look like she was busy. He really was a hard worker just like his father. Standing a tall 6 ft 3 inches, and probably the same in width, Kenneth could make the preparation of any cattle beast look like he was carving butter.
How’s Frank? Kenneth casually enquired ‘and that daughter of yours, Emma is it? We don’t see too much of her in the village’ ‘yes, they are both fine thank you. Emma is always studying hard and Frank works out of town a lot, you know? Don’t suppose I can complain’ Rose muttered. They briefly smiled at each other as she headed back outside into the crisp spring sunshine.
It was nice to get outside and feel the breeze on her face, Rose thought as she slowly meandered down the old high street admiring all the old Tudor and medieval buildings that still housed the shops. Sometimes that big house felt dark and oppressive, almost prison like. She had no idea why everyone seemed so jealous of her living there. She would gladly give it up Horton house in an instant for a small beach cottage and some peace all to herself.
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Kenneth expected Tuesdays to be relatively steady customer days. Proudly owning the butchers shop for two years now, his ability to read between the lines when his customers came in was getting better and better, for a big burly bloke like him, he decided. Rose, he noticed, had always been a very quiet, reserved, almost scared to talk at all some days. He had not yet figured out why. Gossip wasn’t his jam though, so rarely would he talk to Wendy at home about anything the customers were saying. He didn’t want to be dragged into that quagmire for sure. Besides, they were still trying for baby number two, and he was hoping for a son, second time lucky.
He had not always lived in Tygrove though, like most his age. Being a joe average in school, Kenneth stumbled his way through his education managing to not to anything remarkable, or unremarkable either way. Keeping his head out of the firing line meant he could sneak away to the city for a while, see what the wild life was all about. Ultimately though, his dad’s illness and subsequent retirement brought him swiftly back like a boomerang where he proudly took up the reins of the butchers shop to carry on the family tradition. He considered himself to be exceedingly lucky that Wendy wanted to come back with him permanently, and even marry him. He would still be a bachelor if he was relying on the ladies of Tygrove for marriage material.
City girl Wendy found it hard adjusting to small village life at first. It felt like living in a goldfish bowl compared to city life, where you could travel to work and back, via the gym and the supermarket and still never see a single soul that you knew. Sometimes she missed the diverse shopping, the busy bars and nightclubs, but wouldn’t swap her Kenneth for anything or anyone else. Thank goodness fibre reached the village earlier this year. All her shopping pangs could be satisfied online, she didn’t even need to leave the house.
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Swinging the door open into the greengrocers, Rose was greeted by Mary’s great big sunny smile. That woman could make anyone feel better without saying a word. ‘What a wonderful day outside, how is my good friend Rose this fine day?’ All the better for a stroll in the sunshine, Rose smiled as she cast her eyes over today’s specials. Rose had never seen anyone so excited to sell groceries as Mary was. All her customers loved her. Where she got all her positive energy from was a mystery, Rose pondered.
‘Got some YOU time this week?’ Mary enquired, íf you have, we really should do coffee at mine and a gossip catch up’ Mary winked. ‘sounds like a plan’ Rose pondered. Perhaps she could borrow some of Mary’s cheerfulness while she was at it.
Rose and Mary had been friends since high school. They had not always lived close by but despite what life threw at them both, the friendship endured. She valued her friendship highly, knowing that she could speak frankly and not worry about the local gossip channels getting wind of anything she might confess or confide.
Mary’s smile was what you saw first, when you met her for the first time. What she lacked in height she made up for in smiles and cheerfulness. Neither slim, nor fat, Mary’s lifestyle was just active enough to keep her self image in the ‘happy enough’ category. Men had come, and gone, and Mary still smiled and loved life regardless. Rose only wished she had a fraction of the strength her good friend had, perhaps life could be a touch more cheerful for herself too.
Rose’s last two stops on the high street were the post office and the library. Walking clean past the post office (deciding those nosy parkers could wait till another day) Rose rounded off her morning with a peaceful hour in the library. As with any old house, there must be some history and the place to find that surely had to be the library. IF Frank wouldn’t tell her anything about the house and how he came to own it, she would find out for herself. This had to be done while he was away with work. She knew all too well what would happen if he found out what she was up to.Frank had always claimed that Hormouth house was handed down through his family. She did not know what it was that made her doubt this, maybe women’s intuition, who knows. Rose planned to find out – if at least to confirm his story and put her mind at rest.
Hormouth house stood back off the road, flanked by vast fields and woodland, almost hiding it completely from the road. Its true grandeur only revealed itself as you got to the top of the long private driveway. Unless you specifically knew it was there, its location was perfectly and cleverly hidden from all passing traffic. Built from limestone, as was popular at that time, Hormouth stood proud flanked by its own forest, the top of the driveway opening out to a huge water feature, with the driveway circling its perimeter.
Standing in its secluded location for almost 500 years, Lord Hormouth commissioned its construction in the mid 1700’s as a wealthy status symbol. The town and country planning act in the late 1960’s slowed the demolition of stately homes such as Hormouth. How this was all linked to Frank and his family, Rose was still to discover. She could only hope she found the answers in time.
