The two men were setting up their stall as Ashley spoke.The other man was also pint-sized with a shock of red hair, and Mab stopped in her tracks, her own problems forgotten as it dawned on her what was happening here.This must be Ashley’s little brother, who had been even more of a wild card.Mab began to have serious misgivings about this job.
‘You’re never Jamie, are you?’she said, watching the two men getting to work.
The second man nodded, winking at Mab as he took out a ferocious-looking piece of machinery.
‘Erm, what’s that for?’asked Mab.She had another flashback, to the time when Jamie and Ashley had managed to get the school closed for two days, after an incident with a blocked toilet and a fire extinguisher.
‘Oh, you’d be surprised what that little treasure can do, Mabsy, it can cut through anything, and bore holes like there’s no tomorrow.It’s our latest bit of kit, ain’t it, Jim?’
Jamie nodded silently, he had never been much of a talker, Mab remembered, but more one for sudden bursts of unpredictable action.What had Kev been thinking of, getting these two clowns to do the job?She glanced at Leo, who seemed equally on edge at the prospect of the job ahead, but was studiously avoiding looking at her.
‘Have you guys had much experience of plumbing and suchlike?’he asked, as the two men got down onto the floor and began to prise up the lovely old floorboards.‘Only, it’s just that we need to open this shop very soon, and we can’t risk any… er… delays.’
‘Don’t you worry about us, mate, we’re safe as houses, aren’t we, Jim?Just make us a brew, two sugars if you don’t mind, and if there’s any biscuits, we won’t say no.’
Mab looked at Leo again, got no response, so set off upstairs to the kitchen.If he wasn’t going to speak to her, she couldn’t do any more down here.To her relief, Mab started to feel angry.Surely if Leo’s feelings were anything like she’d imagined, he could have given her more of a chance to explain herself?But, come to think of it, what else could she have said in her defence?As Mab came into the kitchen, Jess was pulling a tray of beautifully risen scones out of the oven.
‘I heard the blokes arrive, shall I make them a cuppa?’she asked.‘And they might like to try one of these herby cheese scones to go with it?’
‘Humph,’ said Mab.‘Don’t hold them up too much, Jess.The sooner they’re done and out of here, the better.’
‘What’s up?It’s only Ashley and Jamie, isn’t it?They’ve got a nice little business going now, down in Maybury.All the old ladies swear by them, they work fast, and don’t charge that much.Don’t you like them, honey?’
Mab sighed.‘Guess we haven’t got much choice at such short notice.I expect they’ll be OK… what the…’
A piercing shriek filled the room, coming from downstairs, and Mab and Jess rushed to the stairwell.They jostled down the stairs followed by George, who had been laminating menus but thought this sounded much more interesting.A sight of devastation met their eyes as they crashed into the shop.Water was everywhere.The floor was awash and a huge jet was spraying the room generously.
‘Turn the water off, you fuckwits!’shouted Jess.
‘Is this one of the times when it’s OK to swear, Mum?’asked George, taking off his trainers and rolling up his jeans.
‘I’ll do it!Get out of the way.’Leo was already running through the newly created swamp to the café area, where the stopcock could be found.The water stopped flowing and silence fell.George was the first to break it.
‘It’s like the tide’s come in, isn’t it?Do you remember when this happened in our kitchen, Mum?When I was seeing how many cushions you could fit in the washing machine?That was one of those swearing days too.You called me a?—’
‘That’s enough, George,’ snapped Jess.Leo took a step towards Ashley.
‘You… you…’ Leo stuttered to a halt as he surveyed the disaster zone.Trickling noises could be heard as the water found new cracks to fill, and Mab and Jess’s eyes widened as they saw the beautiful new chaise lounge.Its wooden feet stood in two inches of water and the golden brocade was now dark brown with damp.The bookshelf behind it had mercifully been empty, but there were several boxes of books waiting to be unpacked that Mab didn’t dare to examine closely.Ashley coughed nervously.
‘Yes, well… we seem to have hit a bit of a snag here, guys.But don’t worry, me and Jim’ll have it sorted out in next to no time, won’t we, mate?’
Jamie seemed to be having a problem making eye contact with anyone, and shuffled his feet, causing ripples to wash over Mab’s toes.Leo took a deep breath.
‘You willnothave it sorted, you will gather your tools together, clear up this messand leave my shop!And you had better be prepared to pay for all this damage, because you’re not going to get away with this.It’s cowboys like you who give the building trade a bad name, you pair of tossers.Get moving!’
An hour later, Leo, Mab and Jess stood in the ruins of the bookshop.The men had gone, but the damage remained.Mab looked around hopelessly.
‘I suppose I’d better start working through the yellow pages.’she said, ‘There must be some other local firm who can help us out at short notice?’She wished Harry and Nina were home.Harry had been helping to sort out Nina’s antiquated filing system at the castle, and Alex would have been useful too, but he’d disappeared early that morning without a word.
‘You must be joking,’ answered Leo, ‘you know how hard it is to get a builder or a plumber at the best of times.And we’ve got to dry everywhere out first.No, we might as well just accept that we’re not going to open; not on our proper opening night, perhaps never.’
Leo sank down onto a wooden bench but jumped up immediately as damp spread into his jeans.There was a long silence.Suddenly, the clang of the doorbell jolted them out of their misery.In came Alex, followed by Edward Crabtree.Alex stood still, causing Edward to cannon into the back of him.
‘Bloody hell.You turn your back for five minutes and this is what happens,’ Alex said in amazement, gazing around at the chaos that had once been a nearly-ready-to-open shop.
‘What’shedoing here?’asked Leo, pointing a finger at Edward.
‘Edward’s here as my guest, actually, he’s got something to say to you all, but that’s not the point.What’s happened?Did the workmen come?’
