\u201cWe\u2019ve been infiltrated,\u201d said Carol, scanning the assembled members of the W.I. \u201cI saw our cake recipe on Val Clark\u2019s shopping list in Tesco this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut\u2026 it\u2019s only a Victoria Sponge!\u201d said Julie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carol flung her arms in the air. \u201cHow many times do I have to say it? Use the code name!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was fair to say that former Superintendent Carol was finding retirement a struggle. It had only been six weeks but already she was exasperated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Ian, her husband, had welcomed his own retirement like a long-lost relative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust relax,\u201d he said as he reclined on a sun-lounger that evening at their neighbours\u2019 barbecue, while Carol stood like a spare part, refusing to sit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy does Sue slather on so much make-up? She must have something to hide\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ian ignored her, biting into his burger and flinching when it burned him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carol raised an eyebrow. \u201cIt pays to be alert, Ian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe he was right, though, she thought grudgingly. She should probably\u2026 circulate<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sue, flanked by two women from the street, was throwing her head back in an exaggerated laugh, pearls and teeth glinting in the evening sun. As Carol approached, they stopped talking and stood to attention like guilty school children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvenin\u2019 all,\u201d Carol said, in an attempt at humour. The women laughed nervously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCarol!\u201d said Sue. \u201cWe were just talking about… Help me out, Melody, my memory\u2019s going!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when Carol attempted to join a conversation with the men huddled around the barbecue, one of them looked at her, nudged the others, then turned and whistled as they fell silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was used to this sort of reaction from civilians. In fact, it\u2019d always been an excuse to distance herself at social events, or better still, avoid them altogether. But if she was to survive retirement, that needed to change. The thing was, the twitchiness displayed tonight was above and beyond the usual level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It continued all week. Snatches of chatter over fences, floating into her garden like birdsong, in which she thought she heard her name. And a higher-than-average number of deliveries on the street, according to her stats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As she pulled into the driveway after the excruciating hair appointment Ian had booked for her \u201cto pamper yourself,\u201d the neighbours scattered like mice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s going on around here?\u201d she called to Ian as she walked in the front door. \u201cI\u2019ll get to the bottom of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s your birthday,\u201d he said, handing her a glass of champagne. \u201cPut your feet up and get to the bottom of this first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol tried to relax, but the clamouring outside intensified. She marched out to investigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The street was lined with tables and adorned with bunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSurprise! Happy birthday Carol!\u201d chimed the neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol put down the taser and took a slice of cake. Maybe this retirement business wasn\u2019t so bad after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t think she noticed the cocaine,\u201d Bill winked, ever the joker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mouth still full of cake, Carol didn\u2019t miss a beat. \u201cI heard that!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWe\u2019ve been infiltrated,\u201d said Carol, scanning the assembled members of the W.I. \u201cI saw our cake recipe on Val Clark\u2019s shopping list in Tesco this morning.\u201d \u201cBut\u2026 it\u2019s only a Victoria Sponge!\u201d said Julie. Carol flung her arms in the air. \u201cHow many times do I have to say it? Use the code name!\u201d It […]<\/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":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1490,1609],"tags":[643,114,1040,8,7,966,116,1614,525,1589,9,978,14,1613,11],"class_list":["post-2392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-may-2025-the-party","tag-been","tag-but","tag-carol","tag-he","tag-her","tag-ian","tag-like","tag-neighbours","tag-only","tag-retirement","tag-said","tag-say","tag-she","tag-sue","tag-was"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-CA","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\/2392","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=2392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2393,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392\/revisions\/2393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}