Chapter 36

That should do it, we thought, and it went down well. Sandy led off the first group of five visitors – we had decided on five as a manageable group – and Georgie took the next five. Janet and Carol tagged along to listen in, and gather how to respond to the questions.

I selected the next group, and when enough time had elapsed, set off with them on our pre-planned route through the extension. I had few questions, as long as I kept telling them what this room was for and its features. The nursery got a few remarks about how many children I and Sandy hoped to have, and I told the enquirer that the other resident ladies hoped to have children of their own, and our nursery design was expanded to allow for that.

“Regard it as a bonus for our residents!” I quipped. This led to a question about how many residents we expected to have. I sidestepped the query by saying that one of our aims was to be able to help women with family problems. I added, “It would surprise you how often women are abused in their own homes and often have no safe place to go. We might be able to help in specific circumstances in the future, though at present this is only an idea, a concept, but for the present, we have rooms to be able to spare them for such unfortunates. As I say, only thoughts for now; nothing practical,” I finished.

Inevitably, I was asked about being able to afford the large extension. I gave my standard answer.

“An inheritance has paid for it, so the house is now an asset for our future family to inherit. I anticipate that it will steadily increase in value over the years, so a good investment of that inheritance money.”

Each tour did not take very long, as once you have seen one bedroom with associated shower and toilet, you have seen them all. It was the upstairs lounge that got interest, the nursery, the new staircase, the new vestibule and front door, and the re-jigged old part that now had a large dining room. Of course, it was the first time anyone had ever seen inside the original house, so there was no memory to compare with.

The ladies among the visitors were keen on viewing our kitchen because of all the new appliances, and everyone at one time or another wanted to see and use the toilet facilities. Some were surprised to find a shower as well as a bath, for showers were not yet common in most houses. I had been surprised myself when I first saw it, but it had been built to suit the inventor from the future, so included what to him would be commonplace.

The locked door that was passed by without a mention occasionally aroused a comment such as, “Is that a cupboard?”, but we were prepared to simply say “Electrical equipment and suchlike, so we keep it locked to ensure no accidents.”

The girls chatted with the wives of some of the male invitees, and of course our female neighbours, and as a result got a few invitations to visit them sometime for girl talk. I didn’t get any invites at all, so felt a little neglected. Sandy noticed and told me it was a female/male situation. The women talked about families, while men talked about work, cars, and sport; and houses were the places for women talk, pubs and workplaces for men talk, so I should not regard it as a slight. I saw that she was right, and my ire subsided to a niggle.

The catered spread was a great hit, and most of those invited helped themselves liberally. I was not bothered by this, as I viewed it as a compliment to the caterers, but I made sure I had nabbed several hot sausage rolls before the supply ran out. They were very more-ish, quite tasty and a decent size for the hand; very suitable for a quick snack on a busy day.

As the early arrivals said goodbye and drifted home after chatting to the other visitors for a while, the numbers thinned out and life became less hectic and demanding. I was worried that Carol might be upset by so many men among the visitors and perhaps run away to hide, but she found that if there were other women nearby, she could avoid panicking and maintain her mental equilibrium. I found that Sandy had made a regular check on her and ensured she was fine. Janet was naturally okay with this many people, as that was the norm at her restaurant workplace. Georgie treated it as a busy version of her daily occupation, and took note of what most interested people about the house today. It could affect how she presented homes to prospective purchasers in the future.

As I thought about that, I observed how often my groups commented on the nice smells in the new-built areas, and how light and airy the place felt to them. These were most likely the good vibes one would hope for if selling a house, so I put it in my memory for future use if I got the job of showing clients around houses for sale. Surprisingly not much mention was made of the décor. Probably that was because you could easily change the decoration in a house once you had bought it.

The double glazing of the windows got some praise once they realized the cost benefits from savings on heating, and the noise reduction from outside. To those enquirers, I also explained about the extra insulation in the exterior walls, an improvement suggested by the architect when he twigged that we would not quibble about such additional costs if they would pay for themselves eventually by gradually reducing the heating bills. Of course this added to the comments about building costs. I replied that modern building methods meant faster, more efficient construction and so a reduction in labour expense, thus the one balanced out the other on costs. I explained that to me the extension was an investment that would pay more itself in the long run. I later overheard comments about ‘a young man with an old head’, but I was pleased to hear that said.

Finally the last visitor left, and it was time for an assessment of the event. Georgina felt qualified to assess the reaction of the visitors, and she was very upbeat, saying that she viewed it as a roaring success. I noticed that Janet had a pensive look on her face, but I made no comment. Carol was bright and breezy, as she had come through an event with lots of people and she felt okay with her response. I congratulated her on her successful encounter with the world, and she said, “I think being pregnant made me think not just about myself, but about my baby. My child needs to be able to cope with the world, so I have to make a start on her behalf.” I went over and gave her a big hug and a kiss to show my approval, and she beamed.

None of the girls were showing yet; it was too early in their pregnancies, but I asked if any of them felt unwell in any way during the event, but all were fine. I was about to say “When are the caterers coming back to clear up?” when Janet spoke quietly to us all.

“One of the ladies spoke to me after I said we would be interested in acting as a refuge, but she left it until after the tour, when we were having a bite to eat. She said that she thought her married daughter was having trouble with her husband, but acted afraid so that made her think she might be being abused. I asked her to pass on the details to Sandy, and we would see if she needed help in any way. Was that okay, Sandy?”

“Oh, so that’s what it was about? A woman came to me and pressed a sealed note into my hand, saying that she was advised to pass this information to me. She went off without me being able to ask her about it, so the note is still where I stuffed it, up my sleeve.”

I told her, “Keep hold of it for now, Sandy, while we clear up our own mess and see about the caterers coming.”
“Oh, yes.” She checked her watch and said, “They should be here in about an hour, as I wanted to make sure all our visitors were gone. Some may have stayed to chat, was my thought, but they did their chatting earlier. We should take a walk around the house looking for dropped crumbs, drinks glasses and so on. Everyone up for that?”
When we all agreed, she detailed us to sections of the house – upstairs bedrooms, downstairs bedrooms, lounge, nursery and vestibule, leaving the dining room for last, after the caterers had cleared the debris from the dining table.

Sandy at last fished out the missive and started reading it. As she did so, her face darkened with anger. I intruded to venture a question, “What does it say, Sandy?”

“This so-called man has been beating his wife, punching her in the belly and chest where no-one outside would see the bruises; sadistic, and the law can’t do anything without proof that he was doing it., not even if she shows a doctor her bruises. The husband can claim it was someone else who she was seeing at the time and trying to put the blame on him. If through a lack of proof he cannot be charged, he is free to hit her even more.”

“Disgusting!,” exclaimed Georgie. “What can we do about it?”

“Careful, Georgie. We have to act within the law, as your father would tell you,” I insisted.

She glared at me and said fiercely, “I didn’t say act directly against him. I merely asked what we could do.”

“Sorry, Georgie. I misunderstood your meaning, with you saying ‘do about it’. I know we should do something, but this is a job for thought, not action, for the present. Ideas, everyone?”

There was a pregnant silence from four pregnant ladies, broken by Carol saying, “We can bring her to this house for protection, can’t we?”

Sandy nodded, but advised caution.

“To do that, we have to be certain that the husband doesn’t know where she is, or he might break into our house to get at her. None of us is strong enough to stop an irate man.”

I went to object, but realised she was right. I mentioned that I was not burly enough to resist him, nor did I have training for roughhousing. I remarked, “You girls have less muscle strength than men, so direct confrontation with him is a non-starter. We need some sort of secrecy to get her here without him discovering where she is.”

This pushed them back to thinking, and we didn’t have any useful ideas for a while. Then Janet suggested, “If she went out for an evening meal with her mother and father at our restaurant, she could be slipped out the back door and into a car, and taken here without him knowing.”

Sandy like the thought, saying, “That could work, but he might be keeping an eye on the restaurant. We really need a double switch to be safe. He would have to be on foot if he was alternately watching the front door and back door of the restaurant, so he could only see that a car took her away. He would not have time to follow the car, but on the off-chance that he saw the driver or the number plate, we have to do the same again. If Daddy was the getaway driver, and took her to his home, she could go through the house, out the back garden gate, and along the lane where we could be ready in the next street with our car to pick her up and whisk her to this house. Any problems with that idea?”

All I could think of was, “She is probably going to have to stay indoors all the time she is here, and may get restless. Another thing: her mother mustn’t come to visit her at this house, as he may watch for her seeking to go to her daughter.”

Sandy was in agreement with much of this, but added, “We still have to find a way to stop him, long term, for she can’t stay in hiding all her life.”

I concurred, “That’s so, but how?”

Janet offered, “Do we have to solve that problem now? Can’t we wait until it becomes more urgent to have an answer? I often find when I have a problem that if I sleep on it, I have the answer in the morning.”

Sandy reluctantly agreed.

“That may be the best solution for now, Janet. I will look forward to what you have for us in the morning.”

I noticed that Carol was sitting still, grinning to herself. I asked her, “What are you so happy about, Carol?”

She smiled back and said, “I was just thinking that I am going to have a baby, our baby, in another eight months. Isn’t it wonderful?”

I chuckled at her enthusiasm for motherhood.

“You are not alone in looking forward to having a baby, Carol. The other girls are as well. They are all having my babies, and I agree that it is wonderful. I am going to be a father, four times over!”

Carol responded, “Talking about babies, do we know if this woman has any children? Children would be an extra complication, wouldn’t it?”

I looked at Sandy, and enquired, “Does the note say anything about that, darling?”

She frowned and took another glance over the wording.

“Nothing there about children, or even if she is pregnant. God! If she was pregnant and he was punching her in the belly, that could harm the foetus!”

“Right,” I tried to calm things down. “Sandy, can you get in touch with the mother and find out all the facts, including pregnancy and children; then we can broach the notion of us offering a place of refuge? We need to collect all the important information before we get started on planning a rescue. You okay with that, Sandy?”

She thought for a moment, then told me, “Yes, I can take that on, if you will ask Daddy if he will offer his car and himself for the getaway plan. That is the sort of man talk he will be glad to envisage. Talking of driving, how is your own driving course doing?”

“Umm ... not as well as I had hoped. It all seemed so easy in advance, but judging distances between vehicles, estimating the turning circle of the car, and being quick enough for the emergency stop, not to mentioning knowing all of the Highway Code ... I am a bit slipshod yet. My instructor thinks I would do better if I got some practice with a friend’s car in between the lessons. He says that the best drivers are those that can absorb the driving operation in their bones, so that it is ingrained, like we jump if we get a shock, or we pull a hand back from a hot surface without thinking. Once you can drive without fretting about it, you can learn by yourself to make improvements in your driving ability.”

Georgie exclaimed, “But I can do that, my lovely boy. I gave a lot of tuition to Sandy, and she only needed a few professional lessons to brush up on the techniques for getting through the driving test. You should have asked me.”

“I didn’t like to bother either you or Sandy, because you are both busy women.”

“Nonsense! I am clear at the weekend, so we can do driving sessions then. You are not in a rush to be a qualified driver, are you? You have other drivers available to take you places you want to go, you know.”

I finally agreed to having Georgina give me some driving practice at the weekends, for the instructor told me that the time gap between applying for your test and getting a date could be several weeks, and he had dissuaded me for making that application too soon.

“It would be better if you pass your test first time, Robert,” he said. “That way, you won’t need to have another batch of lessons to keep up your readiness for the test.”

The day after the discussion about the woman’s vicious husband, Janet failed to come up with a solution, and admitted her notion doesn’t work every time. The following day she suggested, off her own bat, that we could put some pressure on him by sending him anonymous letters telling him that he was being watched and to stop hitting his wife.

Sandy liked the idea but said it was not strong enough.

“We should send him letters telling him to stop hitting his wife or we will arrange for the same thing to happen to him unexpectedly.”

I interrupted, “We could post the letters in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and any other place where the travel machine can take us. That way, he will have no idea who is writing to him, as these are coming from all over. We should possibly word each differently, and not use handwriting so there is no evidence of it being one person.”

Sandy came back with, “Cut out letters and words from magazines and stick them on to make the message! I saw that in a mystery film.”

“Why not from newspapers?” queried Carol.

Sandy was clear: “Because many newspapers use identifiable typefaces that are peculiar to that newspaper, so that would tell him where it came from – if he is clever enough to spot that. Magazines are more generally found in the country, so are non-specific.”