Fast Fiction: Tangles
Who was this woman who sat chatting to Dr Larple (ret) on one of the benches by the village green? Richard Mallinson tells a tangled tale.
‘I would like to sit here with you all day,’ said the woman with whom Dr Larpie (retd) had been chatting, ‘but I must be moving on.’
Who was she? She didn’t live in the village or he would at least have known her by sight. She had simply walked up to him and sat down at his side on one of the benches by the green.
She was smartly-dressed, dark-haired and probably about 40. She wore a wedding ring which, he noticed, she kept twisting.
They had talked about the beautiful August weather, vanishing hedgerows, village houses and gardening.
It had been a pleasant enough conversation but Dr Larpie sensed tension in the woman.
She rose to leave.
‘At least come back to my house for a cup of tea,’ he said.
The woman, now tearful, replied, ‘That is very kind of you. Are you sure that it won’t be too much trouble?’
‘It will be no trouble at all,’ said Dr Larpie.
They walked across the green, where children were playing, watched by their young parents.
‘A delightful scene, don’t you think?’ said Dr Larpie.
As there was no reply, he assumed that the woman hadn’t heard.
‘Where did you leave your car?’ he asked when they were sipping their tea.
‘Oh,’ she said, ‘I didn’t bring my car. I came by train and got off at Elstone and then walked down the lanes and along the footpaths.’
‘But why here?’ asked Dr Larpie. ‘Is there something special for you about this village?’
‘Yes, my aunt and uncle used to live here. They are both dead now. I used to visit them when I was a child. I was very happy then, not caught up in -’
‘Tangles?’ he murmured.
