There's No Accounting For Love

Chapter Fourteen

It was a sunny day and although the air was still chilly, they went at lunch-time to the park at the back of St Helen's Church, ten minutes walk from their office. It was quiet there away from the hustle and bustle of city life. They relaxed in the sunshine, sitting on a bench and eating their sandwiches.

"It's so peaceful here, I wonder why more people don't come." said Clare.

"I expect they're all busy dashing about doing something. Nobody has time to stop and think these days. It's sad." said Angie, taking a bite of her cheese sandwich.

"We're trying for a baby," said Clare, "but nothing's happened yet."

"I suppose these things take time." said Angie "After all, you've only been married three months. Matthew has a patient who has only just fallen pregnant and she's been married for six years. It can take six weeks, six months or six years, Matthew says."

"I hope it doesn't take six years, I'll be in my mid thirties by then! I had hoped it would have happened by now, but nothing in life is that easy, is it?" said Clare.

Clare had a book with her, which was not unusual.

"Listen to this, Ange. A man who worked on a farm out in the wilds somewhere caught his hand in farm equipment and was trapped for hours and hours. Unable to break free, he was forced to cut off his own hand to save his life."

"Ugh, how horrible!" said Angie. "I suppose you might if you had no choice, but I must say it's put me off working on a farm. I don't think I'll bother now! I can't understand why anyone would want to work on a farm with all that mud and those horrible country smells. I don't like the countryside, I much prefer the sea."

A small group of sparrows flew down to eat the crumbs of bread they'd dropped.

"I love sparrows." said Clare, crumbling bread and tossing it on the ground. "But, there aren't many left now, are there?"

"No, but there used to be large flocks of them when we were children." said Angie. "They're biblical little things, aren't they?"

They watched as the sparrows pecked at the crumbs and fluttered about.

"Yes, I suppose they are and most countries in the world seem to have sparrows." Clare replied.   They walked back to the office, feeling more relaxed and chatting about this and that; this and that being Matthew and Hal.

It was another busy day. They stopped for a tea break around 3.30 that afternoon.  

"I think I'll pop round to see Alan tonight, just to make sure he's all right." said Clare as Angie handed her a cup of tea.  "I wouldn't normally do that, but Alan is like family."

"Under the circumstances, I think that's a good idea." said Angie "Poor old Alan."

"Less of the old, I'm the same age as him. We were born two weeks apart, in the same hospital. He's the eldest." said Clare.

"I didn't know that." said Angie in surprise.

"I've only got an older sister, so Alan was like my brother. We had such fun growing up together."

"That, I can imagine!" said Angie.

Clare left work on time and made her way through the traffic listening to her favourite tape and singing along. She remembered the location of the block of flats where Alan lived and after parking, she locked her car and walked up to his apartment. It sounded very quiet. She rang the bell and he came to the door, obviously surprised to see her.