each side of the fence
By:
Ella ( [email protected] )
Chapter Eight
“Thank
God they’re here!” Louisa exclaimed, drying her hands on a tea towel.
“Madison, can you stay with baby Dylan in the lounge please?”
“Yes mum,” she replied, building a huge tower of bricks in front of
Dylan’s baby bouncer. He gazed on in adoration, kicking his legs in excitement.
Madison grinned at him, leaning forward and giving him a wet kiss on the nose.
He giggled.
“I wuv you, Dyl,” she said fondly, handing him a brick. He promptly put into
his mouth to chew, tugging at his sister’s hair with the other hand in
playfulness.
+++ Louisa headed outside onto the driveway, where removal men were spilling out
of the van, beginning to unload some of the stuff onto the street. She walked
down to join them.
“Hey there,” said one man. “You want us to dump the stuff inside your
house?”
“Yeah please,” she said gratefully. “You want a cuppa?”
They looked at each other in confusion. “A cuppa?” said one of them, smiling
broadly. “Do you mean a cup of tea?!” Louisa nodded pleasantly, not seeing
why they found this so funny.
“Uh-huh…”
They burst out laughing. “Golly gosh! Hasn’t the English culture made a true
lady of you?!”
Louisa frowned, remembering her very different picture of England, full of
drunken louts and pubs. “Maybe it would have twenty years ago,” she admitted,
“But have you been to England recently?”
“Nope,” replied one man, as he heaved a table out the van. “Too much rain
and Spice Girls for my liking.” He grinned, thinking he was really funny.
Except he wasn’t.
“Yeah, it’s like a jumping puddle party!” Louisa lied. “Err…so do you
want a drink?”
They began laughing again, without stopping for a minute or two. Louisa watched
on patiently, waiting for an answer.
“Yes please, madam. Dost thou have any coca-cola on the menu, or have stocks
dried up?”
She smiled, putting her hands up in defeat. It was easier just to humour them.
“I shalt nip to the cellar and have a peep!” she smiled, beating them at
their own game. “Do make yourselves comfortable!” She walked away, fighting
back the laughter.
Minutes later she returned with drinks. “You were in luck,” she said. They
nodded thankfully, accepting the drinks with small grins.
“Ok, so you just tell us where you want everything and we’ll put it in the
right rooms, ok missy?” one bloke said, between slurps of drinks. A car pulled
up next door.
Louisa didn’t really give it much thought, but continued talking with the men
as three dark-haired guys got out of the car, looking with curiosity at Louisa
as they walked up next door’s driveway. She smiled briefly, looking away. Why
the hell were there three guys going into the house? She grinned slightly,
thinking that maybe the strange guy she’d seen looking through the window the
night before was gay. With multiple boyfriends. But that would be a shame – he
looked too nice to be wasted!
Louisa couldn’t help take a sneaky peak at next door again, as she heard the
front door opening. It was rude to stare, she knew, but was it really a crime to
take a harmless peek at such a good-looking bloke, even if he did turn out to be
a perverted freak?! There he was again – except in daylight, he looked more
friendly. From what she could tell in such a short amount of time he was medium
height with sandy blond hair and smiley eyes. He had smiley eyes! Louisa looked
away, momentarily catching his eye. Oh God – now he probably thought SHE was
the weird one…!