[At a village pub in mid-Wales]
The door to the bar opened, and a man walked in, followed by a young border collie dog. He was wearing a fairly clean set of overalls and a decidedly muddy pair of Wellington boots. He removed the boots and left them close to the door. The dog stayed at the side of his master. This scene had been played out hundreds of thousands of times at this and many other Public Houses all over Wales for decades.
On this particular day, the bar was empty. This was perfectly normal for a Wednesday lunchtime. Most of the regular lunchtime clients were away at the cattle and sheep market in Builth Wells.
"A pint of the usual please, Bronwyn," said the man as he approached the bar. The dog followed him and then lay down with its face looking at the man as if it was waiting for a new command.
A woman appeared from a room at the back of the bar.
"Hello, David. We don't often see you in here on Wednesdays?" said the woman.
"I've just had a visit from the Taxman, and I need a pint or three just to steady my nerves," said David.
"That sounds ominous," said Bronwyn as she started to pull a pint.
"I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to the visit, and she arrived half an hour early. I was out on the hill with Bess when I saw this strange car come up the drive."
“She?“ said Bronwyn interrupting David.
“Yes, a she. Not a bad looking bit of stuff. If I were only ten years younger,” he said with a sigh in his voice.
Bronwyn grinned at David.
"A looker then?"
David nodded his head.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give her a 9.5.”
"She must be good if you rate her that highly. You haven't even looked at another woman since?"
“Sorry!”
She hastily added. The memory of that day was still very, very painful for both of them.
Bronwyn stopped before she put her foot in it. Instead, she put the now full pint glass on the bar.
Then she said,
"In my experience, it is always bad news when you get a visit in person from the Revenue. How much do you owe the bloodsuckers?"
"That's the problem," said David as he picked up the pint of beer.
David continued after downing almost half of the pint and licking the remains of the head from his upper lip.
“The problem is that I don’t owe them a bent penny. They owe me almost sixty grand in refunds and compensation. I’ve been doing my returns all wrong for the last ten years. Who am I to argue with the Revenue? The problem was that we… I was just following their written instructions,
hence the compensation. I showed the woman from the Revenue the letter that they sent me after my last cockup. It seems that those instructions were wrong.”
“Does that mean you won’t have to sell up? You were talking about it a while back.”
"It does Sis, it does. The refund means that I can get the roof of the house fixed. Francis was always going on at me about that."
Bronwyn looked at her brother. She knew that there was something else on his mind.
"I can sense that there is something else?"
David tried hard but failed to suppress a grin.
"As she was leaving, Matilda came to say hello. The result was that my visitor went A-over-T into the farmyard mud. I left her trying to dry out. Her clothes went in the washer. I thought... it might be prudent to let her sort herself out without me getting in the way."
Bronwyn laughed. That behaviour was his brother down to a ‘T’. He was never a ladies man.
"That goat of yours will do some serious damage one of these days."
“Matilda means well but does not know her own strength.”
David took another drink from his glass.
"Can you reserve a table for two for tonight? I want to take her out to dinner as a way of saying sorry, and thanks for the tax refund at the same time. You'd better book her a room as well."
Bronwyn smiled at her brother and then laughed.
"Don't you have any of Frances' clothes that she could have worn?"
David glared at his sister.
"You know as well as I do, that I don’t, especially as you took most of them and donated the few that were any good to charity? And didn’t the rest of them go in the rubbish?"
"I just wondered if you had any in your bottom drawer?"
"You know very well that only one item remains which was her wedding dress. Hardly appropriate given the circumstances, don't you think? It was her mother's and would be there for you should you ever get wed?"
“I was only wondering if I’d missed anything?”
"You didn't. I left her with the washer and dryer and instructions on feeding Bess. It was clear that Bess was rather taken with her, when she tried to lick the mud from her face. That caused her to forgive me and that dammed goat."
He looked down at the dog.
“Patch decided to jump ship and come with me… didn’t you boy?”
The dog picked up its ears at the sound of its name. When he understood that no food or treats were coming his way, he sank down and closed his eyes to wait for the next command from his master.
Bronwyn laughed.
"So, the inner gentleman in you felt it prudent to beat a hasty exit so as not to embarrass the young lady?"
“Something like that,” said David as he finished his pint.
"But if you have some old clothes, I could borrow? Just in case she can't get the dryer to work?"
His sister smiled and shook her head all at the same time.
“Another one?”
David looked at the clock on the wall behind the bar and thought for a second.
“Please, and a cheese sandwich just to tide me over until this evening plus, I don't want to burst in on her while she is… well, you know what I mean."
Bronwyn began to pour another pint with a grin on her face. At the same time, she was thinking about this mysterious woman who had gotten under her brother's skin. Since the death of his wife, he'd hardly looked at another woman, let alone take her out for a meal. That quiet Wednesday had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting.
“Hello?” said David tentatively as he poked his head around the door to his kitchen.
There was silence. Not even Bess was around to give him a welcome yelp. Her decidedly ancient Fiat 500 was still parked half in the yard and half out of it so she hadn’t done a runner.
After a slight hesitation, he walked into the kitchen getting in the way of Patch who had gone in search of something to eat.
The absence of a pile of dishes in the sink surprised him. Someone and it could only be ‘her’ had done the washing up and tided away. He felt ashamed but dismissed it. The young lady from the Revenue had turned up as announced and he’d taken her into the rarely used dining room to discuss business. If Matilda hadn’t…? It was no use beating himself up. She was way out of his league in so many ways. ‘If only’ was an expression that had crossed his mind at least once a day since the tragic death of his wife.
David stopped mid-stride and allowed himself a small smile as he remembered what his sister had said. She was right in that since the death of his wife Frances he had not looked at another woman even in a half-romantic way.
After a big sigh, David took off his jacket and hung it up. As he was doing so, he noticed a piece of paper propped up against his electric kettle.
“David, Thanks for being such a gentleman earlier. My clothes are airing above the radiator in the back bedroom. I took the liberty of borrowing a pair of boots and an overall. Bess wanted to be taken for a walk after eating a whole bowl of dog food. Don’t worry, I have given Matilda a wide berth,
Detta.”
David breathed a sigh of relief.
For a moment, David wondered if he was losing his mind. Then he heard Bess barking. Patch exited the house at the speed of light. Bess only barked like that when she was close to Matilda. That goat was more than a match for a lowly border collie, but Bess had to make her presence known to her arch-enemy. The arrival of Patch to help his mother would create a stalemate.
He went outside to meet Bernadetta and Bess.
“Hello Ms Rossi,” said David as they walked into the farmyard.
She smiled back at David. For a second, he mistook her for Frances. She looked so like his late wife with her hair tied up with a scarf and wearing overalls.
“Detta please,” she said. That brought his thoughts back to the here and now.
“I’m hardly on the clock dressed like this?”
David tried hard but failed to stop a tear from flowing.
“What’s wrong? Did I do wrong by taking Bess for a walk?”
He shook his head.
“No… It isn’t you. Well… not quite. For a moment, you looked just like my late wife. Sorry, you don’t need to know my silliness.”
Detta stepped closer to him.
“David, I’m sorry for that. I’ll go and get changed right away. Then I’ll be on my way.”
He shook his head.
“Please. I took the liberty of booking you a room at the pub for tonight. I have also booked us a table just so that I can properly say sorry for the inconvenience that both I and Matilda have caused you. Please stay.”
“I’m not sure that I can accept anything from you. Rules and all that stuff.”
“Matilda caused you to get very muddy. It is only right that I can do my best to apologise for her.”
David sighed.
“Matilda was nothing more than a freshly weaned kid when… when my wife died. The idea of raising goats was part of her grand plan to diversify. That other letter I showed you that came from your Mr Thomas Williams, poured scorn on it which made Frances all the more determined to do it. Then you turn up today and say that the advice that we received from the Revenue was all wrong. My mind is not working straight at the moment. I’m sorry. As you well know, this place just ticks over and employing an accountant to do my taxes would wipe out what little profit I make in some years.”
Detta stood back and wondered for a moment why this man whom she had never met before today was telling her this stuff about himself. Then a few words from her now-deceased grandmother came to mind.
She had said 'People grieve in all sorts of ways. Not grieving is the worst of all."
It became clear to her at that moment that he hadn't properly grieved for the loss of his wife.
“I’ll gladly accompany you to dinner tonight,” said Detta with a small smile on her face.
“What about those rules and stuff?”
“Sod them. This is more important,” she replied defiantly.
“As for Matilda? Don’t get even think of getting rid of her because what she did to me. I’m just glad that there were no cameras around to record my embarrassment on social media.”
David was about to say something but instead, he pointed up at the eaves of the barn on the other side of the farmyard.
Detta looked at what he was pointing at. Pointing right at her was a CCTV camera.
“I installed it last year after some drunken scumbags tried to steal my tractor. Luckily, it was broken down at the time but they tried to hot-wire it. Luckily, the battery was on charge in the shed while I waited for a new prop-shaft universal joint to be delivered. The camera is activated by motion. Sorry. I’ll delete the footage right away.”
“Don’t bother. I don’t think that you are the sort of person who will post it all over social media,” said Detta.
David shook his head.
“I’ll delete it just to be sure. One farm down near Pembroke was cleared out by some thieves last year. I mean everything including the kitchen sink was removed all while the farmer was fighting for his life in hospital after a heart attack. I won’t take the chance of them returning and taking the recorder with them.”
Then David changed the subject.
“Why don’t you see if your clothes are dry enough to wear? If, they are I’ll take you down to the village and introduce you to the landlady. She’ll take good care of you.”
Detta laughed.
“I guess that it would cause a scene if I turned up looking like this?”
“That really would set the local gossips on fire. They’ve been a bit starved of food since John Griffiths got busted for being drunk and then slugging a Police Officer after Wales beat England at Rugby in Cardiff to win the Six Nations. If that was not bad enough, John happens to be one of the local Magistrates.”
“Ouch!” exclaimed Detta.
“Yeah. He got 200 hours of community service for his sins.”
Detta disappeared into the house while David gave some attention to Bess. Like Matilda, she was a link back to his late wife. She’d chosen Bess from the litter less than a week before she had so tragically died. Allowing Bess to have a litter of six pups was his feeble attempt at trying to move forward. It had broken his heart to give his brothers and sisters away. He’d nearly given the runt of the litter, Patch to his sister Bronwyn but common sense prevailed at the last minute.
David followed Patch towards the sound of the barking. He breathed a huge sigh when he saw that Matilda was safely locked in her pen as he rounded the corner of the lambing shed. When Bess saw him, she came to heel at his side leaving Patch to guard them all from Matilda.
“I know you missed me, Bess. In a few days, we will begin rounding up the Ewe’s for lambing. I know that you love that don’t you, my girl?”
Bess gave out a little yelp as David knelt down and petted his dog.
[one hour later in the Village]
“Bronwyn!” said David calling out as he entered the Pub.
“I’m in the kitchen,” came a distant voice.
David smiled at Detta.
“She’s probably making sure that we have a good selection of dishes on the menu for this evening.”
Detta was still a bit hesitant about accepting this hospitality but her resistance was weakening all the time and that was troubling her.
Bronwyn appeared behind the bar smiling.
“You must be our guest for the night?”
“That me,” said Detta.
“Sis, meet Bernadetta, the lady from the Revenue and Customs.”
“Please call me Detta.”
“Welcome to the Waggon and Horses, Detta. Let me show you your room?”
Detta smiled.
Bronwyn looked at her younger brother.
“We’ll see you at seven. Not a minute earlier and not a minute later understand?”
David took the hint and beat a hasty exit.
Detta looked a bit worried. Bronwyn saw the look of concern on her face.
“My brother whom I love dearly has… shall we say become rather erratic in his timekeeping.”
Detta didn’t seem convinced.
“Your room is up the stairs. First door on the right. Let me show you?”
Bronwyn showed Detta to her room.
“When you are settled in, come downstairs and I’ll fix us some tea. We don’t open the pub doors until six thirty. Chef will be in at six to finish the prep so we have the place to ourselves for a bit.”
Detta was looking forward to an hour or so on her own before eating but it looked like that was going to be next to impossible. Making small talk was one life skill that had passed her by. Her sister and mother could literally talk the hind legs off a donkey, but she was more like her two brothers in that she was more of a no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point sort of person.
Her room was spacious and functional. To her surprise, some toiletries were lying on the bed. This caused Detta to smile. She was at least being made welcome unlike many of the people she came into contact with as part of her job. Today was one of those rare occasions where things were different even without the incident with Matilda.
Detta looked out of the window. The countryside around the farm and the village was a far cry from her old family home on Barry Island. Getting out of Cardiff and the valleys were always events to saviour as a child. She remembered one family holiday that they’d taken to Prestatyn, on the north coast. It had rained almost non-stop all week. The whole family were depressed and the caravan that they'd rented leaked to make matters worse. It was October because they couldn’t go away during the summer because their family was in the Ice-Cream business.
For Detta, it was a time of release. Despite the rain, she walked the beaches every day. One day, she'd taken the bus to Conwy and had toured the castle. Her family had called the Police as they thought that she'd been abducted. Her mother and father had torn into her in Italian. It was not a nice experience and had not changed her determination to leave them as soon as she could. To reinforce her quest for independence, the next day, she took the train to Llandudno and then the tram up the Great Orme. This time, she’d left a note telling her parents where she was going. That didn’t stop them from planning on haranguing her when she returned.
They were waiting for her in the pouring rain at the top of the Great Orme and getting ready to tear her off a strip but the site of her happy face through the window of the tram made them forget that and give her a nice welcome after all, she was only 7 years old at the time. After that episode, her parents gave her a lot more freedom to roam than her brothers.
She looked around the bedroom and came back to the here and now. It didn’t look all that different from the Bedsit that she rented halfway up a very steep hill in Abercynon. A call from downstairs stopped her daydreaming and wishful thinking.
“Detta, the tea is ready!”
After a sigh, Detta said.
“Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be down.”
“Ok. Take your time, it needs to brew” said Bronwyn from the bottom of the stairs.
After putting a brush through her fairly short hair and checking how she looked in the mirror, she shrugged.
“That will have to do I’m afraid…” she said to herself.
Then she went to meet Bronwyn.
Her host was waiting for her in the Restaurant area of the bar. A teapot complete with knitted cosy was waiting for her. For half a second, Detta thought of the times she’d had tea with her grandmother. Her teapot had a padded cosy but…
“How do you take it?” asked Bronwyn as Detta sat opposite her.
“Just a little milk please.”
“We only have fully leaded milk here I’m afraid. The milkman is due in the morning.”
“Fully leaded?”
Bronwyn let out a small chuckle.
“Sorry. That’s what we call full cream milk around here. It comes from a dairy just a few miles away. We had a load of cyclists in at the weekend. Milk and pints of it all around took all of the semi-skimmed and skimmed, until the next delivery from the Dairy tomorrow.”
“Ah,” said Detta.
"I get you. That's fine," she added trying to remember the last time she'd had that sort of milk.
Detta mentally kicked herself. Her mind had been all over the place since the incident with Matilda. It had been so unexpected that instead of getting angry, she'd managed to laugh at her mud-splattered appearance.
“Now tell me about your encounter with Matilda?” asked Bronwyn.
“Not a lot to tell really. Matilda saw a target as in my backside and hit it dead centre. I ended up face down in the mud. Then Bess came and started licking the mud off. For a second or so, I was angry but the sheer absurdity of the scene made me laugh it off.”
Bronwyn smiled.
“I keep on at David to get those drains in the yard outside the cottage fixed but he always says that money is tight. What happened then?”
“I’m still trying to work that out. So far, the only conclusion I can come up with and I don’t mean to insult your family but I think that he is scared of women. The way he told me how to wash my clothes and then he was gone. It was almost as if he was running away.”
Bronwyn really did laugh this time.
“Detta! I love you. I’ve been saying that for years. Somehow, he found and married a wonderful woman totally out of the blue. He went off to for a short holiday, and came back with a fiancé on his arm.”
“I understand that she died in rather tragic circumstances? David sort of hinted at some sort of accident and I think that he blames himself.”
“He does but it wasn’t his fault. His wife, Frances was out on their quadbike checking on the fences, and it overturned trapping her underneath. She died before David found her. He’d been away getting some silage from another farm down near Llandovery, and was alerted by his then dog, Shep, when he returned. Shep passed away a few months later. She seemed to pine for her mistress.”
The description of how his wife had died shocked Detta.
“That’s why he’s banned quad bikes from his farm. He’s even put a full roll cage in his Land Rover.”
“I saw that notice by the entrance to his place. It all makes sense now.”
“What was worse was that Frances was three months pregnant.”
Detta closed her eyes and tried to imagine the heartache that David must have gone through at the time. To lose a wife and baby in such tragic circumstances was just unimaginable to her.
“That must have hit him hard?” said Detta after she’d opened her eyes.
“It did. It knocked him for six several times over. I spent two months at the farm helping as best I could to get him through it.”
“That must have been hard?”
Bronwyn chuckled.
“I actually enjoyed not being behind the bar. Yes, it was hard work, but I began to appreciate the work that goes into running a farm. You have to just roll up your sleeves and get on with it.”
“You aren’t from a farming background then?” asked Detta.
“Not at all. Our parents were shopkeepers in Penarth, but the growth of the supermarkets… well they got squeezed out. David always had his sights set on becoming a farmer. He went off to Agricultural College and worked on a farm near Hereford before getting the farm here. Our parents then sold up and gave us our inheritance. With my part, I was able to afford to buy the tenancy here.”
“You are obviously close then?”
“We always were. I think it all stemmed from when we both contracted glandular fever at the same time. Two months of being in the same room together made us very close. If we hadn’t done that, it is highly likely that one of us would have killed the other one.”
Detta finished her cup of tea. She looked at Bronwyn and after a small smile, she stood up.
“Thanks for the tea. I have to send a few emails about tomorrow before the evening.”
“My pleasure,” said Bronwyn.
“Detta, can I make a plea to you as a woman?”
Her words slightly stunned Detta.
“What do you mean?”
“All I’m asking is if fate decrees that somehow, you have a relationship with my brother and it goes wrong that you let him down gently. I don’t think that he could survive another sudden breakup.”
“I… I don’t know what you mean?” said Detta slightly stuttering.
“Oh yeah? I can see the glint in your eyes when you talked about David. I didn’t do a Masters in Psychology for nothing…”
[to be continued]
[Browyn and Bernadetta (Detta) were having a heart to heart about Bronwyn’s brother David]
“I’m still not sure what you mean?” said Detta.
“Look Detta, the death of Frances hit him really, really hard. She was his life, the thing that he went out in all weathers to look after his sheep for. You probably don’t know that the rate of suicides amongst farmers is almost the highest of any profession in the country. In the early days after her death, I spent hours and hours talking him down from ending it. When she so tragically died, as far as he was concerned, his life was over. There was a lot about the relationship between the two of them that he would not open up to even me, his sister about. I know for a fact that he’s never looked at another woman since, but when he came into the Pub earlier, it was as if he had come alive again. It was the old David, the one that was deeply in love with Frances. Do you get what I'm saying?”
Detta said nothing for almost a minute. Then she sat down and looked Bronwyn in the eyes.
“David is a nice man but… I’ve not thought about anything other than today. I’ll be gone in the morning. He’ll soon forget about me.”
Bronwyn shook her head.
“As I said, I'll be gone tomorrow. He's got lambing in a couple of weeks and he’ll soon forget that I ever existed other than as a good laugh for getting dunked in the mud by that goat of his.”
“But will you?” asked Bronwyn.
Detta knew what she was hinting at. Her life such as it was, was in Cardiff, not in the back of beyond in the middle of Wales.
“Detta, David is here,” said the voice.
The voice belonged to Bronwyn.
"Thanks, Bronwyn. I'll be down in a minute."
Detta closed the laptop, the emails that should have been sent hadn’t even been written.
She looked at her face in the mirror. She was thankful for two things. The first being that she’d not bothered to apply any mascara after the shower that she’d taken at David’s and secondly that she hadn’t cried after her heart to heart with Bronwyn. There was little she could do or even wanted to do about her appearance. David would have to take her as he found her but…
Then she thought… The man is lonely that is clear. Is he the only one like that? Browyn’s words were haunting her.
After a shake of hair and a quick brush, Detta picked up her bag and headed for the door. She opened it and stopped dead. After a deep breath, she closed the door behind her and went downstairs with a few of Shakespeare’s words in her mind.
“Once more unto the breach my friends.” [1]
“Hello David,” said Detta for want of anything else to say.
Detta was a bit taken aback by how he looked. Gone were the slightly grubby overalls and wellies and in its place was a dark blue suit and polished black shoes. The problem was that he was far too small for the suit. It fell about on his lithe frame. She hadn’t noticed just how small he was when they’d met earlier in the day. The overall that she'd borrowed earlier had been a very good fit for her.
“Good evening Detta. It is nice to see you again.”
David stood up and held her chair as she sat at their table. Her assessment of him being a gentleman was so far, holding up.
“Thank you,” said Detta as she settled into her seat.
[two hours later]
“Thank you for a delightful evening,” said Detta as she stood up from their table.
“Going so soon?” said a sad David.
“Not quite yet. I have one more job to do.”
David looked a bit startled.
Detta grinned back at him.
“Don’t you think that we should put all these friends of yours out of their misery?”
David sensed a disaster about to fall on him.
Detta sensed his unease.
“Don’t worry David. It will be good, believe me.”
Detta went over to the bar. At the end of its polished teak surface, there was a bell. Detta rang the bell. As soon as the tone rang out, all chatter in the bar stopped. A few people looked at their phones or watches wondering if ‘last orders’ had come already. It hadn’t and within a few seconds, everyone’s attention was on Detta.
“Thank you for your attention. It has been brought to my attention, that there are a lot more people than normal for a Wednesday in the bar tonight. I am sure that Bronwyn will appreciate the extra income. However, as the evening progressed, it became clear to me that the reason for the presence of so many here tonight is myself. For that, I am honoured but nothing is going on between David and myself. Let me introduce myself. My name is Bernadetta Rossi and I work for the HMRC.”
She let that sink in for a moment. A few people looked a bit uncomfortable.
“I met with David earlier to give him some good news and a tax refund. You see, we don’t always want your money.”
After another brief pause, she carried on.
“For my sins, I was greeted at David’s farm by a goat. I’m sure that many of you have met her yourself. Matilda’s welcome resulted in me ending up face down in the farmyard mud. That serves me right for working for the Revenue, eh?”
There were a few titters amongst those present.
"David, like the gentleman that you all know he is, let me wash myself and my clothes while he came here for a pint as no doubt Bronwyn will confirm. To say sorry for my encounter with Matilda, he invited me to dinner tonight. I’m staying here in the pub tonight thanks to Bronwyn, and tomorrow I will return to my office in Cardiff Bay. That is the end of the story.”
Detta returned to the table where David was sitting. He was a bit red in the face but was very proud of Detta. His admiration of her had just leapt to another level but that also meant that she was even more unobtainable than ever.
“I think that might have put a sock in a few of the rumours that might have been about to spread around the village,” said a confident Detta.
David shook his head.
“Too late for that.”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is that your presence here tonight with me was already trending on the village Facebook page before I left home tonight.”
Detta sat down at the table. This was a bit of a surprise to her. Her thoughts went from the local FB page to the people at work. It would not be good for her prospects if anyone thought that she was in a relationship with a person of interest to her department.
"Oh! I didn't know. We have a ruling in the department about using social media. It is frowned upon to post anything that could be used to… bribe you if you get my thread?"
David nodded.
“I have to hope that what I said stops any further posts.”
There was a strained silence between the two.
Detta stood up again. This time she was much more positive about her stance.
“Thanks, for the evening David. I hope my presence here today does not mess up your life too much and I wish you all the best for your lambing season. Just keep Matilda locked up when you are expecting visitors in the future, ok?”
“Thanks, Detta. I will.”
She left him and a fast-emptying bar and headed upstairs to her room.
“Hello David, I was expecting you,” said his sister Bronwyn.
“I’m afraid that your trip down the mountain was wasted. She’s gone.”
He looked at the clock on the wall. It said 07:12.
"Already? I wanted to show her the latest post on Facebook. She’s in the clear.”
Bronwyn nodded.
“I showed it to her before she left. That was just after six.”
Then she sighed.
“What a lovely lady. Much like Frances, but very different if you understand?”
David nodded.
“As different as chalk and cheese, but strangely likeable.”
Then he sighed.
“Oh well. At least it provided some entertainment for the locals.”
“And some useful trade for a midweek night,” added Bronwyn.
“I’d better get back. There is some bad weather in the forecast for the end of the week so I'm starting to bring the ewes into the field next to the house today. The good late summer weather has spread them all over the hills. Bess, Patch and I are going to have our work cut out getting them down from the tops. I’ve booked the ‘tup’ for a week today. When he’s done, I can bring in the ewes that will give birth in the next four to six weeks. Luckily, they are all in the fields near the river.”
“How many lambs are you looking for this lambing season?”
“There should be just under a hundred and sixty from ninety-five ewes that were ‘tupped’ in the spring. The last time the vet examined them, there were eighty with twins, one triplet and fourteen singles. That could give me just over one hundred and seventy. We had reports of some rustling over the summer, didn’t we? But, any number over one-fifty means a decent profit when they go to market next May or June even if the weather is bad and I have to keep them inside until February or March. I’ve managed two silage cuts this year so I have plenty of feed.”
“Good luck with the hunt.”
David was up to his neck with the lambing, and had been for over a week and a half. He could see the light at the end of the lambing tunnel but there were just over twenty ewes still to give birth.
He was in the middle of trying to introduce a lamb to a ewe that wasn't its natural mother. David was concentrating so hard on that task that he failed to notice that a figure had appeared at the door of the lambing shed. The lamb’s real mother had given birth to triplets but as sheep only have two teats, a mother can only suckle two offspring. The trick is to take the afterbirth of a lamb that was an only child and rub it over the lamb that is to be adopted. The ewe smells the afterbirth and thinks that the new lamb is hers. That is the theory but sometimes, it does not work. David was finding out that this was one of these times when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. A person was standing in the doorway. They were silhouetted by the setting sun.
“Don’t just stand there on ceremony, get a bucket of clean water and some of the rags by the tap and give me a hand.
The visitor looked around and saw the sink, tap and a bucket. They did as they were asked and soon, they were standing by the side of David. They put the bucket down and stepped back.
David went to grab the bucket but for some reason, he stopped trying to remove some afterbirth from a bleating lamb.
He looked up at his visitor and did a double-take.
“Detta? What are you doing here?”
She smiled back at David.
“I’ve come to give you a hand… If I’m not too late that is?”
“Any help I can get at the moment is most welcome.”
Then he stopped wiping down the lamb.
“But… shouldn’t you be at work?”
“That does not matter. What matters is that I’m ready to muck in and help wherever I can.”
“Why? Why did you come?”
“It is complicated. I’ll tell you later. What can I do right now?”
“If it isn’t too much trouble, could you go and make me something to eat and a mug of tea. I've hardly stopped since well before dawn.”
Detta started to say something but stopped herself.
“Ok. Are you going to come inside to eat or do you want me to bring it out here?”
"I'll come in. This little fella will need bottle feeding, if he is going to survive."
“Ok. Give me a few minutes.”
Detta left David wiping the last of the afterbirth from the lamb. His mind was totally on the welfare of the lamb. That was far more important to him than anything else. Her already good opinion of David had gone up several notches. As she walked towards the house, some of Bronwyn’s words came back to her. She’d just witnessed them in action.
“Can you hold this little one while I get some of the crap off of me?” said David as he came into the kitchen. The front of his overall was caked with dried on afterbirth.
Detta took hold of the lamb, and cradled it in her arms. Somehow, the little fella's mouth found her little finger. Right away, it started sucking. She looked around for any sign of some milk. The fridge was on the other side of the kitchen.
She heard David washing in the utility room. There was not much she could do with a newborn lamb in her arms. She consoled herself in that David had not thrown a mega wobbly when she surprised him in the lambing shed.
David soon appeared looking half human again. There was still a good amount of straw in the unruly mop of blonde hair that sorely needed a cut, but that was for another day.
David had removed the very soiled overalls that he was wearing when they came into the house. Detta was not looking at doing the washing. There was a pile of dirty overalls on the floor of the utility room. She guessed that they were similarly caked in afterbirth and sheep poo. From the smell, she guessed that they'd need at least two washes to get them half presentable once more. That was for another day.
David went to the fridge and took out some milk.
"This came from a ewe that injured herself giving birth. I milked her before putting her down. A ewe with a broken back leg can't suckle a lamb. Luckily her lamb was adopted by another ewe who only gave birth to one. This milk contains all the good milk enzymes that helps a lamb build an immune system.”
He put some water on to warm up, and decanted the milk into a bottle with a teat. He then put the bottle with a teat into the warming water. All the time the lamb was sucking hard on Detta’s little finger. Detta admired his dexterity and was not looking forward to trying it herself.
"Thank you for coming, but I'm not sure why you did, but thanks," said David as he waited for the milk to warm.
"Bronwyn told me that you were on your own for lambing this year, and I had some… no, a lot of holidays that needed using up, and here I am… ready and willing to help out."
David managed a small smile. His whole demeanour said, 'I'm knackered'.
“This should be warm enough for now. There is one more bottle’s worth in the fridge,” said David as he handed Detta the bottle.
“Thanks.”
The lamb took to the bottle in a flash.
A smile appeared on Detta’s face. She’d never done anything like this before.
David looked at Detta and smiled. He was glad of any help at this time of year. The arrival of this mysterious woman was unexpected, but he was sure that there had to be more to it than her just wanting to help him out.
“Is there a problem with your job?”
Detta didn't react. Her attention was on the lamb, who continued to suck as if sucking was going out of fashion.
"I'm on vacation for another five weeks. Then I go back for a week, and I'm finished with the HMRC,” said Detta without taking her eyes off of the lamb.
“Done? But? You seemed to love your job from what you were saying when you were here last month.”
Detta looked up from the sucking lamb.
"To cut a long story short, we had a new boss arrive on the scene a week after I was last here. She has messed up a highly functional and efficient department in less than a month. Cruella De Ville had nothing on her. Two weeks down the line, and six of the eight in the department have handed in our notices. The six of us did it together two days ago. We went over her head, and gave them to her manager who went bonkers when she was called into the meeting, but we all held firm. I had six weeks of leave accrued, so I told her… the new boss that I'm taking it all now, and I'll see her when that is done, and then we will work out the rest of my notice period. She wasn't happy. We… that is the six of us who have resigned, have also filed a constructive dismissal case against her.”
“Ouch. But I know that you loved that job.”
"I did until she appeared on the scene. Not long after we filed the case against her, our lawyer told us that there were more than twenty other cases against her in the pipeline. She had the cheek to reprimand me for filling out a form and going over the allotted space for text. Talk about pettiness. That all took place a week ago. I spent the rest of last week packing up my bedsit. Everything, I own apart from what is in my car is now in storage."
“Why?” said David.
Detta smiled. He was completely oblivious to what she was hoping for.
“David… I’ve come to give you a hand for the rest of the lambing. Bronwyn said that…”
“What has my sister been blabbing about?”
“David, it is not like that. She said that you could do with some help, so here I am for the duration of lambing. She also told me that in past years, you had some help with lambing. However, that person was not available this year and Bronwyn hinted you would be struggling, so here I am, willing to learn as long as Matilda is kept well away from me.”
David didn’t look that happy.
"I didn't mean to intrude, but I’m guessing that this little one needs a bottle every few hours, and it is clear that you can't do it all on your own, can you?"
David's eyes went anywhere but to Detta. He was clearly embarrassed by her directness.
"Ok, but I don't know where you can sleep. There isn’t a room prepared.”
Detta smiled.
"Bronwyn warned me about that, so I brought a blow-up mattress and some bedding with me. They are in the car.
David didn’t move. It had been a long time since he’d had a woman other than his sister in his kitchen.
"I'll look after this little one. Why don't you go back into the lambing shed, and I'll get you something to eat? No more microwave-ready meals understand?" said Detta looking at the pedal bin that was almost full with empty food cartons.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” asked David.
Detta smiled.
“I’m here, I’m ready and willing. Now be gone but only for an hour. One hour, ok?”
"I can't determine when my girls are going to lamb any more than you can forecast the weather," said a slightly defiant David.
"That's fine. If you are not here then, I'll bring the food out to you."
David nodded his head and left Detta alone with the lamb, who by now was sucking on an empty bottle.
"Right, little one, that is all for now," said Detta to the lamb who had emptied the bottle. She wrapped the tiny creature in a fairly dirty blanket. The place would take a lot of effort to get straight once lambing was over.
David had thoughtfully set up a small pen next to the large wood-fired stove. The absence of heat coming from it told Detta that firing that up would have to wait until later.
She put the lamb into the pen and wrapped it in a blanket. It didn’t object.
Detta then busied herself with preparing some food. Thanks to a heads up from David's sister Bronwyn, she'd come prepared with some Lasagne using her mother's special recipe. All it needed was cooking.
Luckily for her, the oven was not that different from the one in her old flat. She soon had the oven on and the food inside. She also had the ingredients for some special sauce that made the good lasagne into something special.
While she waited for the Lasagne to cook, Detta looked around the kitchen. She gave a little shudder when she wondered what her mother would think of her jacking it all in with the Revenue and coming here like this. It could all so easily go pear-shaped, but she had to try this even if it meant leaving in a few days, with her virtual tail between her legs.
The delicious smells coming from the oven spurred her into action. Detta prepared a side salad, grated some Welsh Parmesan, cooked up the sauce, and put some plates into the top oven to warm for the meal. A meal that she hoped would get David firmly on her side just like her mother did with her father and their parents had done before them.
[to be continued]
[1] Henry V Act 3 Scene 1.
“This is good. Thanks,” said David as he wiped the last of the Lasagne sauce from his plate with a piece of bread.
“Only ‘good’?”
“No. That was the best lasagne I’ve ever eaten. You’d better not tell Bronwyn or she’ll be after the recipe. This would go down a treat at the Pub.”
“That’s a family recipe I’m afraid, but I’m glad that you liked it. A lot better than those salt laden microwave meals that you seem to have been surviving on.”
“I don’t really have time for much else during lambing.”
Detta smiled.
“I know. Your animals come first and so they should, but it doesn’t do to go too far the other way. When was the last time you slept in your bed?”
“You noticed my sleeping bag then?”
“I did. So, when was it?”
“Just before lambing started.”
“Then tonight you will sleep in your bed. I’ll keep an eye on the ewes.”
“But you don’t know what to do?”
Detta shook her head.
“There are plenty of videos on YouTube. I’ve watched a few of them. If I get into trouble then I’ll come and get you.”
David didn’t answer so Detta tried another tack.
“You had to learn somewhere, didn’t you?”
He looked her right in the eye and slowly, he nodded his head.
“Ok, but promise me that you will come and get me no matter what time of the night it is?”
“I promise.”
David nodded. Detta was coming to understand that was his way of shutting down a conversation.
“Now why don’t you go out and tend to your babies. I’ll clear up in here.”
Over the course of the next two hours, Detta cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom. She got the big cast iron range going after a few failures due to some damp kindling. Slowly the room began to heat up much to her delight.
She also did two loads of washing. Actually, it was just one load that needed a second wash. The mess from the lambing had dried hard and one wash was nowhere near enough to shift it.
With the now clean overalls drying in front of the range, Detta sat down and took stock. It was clear that she’d only just started on the farmhouse. She wondered if it hadn’t been properly cleaned since the tragic death of Frances.
“That was then. This is now!” she said out loud as she stood up and put the kettle on. If she could do with a cuppa, she was sure that David would welcome one as well.
Detta carried the tea out to the shed. It was silent but for the sound of ewes and their lambs. Then she saw David. He was fast asleep in his sleeping bag.
For a second, Detta thought about turning around and going back to the now warm kitchen. The two lambs in the pen next to the stove had been fed and were comfortable so she decided that it was as good a time as any to get involved with the lambing.
Then panic set in. Despite watching a lot of videos on the subject, she had no idea where to start.
Detta sat down on a straw bale feeling totally lost. The enormity of what she’d let herself in for was starting to hit home hard. She needed some help and the only person to give it other than the one who was fast asleep just a few feet from her, was his sister Bronwyn.
Detta returned to the privacy of the kitchen before making a phone call.
“Hello Bronwyn,” said Detta when the phone was answered.
“I’m fine…”
“No. Actually I’m not that fine. I need help. David is exhausted and fast asleep in the lambing shed and I don’t know where to start with the Ewes that haven’t given birth yet.”
“Sorry for lumping my troubles onto you but there wasn’t anyone else this side of Barry Island that I could call.”
“Yep, I’m up shit creek. All my lofty ideas and cunning plans have come crashing down in a heap of smelly goat dung.”
“David said that there aren’t that many left to give birth but… Do you know of someone who could help me and therefore David out?”
“Some advice would be useful and if it could be on the QT then even better.”
“You do? How do I get in touch with him?”
“I do,” said Detta as she listened to what Bronwyn was saying.
“Ok, I understand. Thanks Bronwyn, I owe you big time.”
Then she laughed.
“Well, anything but that. David couldn’t wait to tell you then? I’ll give you some hints but my family guards two things in life. One is their Ice Cream secret sauce and the second is the recipe to Lasagne.”
Then Detta laughed.
“I will wait for his call. Thanks.”
Detta paced around the kitchen waiting for Bronwyn’s friend Alun Thomas to call. According to Bronwyn, he had a farm near Rhyader and was where she purchased the beef that she served at the pub from. Apparently, Alun also had a small flock of some rare breed sheep and those had only just been let loose with the ‘tup’ which thanks to YouTube, she now knew was a male sheep who’s only real job in the world is to make ewes pregnant.
Almost half an hour went by before her phone rang. She didn’t recognise the number so she hoped that it was Alun.
“Hello?”
“Hello Alun, thanks for calling. Can you help me out? Me and my big mouth…”
“Yep, I’m pretty much a total newbie.”
“David said around twenty over the next three days.”
“Ok, I am listening and I have a notepad at the ready.”
Detta spent almost twenty minutes listening to Alun and then asking him all sorts of questions in the hope that she didn’t come over as being totally stupid.
“Thanks Alun. You have been a big help. One day, I hope I can repay you for your kindness.”
She ended the call feeling both happy and embarrassed. Happy that at least some of what she’d picked up on YouTube was correct and embarrassed that she’d had to even ask some very basic questions.
Detta returned to the lambing shed and began to look for signs of an impending birth.
She looked at all the ewes who seemed to be fine. Detta saw none of the signs that indicates that a birth was imminent, that Alun had described to her on the phone. After pacing around for a bit, she sat down on a bale next to David.
The next thing she knew, it was dawn. David stirred which in turn woke up Detta. She found that he’d wrapped his arm around her as well as putting a blanket over her. When she discovered that, she encountered a brief moment of panic before relaxing.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” said David’s voice.
Detta had to resist the urge to flee. She counted backwards from 100 before replying.
“I’m so sorry for falling asleep on the job.”
David chuckled.
“That’s ok. It takes practice to sleep with one eye on the ewes. You… no… we were lucky. None even came close to wanting to lamb last night.
This time, Detta did panic.
“The lambs in the kitchen. I must go to them. They will need feeding. I should have done it hours ago.”
David relaxed and let her literally dash out of the shed and into the house. She found the two lambs gently bleating. They were looking for a feed but the kitchen was warm, even if the fire in the stove had gone out.
As Detta warmed some more milk she thought back to the night. It had been a disaster in that she’d failed to stay awake but the only upside was that none of the remaining ewes had wanted to lamb while she slept. She rated her performance as a ‘D’ or even a ‘D-‘. There was a lot of room for improvement if she was going to make her time at the farm a success.
That thought caused her to freeze solid for a moment. Then a smile spread across her face. Despite all the mud and grime, this place felt like a home that needed her. Right there and then, she decided that she was staying no matter what.
Her musing was interrupted by the arrival of David.
“I’m afraid that the cupboard is pretty bare,” he said when he saw Detta spreading the last of the honey on some toast.
“Then I’ll have to go shopping sooner rather than later?”
David took a deep breath.
“Detta, please relax and sit down. You have been running around like a headless chicken since you arrived besides, we need to talk.”
Detta’s stomach did a few somersaults as she sat down.
“Thanks for being here last night. I got a few hours’ sleep and I feel a lot better for it so thanks for being here.”
“I’m sorry that I failed to stay awake.”
David smiled.
“Don’t worry about it. These things happen. I can see that you worked hard after I bailed out and went to the lambing shed.”
He paused and smiled.
“I do notice things other than lambs you know.”
Detta thought that his words seemed to be leading to a ‘but’ followed by the inevitable ‘thanks but no thanks’ from David.
He continued.
“I was not right in my mind yesterday which I put down to being exhausted. What I should have asked was why you came here? I remember you saying something about giving up your job and putting all your things into storage. There is more isn’t there?”
David had put Detta right on the spot.
She looked down at her hands before looking at David.
“I… When I was here before I … “
She stopped mid-sentence.
“Oh shit. I’m not doing this very well am I?”
David remained motionless.
“What I’m trying to say is that when I was here before, I felt something. At the time, I didn’t know what it was but by the time I got home the next evening I had an idea about what it was.”
She looked him right in the eyes.
“I know that it should be the man who says this, but I fancy you something rotten. I know that we come from very different backgrounds and that I would never want to even try to replace Frances, but when my job went pear shaped, I knew that I had to do something about what I was feeling.”
David appeared to be frozen to the spot.
The silence lasted well over twenty seconds. David’s mouth moved but no sound emerged.
Detta knew that she had to do something. She did.
She leaned over and kissed David. It was just a brief peck on his cheek but it did the trick.
“Sorry,” said Detta
“but you were stuck in the drowning fish mode.”
David laughed.
“I was a bit, wasn’t I?”
This time, the silence was not like the previous one.
“Detta…?”
“I know, I’m stuck in the past, but there is so much that you don’t know about me. Things that even my dear sister does not know about.”
“I’m here and I’m listening.”
“It is very complicated.”
Detta said nothing but waited for David to get the words that he wanted to say into some sort of order.
“I need to show you something. You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.”
He offered his hand to Detta as he stood up. She accepted it. She’d had her say now it was David’s turn.
He led Detta out into the yard and said,
“Climb in.”
He was referring to his ex-army short wheelbase Land Rover. This was his daily transport when the small 4-wheeled vehicle or the much larger tractor was not right.
“Where are we going?”
“Up there,” said David, pointing at the hill behind the farmhouse.
“And down the other side a bit.”
Detta was puzzled but didn’t say anything. She got into the Landy. The full roll-cage made getting in a bit of a task for Detta. She almost gasped with amazement as David just climbed in without any fuss. Detta guessed that it was a case of ‘practice makes perfect’.
He took off leaving both dogs running behind them. They easily kept pace with the Landy. Detta wondered if they were enjoying it. Then she mentally smacked herself. Of course, they were.
David followed the track along the side of the hill. Detta had walked part of this track with Bess before. The track made a sharp right turn and continued up the hill. The view down the valley towards the village was breathtakingly beautiful. For Detta, this was the real Wales, not her home in Barry.
He carried on over the top of the hill and in front of them a large hole in the ground appeared.
“This is the quarry that supplied the stone to build the farm. All the materials for the original farmhouse, apart from the slate for the roof which came from a mine near Corris, came from the land that was part of the original farm. What we have now is four hundred hectares smaller than that. The previous owner bought the land beyond the quarry at the end of the 1990’s but what is left, is more than enough for the size of my flock.”
David drove down a steep incline into the quarry. It was pretty overgrown but a small cottage looked to be in decent repair. A single solar panel on the roof told her that there might even be a light.
After pulling up in front of the building, David stopped the engine and sat motionless.
“I’ve not been here since Frances… She was coming here on her Quad Bike when she rolled it near the hairpin bend.”
Detta wanted to comfort David but at the last moment, she decided against it. He needed to do this… whatever this was.
Detta noticed that David was gripping the steering wheel with all his might. This was clearly hard for him… whatever this was. She chastised herself for thinking in cliché’s. It was a failing of hers that seemed to take over when she was stressed.
With a sigh, David got out of the vehicle. Detta followed suit. This time, she found getting out a bit easier than getting in.
She noticed that he didn’t look at her as he walked up to the house and took out a bunch of keys from his pocket. Detta wanted to help but thought better of it.
David unlocked the door and switched on a light. Detta was surprised by how the inside was decorated. It was almost as if it was a woman’s boudoir from the days before WW1.
“Please… Come inside,” said David.
Detta followed him inside the building.
“This was to be our little hidey hole. Then…”
Some tears formed in his eyes as he remembered his late wife. Detta desperately wanted to comfort him but something stopped her. He had to work this out for himself.
“Sorry…” he said.
“There is nothing to be sorry about.”
“But there is. See that picture on the wall behind the bed?”
Detta walked over to the picture. It was a photo of a “Pride” march. From the background, Detta guessed that it had been taken in London.
“This was taken when I first met Frances. This… is me.”
David pointed to one of the marchers. He was pointing to a woman or at least a man pretending to be a woman.
“I fell off those stupid heels and Frances rescued me. She saw the real me and… fell in love with me right there and then. That’s Frances beside me.”
The tears were running down his cheek as he took the photo down from the wall and held it close to his chest.
Detta began to understand at least some of the secrets that David had been keeping for years. For a moment she wondered if his sister knew anything about his secret.
Almost without thinking, she moved close to David and gently took the photo from him and put it down on the bed. Then she took his hands in hers and kissed him gently.
More tears streamed down his face. It was almost as if a great weight was being lifted from him.
“You… you don’t mind?” stuttered David when she broke off the kiss.
“Mind? Why should I? I knew right from the moment you hauled me up from the mud that I wanted to be with you. There was just something about you that made me want to come back. I knew that there was a lot that you were keeping secret from everyone, but I had no idea that it was this, but it does not matter. This is part of you and any woman who wants to be in your life has to accept that you have a different side to you. She has to either go with it or go away. I choose to go with it… whatever it is in reality.”
David looked at her through very teary eyes.
“I can never be like Frances. Even for me to try would be an insult to her memory. I want to make you happy and that will make me happy.”
David didn’t react to her words.
“Why don’t we go back to the farm and I’ll put the kettle on? Then we can talk…?”
David wiped his eyes and slowly nodded his head.
“Sit Bess. Sit Patch!” commanded Detta when they were back at the farmhouse.
The two dogs ignored her as they headed for their water dishes. They lapped up the water as if it was going out of fashion. Detta smiled as she refilled their bowls. The two dogs satisfied their thirst and headed for their baskets that were either side of the Aga range.
She filled the kettle and put it on to boil. David had been very quiet on the journey back from the quarry. He was like most men in that they kept things bottled up for far too long. She knew how serious that could be. Her grandfather had kept his diagnosis of a heart defect secret from not only his wife but the whole family. It wasn’t until he keeled over while he was driving an Ice-Cream Van to Barry Island on August Bank holiday almost twenty years before, that anyone even had an inkling that he was ill. He’d been lucky in that his speed was low when it happened but for him, it was far too late. He died a week later. Those horrific days… she was only nine years old were on her mind as she prepared the mugs for the tea.
David had disappeared into the bathroom when they’d returned to the farmhouse. His eyes had been very bloodshot from the tears. In her family, crying was the domain of the women. The men were expected to remain impassive. If any of the men did cry it was done in private. David was a different kettle of fish and that was what had attracted her to him in the first place. He wasn’t the macho ‘alpha’ man that so many men tried to be, and in her opinion, most of them failed miserably.
Detta put two large mugs of tea down on the table and sat opposite David.
“That’s the last of the milk I’m afraid. There isn’t much in the way of food for tonight.”
“I would normally have gone shopping around lunchtime.”
“And stopped off for a pint on the way back?”
“Sometimes, yes.”
After a long silence between them, Detta said,
“I meant what I said when we were at the cottage. That photo of you at Pride showed me a happy person. From what I have seen and from what you have told me, you are just about existing. You deserve some happiness in your life if you will let me into your little world.”
“What about you? What do you want from life? You had a career but?”
Detta chuckled.
“You sound like my Da. I’m the black sheep of my generation. Right from an early age I was told that my destiny was to keep in the background, do the books and not make waves. Then I was to marry another good solid Catholic Welsh-Italian boy, have six children and be good and obedient wife.”
David laughed.
“I can’t see you ever following that sort of plan.”
“I’m glad that you can see that in me. I told my parents when I was fourteen that I would not be following their plan. Going to work for the Revenue was the final nail in the coffin of that plan.”
“Then you had an encounter with a certain goat?”
They both laughed.
“I did and my life changed. You changed my life and I’d like to try to make you happy. If you’d let me that is.”
“What if it does not work out?”
“I walk away with egg on my face but ‘Nothing Ventured, nothing gained’.”
David sat with his eyes closed. Detta knew that he was thinking.
After almost a minute, he opened them and smiled at Detta.
“Ever since Matilda welcomed you to the farm, I have been seeing us together here… Once some improvements have been made naturally…”
That was as far as he got. Detta knew that he wanted to say more but couldn’t find the words.
“Then why don’t we give it a try?” said Detta.
Before he had a chance to reply, Detta leaned over and kissed David. That sealed the deal.
When they broke apart, Detta said,
“We should check on the lambs and then go shopping?”
David smiled.
“You do the lambs while I get changed.”
She grinned.
“Just my luck.”
“What do you mean?”
“It will be just my luck to have to help an ewe give birth. It will be my first!”
They both laughed.
“You will be fine.”
Detta wasn’t sure, but she was going to try not to mess things up.
[the end]