Chances Read online

  Oliver raised his eyebrow at his son. ‘Again, please?’

  Jonty groaned and thought, Yeah, yeah, I know, Mum would make me ask again – at much the same time as his father was saying precisely that. Jonty thought, Give us a break, Dad. But he knew his father was right because his mother had been right too. He cleared his throat and gave a quick toss of his head to flick his long fringe away from his face. ‘May I have a lift to school, please?’

  Oliver smiled. ‘Of course.’

  ‘What use is textbook grammar when we communicate more by text messages anyway?’ Jonty murmured, shuffling into his blazer and hoicking his schoolbag over one shoulder.

  ‘It’s not about the grammar, per se,’ said Oliver. ‘It’s about laziness, it’s about apathy. That’s why I hate all this texting business – not bothering with vowels because consonants will do because y’know wha’ I mean.’

  ‘Innit,’ Jonty said and they laughed together. ‘Language evolves, Dad. “Chav” is in the dictionary. L8R looks good – it’s clever.’

  ‘It’s a fad.’

  ‘You sound like an old fart.’

  ‘I am an old fart. Believe me – you’d rather have an old fart for a dad than some divvy trying to be cool. Far more embarrassing.’

  ‘Who the heck says “divvy”!’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘Don’t say it again.’

  ‘Pillock.’

  ‘That’s worse, Dad.’

  ‘I know. It’s my job to annoy you like it’s your job to wind me up.’

  Jonty thought, Actually, my dad is cool and he doesn’t wind me up all that much.

  ‘Come on, kiddo, let’s go. Have you got money for lunch?’

  ‘Father!’ Jonty remonstrated. ‘Again, please!’

  Oliver coshed him softly. ‘Do you have money for lunch?’

  Watching Jonty lope off towards school with his mates, all of them in skinny trousers slung low, schoolbags as beat up as possible, hair lank and long and dyed darker than necessary, Oliver thought to himself how, had DeeDee still been here, he would probably be the one coping with their son’s teenagerisms the better, and it might well have caused a degree of antagonism between them. She’d have been much more You can’t go out looking like that at Jonty. She’d have said, Oliver! You speak to him! Oliver might have been caught in the crossfire. It gave him a lift to know he was doing all right as a dad to a teenage son. He liked to sense DeeDee’s approval. It was very odd to feel that these days Dead DeeDee possibly liked him more than DeeDee Living might have done.

  Oh, but what I’d give for a little healthy real-life snippiness, Oliver thought as he headed off for his yard. What I’d give to hear her mutter, For God’s sake, Ols.

  How he longed to argue over the finer points of managing a teenager, instead of muddling through it all on his own, albeit now doing things his way all the time without prior discussion. So, though he wasn’t the stickler for homework she had been, and although bed-time had become a movable feast and supper was now very movable indeed – usually in foil trays eaten off laps and sometimes left on the coffee table overnight – keeping up DeeDee’s obsession with grammar was a baton he’d gladly taken from her. He knew he and Jonty would run with it their whole lives.

  At the yard, Boz and Spike, the two Aussies working for him, were loading the truck.

  ‘Tinker?’ Oliver asked.

  ‘Making a brew,’ said Spike. Oliver often reflected how he only seemed to employ youngsters from the Commonwealth – but there again, home-grown interest in arboriculture appeared to be sparse. And he did wonder why he gravitated towards those with names like Tinker and Boz and Spike – but he had to concede there were few applications arriving on his desk from Tom, Dick or Harry. He had a great team though – hardworking and sweet-natured. He enjoyed having them under his wing and his clients responded well. He felt paternal towards them – their own fathers being back home, time zones away. He also felt a keen duty to his trade – to hone their technical abilities as well as to train their eyes to feel a tree. Having a licence to use a chainsaw up a tree was one thing, but to sense innately how each individual tree ought to look was another. Two to four places on every branch where cuts could be made while balancing the resultant shape for the good of the tree – that was where art met science and technical ability met intuition. That’s where Oliver felt an aboriculturalist’s true skill lay. To make a tree look more like a tree, to return some hacked-about old giant, or some mangy neglected specimen, to the sculptural beauty that was its birthright. Every tree he’d ever worked on, Oliver aimed to leave as an archetype, as if Gainsborough or Poussin or Constable, Cézanne even, might have chosen it as the prime example of its genus to grace their art.

  Just as Oliver chose his branches with care, so too did he select his workforce. Boz had a degree in Art History. Spike had exhibited as a sculptor before retraining in Arboriculture. Tinker grew up in Canada, in Jasper, surrounded by trees.

  Oliver checked the diary.

  ‘You two – take the ash near Much Hadham we saw last week. You need to offer the wood to Mrs Cadogan first – if she doesn’t want it, don’t chip it. Bring it back and it can go on the first wood pile there – because?’

  ‘Because you can burn it green,’ said Boz mechanically, an answer he’d given many times.

  ‘Good lad. Tinker – you can come with me. It’s the cherry near Hatfield you took the call about.’

  ‘Laters!’ called Tinker to the other two.

  And Oliver thought, Good God, kid – if DeeDee had heard that.

  A village green, a single-track road all around it, cottages encircling it with swathes of grass in front of their boundaries. A gathering of oaks to one side, two grand sweet chestnuts on the other side. Small trees – apple, magnolia – in front gardens. A weeping willow in front of the cottages on the far side. And here, on the common ground by two cottages, was the tree Oliver had come to see. It was a breathtaking sight. A magnificent holly-leaved cherry still in full bloom in June.

  ‘When I have a garden of my own, I’ll plant every type of prunus and have flowers from November to now,’ said Tinker.

  ‘You’ll never have that garden on the wages I pay you,’ Oliver said with a gentle regret.

  They sat in the truck and regarded the tree. People were crossing the green expressly to see it. A mother and two toddlers. An elderly couple. A youth with a fierce-looking hound. Two female pensioners. It was singing out, its blossom festooning the boughs and drifting gently down and around like sugar petals. Catching the sun, caught on the breeze, captivating. A man, with hands on hips, stood at the bottom of one of the cottage driveways.

  ‘Come on,’ said Oliver, striding off, followed by Tinker. ‘Mr Macintosh?’

  ‘Do you see?’ called the man from the driveway, long before they were near. ‘Can you see?’

  ‘It’s some sight,’ said Oliver, ‘Prunus ilicifolia.’

  ‘It’s new!’ said Mr Macintosh.

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘My jag – it’s new. And look at it!’

  Oliver glanced at the new car on the driveway. ‘Very nice,’ he said politely.

  ‘Look at it!’

  ‘I was looking at the tree,’ said Oliver.

  ‘But look at my Jag. Look at what that wretched tree’s done to it. Weeks now. Weeks of this – this stuff.’

  Oliver and Tinker dragged their eyes from the tree to observe the car, covered with petals as if it had been decorated for a bridal couple.

  ‘It’s got to go.’

  ‘That’s a shame,’ said Tinker. ‘I’d love a Jag.’

  ‘Couldn’t you park it in your garage?’ Oliver asked.

  ‘Not the car, man – the tree! I’m not putting the car in the garage – I want to see it every time I look out of my window. I worked my whole life to have a car like that. And I want to see it in British Racing Green – not flaming white bloody mess.’

  ‘The blossom will only last another week,’ said Oli
ver, ‘a week or so.’

  ‘I want that tree gone – it’s a hazard, a menace. It’s dangerous. If it rained, all that blossom underfoot would be slippery. I might fall. I might do my other hip.’

  Oliver looked around. Cars had parked along the green, visitors were coming into this village precisely to see the tree and the heavenly blossom. Furthermore, it was set to be a very dry July.

  ‘Can you take it down now?’

  ‘No, I can’t.’

  ‘Well, when can you? I’ll pay now.’

  ‘I’m not going to take the tree down.’

  ‘Well, chop off all the branches on this side, then.’

  ‘That’s not possible. It would damage the tree.’

  ‘It’s criminal damage! It’s affecting my property.’

  ‘It’s blossom.’

  ‘It’s litter – natural litter. That’s what it is. I want the damn tree down.’

  DeeDee would say, I want doesn’t get.

  ‘It’s a healthy tree, it’s a superb specimen and it is not affecting your house.’

  ‘Well, I’ll tell the council, I will. It’s their bloody thing. It’s on their land. I pay my council tax. They can cut it down. I’ll sue. That’s what.’

  And Oliver thought, As soon as we’re back in the car, I’ll phone Martin in planning and I’ll tell him this tree mustn’t come down. That’ll save him a journey.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘I’m photographing the tree,’ said Oliver. ‘I don’t give permission for you to take my picture.’

  ‘You’re not in the picture.’

  ‘Why are you photographing that tree? For the council? Yes! Show it to them. They’ll see what I mean.’

  ‘Not for the council – for my own archives. I’m photographing it because it’s stunning,’ said Oliver. ‘Goodbye, Mr Macintosh. There’s a hand car wash on the way to Asda.’

  ‘Are you not going to do anything today? Can’t you give it a trim?’

  ‘No, I can’t, I’m afraid. Paperwork.’

  ‘Good God! How long will that take?’

  ‘Difficult to tell,’ Oliver shrugged and walked back to his truck. He and Tinker sat and marvelled a little longer.

  ‘What a jerk,’ said Tinker.

  ‘It’s not just extraordinary trees you meet in this job,’ Oliver told him.

  Back at the yard later that afternoon, ash branches cut, split and added to the pile of seasoned wood, the team shared tea and anecdotes. Oliver looked around. There was a little clearing up to do, a couple of calls to make, some paperwork.

  ‘Call it a day, chaps,’ said Oliver. ‘See you at eight tomorrow.’

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘I’m sure – Jonty’s playing cricket so I’ll finish off here and then collect him. It’s a strange sight, moochiness and Goth-dark hair – in cricket whites.’

  ‘Is he good?’

  ‘He’s not bad at all.’

  ‘Cool. How’s he doing?’

  ‘He’s doing well, Boz – thanks for asking.’

  ‘Is he going to hang out here in the vacation? He was useful last time.’

  ‘I hope so – though he’ll probably want to renegotiate pay and working conditions.’

  ‘Good on him.’

  ‘Don’t put ideas in his head, Spike. Go on, all of you, off you go.’

  ‘Cheers, boss.’

  ‘See you tomorrow.’

  ‘Laters.’

  Good God.

  But Oliver smiled as they walked off. He could hear them chatting and they weren’t talking about beer and birds. They were talking about cherry trees and gifts.

  ‘I need to send home a present for my sis. Any ideas?’

  ‘Go online and do the whole Amazon dot com thing.’

  ‘Nah. She’s going to be ten. Requires something special.’

  ‘Gap? Topshop?’

  ‘I can’t go in there on my own.’

  ‘Twat.’

  ‘Cheers, mate.’

  ‘Try that shop in town? You know the one – That Shop? All the trinketty things in the window?’ Tinker was often teased for the way he made every sentence a question.

  ‘Oh yeah.’

  ‘We can go past that way – come on.’

  * * *

  To Vita, the three young men with a good day’s manual work written all over their tired faces, dusty boots and forearms, were far more incongruous customers than her notorious little old lady, currently rifling through the fruit-shaped scented soaps. When she started the business, Vita swore never to utter the four words sure to dampen the ardour of any unsure shopper, May I help you? She’d researched it – listening in other shops, trying it herself. May I help you? Nine times out of ten, four words sprang an automatic reply. No thanks, just looking. Vita, therefore, devised other techniques, discovering how casual asides worked best. She assessed the posse and tried to work out which one was buying. The tallest one, she reckoned, the one with the curly dark hair and the smudge of something or other on his neck. Yes, the other two appeared to be looking on his behalf while he stood still and scanned the wares as a whole. She put down her book as if it was high time she had a little tidy of the table with the notecards and scented lip balms. As she neared, one of them – the one with the closely cropped hair and goatee – picked up the linen-and-patchwork beanbag mouse.

  ‘Lovely for a baby,’ she mentioned as she passed by. ‘Organic cotton – and nothing that can be pulled off or swallowed.’

  The lad looked at her, jiggled the mouse, put it back down. ‘Oh, it’s not for a baby?’ he said. ‘It’s for his kid sister?’

  Aha!

  ‘How old is his kid sister?’ Vita asked.

  ‘Boz – she’s ten, isn’t she? Ten, ma’am?’

  Vita, who’d never been called ma’am before, was suddenly quite taken with it. ‘Ten, hey? Ten-year-old girls have secrets – and they need places to hide them.’

  The other two had gravitated towards her and their mate.

  ‘Well – I don’t sell secrets, I’m afraid,’ said Vita. They all laughed. ‘But I do have – these.’ She guided them towards the back of the shop, smiling sweetly at the old lady who was pocketing something. ‘Here.’

  She showed them the balsa-wood boxes made to look like miniature wardrobes. Each had a drawer under a door, with a proper keyhole and brass key that was ornate and looked old. They were about the size of a shoebox, deceptively light, in paint washes that suggested they’d been found on a sand dune.

  ‘Yeah!’ said the brother of the birthday girl who she thought was called Bruiser or something. ‘That’ll hit the spot.’ Australian, Vita thought.

  ‘Ma’am?’ said the American or Canadian who’d first spoken to her. He was talking quietly but urgently. ‘That old woman? She’s – I think – well, she’s kinda taken something? I don’t know what. Would you like me to – you know?’

  Vita brushed the air quickly. ‘No, no – she’s fine. I know her.’ She was much more interested in matchmaking a ten-year-old with a gift.

  The three young men looked towards the door where the old lady was headed – and then earnestly back at Vita.

  ‘But she’s—?’

  ‘Please,’ Vita said, ‘it’s fine. Honestly. Now – about your sister?’

  ‘It’s awesome, miss,’ said the Bruiser brother. Vita thought she preferred miss to ma’am. ‘I’ll take it. The bluish one, I reckon. What do you think, Tink?’

  ‘If I was your sis? I’d think you were damn cool, Boz.’

  ‘Boz,’ said Vita, to herself but out loud. ‘Yeah?’

  Vita reddened. ‘It’s just the male customers I usually have are mostly called Felix and Ted and Blaise – names like that. And they’re usually holding their mums’ hands.’

  ‘It’s short for Robert,’ Boz told her, which he could hear didn’t make any sense so he chuckled.

  ‘Spike’s short for Michael,’ Boz continued, motioning to the one who had yet to speak. ‘And Tinker – what
the fuck is your name, mate?’

  Vita thought, I’ll let the swearing go – there’s no one else in the shop and the boxes are quite pricey.

  ‘Taylor,’ said Tinker and everyone simply nodded.

  ‘When do you need this for?’ Vita asked. ‘It’s just that I could put your sister’s name on it – hand stencil it – look, like the one in the window.’

  The boys murmured their approval.

  ‘I could have it ready for tomorrow morning And I could gift-wrap it too. After you’ve seen it, of course.’

  ‘Thanks, miss, that would be awesome.’

  ‘Excellent. What’s her name?’ And Vita hoped it was something pretty and not a daft nickname.

  ‘Megan.’

  ‘Excellent.’

  ‘Shall I pay now?’

  ‘Would you mind?’

  Boz looked at her as if she was mad. ‘Of course I don’t mind. This is awesome.’

  ‘See you tomorrow,’ Vita said as she handed back his credit card and receipt.

  ‘I’ve read that book,’ said Spike, the quiet one, another Aussie, motioning towards Robinson Crusoe. ‘Couldn’t get to grips with Moll Flanders, though.’

  After they’d gone, and once the school rush had abated, Vita started stencilling Megan’s name. She’d felt so disorientated after that night recently with Candy and Michelle – but today she felt as though she’d been sent three rugged guardian angels, one of whom was paying her to do something other than think about Tim and Suzie. She rifled through her stencil collection.

  ‘I’ll add a pattern,’ she said. ‘Free of charge.’ Her evening was sorted. She was relieved. She wrote on a Post-it and stuck it to the box.

  Megan

  Butterflies?

  Vines?

  Something for the Weekend

  ‘I remember this shop,’ Oliver told Boz as they drove past That Shop towards the end of that week. ‘Not that I’ve ever been in. But when my wife – but when my late wife and I – used to come into town, she’d always say, I’m just going to pop into That Shop. And ten hours later she’d always bought some tutt or other.’

  ‘Tutt!’ Boz liked the word. Then he looked worried. ‘The box – thing – I’ve bought Megan, it’s not tutt. It’s nicely made – it’s not cheap. Value, I’d say. She’ll love it.’