The Ullswater Undertaking

people take great exception to broken promises.’
‘Which explains your first reaction, when you said he’d probably kill you. Which suggests he’s quite a scary person.’
‘Scary like a zombie’s scary. My first reaction was that he’d risen from the dead and was out for revenge. On calm reflection, I doubt if he’s more than slightly annoyed. He probably just wants to come and say hi, for old times’ sake.’
‘Hm,’ said Simmy, and fell asleep.
There were visitors just after Sunday lunch, in the shape of Bonnie Lawson and her beloved Ben Harkness, home from university for the Easter vacation. Although they had initially intended to emulate Russell Straw the previous day and come by bus, in the event they were transported by Corinne, Bonnie’s foster mother.
‘I just had to see the baby,’ she explained. ‘I’ll only stay a minute. I brought cake.’ She proffered a creased cardboard box containing a modest-sized piece of fruit cake. ‘I made it last week. It’s a bit soggy,’ she added.
Simmy was fond of the woman and more than happy to drop Robin into her outstretched arms. All the usual blandishments were uttered, and Robin co-operated handsomely. ‘I’ll go up to Penrith while I’m here,’ said Corinne. ‘I need to see a man about a trailer.’
Christopher looked up. ‘Oh? Taking up antique dealing, then?’ To him trailers only meant one thing.
Corinne gave him a blank stare. ‘Absolutely not. It’s for the sheep.’
Bonnie hurried to elucidate. ‘Corinne’s got four Jacobs in the field behind her house. They’re quite new. She has to get hay and stuff for them, so needs a trailer.’
‘I already got the towbar put on,’ said Corinne. ‘It’s all rather exciting.’ She laughed. ‘So I could collect these two on my way back, if you like. But I don’t think I’ll be very long.’
‘That’s okay,’ said Simmy. ‘They may as well stay the afternoon now. One of us will drive them home again. Are you hungry?’ she asked the youngsters when Corinne had gone.
‘Not very,’ said Bonnie. ‘We had a big breakfast. It was more brunch, really.’
Neither visitor was unduly interested in the baby, beyond admiring his new skill of smiling. ‘He seems a cheerful character,’ said Ben.
Christopher was showing only minor irritation at being invaded by his partner’s friends. It was chilly outside, with flurries of rain, so any prospect of a decent walk had already been abandoned. ‘Ben goes back on Thursday, so this is his last chance to see Simmy,’ said Bonnie. ‘Although …’ She looked at her boyfriend, eyebrows raised.
Christopher failed to notice the hesitation and busied himself supplying home-made cake. ‘Angie left us a huge fruit loaf thing yesterday, and we’ll never eat all of it. Plus Corinne brought some as well.’
They ate cake quietly for a few minutes. Simmy noticed glances and even a nudge between Ben and Bonnie and guessed there was something significant waiting to be said. Her first guess was that Bonnie was going to announce that she could no longer endure the ten weeks of term time without Ben and was therefore following him to Newcastle, leaving Simmy with nobody to manage the shop. After that, her imagination ran dry.
‘So – what’s been happening?’ she prompted. ‘Did it go all right yesterday? Has Verity been okay?’
‘Fine. It’s all fine,’ Bonnie assured her. ‘If you come down one day this week to go over the finances, that’s all we need, really. It’s gone quiet again now Easter’s over.’ There had been the usual hectic rush for Mother’s Day and Easter. Simmy had dreaded going into labour on Mother’s Day, because that had been the day her ill-fated first baby had been stillborn, an anniversary that should not be allowed to taint the first hours of the new baby’s life. As it turned out, Robin had waited another nine days to put in an appearance. Simmy had actually managed to juggle orders for flowers, insisting that spending two full days at the shop in the fortieth week of pregnancy was very therapeutic. ‘It passes the time very nicely,’ she had said.
Verity had been kept extremely busy rushing around with deliveries, and Ben’s young sister, Tanya, had done sterling work supplying bouquets and suchlike to customers in the shop alongside Bonnie.
‘We did well, didn’t we?’ said Simmy now. ‘Between us, we’ve kept the show very nicely on the road.’
‘How’s the auction business?’ Ben asked Christopher. ‘I meant to go again over the vac, but it’s impossible to get there without a car. I see you had some memorabilia yesterday. I was looking through the catalogue online. Looked interesting.’
‘Box of old papers,’ Christopher nodded. ‘Nothing special. We get them a lot. Mostly it’s from house clearances – the family just tip everything out of the bureau or whatever and hope there’s nothing important amongst it. Nobody’s got time these days to have a proper look through. It often goes to someone who wants the stamps, if there are bundles of old letters.’
‘Or old photos,’ said Simmy. ‘Those cartes de visite are quite collectable.’
Christopher snorted. ‘Nobody’s got them amongst their personal papers any more. They died out a century and more ago. The photos are all from the 1950s now – Auntie Sylvia on the beach, and babies in paddling pools. And dogs. Usually out of focus.’
‘I’d love to have bought that box, all the same,’ said Ben wistfully.
‘You should have said. I could have kept it for you. It went for eight quid, I think.’
Ben grimaced. ‘Don’t tell me that,’ he said.
‘There’ll be more. Let me know another time, and we’ll do a deal.’
‘Thanks,’ said Ben. Then, after a short silence, he went on, ‘Actually, I suppose this gives me an opening to tell you my news.’ He gave Bonnie a look that seemed to Simmy to contain a degree of apprehension.
‘What?’ Simmy demanded.

Chapter Three
‘Well …’ Ben started nervously, ‘the thing is, I’ve decided to change my course.’ Before anybody could speak, he rushed on. ‘I’ve done two terms now and I’m absolutely sure I went for