Read Online The Unorthodox Arrival of Pumpkin Allan by Suzie Twine - Free Book Online
Authors: Suzie Twine
Tags: Humorous, Literature & Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Teen & Young Adult, General Humor, Humor & Satire
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the kitchen in a gorgeous, white, fluffy dressing gown, which Annie had given her to wear.
“That feels wonderful, thank you so much!” said Lois as Annie took her wet clothes for the dryer. “I’m so sorry to be a pain.”
“Oh, not at all. It’s the least I can do to make my new neighbour feel welcome,” she said, handing Lois a large mug of tea, “after all, you can’t have thought I was very welcoming yesterday. I’m so sorry! To be honest you could not have picked a worse day to arrive. I have never, in my entire life, lost my temper. In fact I hardly ever get cross, I promise, I’m really very mellow. But yesterday, I don’t know, something inside me just snapped!”
When Mel arrived downstairs, Annie was explaining to Lois the predisposing factors that had lead to her outburst. It warmed Lois’s heart to hear that she loved living in this place so much. Annie’s strength of character and openness were also growing on Lois. She wouldn’t have believed it yesterday, but today she had a strong feeling that they were going to become good friends.
Lois was tempted to start asking Annie questions about some of the other neighbours they had so far encountered, but she had no sooner mentioned Bill’s name, than there was a knock at the door. It was Adam, looking for Lois. He’d come to fit her new front door. Annie invited him in for a cup of tea, but he was eager to get on with the job.
“I’d give you a hand,” said Mel, “only I’ve nothing to wear.”
“Fine by me,” Adam smiled.
Lois looked at Mel to see if she was blushing. But no, she was lapping up Adam’s attention, with a broad grin on her face.
“You can borrow something of my daughter’s if you like. She’s about the same size as you,” said Annie.
“That’s really kind Annie. Oh, hang-on, I’ve just remembered. Unlike Lois, I came prepared for getting soaked,” said Mel, “I’ll go and fetch my clean, dry clothes from the boot of the car!”
Annie was delighted to have Lois stay for a bit longer, she found her very easy to talk to and she was happy to have somebody different to chat things through with. It seemed extraordinary how quickly the two of them had clicked and Annie felt very excited at the prospect of having a next-door neighbour with whom she got on really well. She now felt more determined than ever that she and Dave should stay in Lilac cottage.
“Anyway, enough of me and my problems, when’s the baby due?” Annie asked Lois.
“Middle of September. Not too long now. Hopefully we’ll get the cottage straight in time, we had no idea so much would need doing.” As they drank tea, Lois filled Annie in on Tom’s accident and the unexpected problems they had so far encountered with the house. Lois laughed, “Well at least it looks like the soundproofing can be crossed off my list!”
When Lois’s clothes were dry, she changed back into them and Annie took her to see the garage loft-space, garden and paddock. After much discussion the previous night, she and Dave had decided that along with the boat, the paddock should be the first thing to be sold and was secretly hoping at this point, that Lois and her other half may be interested. The paddock backed onto both Annie and Lois’s cottages and had direct access to the bridleway, which ran down the side of Lois’s garden.
Despite the paddock being wildly over-grown, Lois loved the idea of buying it. She had always wanted to own a horse, but living in London had made the prospect too impractical to contemplate. This seemed like an opportunity too good to miss as far as Lois could see and she asked Annie what price they had in mind. Annie had apparently spoken to a couple of land agents that morning and the figure that they were throwing around, was in the region of one hundred thousand pounds.
Lois tried to disguise her disappointment. She knew Tom would just laugh at her if she suggested putting in an offer. They had really stretched themselves
“That feels wonderful, thank you so much!” said Lois as Annie took her wet clothes for the dryer. “I’m so sorry to be a pain.”
“Oh, not at all. It’s the least I can do to make my new neighbour feel welcome,” she said, handing Lois a large mug of tea, “after all, you can’t have thought I was very welcoming yesterday. I’m so sorry! To be honest you could not have picked a worse day to arrive. I have never, in my entire life, lost my temper. In fact I hardly ever get cross, I promise, I’m really very mellow. But yesterday, I don’t know, something inside me just snapped!”
When Mel arrived downstairs, Annie was explaining to Lois the predisposing factors that had lead to her outburst. It warmed Lois’s heart to hear that she loved living in this place so much. Annie’s strength of character and openness were also growing on Lois. She wouldn’t have believed it yesterday, but today she had a strong feeling that they were going to become good friends.
Lois was tempted to start asking Annie questions about some of the other neighbours they had so far encountered, but she had no sooner mentioned Bill’s name, than there was a knock at the door. It was Adam, looking for Lois. He’d come to fit her new front door. Annie invited him in for a cup of tea, but he was eager to get on with the job.
“I’d give you a hand,” said Mel, “only I’ve nothing to wear.”
“Fine by me,” Adam smiled.
Lois looked at Mel to see if she was blushing. But no, she was lapping up Adam’s attention, with a broad grin on her face.
“You can borrow something of my daughter’s if you like. She’s about the same size as you,” said Annie.
“That’s really kind Annie. Oh, hang-on, I’ve just remembered. Unlike Lois, I came prepared for getting soaked,” said Mel, “I’ll go and fetch my clean, dry clothes from the boot of the car!”
Annie was delighted to have Lois stay for a bit longer, she found her very easy to talk to and she was happy to have somebody different to chat things through with. It seemed extraordinary how quickly the two of them had clicked and Annie felt very excited at the prospect of having a next-door neighbour with whom she got on really well. She now felt more determined than ever that she and Dave should stay in Lilac cottage.
“Anyway, enough of me and my problems, when’s the baby due?” Annie asked Lois.
“Middle of September. Not too long now. Hopefully we’ll get the cottage straight in time, we had no idea so much would need doing.” As they drank tea, Lois filled Annie in on Tom’s accident and the unexpected problems they had so far encountered with the house. Lois laughed, “Well at least it looks like the soundproofing can be crossed off my list!”
When Lois’s clothes were dry, she changed back into them and Annie took her to see the garage loft-space, garden and paddock. After much discussion the previous night, she and Dave had decided that along with the boat, the paddock should be the first thing to be sold and was secretly hoping at this point, that Lois and her other half may be interested. The paddock backed onto both Annie and Lois’s cottages and had direct access to the bridleway, which ran down the side of Lois’s garden.
Despite the paddock being wildly over-grown, Lois loved the idea of buying it. She had always wanted to own a horse, but living in London had made the prospect too impractical to contemplate. This seemed like an opportunity too good to miss as far as Lois could see and she asked Annie what price they had in mind. Annie had apparently spoken to a couple of land agents that morning and the figure that they were throwing around, was in the region of one hundred thousand pounds.
Lois tried to disguise her disappointment. She knew Tom would just laugh at her if she suggested putting in an offer. They had really stretched themselves
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