The Snow Angel's - Paul Curtis (large screen ebook reader .txt) 📗

rotten five bar gate leaning askew against a crumbling brick wall held in place by a solitary well rusted hinge and tied to the gate.
While on the left hand side was a once sturdy sign post leaning at a precarious angle adorned by a board bearing the name of the farm but it could not be read from that angle.
As I drove through the entrance into the yard Angela said.
“It’s our farmhouse”
There was already a car in the yard which was unnecessarily flash and could only belong to an estate agent.
The door opened and a preening peacock of a man climbed out pausing briefly to brush away an invisible speck of dust off his sleeve.
I opened my door first to get out but by the time I climbed out Angela was already out fidgeting and transferring her weight from one foot to the other eager to get on.
The agent glanced briefly at the paper he was holding and enquired.
“Mr. Brophy?”
“Yes” I said and proffered my hand.
He inspected it briefly then shook it limply in his clammy manicured hand.
“And this is my wife”
I waved my hand in the direction of were she had been standing but she had already bounded off like Tigger.

It took about an hour to view everything, the farmhouse, out buildings and the couple of acres of land.
The agent didn’t fancy leaving the confines of the yard presumably he didn’t want to get mud on his expensive Italian shoes.
So we explored the land by ourselves.
We had both fallen instantly in love with the old ramshackle farm and by the time Angela and I had wandered back to the yard we had decided to make an offer on the place.
We had good jobs, well paid jobs, and for a number of years earned more than we could spend and as a result both had substantial savings.
Plus Angela had sold her house the previous year and I only had a tiny mortgage on my flat so we worked out that we could easily afford to buy the farm, renovate the farmhouse for ourselves and convert the out buildings into another property which we could earn a little income on either as a summer let or as a normal rental, provided of course we could get it for under the asking price.
It would be a gamble and after years of playing safe and being sensible it was not an easy one to make but because neither of us had seriously invested ourselves in a long term relationship before we went for it with gay abandon.
So we made our offer to the agent.
“That may not be good enough there are other people interested” He said looking down his nose.
“In fact I have another viewing this afternoon”
“Well actually that appointment is with me” Angela said sheepishly.

As we drove out of the yard I stopped just inside the gate when something caught my eye.
“Look at that” I said pointing out the window
From that angle I could clearly see the signboard that bore the name of the farm.
It read “Angels Farm”
“Well now we know it’s definitely meant to be”

So our offer was accepted, it had taken one day to find the house of our dreams but it was to be several months before we could move in properly.
The first thing we did after we sold the flat was to buy a second hand caravan that we parked in the farmyard which would be our home until the house was finished as we had decided we didn’t want to move in until absolutely everything was done although that would very much depend on the severity of the winter.
All of our furniture and worldly goods were put in the barn which we were using for storage.
Now as an accountant and a software engineer, Angela and I were of very little use in regard to the major work that was required but as project managers we were second to none.
We were very lucky securing professional help we needed, so many of them were between jobs or had another job that had fallen through and were unexpectedly available.
We employed a constant stream of them, builders, roofers, plumbers, plasterers, electricians, telecoms engineers and tree surgeons, and apart from our talents for project management were excellent tea and coffee makers.
On the practical side we were gainfully employed with clearing rubbish and shrubbery from the site and filling skips with anything and everything.
To all intents and purposes we dropped out of sight for the duration of the project and spent every available minute we had working on the farm.
Although we did make great use of baby brother Greg on several occasions, we were quite selfish and single minded really but we were even handed about it and we ignored friends and family alike, and we did feel guilty about it but if we could get every thing done by Christmas we would be able to see whoever we liked whenever we liked..
Angela did touch base briefly with her parents by phone and we spoke occasionally to Dave and Emma but we didn’t see them after August.
Throughout October, we made great progress whipping a large section of the acreage into something resembling a garden and in November our hard work was rewarded when the turf was laid.
By the end of November we were able to get into the farmhouse and start decorating while the professionals made progress on the outbuilding conversion.
As we completed each room the carpets were laid and then we moved the furniture in room by room we worked our way through the house and we were counting the days when we could abandon the caravan forever.
We had both accrued quite a lot of holidays and lieu time over the last few years so we decided to use them up for the final push which meant we only worked about five days in December.
Then on the twentieth of December with great ceremony (A recording of a fanfare and a bottle of Cava) we took up residence in our dream home.
The next morning when we awoke for the first time in our own bedroom it was with a certain smug satisfaction after all we had achieved our target with four days to spare and a few pounds left in the budget, It was going to be the best Christmas ever.
“CHRISTMAS!” Angela shouted and sat bolt upright.
“What?” I said as she leapt out of bed
“CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS” she was shouting and running around like a headless chicken trying to dress and run at the same time she fell over twice.
I just looked on in amusement as she flitted from bedroom to bathroom in various states of undress.
Then she stood in the bathroom door and said.
“We don’t have anything for Christmas, no decorations, no tree, no cards, no food, no presents, no crackers, no drink we have nothing for Christmas.”
Then the penny dropped we had been so focused on getting in the house by Christmas we had forgotten about Christmas itself.
“OH GOD!” I shouted and then joined in the headless chicken dance.

So for the next three days we did battle at the mall amidst the throngs of Christmas shoppers and took part in the supermarket trolley dash filling the trolleys with enough food to feed a small army.
Then we wrote endless cards, wrapped the numerous presents, decked the halls and trimmed the tree.
So by the time darkness fell on the third day everything was done and presents stood in neat piles ready to be delivered the next day.
I opened a bottle of wine and we sat on the sofa beside the glowing fireplace and I put my arm around her and asked.
“Can we be smug now?”
“Oh yes I think we most certainly can” she replied smiling then she turned her head and kissed me.

On Christmas Eve morning we woke up late, well late for us anyway, it was 9.30am when we stirred and it was so quiet.
Angela snuggled up to me and I held her close.
“What time is it?” She asked sleepily
“Half past nine”
“Wow that’s late we’d better get on”
“It’s not that late” I said nuzzling her neck
“Its too late for that” she said pushing me away.
“Go and put the kettle on”
“Ok” I said and got out of bed.
Angela got out the other side pulled on a T-shirt and went to the window.
I looked at her and wished we had stayed in bed.
She drew back the curtain.
“Snow!” she exclaimed and then Tigger was back bouncing all over the room squealing “Snow “ every time she left the floor.
I walked to the window and looked out on the scene, it had snowed heavily in the night and snow was still falling though more softly and everything was coated in five or six inches of snow.
“It just gets better and better” I mused
“Ok” I said as I turned from the window “What’s it to be, coffee in bed or play in the snow?”
“Play in the snow” Angel shouted and bounded across the room and launched herself at me wrapping her arms round my neck and knocking me backwards onto the bed.
She kissed me passionately on the mouth and asked
“Is there a third choice?”
So after we made love we got dressed in our play clothes and wrapped up against the cold and went out to play in the freshly fallen snow.

It was like being children again as we rushed around throwing snowballs and wrestling in the snow.
Where our newly turfed lawn used to be was a vast area of virgin white and we took turns making snow angels and then we built a snowman in the yard until we started to feel cold and wet and our bodies told us to act our age.
So we went inside and had hot showers and for lunch we had piping hot soup in front of a roaring fire.
After lunch Angela was pottering about in the kitchen washing up and such like and I dozed off in front of the fire.
I started to dream and in the dream I was woken by an icy blast of air from the patio door as it slid open and then a figure stepped through the door it was white and translucent and its outline was made of snow, it was one of the snow angels we had made on the lawn.
It walked towards me then stopped as it became aware of the heat from the fire.
Then it looked directly at me and spoke.
“You must help them, they need you”
“Who? Who must I help?”
“You must help your friends”
Then the snow angel turned and left the way it came.
Then I woke up.
“Well that wasn’t weird at all” I said out loud and gave a nervous laugh.
I stood up and walked towards the kitchen so I could tell Angela and then I felt something beneath my feet, I looked down and there was a patch of melted snow on the carpet.
“That’s odd” I said to myself.
It was odd as we hadn’t come into that room with our snowy shoes and it was the exact spot were the snow angel had been standing in my dream.
I moved again and as I reached the kitchen door I could see Angela standing motionless staring out of the window open mouthed.
I entered the room and walked up behind her and followed her gaze and on our snow covered lawn were a dozen snow angels all pointing in