14. At Jimson’s Depot

A chance meeting at home at journey's end/..

STELLA‘S AUTUMN

14. At Jimson’s Depot

The coach pulled into the Jimson depot at the weary end of the day, and those who had climbed aboard it there at the start of their holiday climbed tiredly off. That, of course, included Stella and Perciva amongst othersl.

It was almost midnight and there was only one person in sight apparently waiting for someone before the coach passengers disembarked, and Stella could hardly believe her eyes.

“Peter!” she gasped, “what are you doing here at this unearthly hour?”

“Hi, mum,” Peter replied, grinning, “I thought I’d meet you though wasn’t expecting you to be this late! I was beginning to get worried that something had gone wrong.”

“It was officialdom in Calais subjecting our passports to a bit of over zealous scrutiny,” she told him, “but why did you want to meet us?”

“To catch a glimpse of my newly discovered half sister,” he replied obscurely, “I found out on my facebook page that not only have I got a half sister but that she was also on this coach.”

“Half sister? I didn’t know you had such a thing!” exclaimed Stella.

“Let’s go somewhere we can talk,” suggested Percival, an ancient memory from his time at a monastic retreatjust emerging from the shadows of the past.

“Good idea,” agreed Peter, “but before the coach goes, did you get to know a fellow passenger called Donna Goodman?”

“Donna?” asked Stella, “you mean, the Donna?”

“Married to Tony Goodman?” continued Peter, “because if you did there’s a powerfully strong chance that she might just be my half sister. I’ve been doing some really deep research on line, and if Percival here is really my father…”

“Which he most certainly is!” put in Stella, “I would never have suggested it to you if there was any chance that he wasn’t. I fell for Percy here back in the nineteen sixties, and you were the product of my more youthful passion with Percy. And I wish it had never come to an end. I… I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this at this time of night in the dark, but I still love him.”

Percy smiled at her, and nodded his head. “The feeling is reciprocated,” he confirmed, “and we may be old timers but it’s never too late to get married. I would go down on my knees for this, but my old bones won’t let me, but Stella, babe, will you marry me?”

The coach that had dropped the two of them off began pulling out of the depot with a handful of passengers still on board, leaving a thinning residue of travellers in its wake and a pile of luggage waiting to be claimed. Cars were being started and two taxis pulled into the yard. Out of the corner of her eye Stella could see Donna still quarrelling with an uncharacteristically animated Tony.

“Are you absolutely sure that Donna is the woman your enquiries suggested might be your sister?” she asked.

“Ninety-nine percent, mum,” he replied, “she’s got social media accounts that fill in so many gaps it’s a wonder I haven't stumbled on her before. But then, hey ho, I wasn't looking. It’s a mistake to say so much about yourself, but she does. And the holiday you’ve just had. Did you know she was dissing it even as you were there? And what she said about a vicar travelling with her, one disguised as a human being… it would shock you! But now that I was getting curious from some of the things she’d said about her past I looked a bit closer and amongst her family photos there was an old grey black-and-white photo of someone who could only be you, may I call you dad?”

“Well, if you’re right then that woman over there having a shouting match with her husband is your half-sister.” Stella pointed to where the loud-mouthed woman was expressing her beliefs that husbands should be seen and absolutely never heard.

“And, Percy, if my Peter‘s right that woman is your daughter,” she added with a mischievous smile on her face. “Look, let’s pile our luggage into your car, Percy, and then I’ll introduce you to her… this might be amusing!”

“She? I disown her before we meet as actual blood relatives!” declared Percy, picking up the first of their two cases and carrying to it his three-wheeled car where he carefully lay it on the back seat. “I had my belly full of her on the coach,” he continued, “and I tell you this, she’s nothing like me! And if there’s any truth in your research, Peter, then I can tell you now that her mother was a dreadful young woman determined to rub her important father’s nose in an unwanted pregnancy. I didn’t want to do anything, but… otohere’ a lot of truth if you believe that a man who who has his trousers taken down finds that he has one terrible weakness…”

Stella could see that Donna and Tony, still looking to be grumpy at each other, were about to climb into an elderly Hillman car, and she couldn’t help herself.

“Donna, darling,” she called out, her voice firm and clear despite her own age, “I’ve got a treat for you here…”

“Now what is it?” snapped Donna, physically holding on to Tony as if she was afraid he was going to walk off, leaving her with a geriatric car and no-one to drive it for her.

“Darling,” oozed Stella, did you know you had a brother?”

The other woman paused every muscle in her body as if struck by an electric beam, and stared at her. “You what?” she asked, then, “never!”

“But, my love,” cooed Stella, walking towards Donna and Tony, leaning heavily on her walking stick. “you might have… what have you said about your mother..?”

“Her? I never talk about her!” snapped Donna, “nor my father, who I never met. He was some sort of randy student who couldn’t keep his trousers on, according to her!”

Percy had followed her. “Well well,” he murmured, “and was she the principal’s shamed daughter? The lass who spent all her time studying the loosening of trousers if she fancied something?”

“What are you saying?” demanded Donna, “and you a vicar! I don’t believe you’re anything of the sort., talking dirty like that! I’ve read the good book, I have, and I know what’s filth!”

Stella was enjoying herself. This Donna had done her best to undermine her during the holiday, and she had put up with her for long enough.

“That’s no way to talk to your father,” she said, smiling, “no way at all. I suggest you apologise right now before something dreadful happens…”

“Like what?” snarled Donna, “like a heavenly bolt from Paradise strikes all of you and your lies stone dead?”

“Yes, you’re your mother’s daughter all right,” Percy told her, “I saw the same spite in her eyes all those years ago when she sneaked into my room and took control of me… How is she? Does she still seduce innocent young men?”

“She’s in a home for the aged and senile,” growled Donna, “seducing stupid old men, I suppose, to amuse herself…”

“Sounds about right,” smiled Percy, “and life’s been kind to her hasn’t it? It was buttons when she got her hands on me, but these days it’s zips! Much better for old fingers to deal with.”

© Pter Rogerson 21.07.23.

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