Friday, September 20

Since Jen left from next door, it's been very quiet in our corner of Burghley Street. The newspapers say that there is a desperate shortage of rental accommodation but I suspect the asking price is a little high for the average punter.  The agent, who was passing one day, told us that the rather narrow driveway was a bit of turn-off for some people but 'the right person will come by soon,' he said.  Days passed, though, and there has been little interest.

Yesterday, I noticed an unfamiliar car creeping along past our front window.  'Aha!' I thought, 'Another one having a look.  By the time I got to the window, the driver had disappeared into the unit.  The car was a Lexus, though, and that was a good sign.

It turned out he was the new tenant.   Paul is his name and he had a new bed and fridge delivered during the afternoon.  He seems to be on his own but ... who knows?

Today's story was written quite recently:

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR                             NOVEMBER 17, 2023

 “Oh, Rowan!” Hamish thought. “If only she knew what I think of her.  If only I could find a way to tell her that I am head-over heels in love with her.”

 Even her name gave him goose bumps.  Rowan!  What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl.  It made Hamish think of the plaintive song his Scottish grandmother used to sing when he was a child.  The Rowan Tree it was called, and the first lines stuck in his memory:

 ‘Oh Rowan tree, Oh Rowan tree

Thou’ll aye be dear to me.”

 Hamish had been mooning around the house for weeks and his parents were beginning to think there was something ailing him.

 “Och, he’s just his usual moody self,” said his father but his mother was more sympathetic.

 “It’s his first love, Jock,” she said, “And you might not remember how cow-eyed you were when you first started taking me out.”

 “I was never like that,” his father would say, indignantly, but he did stop criticising Hamish and telling him to ‘pull himself together.”

 Hamish took to hanging around the girls in the school playground hoping to overhear what Rowan was talking about and it wasn’t long before someone noticed this gangly youth spending too much time on the periphery of the girls’ groups rather than kicking a football with the boys.  After that, life wasn’t easy for him and he was pleased when school life came to an end, and he was able to become involved in finding and keeping a job which suited him.  However, Rowan held a special place in his memory, and he always regarded her as his first love.

 One night, he was travelling home from a trip out of town. The road was quiet so, when his car coughed and ground to a halt, he was worried.  Without a torch and with little mechanical knowledge, he could do nothing but lock up the car and stick out his thumb hoping for a lift towards home.

 Car after car drove by, unheeding, but eventually one slowed down and pulled over.

 “Do you need a lift?” a sweet voice said.

 “Oh, yes, please, and thank-you for stopping,” replied Hamish, as he climbed into the car.

 It took him a couple of minutes to realise that the helpful driver who stopped for him was Rowan.  He hadn’t seen her for years, but she was still the very attractive young woman he remembered.  Her perfume was more seductive than the floral scent she used as a schoolgirl and her voice had matured and seemed to have more authority than he recalled.  Rowan was just as surprised as Hamish but seemed delighted to see him again.

 “We have so much to talk about,” she said.  “I’ll pull over here for a few minutes so you can tell me all you have been doing.  I can’t concentrate on driving and listening to you at the same time.”  She pulled into a grassy spot surrounded by trees and turned off the engine.

 Hamish was very happy to have the chance to spend some time alone with Rowan and, before he knew it, he found himself kissing her.  One thing led to another and, at last, all Hamish’s adolescent dreams came true, in the back seat of Rowan’s car.  He must have slept afterwards because the next thing he remembered was her shaking him awake and saying.

 “This is your house, Hamish.  Wake up!”

 Hamish rubbed his eyes. Shyly, he stammered,  “It was wonderful seeing you again, Rowan, and I’ll never forget … you know.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” she said. “My pleasure.  And how would you like to pay for it?  Cash or credit card?”