Chapter 1

Lying here in bed, just staring at the ceiling, the glow of the morning sun making the room an amber light. I can also feel the fresh breeze on my face, as the window is open now due to the warm nights. Spring is here. Soon it will be summer again; it will be my first summertime in Lemsford Village. My place of residence for the last seven months, trying to forget my past, to get away from my nightmares.

Outside a dog is barking, I recognise the bark straight away, it’s Billy. He is a German Shepherd. When he goes out, he can be hyperactive as he loves the outdoors.

“Billy inside now, do you want to wake up Steve?”

That’s Patsy shouting at him, my landlady and boss. She is the proprietor of Lemsford Inn. She is in her late fifties, born in Lemsford, lived here all her life.

Let me tell you how I ended up in this small village in Hertfordshire. It was back in November; I was riding through Lemsford on a cold, drizzly evening, I had no idea where I was going. I stopped at Lemsford Inn to have something to drink, to warm myself up before I hit the road again.

Entering the Inn, I approached the bar, with gently chattering teeth I said to the bar lady, “Any chance of tea or coffee?” With chilled fingers shaking from the cold I pulled out of my pocket some loose change.

An old gentleman who was standing next to me started to laugh loud, “son you won’t get any tea or coffee here after 10 pm, it’s mostly alcohol until closing time.”

“Could I sit by your fireplace for a while to warm up, please?” I asked the lady.

Looking at the old man with the frown, she said. “Go sit down to warm yourself up, lad.”

Taking off my leather jacket, I put it on the floor to my side not to get the material on the couch wet. Sitting in front of the log fire, stretching out towards it as much as I could to warm up. Feeling the heat from the fireplace, made me drowsy, sitting back to get comfortable I started feeling my eyes heavy while staring at the flames, suddenly everything went black.

I woke up to something moist running itself over my forehead, then my nose. Opening my eyes, inches from my face was a German Shephard staring at me. I just sat there frozen, not knowing what to do. Looking beyond the dog was the fireplace, that’s when I realised that I had fallen asleep on the couch. Looking down slowly, not to make any sudden movements. There was a blanket covering my body.

“Billy get your ass here now?” It was the lady from the bar.

Billy quickly jumped off me and started running to disappear behind the bar. Lifting my head up, moving it to the left then right to relieve the stiffness. Looking out of the window, I noticed it was daytime. I must have slept through the night on the couch. Slowly getting up I stretched myself before I made my way to the bar. Standing there for a few moments before I called out. “Hello, is there anyone here? Hello.” Billy was back standing at the entrance of the bar staring at me again.

Appearing from behind him, it was the bar lady, holding a mobile phone to her ear, speaking to someone. “What do you mean you quit, it’s Friday, the beginning of the weekend I need you here!” She listened to what the other person had to say then all of a sudden she threw the mobile on the counter, the smartphone sliding to the left while it’s battery came sliding towards me. As she watched the item, her eyes stopped on me. I looked to see where Billy was, but all I saw was his tail wiggling, as he disappeared around the corner. Then I looked back at her.

“Hi, my name is Steve,” I said.

“Hi, my name is Patsy, have you ever worked as a waiter?”

“I am a fast learner,” I said looking at her with a confused look on my face.

That is how Patsy and I formally met. That weekend was the weekend to hell and back. Learning to be a waiter, while serving customers at the same time. When it was a little quiet, Patsy would take over while I was in the pot wash cleaning dishes. The only thing we didn’t do was cook, at least she had a chef to do that.

Saturday night when we had closed the Inn, it was just Patsy and me to clean up, while Billy was sleeping by the fireplace. When we finished, she got a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and two shot glasses, filling them both up with the liquid. Patsy took one of the glasses of whisky tossing it back.

Seen my glass just sitting there untouched she said.”The other one is for you Steve.”

“If it’s ok with you I’ll get myself an orange juice?” Once I got her approval, I poured myself the beverage. I took a sip of my drink then said. “Thank you very much for the food and letting me sleep for two nights here. If you let me sleep tonight, then I’ll be on my way in the morning?”

Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out some money, started counting notes in front of me. “That is your salary for the two days you helped out. You can stay for the night, but I want to offer you a job if you are interested? There is a one bedroom flat above the Inn for you to stay. It needs a good clean and a coat of paint. I open at ten in the morning till midnight. I don’t expect you to work that many hours. From midday till midnight will be ok, Sunday will be our day of rest like the good Lord says, I’ll pay you £1200 per calendar month including a place to stay plus your meals.” She just stood there looking at me for a moment.

Opening and closing my mouth a couple of times to say something. Eventually, I spoke. “Thank God it’s Sunday tomorrow I’ll need the day to clean up the place.”

Grabbing the other shot glass, she tossed that one back as well. Then she put her hand out to shake on our deal.

Next day I spent most of the morning cleaning up the flat, I didn’t see Patsy all day, probably the one day she had off, she wanted to stay as far away from the Inn as possible. Finishing off, I went outside to see where to park my motorbike. On the rear of the Inn was a small extension, inside was some old furniture, must have been old furniture from the Inn. There was enough space to park the Yamaha, rolling the bike inside, I stood it on its’s kickstand, unstrapped the leather bag with all my belonging I went back to the flat to rest.

Chapter 2 »