Narrow Minds (35 page)

‘The little boat that belongs to Stuart?' I waited for her to nod. ‘Well, he's offered to swap it for Geoff doing the electrical work on his new boat, you get one offer, do you want it?'

If Charlie's jaw hadn't actually been attached to her face it would have hit her in the foot. I sat down next to Geoff on the trestle table and we sat and watched her face go through a range of emotions. Eventually I turned to Geoff. ‘Well, there's no reply so that's obviously a no, then.'

Charlie spluttered and grabbed my arm. ‘Yes, YES! Yes I want it, can I do anything I like to it, and can I paint it and put things in it and make it like a real bedroom and have a lounge space and a sofa for friends and a telly of my own?

Geoff and I nodded in unison.

‘Can we go and tell him now?' Charlie was literally hopping up and down on the spot. ‘Geoff, can we?'

Geoff laughed. ‘Come on then, you probably can't have it till next weekend, but we'll tell him now.'

‘GREAT!!' Charlie rushed off up the flood defences leaving Geoff to trot along in her wake. As they left, Sam appeared riding the new bike that Nanny and Granddad had bought for his birthday. He'd been down on Steve and Jude's boat, little Charlie, their oldest was just learning to ride a bike so Sam was ‘helping'. Obviously his stomach clock had alerted him that food should be ready about now.

‘What's got Charlie all happy and smiley?' he asked as he wandered down the slope, ‘Actually I don't care, I've got a puncture, can Dad fix it?'

‘He's busy with Charlie for a moment.' I stood up. ‘I can fix it.'

Sam looked at me in confusion then shook his head. ‘No thanks, it's all right Mum, Dad fixes things.'

Poor Geoff.

The next week was a week too long for Charlie. As we expected, all the neighbours had been very good about having a small metal box inserted into their midst and had shuffled around to make room for it.

That Saturday there was a definite carnival feeling in the air. As the floating shed (Hedge pig was its name) had no engine Stuart had arranged for a friend to tow it up the river, from one end of the marina to the other. Unfortunately Geoff had been called into work, so I was left to deal with it.

As the little craft approached, I looked around and realised there were quite a few people suddenly milling about, Drew and Dion were standing, chatting up on the flood defences, Steve and Lewis were hanging about in Steve's garden. (Lewis was smiling and this small change to his usual demeanour threw me completely.) As the little boat pulled in there was a sudden flurry of activity. Ropes were thrown, boats were moved, I didn't have to move a muscle. Within ten minutes Hedge pig was parked, moored up and there were already people turning up with things that they thought Charlie might need, chairs, rugs, small tables and cabinets all appeared in a pile beside her boat, there was even a Hoover, an iron and an ironing board (I doubted that the last two would get much use but the thought was nice).

Then they all vanished again. It was like magic, I doubt even a wizard could have managed it so well and Charlie and I were left staring at her little boat.

‘See ya, Mum!' Charlie, once she had finished thanking people, grabbed a load of goods and clothes and prepared to move into her new room.

Over the next month Charlie painted and created, turning her little box into a tiny bedsit, we often found Scarlet and Jack sitting in there with her, mostly moaning that they wanted a boat of their own. Geoff put in a tiny log burner and between them they created a raised bed. We were lucky enough to get a futon which just fitted through the door and a television, which didn't. (We had to pass it though the large sliding windows, it was ridiculously huge.)

As summer moved inexorably toward autumn we managed in our own little way to achieve small but significant stages in boat building and live-aboard luxury. There was no way this winter was going to be anywhere near as bad as the last.

On one of the last sunny days, Amelia and Chris turned up unannounced and out of the blue.

‘Hello,' I shouted up, ‘what are you doing here?'

Amelia padded down the steps with Chris close behind her. She gave me a hug then, unable to contain herself any more grabbed Chris's hand and screamed. ‘We're getting married!' She waved a hand in front of my face.

I know I'm getting old because I can't see things at the end of my nose any more. I took a step back the better to see.

On her finger a small but glittering piece of ice. ‘Isn't it pretty?' She looked worried, obviously concerned that I wouldn't get the implications of the sparkling piece of jewellery.

‘Gorgeous.' I gave her a hug, then because he was looking a little nervous, wandered over and gave Chris a big hug as well. ‘You are one mad bloke.' I laughed and poked him gently in the stomach. ‘Who in their right mind would willingly join in matrimony to a family like this?'

Chris just laughed and gave me a hug right back. ‘Only the very bravest.' He raised his head and put on a heroic look. ‘I do what I have to do … ouch!'

What a wuss, I only gave him a little pinch.

‘And the other big news …' Amelia hopped from foot to foot trying to contain her excitement, irritated that I was ignoring her while attempting to put Chris at ease.

‘Yes?' I prompted.

‘I got into Cardiff University.' She reached back to Chris who wandered up and peering at me over her shouldergave me a big smile. ‘We're moving to Wales.'

That evening, with Sam snoring away in his recently finished bedroom, Charlie, alternately banging and singing in hers (I'd told her three times to turn the music down), and the dog, now fully grown and very muscular taking up most of the sofa, I finally managed to talk to Geoff.

‘I think next year is going to be a bit of a strain.' I snuggled up to my husband.

Geoff, watching ‘NCIS', was completely immersed in the story line. ‘Oh yeah,' he murmured ‘why's that then?'

‘Well, Amelia's finally off to University then later on she's getting married so there's a wedding to sort out. It's Charlie's GCSE year, then she'll be off to college and Sam will be going up to High School.' I shook my head. ‘It's like the Mad Hatter's tea party, you know … all move round one.'

Geoff finally focused on what I was saying. ‘I think you had these children either too far apart or not far enough apart.'

I laughed. ‘It's nice that they do things together.'

‘Hmm.' Geoff stared down the boat and winced. He was obviously looking at all the half finished bits and pieces that we had lying about. ‘And what about us, do we move on as well?'

I frowned. ‘Move on to what?' I thought for a moment, ‘We're going to have our hands full just dealing with them for the next twelve months, think of all the changes they've got to go through.'

‘They should be used to change by now,' Geoff said, chuckling.

‘I suppose, but all the changes that we've dragged them through, have been instigated by us, these are changes they have to do for themselves and we really can't get involved. All we can do is sit back and catch them if they fall.'

‘So what about us?' Geoff persisted. ‘We've got loads to do as well.'

‘I can't see us changing any time soon, can you?' I replied.

Geoff shook his head. ‘No, too much to do.' He began ticking lists off on his fingers. ‘We need to finish this boat, we need to put a new bathroom in and cut that passage through the back wall and into the boatman's cabin, we still have to work and the kids still need to be dealt with.'

I nodded. ‘I think this is going to be another slow year for boat restoration.'

Geoff answered, sighing, ‘As long as you're not going to tell me you want it all done in the next six months we should be fine.'

I took a long look down the boat and for the first time in months wondered whether I could now live a normal life in a house, making cakes and meeting other mums for coffee.

Snuggling further under my husband's armpit I pushed the thought quite viciously aside. No, there was absolutely no way I could go back to that now. I wouldn't want to and even if I could I knew it would only last until the spring when the warmer weather would drag me out in search of change.

‘I don't think I want it done in six months,' I assured my now rather worried-looking husband, ‘in fact I think it's time to slow down and just enjoy doing what we do. Six months, six years I really don't care, it'll get done when it's done and we'll take it from there.'

Geoff looked a little surprised. ‘What, no plans to sell it and get another one?'

‘Nope.'

‘Move it to another location?' He frowned. ‘Another town, somewhere different?' Obviously a wife without a ‘plan' wasn't something he was used to.

‘Nope.'

‘Really?' His voice showed how much he believed this new laid-back attitude. ‘There's nothing you wouldn't change about this situation right here and now?'

‘Nope, nothing major anyway, although it might be nice to win the lottery.' I tried to put what I felt into words. ‘This is home, it may be half-finished and it may be a pain and it may be small and we may be a bit broke, but, eventually, we'll get it how we want it but that's only half the story, the boat's not really that important in the grand scheme of things. It's the people, the life, the whole enchilada really.

‘The kids are going to take off, Amelia's already planning her next stage and Charlie's flapping around getting ready for hers. Sam's will come in time and then it will be us and the boat.' I shrugged. ‘I'm not going to look forward to that time, because, quite frankly, it'll happen whether I worry about it or not, the days pass so quickly. If I look forward to tomorrow, before I know it I've already missed most of today.'

Geoff nodded then sat up with a worried look. ‘Well, before you settle into some weird philosophic and euphoric haze, we do have one major problem at the moment.'

‘What's that?' I asked grinning at Mortimer who was waving his feet in the air in an effort to get someone to rub his stomach.

Geoff stared into his empty mug. ‘I'm out of tea and it's your turn to put the kettle on.'

As I filled the kettle and set the gas alight it occurred to me that happiness has to come at a price and I wondered, if we hadn't suffered through last winter and all the illness and problems that we'd had this year, whether I would even be able to recognise those moments of true contentment when they finally arrived. I thought of the proverb that was etched into a big plaque above the main desk of the hospital, I read it every day as I walked through the main doors: ‘This too shall pass'. How true, there would no doubt be other dark days, things would go wrong and there would be times that just needed to be endured and sighed over.

But for now, this fleeting moment, with Charlie singing in her bedroom, Sam snoring in his and Amelia almost giddy with anticipation for the future we really had nothing to worry about and if being out of tea was our only gripe then I could say, hand on heart, that life was good.

Also by Marie Browne

Narrow Margins
is the true story of one family's journey from the financial crash of the Rover car company to an alternative and better lifestyle. Faced with the loss of everything, the house, the cars and more importantly their rather lazy and indolent lifestyle, Marie Browne and her family took on the challenge of a whole new way of life.
Strapped for cash, the family buy a decrepit 70ft barge called
Happy Go Lucky
which, having been run as a floating hotel, is outdated and in need of complete refurbishment.

As they come to terms with living on a narrow boat, readers gain a fascinating insight into life in the slow lane.

ISBN 9781907016004     £7.99

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