Once they were both back at Harry’s and Bill had unloaded the Market Stall bits and pieces, he went in search of Harry.

He found him fast asleep in a chair by the range in the Kitchen. His snores told him that he was ok but he recalled his ashen face from earlier and realised that he was sicker than he was prepared to admit to Bill. Bill guessed that he didn’t have long to go but was willing to wait for Harry to tell him just how bad things were.

For the next few hours, Bill busied himself around the house.

By the time Harry came around, Bill had unloaded his car, put all his bits and pieces away and prepared a half decent meal for the evening.

“Welcome back Harry.”

“Eh? Was I asleep?” he said grinning.

“Well the snores I’ve been listening too for the past two hours told me that you were.”

“Pah.”

“Tea?”

“Yeah, I’m parched. But I should put the stall away.”

“All done and dusted.”

Bill put the kettle on to boil and sat down next to him.

“Ok Harry. Spill the beans on Connie and I want the whole story, understand?”

He sighed.
“I suppose so,” he replied with another sigh.

Harry spent the next hour telling Bill the full story of Connie, her mother and everything.

At the end, Bill asked,

“Why isn’t she inheriting everything?”

Harry smiled.
“Because right from the time she was old enough to understand, she knew that I wanted you to have this place and the business. Besides, she always wanted to be a Vet and running this place really does not interest her."

---

Connie turned up for Lunch the next day carrying a bottle of wine.

Bill took it and after seeing the label, he replied,

“Very good choice. That will go well with the meal.”

“Great. It smells nice. What is it?”

“Roast Beef with all the trimmings,” replied Bill proudly.

“Sounds great. Can I do anything?”

“You could go and find Harry. He was talking to the hens the last time I saw him.”

“He loves those birds. They know when he’s carrying food. Then they mob him.”

Bill chuckled.
“I know. He’s shown me how to look after them.”

“Tried to catch any yet?”

Bill laughed.
“Not yet. I have that bit of so called fun yet to experience. I’ll do it when no one is here to see me make a total and utter plonker of myself so don’t even think of trying to watch ok?”

A laughing Connie disappeared to find Harry while he dished up the meal.

---

Bill watched the two of them over lunch. He soon realised that they were not only Father and Daughter but they were also the best of friends. That made him happy.

After Lunch, Harry went upstairs for a sleep. This gave Bill a chance to talk to Connie about her father.

“He’s putting on a brave face, isn’t he?”

Connie nodded.
“Even getting him to go for a checkup was really hard. In the end, I had to threaten him with a tranquilizer dart and carrying him to the hospital.”

Bill paused before asking his next question.

“How long do you think he has left?”

“How long did he tell you?”

“Two to three months.”

Connie shook her head. Her face told him that his guess was right.

“It was that when his consultant told him. That was more than six weeks ago.”

“So, he’s really on borrowed time then?”

“Yes. He did ask me for a syringe of ketamine a while back but I refused.”

“Would he have used it?”

She shook her head.

“When it is time, he’ll probably just keel over and that will be that. His heart is far too damaged. I had a long conflab with his doctor totally off the record but he gave it to me straight.”

“He did mention a transplant.”

Connie shook her head.

“Too late for that. Six months ago, maybe it might have been possible if a donor became available, but he left it far too late to see the Docs.”

“Are you sad?”

Connie shook her head.

“He’s had a good life and we’ve been really close these past ten years. We’ve had a better relationship than most people do. He’s a good man. Sure, I’ll miss him but he’s always been open about the possibility of this time coming. I think it made us closer. You know knowing that his time was limited. This place saved him from an early death all those years ago and he hopes that it will do the same for you. He has proved that there really is life outside the bubble that is the City of London.”

That was the question that Bill had debated long and hard over before making the decision to quit his job.

“It is rather a daunting task. You know, taking over an established business. Harry had basically an empty site and no business.”

“What do you think of it so far?”

Bill sat back and smiled.

“Strange as it may seem, I feel at home here already. Sure, there is lots to get to grips with and not a lot of time to do it but I have some money behind me so I really don’t have to worry about getting an income from this place for quite a while.”

Connie returned a smile but didn’t say anything. Bill guessed that Harry had some more secrets to divulge when the time was right.

The following day, Harry and Bill got down to the handover for real. It didn’t take long before Bill realised the true financial position of the business.

“Harry, do you know how much you are losing every year?”

“Sure. Over the past twenty years, it works out at a little over sixty-nine thousand five hundred and a bit. That ain’t all that bad really. Just over three grand a year. Nothing really.”

“And you aren’t worried?”

“Not in the slightest. Life is more important than that.”

Harry’s words seemed to make it seem all right.

“You have some money behind you, don’t you?”

“Yes but…”

“Life is simple here. I spend around fifteen quid a week on groceries. My heat is from my own wood and the solar panels on the roof mean that my electric bill is twenty quid a quarter. My biggest monthly outgoings are Council Tax, the mobile phone and the Broadband. If I want to eat something like Pork, Beef or some really nice Trout, then I barter for it. Why do I need lots of money eh? Three hundred a month is about what I spend on average.”

Bill could not argue with that sort of logic. The numbers were really tiny. He recalled going to a restaurant in London and spending over three hundred quid on a meal for two less than six months earlier. When you are used to dealing in Millions then a few hundred is chicken feed. That would all have to change now.

---

The next day Bill started to look at the books again but this time in a different light. He saw that Harry was paying himself a salary equivalent to the National Living Wage. The other big outgoing was National Insurance payments.

“You are a sly bugger Harry. You’ve kept the size of your business under the VAT threshold,” said Bill as they ate Lunch.

“Exactly,” replied Harry with a justified smirk on his face.

“No VAT means a lot less paperwork. Besides, I can’t charge VAT on the food I sell so why put myself under the spotlight every month in order to get a small refund? I’d rather just keep the size of the business down and save all the heartache.”

Bill could not argue with that.

Then he chuckled to himself. He realised that he'd been saying that quite a bit recently. He realised that he was more like Harry than he'd realised.

By the end of the week, Bill had a good idea about the business and the basics of running a smallholding. His big worry was about the crops.

He’d never grown anything in his life. When he mentioned this to Harry, Harry just laughed.

“Neither had I before I came here. That first year and a half was a disaster. Some crops bolted, some never germinated and others got attacked by insects and as the Americans say, ‘a whole heap of critters’. Gradually, I got to grips with it. Over the years, things have got better, a lot better.”

Then Harry got up from the Kitchen Table and disappeared into another room. He soon returned with a stack of books. That bit of lifting had made him puff a lot. Even after this short a time, Bill had noticed how easily Harry was getting tired.

“These are my diaries. I wrote everything down warts and all. These will be invaluable to you in the forthcoming months.”

Bill took one look at the pile of diaries and inwardly groaned. There was just so much to learn and so little time.

“Now it is time for you to learn how to use the rotavator.”

Three hours later Bill raised the white flag and said,

“Isn’t there an easier way?”

Harry laughed.

“Oh, you mean using the small tractor that I have in the barn?”

Bill glared at Harry.

“You will thank me for today when you find that you need to use this on the small beds so this exercise won’t be wasted in the long run.”

Bill didn’t agree but started to clean the machine before heading off for a long hot bath.

---

When Bill came downstairs he was surprised to see Harry wearing a dress, makeup and even a pair of heels.

“Harry?”

“Penny please.”

“Ok Penny. Why tonight?”

Penny looked rather sad.

“I have a feeling that I only have a few days left. So, from now on, Penny is it. Harry is dead and buried. I called my Solicitor while you were in the bath. He’s coming tomorrow to formalise the transfer of some investments to my Connie. Think of it as my last fling before I pop my heels.”

---

Penny was right about not having a lot of time left.

Three days later she died in her sleep. Bill found her in bed in the morning. His first thought was that everything seemed so peaceful that it would be a shame to disturb her.

His first call was to Connie who dropped everything and came over.

As Connie and Bill stood at the end of the bed, Connie slipped her hand into his. Bill let it go and instead put his arm around her. They stood together for several minutes in silence.

By lunchtime, the Doctor and the Funeral Directors had been and done their business. Penny had left detailed instructions for the funeral. Her body was going to be interred at a Woodland Burial site less than 10 miles from the smallholding. He’d already had made a carved wooden plaque using wood that came from the smallholding. The instructions covered every little detail including the catering for the ‘wake’.

Once Penny’s body had been interred, the small party returned to what was now Bills home for a small celebration. The special ‘reserve’ cider that was made from local apples went down a treat. It was just as well that the local Police Officer was one of those getting rather drunk or many of the locals would be soon without licenses. The send-off was just as Harry had planned.

When everyone had departed Bill and Connie had a chance to sit down and take stock.

“It might seem strange,” said Bill.

“But I’m going to miss the old bugger. He and his funny ways sort of grew on me.”

“It’s not strange. I will miss him as well,” said Connie as she nursed a half empty glass of wine.

Then she asked,

“What’s next?”

“Oh, the never ending task of weeding. Picking the next batch of Beans and Carrots. Feed the Hens.”

“That’s not what I meant. This place? Are you going to keep it going or are you going to sell up and go back to London?”

Bill shook his head.

“I promised Harry that I would give this place a go and I’ll do that. Besides, I don’t have a home to go back to. I got a phone call last night with an offer on my apartment. I accepted it.”

Connie smiled.

“I’m pleased.”

“You know that Harry wanted to set us up?”

Connie smiled,

“I do. He had his moments did Harry. He’s also tried to set me up with the Doctor and the Police Inspector who lives near the crossroads.”

“A bit of fun then?”

“He would have loved to be the Mother of the Bride but I didn’t find anyone was even remotely interested in.”

“What did you say to him about me?”

“Oh, that I considered you more of a brother than anything. Did I do right?”

Bills hopes had been dashed, at least for the time being.

“I think so. Fate has thrown us together. I’m going to need a friend for the next few months and… well I for one don’t want anything to get in the way of me trying to keep this place going. It will be hard enough even to stem the losses.”

Connie laughed.

“Harry designed it that way. I would not bother trying.”

“Eh?”

“This place is designed to make a loss. After all those years of making money in the City he wanted to experience losing it for a change. After a while he got to like it. He said that it kept him sane. So, what if it loses a few grand a year. Harry said that was cheaper and more healthy than seeing a shrink. I think he lasted as long as he did because he didn’t worry about the losses. He had more than enough money to live very comfortably but he just lived simply and actually thrived.”

Bill smiled.

“I think I’m starting to understand him. He kept dropping hints that making a loss was by design but I just kept on looking for ways to make a profit. Habit I guess...”

“Can you sustain the losses?”

“I should be able to. When I see the full financials when the Accountant comes with all the formal books the day after tomorrow. I’ll be able to know a bit more.”

Connie laughed.

“Did you think leaving the City would be the end of you having to look at spreadsheets?”

Bill returned her laugh.

“I suppose I did. Now I know different eh? But, at least the numbers are not in the billions of at least ten different currencies.”

Then he added,

“And not making a profit is a good thing. That will take some getting used to.”

[to be continued in part 4 (of 4)]