The CBB :: View topic - The Park Bench

#1: The Park Bench Author: Liss, Location: Harrow, London

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:22 pm

Dick Bettany sat on the green wooden bench in the middle of St Anne's Park, his elbows resting on his knees, his gaze fixed unseeingly on the nearly-bare branches of the trees ahead. It was chilly and damp, limp white clouds clinging to the dull, grey sky, but other than the occasional shiver he took no notice. The park was nearly empty; it would be getting dark soon, and the few people who had ventured out earlier had now all sought their homes. Dick was alone with his thoughts, and it was only when a single tendril of smoke rose from the cigarette in his hand wafted its acrid smell that he seemed to become aware of his surroundings.

Shaking his shoulders within the faded blazer, Dick flicked the ash from the cigarette to the ground, and took a puff. Leaning back against the park bench, he looked around reminiscently. He had spent a lot of time in this park, what with one thing and another. He and Madge had been born in India, of course, but they were sent to school in England from the age of seven. Holidays had been spent here, in Taverton, with their Aunt Edith and Uncle William, and there had been many trips to the local park. After school and university, Dick had gone back to India, only coming back twice, until now.

Great Uncle William was dead. Aunt Edith had died several years ago, and Madge was more than capable of dealing with young Joey, their younger sister; she had been a mother to her since the baby had been sent back to England from India after the death of the Bettanys' parents. Uncle William's death, other than being an occasion for sorrow at his passing, should have had relatively little effect on the Bettanys - their parents had left them reasonably well off; there was the large house just outside the centre of Taverton; Dick was gainfully employed by the Forestry; Joey was happily installed in the high school.

Except, of course, that wasn’t what had happened. Great Uncle William, it appeared, hadn’t been the best of trustees. By some means or other, the Bettanys had gone, in the space of a forty minute appointment with their solicitor, from comfortably well-off, to skirting insolvency. They weren’t entirely desperate, Dick reassured himself. They did have some income: just not as much as they were used to. Or, for that matter, enough to keep Madge and Joey going. Dick himself was all right – you didn’t earn a fortune working in the Forestry, at least, not when you were as junior as he was, but he managed well enough. India was cheap enough to live in, as long as you weren’t going all out on the entertainment side of things and that, frankly, had never really appealed to Dick.

But his sisters… Dick stubbed out the cigarette in a nervy motion, and felt for his cigarette case and matchbook. Lighting another, he once again leant his elbows on his knees and contemplated. Ideally, of course, he would ship them out to India when he went back after his furlough. He could support them quite well there, and the remaining income left to them after Great Uncle William’s disasters would smooth over any financial bumps. Unfortunately, India wasn’t an option. Twelve-year old Joey was plagued with ill-health and Dick knew the dangers to her health were too great to risk taking her to a climate like India’s.

But if India was out, that only left England. They couldn’t stay where they were, worst luck. If only there had been enough money that they could stay in the house and carry on as normal! But even the cost of that was beyond them. Bills, food, clothes… clutching at his head, Dick groaned. Damn Great Uncle William! Damn him! He knew Madge and Joey were depending on him, he knew that their future security depended on the income left by their parents. How could he play around with that? Dimly, Dick understood the lure of the financial markets, the irresistible compulsion to dabble and gamble. That didn’t mean that he could condone it, not when his sisters were the victims.

What did the future hold for them now? A life of drudgery with one or other of the aunts? Years spent eking out a pittance in dusty, depressing lodgings? Madge could marry, he supposed. And yet, at this moment, with the damp silence of the park surrounding him, a happy outcome seemed ludicrous. All he could see, in his mind’s eye, was Madge: thinner than she should be, lined, drawn, anxious, wearing cheap overalls, at everyone’s beck and call. His sister, condemned to a life of unremitting toil because of one man’s foolishness.

Quite likely, this depressing train of thought would have continued for some time. The solicitor’s news had come as a considerable shock to Dick: he had been returning to England on furlough anyway, and Great Uncle William’s death had happened to coincide. Dick, still carefree at the age of twenty-four, had supported his sisters as much as was needed, though Madge Bettany was a strong-willed young lady who was more than capable of dealing with the man from the funeral parlour and the vicar by herself. The discovery that Great Uncle William had not left the Bettanys as he had found them, as it were, had dealt Dick a blow from which he had yet to recover. It was his responsibility now, and he wasn’t altogether sure that he could cope. Lost in his vision of Madge-of-the-future, Dick didn’t notice the park warden approaching him.

“Here, wotcha doing?” Dick looked up, startled.

“What?” The park warden came closer, and hitched up his belt.

“Park’s closed, laddo. Close at dusk, we do. Didn’t you see the signs?” Dick shook his head, feeling a little dazed now that he had been forced away from Madge-of-the-future. “Well, best get on, then.” He gave a weather eye to the sky. “Nasty fog it’s going to be; your missus’ll be worried.”

“Yes, I-I’ll get going,” replied Dick, standing up and smiling rather mechanically at the warden. “Sorry.” The warden shrugged expansively.

“No harm done. This way, if you please. Other gates are already locked.” He shepherded Dick along the path leading to the most ornate of the park’s gates, and bestowed a pat on his shoulder. “Now, you just get on home.” Dick smiled again, this time meaning it.

“Thanks,” he said briefly, before heading off towards the Bettanys’ house. As he opened the front gate, wincing as usual at the sound of metal grating on metal and, for the seventh time, privately resolving to oil it in the morning for definite, the door opened, and a small head peered out.

“Where on earth’ve you been?” it demanded. Dick grinned, and made a shooing motion.

“Inside, you wretch! It’s perishing out here!” He entered the house, pulling the door closed behind him, and wresting off the blazer, flinging it at Joey, who had retreated to the bottom of the stairs. She caught it, then shuddered.

“Ugh, it’s all damp!”

“What’s all damp?” came a fresh voice, and Dick turned in time to see the arrival on the scene of Madge. He smiled at her, almost tentatively, Madge-of-the-(rather gloomy)-future still lingering in his mind. She ignored him, however, and made a grab for his blazer. “Don’t hang onto it like that if it’s damp,” she scolded Joey, who rolled her eyes, and made a dash up the stairs.

“I’m just a good bit in my book!” she called down, and Madge laughed, hanging up the blazer on a coat peg.

“You’ve been ages,” she said to Dick, and he looked at her.

“I was in the park, thinking.”

“That sounds horribly ominous,” replied Madge lightly, as brother and sister went into the living room. Dick shrugged, moodily.

“You have to admit, things aren’t exactly rosy,” he complained. “I don’t…”

“Shh,” said Madge, pulling him down to sit beside her. “Look, Dick, I know we’re in a bit of a muddle at the moment, but we’ll work something out.” She smiled, and all of a sudden Dick relaxed. Madge-of-the-future vanished, and he plumped himself down, sharing a smile of understanding with Madge.

Everything would work out. Everything would be fine. But that didn’t mean they could ignore the issue at hand.

“I wish I knew what to do about you girls,” Dick said.

THE END

#2: Author: Nell, Location: London, England

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:28 pm

Thank you Squeenie. Great to see things from Dick point of view, but are you sure that's really it, you didn't actually mean to go obn and cover Dick's reaction to Madge's idea and all the preparation for the School.... Wink

#3: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:43 pm

I like that, we don't often see things from the Bettany's viewpoint.

#4: Author: pim, Location: St Andrews (right next to the beach)

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:47 pm

Ooh, thank you Squeen. Really nice to see things from Dick's perspective.

#5: Author: Ray, Location: Bristol, England

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:20 pm

Thank you, Liss - this was really good. (And, if you could see your way clear to...y'know...go on a bit more, that would be nifty, too Smile

)

Ray * We are not worthy

#6: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:30 pm

thanks, Liss. It's the first time I've really thought of Dick as mulling things over like that. In the book, Madge just jumps in with a ready made scheme.

Seconds Ray's plea that perhaps, maybe you could go on a bit more.

#7: Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!!

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:39 pm

Thank you Liss twas very shiny! It must have been so hard for Dick to find his family in a poor situation and he had no option but to leave them to fend for themselves.

#8: Author: Cazx, Location: Swansea/Bristol

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:50 pm

Thank you Liss, was great to see things from Dick's perspective for once Very Happy

#9: Author: Kat, Location: Swansea

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:59 pm

Thank you oh great and wondrous Squeenie... please may we have some more?

#10: Author: Josie, Location: London

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 2:55 pm

Thanks Liss Very Happy

Lovely to see this from Dick's point of view for once.

#11: Author: Xanthe, Location: London/Cambridge

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 3:09 pm

Thanks Liss Kiss

#12: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:11 pm

Thanks Liss

Just one question - I thought Great Uncle William was the one who died and Dick inherited the Quadrant from when the Bettany's returned from India or am I getting him muddled with someone else?

Liz

#13: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:58 pm

Oh!!! Liss, that was lovely! thank you!!!

#14: Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:48 pm

Lovely post, thanks Liss.

#15: Author: Sugarplum, Location: second star to the right!

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:48 pm

really good to see this from a different perspective. Are you going to carry it on ?

#16: Author: Helen P, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 9:40 pm

Ooh this is great! Thanks Liss. I had never thought about Dick's thought processes at all - it's intriguing to read them here.

Any chance of more? Very Happy

#17: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:13 am

Thanks, Liss. Especially liked the way Madge-of-the-future melted away when confronted with real-Madge!

On the Great-Uncle William question, I think he was mentioned as alive but useless at the beginning of School At. I'm not sure the guardian had a name other than Guardian, though, so why not William...

#18: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:13 am

This was just brilliant - I could really picture Dick sitting there trying to come to terms with it all and feeling so responsible, even though it wasn't his fault.

#19: Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 1:12 pm

That was lovely Liss

JackieJ

I'll apologise now for short posts, I've got most of C&D to catch up on still *sigh*

#20: Author: Sarah_K, Location: St Albans/Leicester

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 3:49 pm

Thanks Liss, that was a lovely fill-in of a gap (does it count as a fill-in I wonder if we don't have anything before it, only after?)

#21: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 8:38 pm

Perhaps more of a prequel or a prelude, but extremely shiny all the same!

#22: Author: Kate, Location: Ireland

Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 11:23 am

Very very shiny, I love it.

I always had a soft spot for Dick - except his name which makes me giggle... Smile

#23: Author: Rachael,

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 11:07 am

Lovely fill-in thanks, Liss - and poor Dick!
He must have felt awfully responsible and a little helpless ...

*off to catch up on the other two ...*

#24: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 3:30 pm

Have only just caught up on this now Lissm thank you so much it is nice to see things from Dick's point of view.

#25: Author: Elisabeth,

Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:54 pm

Loving it Liss. I always liked Dick and wished we got more chances to see things from his point of view.

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