The Wanderlust Lady and the Door to Door Salesman - 41 The End

When I got to Liz's huge white house on Church Lane, I thought it was a really nice location. You could see the view out the back – over the hills. It was a bit farther to go to the middle of Marple – but not that much.

She'd cooked up a storm for me – really pulling out all the stops. We had roast beef,
roast vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy, Yorkshire puddings, some broccoli, and apple crumble with ice cream for dessert. And she offered me a beer or wine. It really was a treat.

After dinner, we sat down in her lovely lounge and I gave her my quote.

She glanced at it quickly and then said, “That's fine. You can start next Monday.”

“But I don't know where I'll be living by then. But I suppose I can get the bus from
Hyde, and carry the stuff up to the house, and as you say, I can leave it there while I'm working.” Then a thought occurred to me. “You don't suppose I could kip at the house, do you?”

“No, I don't think that would be suitable. After all the minister and his family might
want to pop in to see how things were going on – and officially it is theirs to do what they want. But I did think of something else.”

“Oh yes, what?”

“Well, I live by myself now that my husband's died and the children have all moved
away and have houses of their own. I find this house really too big for me. So I might be able to take you on as a boarder.”

“I couldn't pay much.”

“Well, maybe we could come to some sort of arrangement where you did some jobs for me instead. I know you can paint, and I expect you can garden.”

“Oh, yes, I've had some training in that.”

“Well what do you say? You could move here on Saturday when you leave the house you're now in, and then have the weekend to get settled before you start the painting job.”

“Well, that sounds very nice, but what about cooking? Would you let me use your
kitchen?”

“Oh, I think it's better if you have room and board – say breakfast and an evening meal, and you could make sandwiches to take with you to work.”

“And what would you want me to pay for all that?”

“I haven't really looked into it. I know you couldn't pay much at the moment, and as I said, you can do some odd jobs for me to start with as payment. We could give it a few weeks' trial – say until you finished painting the house on Marple Hall Drive – and then maybe we can see where we go from there.”

“That's very kind of you Mrs. Reynolds – I mean Liz. And I will take you up on it.
You've given me back some of that positive feeling that I had before I got the boot from the other people. Thank you very much.”

“You're very welcome, Stan. I think you and I will get along very well. But we'll take it slowly – and see how things go. And just a little advice, if you don't mind. You can ignore me if you want to.”

“What's that?”

“When the Mills come to get the key for the house from you, I think you'll find that
if you're very nice and pleasant to them, and bend over backwards to say how grateful you are for all that they did for you, they might change a bit. A recommendation from them for the work that you did would be worth a lot to you.”

“I suppose I could try.”

“Think of it as doing what estate agents do – putting the best possible face on every situation. Buy some nice biscuits and make them some tea. Make sure the house is in tip-top condition. Don't leave anything more for them to complain about.”

“I think that's pretty good advice. But I can hardly offer them tea. I sold all the dishes but for one mug.”

“Well go to the charity shop. No, don't do that. I'll give you some of mine to take
back with you.”

She hurried out to the kitchen and a few minutes later returned with a bag nearly full.

“That's more than two mugs.”

“I put in a nice plate and some homemade biscuits. I know how you young men like to
have something sweet after your meals. But make sure you leave a half dozen or so for when they come on Saturday. And maybe have some flowers in the house. That really cheers a place up. And let them know things that you did specially that they might not automatically know about.”

“Well, I washed all the curtains and did an awful lot of digging in the garden and
chopped back the hedge to let more light in.”

“That's just what I mean. They probably will notice how nice and light the place looks,
but remind them, in the nicest possible way, that it was your hard work that made it look so nice.”

“I sure do thank you, Liz, for all you've done for me. I'll see you on Saturday.
They're coming about 2, so I suppose I'll be out of there by 4 or so, maybe earlier. Should I come over then?”

“That'll be fine. Do you want to see the room you'll have now?”

“I suppose so. But anything will be all right.”

We walked down the hall way.

“This was my son's room,” she said. “Lots of his stuff is still here, but he lives in America now, and it would be too expensive to ship it, so he has replaced it all. He doesn't
want it, so you might as well have the use of it.”

The room was large and cheerful, and equiped with a computer, and printer, as well as a stereo system and a large TV.

“It has an en suite too,” she said. “So you don't need to worry about sharing a
bathroom.”

“That's great,” I said, really meaning it. When I thought I'd fallen on my feet getting to live at Minnie's house, I hadn't a clue as to how good things could get. I would make sure I didn't do anything to upset Liz. I could really do with having this sort of living arrangement for a very long time.

“I'd best be off,” I said.

“See you Saturday, and God Bless You,” she said.

“You too,” I said awkwardly – not really sure I liked the idea that I might be getting religion stuffed down my throat as part of the deal. But I think maybe I could even put up with that for what I was likely to get in return. I guess God really does work in mysterious ways. First of all, putting me in contact with Minnie, and then having the good luck to have the Mills help me out, and now Liz. Somehow, rather than thanking God, I thought maybe it was Minnie, up there above the clouds, pulling the strings. She said she had missed out on adventures in her life, and she was now getting it second hand through me.

I knew what I would do the next day. I'd go back to the shop where I had the key cut. I'd seen how they did memorials – meant mainly for pets, probably, but not exclusively. I'd get one made for Minnie, and then I'd see if I could get the park people to agree to putting it somewhere in the park. I'd make it simple but nice – something like,

In memory of Minnie Jones

1942-2012

The Wanderlust Lady

Thanks for the
Adventure.