A New Start

 

It was a new start.  He must have walked past that boarded up house a hundred times and not noticed it.  The front garden had a high wall with a substantial iron gate and the bushes must have been ten foot high with only a small gap between them through which to glimpse the front door.    Most of the other houses in the street had been converted into apartments or offices but somehow this one had weathered the property booms, buy to rent fads and all the other property trends, relatively untouched.  It was a chance meeting few weeks before with an old school friend who had joined the legions of financial advisors always on the look out for those in a job who had not yet hung the mill stone of a mortgage around their neck or succumbed to life on a credit card or a taste for expensive cars or hobbies.  He had spent his time drifting and though being a professional he was not ambitious and was pretty much living out of a suitcase in a bedsit.  He had seen the world and indeed had many friends who often called him.  He had a role of sorts as a listener as those he knew met their partners and went through their various ups and downs.  Actually this bedsit land lifestyle had suited him for some time with its floating population of interesting characters who populated the fringes of respectable society. 

His friends were keen to hear his stories of real people.  Students, teenage mothers, heroin users, lesbians with piercings in unusual places, misfits, and oddballs of every description seemed to be disproportionately represented amongst his neighbours.  When word got around he was a social worker he could expect a knock on his door at any time of the day or night to find some poor soul wanted a free counselling session.  He often thought about how there seems to be an unwritten rule that if you know a nurse, a social worker or a teacher it is ok to procure their professional services gratis day or night but he same didn’t seem to apply to lawyers or plumbers who were always willing to help for an additional charge.  But saying this he was always generous and only firm when absolutely necessary as he was well aware of the potential problems of opening up his humble abode to every stray that he might have let through his door.

His friend had told him how much money he could borrow and this had surprised him because he had always imagined he would never be able to afford to get on the property ladder.  He now had a mortgage offer.  He had a habit of saving for his next excursion but had failed to keep track of his account recently.  By chance he now had a not insubstantial sum of money tucked away for a rainy day.  He had not planned to go house buying and had seen a notice about the house auction purely by chance and as it was raining he decided to wandered in and take a look.  He was handed a catalogue by a porter and had a browse.  The auction room was not crowded and the first few lots went to the same person at what he thought were extraordinarily low amounts.  He recognised one of the houses and decided he would try his luck.  To his great surprise two bids later he had won and was sorting out the paperwork with the auctioneer’s clerk.  It was a very smooth transaction requiring only a 10% deposit.   A few weeks later he had the keys and had joined the ranks of other house owners.

It transpired that the house had been boarded up in the early 1970s having been bought by a company who converted it into a staff training centre but never actually used it.  The company had been bought out by a large corporation and the house having never actually been used for training had simply been forgotten about until a keen eyed auditor had discovered it.  So when he went inside he was pleased to note that the entire house had been rewired and was in a remarkably good state of repair.  The good news was that it was huge and empty with plain industrial grade carpeting everywhere and blinds on every window that were still boarded up.  It was a bargain by anyone’s standards.

On the top floor there was a small kitchen with a view over rooftops complete with old style cooker and also a bathroom so he made this floor his base.  It was wonderfully quiet but also extremely cold until he purchased several oil filled radiators.  He discovered that the central heating system had been plumbed in but a boiler had never been fitted to it and had not as far as he could tell ever had water in it.  Fortunately the water tank on the top floor had an emersion heater fitted so after some careful research and stop cock manipulation he had hot water but the beautiful cast iron radiators would remain cold until he could install a substantial boiler downstairs in the cellar.

Before attaining the status of being a home owner many people had looked down on him with a mixture of suspicion and surprise.  Surely he wanted to have his own home.  Had he got a poor credit history?  Did he have something wrong with him?  Was he a member of some weird cult or something?  He was always being urged to own a house.   Now he was the owner of a very large empty house that was the envy of his friends who assumed he had come into a large amount of money.  The fact of the matter was that his monthly mortgage payment was less than he had been paying in rent and in ten years time would be completely paid off.  However, he was now seen as being normal and to a large extent he felt as if he had crossed a boundary.  His friends now set about the task of finding him someone to share his living space with.  It is a very strange thing that his friends naturally assumed he was lonely and in need of company.  It was apparently unthinkable that he might just enjoy the freedom of having space of his own and just being left alone.  He now had a stream of visitors and invitations to attend various social events.  There always seemed to be so and so who had just been through a rough patch and was looking for someone or Felicity who was still single.  After a while his friends seemed to give up and resign themselves to the fact he did not really want anyone else to share his domestic haven with.

It was not that he was not busy.  He took his job seriously and worked hard for his employers.  He was promoted several times and became a lecturer in social work at the college near to his home.  The staff group all got on very well and as they had not known his previous existence put no particular pressure on him to settle down and do the usual things.  He took a great deal of interest in the well being of his students and was a popular and well regarded teacher.  He continued to work on the house.  A suitable boiler was purchased and installed by a plumber he had known for many years.  He restored much of the exterior of the house and set about restoring the interior of the house that had many beautiful original features.   He enlisted the services of a carpenter who specialised in period restoration.  Gradually the grey carpeting was removed and tiled and oak floors were revealed and polished.  Fireplaces were put back in and chimneys repaired.  Original sash windows were restored at great cost.  Blinds were removed and replaced with heavy drapes.  An alarm system was installed.  Two en suite bath rooms were installed and a large and well equipped kitchen was created with a view over the newly landscaped back garden.  Where possible he used the original materials or something of higher quality.  He carefully chose plain well crafted furniture avoiding plastic and laminates looking instead for quality.  Slowly he created a stylish comfortable home that would have suited a very large family indeed.

His approach was to do things properly and to take his time to get things right.  The house and garden was a new focus in his life and for the first time he started to accumulate possessions such as books and paintings and even bought a serious audio system.  His friends came to see him and sat in his living room or out on his patio.  They ate good food and drank fine wines and talked about all manner of things.  He felt himself feeling content with his lot.  He never really missed his previous life other than the people he used to meet.  He missed something about the randomness and chaos.

It was whilst sitting in the gardens of a nearby museum that he met Tanya.  She was a Russian computer programmer and had come to England to be with her boyfriend.  When she arrived to surprise him it was she who had been surprised by a large breasted French woman who it turned out was her boyfriend’s fiancé and who knew nothing at all of Tanya.  Her boyfriend had said to her to go back to Russia.  Here she was sitting in the park in a foreign country, hungry, with no money, and nowhere to go.  He offered her a room for the night.  At first she refused but after they had spoken for a while she shouldered her bag and they walked together to his house.  She was very impressed and said that she loved it very much.  She moved in to the top floor where there were four rooms including a kitchen and bathroom. 

He made one of the rooms into an office for her complete with a powerful computer and supplied her with everything she needed.  She got a job and her employer sponsored her visa.  When she started working she gave him regular cheques.  He never asked her for any money but she insisted on paying him.  She stocked her own kitchen but she prepared a meal for him every evening in the main kitchen.  She also cleaned the house and to his amazement did the laundry telling him that she liked to do it.  He found that he very much enjoyed having her around.  She spent most of her time working but every now and again she would come to his living room with a book and curl up on the sofa catlike in front of the fire.  Everyone assumed they were a couple.  Sometimes she would accompany him to her friend’s houses and was delightful company making everyone laugh with funny stories.  His friends often said he was a lucky guy to have met such a wonderful woman.

She had changed since she had known him.  She discarded the clothes she used to wear and now wore dresses and had her hair styled.  She loved the garden and took a great interest in every plant.  In the summer they dug a huge pond together and they both enjoyed watching the Koi carp from the patio.  She became like many of his friends wives in fact and began to spend time with them shopping or socialising.  She had slipped into his life quietly as if she had always been a part of it.  They often hugged each other when either of them returned home and she would sometimes cuddle up to him affectionately on the sofa.  When they were at friends houses she might hold his hand or place her hand on his knee.  He would stroke her hair and kiss her head gently and she was affectionate to him too.  Though it was never said they clearly loved each other and their relationship worked.  Neither of them showed any interest in anyone else.  They went on holiday together and shared a room together.

It was a winter’s night that things changed a little.  A storm was raging outside and the wind was howling.  He heard a quiet knock on his bedroom door.  She entered his room and as she did so she let her dressing gown fall to the floor revealing her thin pale body to him for the first time.  She got into his bed and asked him to make love to her.  He asked her awkwardly if she was sure and she told him that she only wanted him.  He made love to her the first time slowly and gently.  They told each other how much they loved each other and wanted to be with each other forever.  Their lovemaking was tender and sensual and when both were satisfied they fell asleep in each others arms.  Nothing else changed.  Sometimes she would come to his room and sometimes he would go to her room.  

Tanya got a higher paid job that also gave her more time at home.  She had a busy social life and she had also started studying for a mathematics and computing doctorate for fun.  She worked hard and her tutors praised her work.  He was so proud of her when she graduated.   When she became pregnant he was as excited as she was.  She took a job as a part-time lecturer and enjoyed her pregnancy.  They both studied all the books and had a wonderful time deciding what car seat was best and buying baby clothes.  He often arrived home to a living room full of pregnant women who had chosen their house to do their pregnancy workouts.  Tanya had a problem free water birth and Hannah was born after a relatively short labour.  Tanya loved her new role as a mother and they both adored Hannah who certainly made a big difference to their lives.  He couldn’t wait to get home to see her and Tanya dutifully recorded each stage of her development and gave him detailed reports about everything she had done that day.

He felt so happy he could burst.  It seemed that he had everything he needed and was indeed a very lucky guy.  As he left that morning he kissed Tanya and Hannah and for some reason said thank you.  As he travelled on the bus he thought of the chance meeting with Tanya and what he now had.  They were so precious to him.  That day he had to lecture but his mind was not really on the job.  He thought about them all the time but today he seemed to think about them more than ever.   He had a strong feeling that he needed to get home.  It was about 2 o’clock when his manager knocked on his office door and informed me that the scheduled staff meeting had been cancelled and he was welcome to work from home.  He hurriedly packed up his things and ran to the bus stop.  He decided not to ring and thought how surprised she would be to see him.

He smiled to himself as he walked along their road noticing as if for the first time how wide it was and the trees planted each side made it so attractive.  Just as he crossed the road he saw someone come out of their house with a holdall over his shoulder and walk off in the opposite direction looking back over his shoulder as he did so.  He didn’t like the look of this man who was dressed in black.  When he arrived home the front door was ajar and there was no sign of Tanya or Hannah.  He went through to the kitchen and saw the remains of a meal and the living room appeared to be in a bit of a mess.  He went upstairs to the third floor where Hannah and Tanya had their rooms and looked into Hannah’s room.  She was fast asleep with a smile on her face just like her mother.  He went to her mother’s room and she too was asleep on her bed.  He was just about to leave when she murmured something in Russian.  To turned around again and noticed what looked like blood on her pillow.  He came towards her and this time knelt down near to her gently pulling the sheet back to reveal her body.  She looked as if she had been beaten.  He let out a cry of surprise and she woke with a look of terror in her face but once she recognised him she buried her face in his jacket.

He took her to the bathroom and gently tended her wounds.  Fortunately she was not too badly hurt.  She told him that she had been out shopping when she had been approached by her ex-boyfriend who demanded to know what she was doing and to give him money.  She had not wanted to talk to him but he had apparently followed her home and was shouting outside the house.  Eventually she had spoken to him and made him some lunch after he promised her he would leave.  She had been putting Hannah to bed when she heard things being thrown around downstairs.  When she had returned to the kitchen she noticed that her purse was on the table and he was searching the house for valuables.  She had tried to stop him but he was too strong and had beaten her.  She was afraid he was going to hurt Hannah so she gave him what he wanted.  He held her and reassured her that she had done the right thing.

They called the police and told them everything.  They took fingerprints and made a note of everything that had been stolen.  Tanya had to attend a doctor for her injuries to be examined and recorded.  The worst loss was his watch and Tanya’s laptop but most things were covered by the household insurance.  The most worry thing was he might try to come back or contact Tanya again.  He knew she was alone in the house apart from Hannah.  He called his boss and explained to him what had happened and he was granted study leave for four weeks.

In the weeks to follow they were never out of each others sight and their love for each other appeared to grow every day.  In the fourth week they received a call that her ex-boyfriend had been picked up.  In questioning he had made a full confession to the incident involving Tanya, as well as admitting a number of other matters, and would be appearing in Magistrates Court; where the matter would no doubt be sent to the Crown Court for sentence.  The prosecution were asking for deportation to be considered.  It was a relief to know that he had been remanded in custody and unlikely to be back on the streets in the foreseeable future. 

A couple of weeks later they went on holiday together to Barcelona and upon their return to the house that had always been their home he proposed to her.  At first she was shocked and then she laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks.  He asked her if she accepted and she told him it was about time he asked her as she had given up hope he ever would.