Writing for Fun
June 2015
The Turn Of A Card - Jeanette Rothwell
It was a very decisive moment. If the salt pot won, she would be moving away from the area; if the pepper pot won, she would move, but stay in the same town. Her friend Noreen had shuffled and cut the cards placing half the pack by the salt pot and the other half by the pepper pot.
They had consumed a lovely lunch chatting all the time about Jane's decision to sell her house because, Jane, now living alone, found it was too big for her. The question was should she stay in the local area or move about 60 miles away to the seaside to be with other members of her family.
Noreen's argument was that all Jane's friends and interests were in the local town and moving away was not a good idea, but Jane had looked at smaller houses locally and they were still too expensive for her to reap any benefit from moving. The smaller houses where her daughters lived were much more affordable.
Slowly Jane extended her hand towards the pepper pot; she lifted the card and turned it over. The nine of diamonds! She glanced at Noreen who was staring at the card and seemed to be holding her breath. Jane then placed her hand on the deck of cards by the salt pot. She turned the card quickly, feeling impatient for the result. The Jack of hearts! She would be moving away. Both ladies let out a sigh, one of relief, the other of regret.
It took ten months to sell Jane's house, several buyers had shown interest and then pulled out for various reasons. At last moving day arrived. Noreen drove over to help. It was a mild August day, but the heavens had opened up and it was absolutely teeming with rain. The removal men hurried between the house and lorry covering everything in plastic sheets in an effort to keep all Jane's furniture and boxes dry.
In the meantime Jane also needed to make sure her cat didn't decide to go on a jaunt to neighbouring gardens. She didn't want to shut him in his carry basket too early, but had to make sure he stayed in the house.
Her Solicitor urged her not to leave the house until all the buyer's money had gone through. By the time the removal men were ready to depart, her Solicitor had not given her the OK to leave so Jane and Noreen perched on some fireplace bricks to eat their sandwiches and coffee from a vacuum flask.
At 2.30pm the call came through that it was OK to leave. Both ladies went into the hallway to collect their coats only to find that the removal men had been ultra efficient and emptied the pegs in the hallway. They laughed rather hysterically as it was still pouring with rain outside and ran to their separate cars to set off on the hour and a quarter journey to Jane's new home. Jane's cat protested all the way about being shut in his carry basket.
On arrival, the removal lorry was sitting outside her new house, but the estate agent had not arrived to hand over the keys. Jane did not yet know the area particularly well, but she got back in her car and headed for the village centre where she guessed the estate agent's office would be. Of course, it was by now well into the afternoon and parking was almost impossible. She found a place several streets away from the office and hurried through the rain, still minus her coat, to collect the keys. When she returned, the removal men were now in a hurry to get back home and having opened up the house, the furniture and boxes were delivered at break-neck speed so they could leave quickly. All Jane's careful labelling had been ignored.
Jane and Noreen sat down on an available couch, looking like drowned rats, with hair plastered to their heads and soaking wet clothes. Jane let the cat out of his basket into the bathroom so he wouldn't get lost initially. There was a knock on the door and one of her daughters plus children arrived. Jane's granddaughter, who was then about 4, remarked, 'Nanny doesn't look like Nanny,' which made Jane laugh as her mirror certainly told her how drenched she looked. More relatives then arrived to help get things a little more organised, producing some champagne and cups to toast the new house and between them they managed some initial order so that Jane could pass the first night there in relative comfort.
In the first few days in the new house, the cat went exploring and disappeared for four days arriving home early on the fifth morning, dirty, tired and hungry, noisily announcing his arrival and being greeted by Jane with heartfelt relief. She really thought he had gone for good.
Gradually the chalet bungalow began to look more like home, after some alterations and redecoration and Jane then worked on joining various groups in the area and making new friends.
One day, walking back from a coach outing, she found herself accompanied by a gentleman who had also been on the coach, and they discovered they lived opposite each other. Their friendship developed and a year later they were married, much to the surprise of both their families . . . but that's another story, and, as Jane observed, this was all because of the turn of a card.