What Happens At Christmas...

She got a surprise as she reached Brook Cottage. It was in complete darkness. She had left the light on in the kitchen for Stirling and now it was off. For one irrational moment she wondered if the dog had found the light switch, but then common sense kicked in and she dismissed the idea. That left the possibility of a power cut or, more scarily, the notion that somebody had got into the house and had deliberately turned off the light. That was not a comfortable thought. She looked around and was disturbed to see lights in the windows of most of the houses, including her next door neighbour. This destroyed the power cut hypothesis and she was left with the notion of a break in or, more probably, some sort of failure of the aged electrics in Brook Cottage itself.

She went up to the door and put the key in the lock. No sooner had she done so, than she heard a volley of barking from inside. This, more than anything else, set her mind at rest. If the dog was barking, it meant he was guarding the house, and so it was fairly safe to say that there wasn’t an intruder in there with him. She turned the key and pushed the door open a crack. ‘Stirling, it’s me. Shut up.’ It probably wasn’t the sort of command that a dog training instructor would have recommended, but it did the job. The barking stopped immediately, to be replaced by little whining sounds. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, pulling off her jacket as she did so. The dog stood up on his hind legs and welcomed her home, his nails no doubt inflicting further damage to her expensive belt. She closed the door behind her and stood there, taking stock, one hand ruffling the big dog’s ears as he continued to produce a series of joyful canine greetings.

‘So what’s happened to the electricity, Stirling?’ She pushed the dog gently to one side and felt her way across to the fireplace. She had a vague feeling that she had seen a box of matches on the mantelpiece. She reached up and ran her hand across the stone shelf, and it was with considerable relief that she located a matchbox. She brought it down, reached inside and felt a handful of matches. She pulled one out and struck it. In the light of the match she checked the contents of the box and her heart sank. Almost all the remaining matches had already been used. There was only one other good one in there. At that moment, the match in her hand burnt down to her fingers and she had to drop it. She and the dog were returned to pitch darkness.

‘Bugger.’

She sat down at the table, the last remaining match in one hand, the box of duds in the other. She racked her brains as to what to do next. She seemed to remember having seen a candle somewhere in the house, but she couldn’t be sure. If she used this last match and still couldn’t find one, then she would be in trouble. At least, she thought with a start, she did know where the main fuse box was. She had had to turn the electricity on and off a few times earlier on when she was persuading the central heating boiler to start working. She got up and felt her way across to the broom cupboard by the back door. Inside, the cover to the fuse box was still hanging open. Muttering a little prayer, she struck the last match and saw that the main power switch had tripped. She grabbed it and pushed it back up again. The lights came on for a split second and then there was a loud bang and the switch flicked off again. Another second later, she felt the match burning her fingers and she had to stamp it out.

‘Bugger, bugger, bugger.’

She felt her way back into the kitchen. There was no alternative; she had to ask for help. She opened the front door, feeling Stirling slip out past her, and she followed him out of the garden gate. She turned left and walked the few paces to her neighbour’s gate. As she opened it, so the dog pushed past her once again. The moon had not yet risen, but the starlight allowed her to make out the dog’s silhouette in the dark, standing by the door. She followed him over and groped with her fingers until she felt a bell. She pressed it and was rewarded by a ringing sound. A few seconds later, there was the sound of footsteps and the door opened, flooding her and the dog with welcome light.

‘Hello, Stirling. And how are you tonight?’ The man reached down and stroked the dog.

Holly watched Stirling rise up on his back legs to greet the man at the door. With the only light coming from behind him, it was impossible to see the man’s face. He was tall, with longish hair, but she took comfort from the fact that the dog knew and liked him. She cleared her throat. ‘I’m very sorry to bother you, but I’m from the house next door and the electric’s off. I was wondering if you’ve maybe got some matches and a candle I could borrow for tonight.’

‘Of course, do come in.’ The dog, interpreting the invitation as being to him, dropped down onto all fours again and trotted into the house. Holly followed him, hearing the door close behind her. Like with her dad’s house, the door led straight into the kitchen which, while a good bit more modern in layout, was the same size and shape as next door. When she and the dog reached the middle of the room she turned round to face the man and got a surprise.

‘Oh, it’s you.’

He was smiling. ‘I wondered if my new next door neighbour might turn out to be you when I saw there was a rather nice old Porsche in George’s garden. Funnily enough, I saw one of them not so long ago when I was out delivering firewood. Scraped the exhaust on some stones as I recall.’ He held out his hand. ‘Hello, I’m Jack Nelson. Are you George’s daughter by any chance?’

Holly nodded, still surprised at the coincidence that the man with the Land Rover and the trailer full of logs was her next door neighbour. Of course, she told herself, with only about fifty houses in the village, it wasn’t really that unlikely. She shook his hand. ‘Yes, that’s right, I’m Holly. I’m very pleased to meet you again. I’m just sorry to interrupt you. Were you in the middle of something?’ There was an open book, lying on the table.

‘Nothing that can’t wait.’ He reached over, dropped a sheet of paper onto the book as a bookmark, and flicked it shut. ‘How amazing to meet you, Holly. George, your dad, spoke about you so often, I feel like I know you already.’

‘I’m afraid all I know about you is that you’ve got a Series 3 Land Rover and a trailer.’ She gave him a smile while surreptitiously giving him the once over. He looked as if he was maybe two or three years older than she was, probably in his mid-thirties. His curly black hair was still unruly and long, but he had evidently shaved in the last few days as the beard she had seen the previous week had been replaced by some rather enticing designer stubble. He was wearing what looked suspiciously like the same lumberjack shirt he had been wearing when she had last seen him. It did, however, look as if it had been recently washed, although his toes sticking out of holes in his woolly socks were a dubious fashion statement. But there was no doubt about it; a bit rough round the edges he might be, but he was a good-looking man. Holly found herself wondering what Julia would make of him up close.

‘Amazing… a woman who can tell a series 2 from a series 3 Land Rover. I don’t know what to say.’ There was genuine awe in his voice.

‘Everybody thinks I’m a bit weird, but I’m an engineer, you see, and I’ve got a thing about classic cars.’ She held up her fingers towards him and grinned. ‘Look, short fingernails.’

‘You sound like the person I need to sort out my old Land Rover. Mind you, the trailer wasn’t mine. I was doing a favour for a friend.’ He motioned with his hand. ‘Here, have a seat while I go and get Stirling one of his biscuits.’

Holly sat down as instructed. ‘You keep biscuits especially for the dog?’

‘We’re old pals, him and me. I would have taken him, after George… your father died, but my own dad’s been unwell, and I’ve been driving up and down to Bristol for the last few weeks.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that. I hope he’s feeling better now.’ Holly was looking round the room. Although it was a kitchen, the whole place was packed with books. Every available surface appeared to be covered with books or papers and there were writing pads and pens strewn all around. His garden might be tidier than hers, but his kitchen certainly wasn’t.

‘He’s a lot better, thanks. Now, can I get you a coffee or a tea or maybe a glass of wine?’

Holly shook her head. ‘No, thank you, but I’m fine. It’s just that I haven’t got any electricity…’

‘Of course. Right, well I can certainly let you have some candles and matches. Would you like me to come over with you and see if there’s anything I can do?’ He caught her eye and hastily added, ‘I’m not an electrician or anything. I’m just trying to sound as if I can help, really, to be honest. In fact, with your mechanical knowledge, you’re probably better qualified than I am.’

She smiled at him, nodding towards his book. ‘Don’t worry. I can see you’re busy. A couple of candles would be great and maybe if you know of an electrician? My phone’s still working, so I can call from home.’

‘Best if I make the call. We have the good luck to have an electrician living here in Brookford, but he’s in great demand and he might not come out for somebody he doesn’t know. As it happens, he owes me a few favours so, let me call him.’ He looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. ‘It probably won’t be till tomorrow now. Is that all right with you?’

Holly nodded. ‘Whenever he can.’ She listened as Jack Nelson made the call. The conversation only lasted a few seconds, but the upshot was that the electrician would come round first thing in the morning. Jack put the phone down and went off to find the candles. Curious, Holly took a quick look at the book on the table. It was a fairly hefty tome dealing with the history of the twentieth century, and it was very well thumbed. She looked up hastily as he returned with a packet of candles and a large household box of matches.

‘Here, you can hang onto these for future emergencies. I always keep a stock of them. Two winters ago we had a sort of mini tornado out here and a load of trees were blown down on the power lines. There was no electricity for almost a week and, since then, I always keep some in the house. By the way, your heating won’t work without electricity, but you should find a supply of logs in the store just outside your back door. Anyway, if it gets too cold or if you need anything at all, just come round. Your dad and I got on very well and next door is sort of a second home to me.’ He grinned. ‘And Stirling’s always been my best buddy.’ Holly and the dog stood up. For the first time she noticed that Stirling had positioned himself on the floor beside her. That felt rather good and she gave him a pat on the back. Jack accompanied her to the door, waved away her thanks and repeated to her not to hesitate if she needed anything.

Back home, she lit a few of the candles and set them on old jam jar lids around the kitchen, her mind still on her rather nice neighbour. Although different from her usual choice of man, there was something about him – and not just the fact that he kept a stock of matches and candles for damsels in distress. She opened the wood-burner and piled in some newspapers and kindling from the basket alongside the stove. She added some logs and, before long, had a good fire burning. The room rapidly started to warm up. She looked at her watch. It was only a quarter to ten, but she was beginning to feel really tired. She glanced down at the dog. ‘I suppose it would be too much to ask for me not to have to take you out for a walk?’

The dog’s word recognition skills extended only as far as the final word. He was jumping around in an instant.

‘Bugger.’

She pulled on her jacket, dug out a woolly hat and opened the door. In her pocket, she could feel the packet of little black bags Mrs Edworthy had given her for Stirling’s ‘offerings’, and rather hoped she wouldn’t need to use them. As it turned out, she needed two of them. Clearly, looking after a big, handsome pedigree dog wasn’t all glamour.

Day Two

Saturday

All in all, Holly had a reasonable night’s sleep. The only interruption came at around three o’clock in the morning, when she was woken by a noise. By this time, moonlight was flooding into the room and she got the shock of her life when she saw the bedroom door swing open. She was already backing away to the far side of the bed, looking for a weapon of any description, when the dog’s head appeared.

‘Oh, for Christ’s sake, Stirling…’

The dog must have interpreted her use of his name as an invitation, as he proceeded to climb up onto the bed, where he dropped on top of her with a sigh. She had to struggle for a few moments to push him off her and down onto the floor again. ‘No, Stirling. Bad dog.’ He sat down beside the bed and stared at her. She could see two little moons reflected back at her in his big eyes. ‘Go downstairs, Stirling.’ He didn’t move. ‘Oh, for crying out loud please go back to your bed, would you? I want to go to sleep.’ She closed her eyes and lay back down again, hoping that he would take the hint. She counted silently up to sixty and then risked opening her eyes a fraction. His face was still there, his gaze unblinkingly fixed on her.

‘Oh, God…’ She swung out of bed and reached for a pair of shoes. It was cold in the room, although the thick feather duvet had kept her warm in bed. She retrieved her jumper from the chair and led the dog down the stairs. In the kitchen, it was warmer, but the stove was now cool enough to touch. She went over to the table, lit one of the candles and looked down at the dog, who was still staring at her impassively.

‘Listen Stirling, we are not going out for a w… W, A, L, K. Got it? It’s the middle of the night and we both should be asleep. Go in your basket.’ She had to repeat it a few times and add a few gestures, but finally he got the message and climbed into his bed. He slumped down, but his eyes were looking so mournful that eventully she grabbed a cushion and settled on the cold stone floor beside him. She stroked his head and he stretched out a huge paw and pressed it against her. She caught hold of it in her other hand and they stayed like that for some minutes, as his eyes gradually closed and he settled down.

As she sat there, looking at him, she reflected that only a few months ago, her father might have been here, doing the same thing. Maybe that was what was disturbing Stirling. She looked around the room, but there were few personal objects on display. Her dad’s jacket still hung on the back of the door, a strong pair of walking boots peeked out of the broom cupboard and a cricket bat leant against the window seat. She closed her eyes and conjured up the image of his face from the photo beside his bed. Seeing it had brought back so many memories; from a sandy beach holiday, to a trip to the hospital when they thought she had broken her arm. Her dad’s loving, comforting face had been there with her on those occasions and so many others and then, just like that, he had disappeared from her life, forever.

She wondered, as she had done for much of the past week, what he had meant in his letter about having tried unsuccessfully to contact her on one occasion. Surely he would have left a message or even a note if he had missed her. Could it be that he had spoken to her mother, but that her mother had chosen not to tell her? If Holly hadn’t had the comforting presence of the dog beside her – the closest remaining link she had to her father – she would have cried again, but she didn’t. Instead, she leant forward and kissed the dog softly on his head, then she relinquished her hold on him, stood up and snuffed out the candle.

She woke up at seven o’clock next morning with somebody trying to strangle her. A heavy weight was pinning her to the pillow, while a muscular arm pressed down upon her windpipe. She opened her eyes, but it was still pitch dark in the house. As the panic began to build, a long, warm tongue began to lick her cheek.

‘Oh, God, Stirling, stop that, will you. And your breath stinks. Get off this minute. Please, Stirling.’ With difficulty she managed to dislodge the dog from her throat and tip him over the edge of the bed onto the floor. He landed with a thud. Staying under the duvet, she shimmied across to the edge of the bed to check that he hadn’t hurt himself. She peered down into the dark. A large back nose appeared right in front of her and he would have licked her again if she hadn’t retreated. She lay there for another five minutes, conscious of the dog’s staring eyes, before accepting the inevitable. She pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed. Reaching for the matches, she lit the candle and looked down at the dog.

‘You’re a pain in the backside. You know that, don’t you?’ Delighted to hear her talking to him, he jumped to his feet and started wagging his tail. ‘God, it’s bloody cold.’ She pulled her jeans and jumper on over the top of her pyjamas and slipped on her warmest shoes; a gorgeous pair of Jimmy Choo ankle boots she had found in the Harvey Nicks sale last January, at less than half price. She took the candle and followed the now very excited dog downstairs into the kitchen. It was equally cold in there, so she put the candle down on the table and set about lighting the stove.

Once she had got a good fire going, she plucked up the courage to go to the loo. As she feared, the bathroom was freezing cold. She came back downstairs, went across to the window and looked out over the back garden. Dawn wouldn’t be for another hour, but it was not totally dark out there. The moon had disappeared, but there was still enough light from the stars for her to be able to distinguish shapes of bushes and trees in the garden. Closer to her, Greta the Porsche was sparkling with frost, the starlight reflecting in the host of ice crystals that covered all the horizontal surfaces. As Holly looked out, she ran her fingers across the inside of the glass. She wasn’t surprised to see them come away with a thin layer of ice on them. She went back over to the stove and packed another couple of logs into it.

‘I’d give my eye teeth for a cup of tea.’ She gazed wistfully at the electric kettle on the worktop, idly wondering to herself what eye teeth were. Stirling was standing beside his basket, unsure whether he should be gearing up for a walk or whether he would be told to go back to bed. Holly gave a little smile as she saw that he had somehow collected her father’s old jumper and brought it downstairs. A grey sleeve was hanging over the side of the basket. She stared at it for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and deciding she had better take the dog for a walk. He was delighted.

Outside, with a clear sky, it was absolutely freezing, but the lack of clouds and the lack of street lighting meant that she had an amazingly clear view of the stars. Even an astronomical novice such as she was could see the Milky Way and a brighter star, maybe a planet, just above the hills that formed the horizon. The view, as much as the cold, was breath-taking. She pulled her woolly hat down over her ears, blessing the instinct that had made her pack it along with what Julia called her Doctor Who scarf. She wrapped this round her neck three times and followed the dog, who was much more familiar with the surroundings than she was. She spared a though for Julia and her date the previous night. She was a very good-looking girl, intelligent and witty, but she had an uncanny knack of picking the wrong type of man. They had known each other since childhood and Julia’s past was littered with weirdoes, nutters and, in at least one case, psychopaths. Holly resolved to phone her later on to see how the opera and its sequel had gone.

Stirling led her up a track alongside the stream. Holly was finding by this time that she could see just about enough to be able to pick her way behind him without too much difficulty, although icy patches had her slipping and sliding from time to time. They crossed over the water by means of an extremely slippery wooden bridge before the path started to slope steeply upwards between drystone walls. She followed the dog, hoping that her boots wouldn’t get ruined in the process. Apart from these, all the other shoes she had brought with her were smart, but fairly flimsy. With hindsight, Tods and Prada were not really the most sensible choice for a village dweller with a dog to walk. She added shoes to her mental shopping list alongside candles, matches and dog biscuits like the ones Jack from next door had.

By the time the path reached open moorland, Holly had very definitely warmed up. This was, she reflected, just about the furthest she had walked for months and she was perspiring freely. It was also getting lighter. A glance at the sky showed her that the stars had all but disappeared, but an orange glow from the east told her the sun would be up before too long. They reached a wooden stile. The dog stopped at the barrier and gave her a questioning look. Holly was still wondering how to get him over the series of wooden steps when he started scratching the wooden fencing with his front paws. Only then did she realise that by lifting a vertical strut, a gap emerged that he could get through. Presumably he and her father had walked up here on many occasions.

It was well after eight o’clock and the sky light enough for her to be able to distinguish car number plates by the time they got back home. She was boiling by now after all the exercise and had unwrapped the scarf from around her neck. She noticed that there were lights on in the house next door and she spared a thought for Jack the neighbour, as she had done quite a few times since the previous evening. She wondered if he was somebody who had chosen to drop out of the rat race and look for a more laidback lifestyle in the wilds of the country. Although he worked as a woodsman, or so she assumed, his accent was well-educated, although nowhere near as plummy as Justin’s. Certainly, his choice of reading matter would appear to back up that hypothesis. Why he should have chosen to take refuge in the depths of rural Devon was something she hoped to discover as she got to know him better. And she was beginning to think that she would rather like to get to know him better.

She was just inserting her key into the door lock when she heard a tapping noise. It was coming from Jack’s front window on the other side of the garden wall. Seconds later, it opened.

‘Good morning. Fancy a cup of tea?’ Her spirits soared.

‘Jack, you say the nicest things. That would be fantastic. Just let me dump the dog.’

‘Bring him in. I’ll make him some breakfast too.’

Inside his kitchen, it was warm, dry and bright. Holly found herself blinking as she came in from the darkness outside. Stirling rushed past her to say hello to Jack and then settled down by the radiator with one of his special biscuits.

‘Come in, Holly.’ Jack had cleared the table since last night and there was now a blue and white check tablecloth on there, along with two plates, two mugs and a selection of cutlery. Clearly, he had been planning this. He shook his head apologetically. ‘I’m not very good at breakfasts to be honest. I haven’t got any juice and I’ve just looked in the cereal packet and decided what’s in there is more suitable for the mice, assuming they haven’t already been in there.’ He shook his head ruefully. ‘There are some rather suspicious looking little black bits in there, I’m afraid. Anyway, if you’re up for toast, butter and jam, there’s plenty of that and it’s guaranteed mouse-free. And I can offer you tea or coffee.’

‘Tea would be perfect, please.’ As Holly pulled off her hat, she could feel her sweaty hair sticking to her head. As she removed her jacket, she realised she was still wearing her pyjamas and no underwear. Suddenly this felt somehow improper in a strange man’s house. She was also very conscious of the fact that she hadn’t washed, nor had she even cleaned her teeth. She took a deep breath and sat down on the far side of the table.

He filled a bowl with water and set it down on the floor for the dog. Stirling wasted no time in slurping up half of it, splashing water all over the floor as he did so. Holly caught Jack’s eye. ‘Sorry about that. He’s a very messy drinker.’