Chapter 7: When a Warning Doesn’t Help

‘You have a lovely cock, I’ll let you put it up me next time.’ He gave me a grin as he stepped back. I got on the train, my mind in a turmoil. So, everything I thought I had dreamt had really happened to me. I had been sexually abused and raped, all in one night.’

‘I sat on the train as if I was looking out of the window trying to decide what to do. I knew I couldn’t tell mum and dad about what had happened to me, I’d be far too embarrassed. I thought about Oliver, but this was his friend. I started to wonder if he and Bill had done things like that. Or even if Bill had done the same to Oliver. But then why would they still be friends.’

‘By the time we got off the train I had decided to say and do nothing, just to pretend that it was as I had first thought, just a nightmare.’

‘But that didn’t work, did it?’ Lewis asked. Lester gave him a weak smile, ‘No, I tried, then when it didn’t work right away, I convinced myself it would take time.’

‘Then as time went on, I found that any close contact with anyone I didn’t already know well, and trust implicitly, filled me with terror. I suppose I just adapted my life to cope with it afterwards.’

Lewis stroked his head and asked, ‘What happened recently to awake all the fears again?’ Lester looked up at him in surprise, ‘How can he understand so well?’ he wondered.

‘In this last year at school,’ Lester said, ‘Our form, being the less brainy, have been taken to see places of employment that might be suited to us. One of the places we went to see, was the local garden centre on the edge of town.’

‘I’ve always loved working in the garden, and I look after ours at home. I’m able to work on my own, at my own speed and I’m doing things I enjoy. I always feel happy and content.’

‘Our tour of the garden centre showed us behind the scenes. There were people actually working in the centre itself and dealing with the customers. But there were also a small army of gardeners of all sorts working in the background producing all the plants for sale.’

‘The school had a great policy. When we went on these trips, the whole form had to go. But if we went somewhere that had no interest for you, you were expected to remain for the introductory talk, then you could wander off and amuse yourself until it was time to return.’

‘On our trip to the garden centre there were just seven of us who stayed for the whole tour. Four girls and three boys. One of the managers took the group of us round and showed us all the plants in fields and greenhouses.’

‘He explained the work involved and how although it all required a degree of skill, they found that many who excelled in this type of work did not do well at general subjects at school. I liked the sound of that and started to imagine myself working there.’

‘As we went round, I asked lots of questions about the plants themselves and the work involved. By the time we were nearing the end of the tour, I was walking alongside Charles, the manager who was showing us round. He started asking me about our garden at home and what work I did in it. He also seemed interested in what I was growing.’

‘When it was time to leave, he called out goodbye everyone, ‘Thank you for coming, it’s been a pleasure to show you all round.’ he told us. Then he shook hands with me and added, ‘Nice to have met you Lester, good luck for the future.’

‘It wasn’t until we were all on the bus going back to school that I realised I hadn’t felt any panic when he shook my hand. As soon as we finished school, I cycled back to the garden centre and asked if I could speak to Charles.’

‘I was taken through to him. ‘Hello Lester,’ he said, ‘I didn’t expect to see you again, how can I help?’ ‘I think I would like to work somewhere like this when I leave school,’ I told him. ‘I wondered if there was any weekend work available so I could see if I can learn enough to be useful. Also, you could see if I was worth employing and at least tell me if I had any chance of getting employment with another garden centre.’

‘Well,’ he said, ‘I like your initiative. But although we do use weekend staff, that being our busiest time, they tend to be in customer service and need to have a good knowledge of all the plants we sell.’

‘I wonder,’ he said to himself. Then he got up and said, ‘Come with me and let me show you something.’ We walked out the front of the shop into the car park. Over on the far side of the parking area was an overgrown area about two hundred and fifty feet square.’

‘We kept this as it is, in case we needed to extend the car park.’ he told me, ‘But last time we added more parking spaces, for a variety of reasons, we extended over the other side. I’ve had an idea to use this since as a sort of children’s garden area. The idea being to encourage children to have their own area of the garden at home to plant and grow for themselves.’

‘That’s why I was so interested in hearing all about your garden at home. How are you at drawing?’ he asked. ‘Useless freehand,’ I told him, ‘But I’m ok at drawing things with a ruler.’

‘Ok,’ he said, ‘How about this. Go home and think about what I’ve said about this plot. Then draw me a plan of how you would lay it out to attract children into gardening if you had a free hand in designing it.’

‘Take as long as you like and bring it back when you’re ready. If you can, include a list of materials you’d need for it too. If I don’t like it, I’ll pay you twenty-five pounds for your trouble. If I like it and decide to do it to your design, you can come and work on it at weekends and holidays for five pounds an hour.’

‘Ok, I told him feeling excited, ‘Thank you.’ We shook hands and he headed back in. I stood looking at the patch of ground for a while. Then I took pictures on my phone from all angles. I also went for a scramble through all the overgrowth. I discovered there was an awful lot of soil and debris all over the site.’

‘That sounds interesting,’ Lewis said, ‘How did it work out?’ ‘I scribbled several ideas and scrapped them,’ Lester said, ‘Then I came up with one I really liked. I drew a number of plans and worked it all out. I cycled over after school and left it at the till for Charles.’

‘Two days later as I came out of school I got a phone call. ‘Hi, it’s Charles,’ he said. ‘That’s an interesting idea, I’d never have thought of it. If you can call over, I’ve got some money for you.’ ‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘I’ll cycle over now.’

‘I felt so disappointed, because that said to me that he was going to give me twenty-five pounds because he didn’t like my idea. Still twenty-five pounds would be good to have, and I’d really enjoyed doing the planning.’

‘When I got there, I went to the lady on the till thinking he might have just left an envelope for me. ‘There’s nothing here,’ she told me, ‘Do you know where his office is?’ When I said, ‘Yes.’ she told me to go through as she was sure he was in there now.’

‘I knocked, and he called come in. ‘Hi Lester,’ he said cheerily, ‘Nice to see you. You put a fair bit of work into that didn’t you?’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I enjoyed doing it.’ ‘How long did it all take you?’ he asked. ‘I don’t really know,’ I said, ‘I just got into it and the time flew by.’

‘Would you say it was around twenty hours?’ he asked. ‘I suppose so.’ I agreed. He handed me an envelope. ‘There’s a hundred pounds,’ he said. ‘Twenty hours at five pounds. I think it’s a fantastic idea. Can you start work on it this Saturday?’

‘Yes please, I’d love to.’ I said my spirits lifting. ‘Come with me.’ he said getting up. We went into the part where the public didn’t go. ‘Hi Matt,’ he said to a man who was repairing a greenhouse, ‘Are you working this Saturday?’ When he said he was, Charles introduced us.’