Page 79 of The Village of Lost and Found

‘Good morning,’ said Uncle Frank. ‘We appear to have been promoted to the Art Department instead.’

Stanley lay down a couple of large rolls of paper on one of the desks.

‘We’re making placards,’ said Grandma Tilly, placing some thick marker pens onto another desk. ‘We need to get ready for our protest outside the Council offices on Wednesday and wanted to use this big space, if that’s OK.’

‘Of course. Talking of which, I just saw Henry,’ said Lucy, turning to hand the envelope over to Tom. ‘The quarry people tracked him down on Saturday and tried to get him to sell up. He refused and he’s given us this. Thought it might help our cause.’

Tom looked at Lucy for a short while before taking the envelope. ‘Right. Well, good.’

‘I’ll let you look through it,’ she told him. ‘You’re the brains of the operation around here.’

He seemed cheered at the compliment.

‘How are you today?’ she asked softly. She wondered whether the tidying up of the cottage had been a strain for him.

So she was pleased when he replied, ‘I’m feeling good, thanks.’

He had definitely started to look much better as well these days. He had lost his unhealthy pallor. In fact, his skin was even beginning to glow. His eyes were clear and now an even more startling shade of blue.

Realising that she was staring, Lucy quickly looked away and began to organise more of the paperwork.

As he walked back into his office, she sighed softly to herself. If anything, her small crush on Tom was getting worse day by day.

43

Wednesday had dawned with a touch of drizzle in the air. Hopefully it wasn’t an omen for their chances for the protest rally, thought Tom, as he parked the car in Aldwych town centre.

But the lack of summer sunshine didn’t appear enough to dampen the spirits of the crowd outside the council offices.

Tom and Lucy exchanged surprised glances as they neared the rather large gathering of people who were surrounding the entrance.

‘Great turnout,’ said Lucy, looking pleased.

Tom nodded. ‘Brilliant,’ he said.

It was even better than he had hoped. He had imagined that it would just be Grandma Tilly and a few of her friends from the WI. But the impact and concern over the quarry appeared to have spread wider than that. He had counted at least fifty people in the crowd. Possibly even nearer to sixty.

It was a mix of all ages as well. From mums with babies and toddlers all the way up to the spritely group of pensioners who were near to where Frank, Stanley and Grandma Tilly were standing.

Lucy gave her uncle a kiss on the cheek. ‘This is great,’ she told him.

‘Isn’t it marvellous?’ said Frank, looking delighted.

‘And it’s not just Cranbridge village,’ added Stanley. ‘All the local villages have turned out to lend their support.’

‘Quite right,’ said Tom. ‘We’re all in this together.’

‘I’ve lost count of the number of people that have told me that it was your editorial in last week’s newspaper that inspired them to join in,’ said Frank, looking straight at him.

Tom nodded, suddenly unable to speak. It had taken time, but slowly and surely, he was beginning to write once again. In the most recent edition, he had listed everything that he loved about the village and how it would be impacted by the quarry.

Uncle Frank leaned forward. ‘I’m so proud of you,’ he said, laying a hand on Tom’s shoulder.

Tom patted the wrinkly hand with his own in response, still struggling to speak.

Instead he glanced around to see where Lucy was. She had been instrumental in encouraging him to write again and had been in tears when she had read the piece that he had written.

‘It’s wonderful,’ she had said, giving him a brief hug before walking away looking embarrassed.