{"id":1830,"date":"2023-11-10T11:08:27","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T11:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1830"},"modified":"2023-11-10T11:09:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T11:09:05","slug":"carol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/carol\/1830\/","title":{"rendered":"Carol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Watkins, a whole platoon in a single body, clumsily barged open the door. The committee room became a lot more crowded with his entrance. \u2018They can\u2019t deliver today,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Davies, his face communion wafer white, said, \u2018Why not?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Strike at the depot.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018For the best,\u2019 said Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018This is going to be a success!\u2019 Davies insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018It\u2019s meant to be a do to celebrate Phil\u2019s passing, for god\u2019s sake.\u2019 Jones sat up aggressively in his chair. \u2018Why do we need bloody fireworks?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

            \u2018I\u2019ll go into town this afternoon and buy what I can,\u2019 Davies said. \u2018Mustn\u2019t forget rockets. Carol likes those.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Somebody put up a notice in the village hall saying Firework display cancelled<\/em>,\u2019 Watkins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018That\u2019s the parish council\u2019s bash. Ours goes ahead<\/em>.\u2019 Davies, his features drawn following covid, glared at Jones. \u2018Could you email all the allotmenteers and remind them tonight is on? And say good<\/em> turnout<\/em> required<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Watkins nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018So: presentation to his wife, couple of speeches, couple of drinks, and then a few sparklers. Then we wrap it up,\u2019 Jones said, as if he were itemising unpleasant surgery. He\u2019d been a pen pusher for over three decades at the vehicle licensing centre. Making lists came easily and often to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018It\u2019ll be OK,\u2019 Watkins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Bangers and jumping jacks in the allotment? Crazy idea!\u2019 Jones muttered. \u2018Just keep it all away from my plot.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018He wasn\u2019t a bad bugger, Phil, was he?\u2019 Watkins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018It\u2019s for his wife really,\u2019 Davies explained patiently. \u2018She fundraised for the allotment. She got us all that money for the new path and the new water pipe. She\u2019s a marvel. It\u2019s for Carol.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018He had his faults,\u2019 Watkins said. \u2018But, bobl bach, who among us hasn\u2019t?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018He stole my spade. Painted the handle white. I recognised it at once.\u2019 Jones\u2019 eyes had a black paint of resentment in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018He used to half-inch my bags of horse manure. I\u2019d get in early for the delivery, pile `em up under tarpaulin. Next morning a couple were missing. Happened every time.\u2019 Davies sniffed irritably at the memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Light fingered,\u2019 Watkins agreed, \u2018but not without character.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018The character of a rat. The police were always knocking on his door,\u2019 Jones said. \u2018If we\u2019re having half an hour of rockets and booze for him, there\u2019ll be a year of celebrations when you pass, Watkins.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Poor Carol,\u2019 Davies said. \u2018She deserved better. That\u2019s why we\u2019re doing it, boys. Carol! One of the good ones!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Watkins got off the fence. \u2018You\u2019re right, a bad lad he was. Duw if he\u2019d been a vegetable, you\u2019d have dug him up and chucked him away.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Rotten to the root. Whose idea was this?\u2019 Jones said. He and Watkins exchanged looks. The bachelor Davies had always had a weak spot for Carol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Why does Carol like rockets?\u2019 Watkins asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Probably phallic reasons,\u2019 Jones murmured grumpily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018There wasn\u2019t much light in her life,\u2019 Davies said. \u2018I think she detested him by the end.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Yes he had his faults,\u2019 Watkins said vaguely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watkins, a whole platoon in a single body, clumsily barged open the door. The committee room became a lot more crowded with his entrance. \u2018They can\u2019t deliver today,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[695,1029],"tags":[1040,1039,124,8,20,1038,119,12,590,9,14,74,1037,1041,1042],"class_list":["post-1830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-695","category-november-2023-fireworks","tag-carol","tag-davies","tag-do","tag-he","tag-his","tag-jones","tag-ll","tag-my","tag-phil","tag-said","tag-she","tag-up","tag-watkins","tag-white","tag-why"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sbrNJE-carol","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1832,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830\/revisions\/1832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}