James Cotter
Tuesday 20th July 2010 4:47pm [Edited]
Exeter, Devon
1,594 posts
After a certain amount of time and help from several script editors I have finally completed chapter two of my short novel which I am reading as a audiobook.
Update 21/07/10 - I've now recorded it as a audiobook and would appreciate all feedback.
A Matter of Principle - Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWO
Several weeks have passed since the relative calm of the late Summer evenings. And though there had been a nip in the air back then it could not be compared to the start of what would turn out to be a frosty Autumn. Frosty indeed in more ways than one for Clive Dundhill.
Clive took respite from the chilly weather inside a small, wooden summer hut which had a roof but only just. Enough to keep the rain out at least and the biting wind. It was like an old cricket pavilion only smaller and when mid-afternoon arrived it only meant one thing to Clive. Lunch time. And the hut was a perfect spot for a good sit down and a bite to eat. Unfortunately for Clive, Autumn had arrived with a vengeance. A flurry of leaves constantly danced in the air, circling the pavilion and the feeling of the damp and cold prevailed even inside it. Clive lent up against the small wooden frame of the pavilion with his rake proudly prompt up beside him watching the dancing leaves with an air of resigned gloom. The start of Autumn always meant more work for him. "Winter's always difficult in my line." He despondently proclaimed as he unwrapped his cheese and pickle sandwich. "A never ending pile of leaves to shovel up. Mess. Mess. Mess." He scowled and took a bite of his sarnie. "Don't get me wrong - Mother Nature may have many suitors but I am one of them. I love nature and I love Autumn but what I don't like is leaves blocking up drains!" He gestured with his half eaten sandwich to emphasise his point. "It's the busiest season for me as it is." He took another bite chewing over the cheese even as he chewed over his thoughts. "The park looks quite sparse at the moment with the lack of foliage. Lack of it on the trees at least. Take that one over there now" he gestured proudly to a bare tree in the distance with thoughts of it in blossom filling his mind with a joyous gleaming pride of the years of care and consideration he has given it. "That one when it's in full bloom in the Summer, Aye! It's champion. But where are the leaves now? I'll tell you were they are cluttering up the park and blocking up the drains."
Clive chomped morosely on his sandwich and poured himself a cup of tea from his trusty old vacuum flask. He took a sip but his frown deepened and he put the cup down agitated by his thoughts. "This new boss, Mr. Wexford he's called" he said dismissively. "Don't know his first name, he doesn't like to get personal, he says. Fine!" He said, spitting out the word, his expression indicating that it was in fact anything but. Clive Dundhill prided himself on being a good judge of character and made his mind up about a person almost instantly, sometimes before that person even so much as uttered a single word. Though Clive had kept his true feelings relativity hidden, he didn't like to judge someone too harshly even if he was the type of pen pushing official Clive has always tried his level best to avoid. If possible his frown deepened further as he cast his mind back to the first fateful meeting when Mr. Wexford demonstrated how apt he was in the skill of talking down to someone with out any one else in the room noticing. A skill Clive would have almost admired if it wasn't being practiced on him. "He gave a team talk the other day" he said waving the remains of his sandwich in the air. "I thought hello, we're not at the football. I don't know who he thinks he is but..." Clive trailed off chuckling to himself like he's got one over on the man already. "Said to me that he wanted to discuss team morale if you please!" He snorted at the idea of it. "Well, it's never been a problem before, no-one's ever brought it up before. That's half the trouble I think. People are not aware of team morale and all this stuff. It's only when it's brought up and scrutinized. Then you start realizing. Then the problems start to occur, people get singled out..." Clive took a moment to compose himself "We had to play a team building game if you can believe it. I said to him, I said. 'I've got the leaves to do out there'. I said 'there's half a dozen drains blocked up. I said 'they won't do themselves you know'. He said 'Clive' and I thought 'who's getting personal now. It's Mr. Dundhill to you'. He said 'Clive, you've got to learn to co-operate within a team'. I said... no I don't! I said I know Caroline and I know Steve and George over there. I get along but in my area ... there's no call for it I said. I don't need to co-operate, I'm friendly..." He said then remembers being interrupted "well... That's exactly your problem, you think you're friendly, you're not'. I said 'I am. How do you know, you've only just got here'. And what does he say to me? "He said 'I can tell by your aura'." I said 'what aura's this? Aura in bloody deed!'" Clive chuckled at the memory of it. "Well, he was like mystic bloody Meg over there. I thought, aura. I'm a bloody gardener! I don't need to know what my aura is. He's sticking his aura in and that's what I think of it all." Clive sit's and waits, not a word is uttered, a sense of real exasperation fills the air like the fumes of bonfire wafting over to a once clean and sterile area once occupied only by the pure blue skies and fresh and unpolluted air. And then like a phoenix from the flames Clive once more comes to life "He said 'Clive, would you help the team build a little raft out of foam building blocks?' I said 'what's the point!' He said 'it's all team building. See how you work together. I'll be watching'. So, I went over, you know and I picked up the odd bit of this foam rubbish. Well I don't know where he gets his ideas from..." Clive took another sip of his tea. "He's properly one of those. On the old Duke of Edinburgh, you know. It's all scouts. And he thinks he can bring it in here." Clive slammed his tin cup back on the floor of the pavilion porch again. "Well we're not kiddies for God's sake. And after a while he said 'lets have a look at what you have done'." Clive purses his lips and utters disappointingly "ooh! He weren't happy. I said what's wrong with it? It's built isn't it? He said 'yes but that's not the point'. I said 'why did you set it then? Why ask us to build the blasted thing and then say that's not the point!' He said it was all about the way you communicate." Clive scowled again as though the word left a nasty taste in his mouth. "I said, 'the way we commune.. If we build it, we build it, we don't need to communicate.' I said 'there's civil words between us and there's no nastiness here'. And he said 'well there isn't Clive because you're raising your voice'. I said 'I am not raising my voice!'" Said Clive doing just that and causing a blackbird to startle up in the air his wings flapping. "He said 'Clive can you please calm down, take a seat'. I said 'you don't need to tell me to take a seat. It's you who's setting me off'. He said 'well that's all communication and your getting it wrong Clive. No one else is arguing'. And I said that's because you're not talking to anyone else, you're not picking on anyone else apart from me'. And he said 'I'm not picking on anyone Clive. You can't go around accusing people'. Which is rich seeing as it was him as was picking fights with me. So I stayed out of it. I sat there. Watching him talk. He looked at me from time to time especially when he was talking about people not being part of a team. He saying about going down the pub one day. I said 'when?' He said 'in the evening'. I said 'I don't work then so I won't be coming in'." Clive chuckled remembering his small victory. "'It will be bonding.' He says. I said 'how's that going to help me? How's that gonna help me mow a lawn?' 'So he says what about lunchtime then'. So I got me sarnies out. I thought I'm having lunch now before he takes that away from me." He pulled his second sandwich from his Tupperware box as if to illustrate the point. "He didn't like it but you know... He can lump it!"
"Bonding." Clive said again reliving the memory. "How's that going to help me mow a lawn. He didn't have an answer to that, did he? No. He said 'Well, we'll have to have words about this in the next review of you'. I said 'I don't need a review, I am not a play'. He didn't have anything to say to that either. I walked out. Lunchtime. I know my rights!" And with that Clive set about exercising his rights, finishing his sandwich, his cup of tea and casting a critical eye over the swirling leaves that continued to rustle and dance around his pavilion.
