Free Needles and Pearls by Gil McNeil Page B

and some needles and asked you to knit a jumper.’
    He puts his fork down.
    ‘Wouldn’t it be quite a small jumper, with only one ball of wool?’
    ‘Very clever. A glove then. Wouldn’t you be a tiny bit daunted?’
    ‘I’d be more than daunted, particularly if it was an emergency.’
    ‘An emergency glove?’
    ‘If we were in the Arctic’
    He’s smiling.
    ‘Look, I know what you’re saying, but honestly, once I’ve set it up a monkey could do it. And it could double your business in no time, maybe even triple, with no real effort. You should think about it, you know.’
    ‘I will, I promise.’
    ‘Do you think Grace Harrison would let you put her picture up? That would be great – you could do a VIP customers page.’
    ‘She might, as long as they got to approve the picture. I could ask her, I suppose, but honestly, Martin, I’m having enough trouble just keeping up with the shop and the kids without going interactive. I’d want to start really slowly, nothing too complicated, and anyway I don’t want to take up too much of your time.’
    ‘I’ve got an ulterior motive, actually.’
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘I need your help with Mum.’
    ‘Help with what?’
    ‘You know I told you my divorce was through and I wanted to start looking for somewhere to live round here?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Well, I’ve found something. Only it’s not really a house, it’s more of a barn.’
    ‘Barn conversions can be lovely.’
    ‘Yes, but this is definitely more like a pre-conversion barn.’
    ‘Has it got a roof?’
    ‘In places.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘It’s got so much potential, and I can live there while I do it up, and it’ll be great for all my wood and everything, and that’s what I really want to do. I don’t mind computers, particularly now I’m freelance, as long as I’m not stuck in an office all day, but it’s not what I really care about. And it’s important, isn’t it, to care about what you do all day?’
    ‘Definitely.’
    ‘I want to go into cabinet-making, general carpentry. I’ll probably have to do all sorts until I get established, but that’s the plan. So will you help me explain it to her? Dad’s all behind it, but you know what she’s like – I don’t want her to worry.’
    ‘Or be popping round every five minutes with a hotpot.’
    He laughs.
    ‘There is that too. I know she’ll fuss, and I hate it when she fusses. She comes over so bossy but she’s as soft as anything underneath, you know, she really is. But she worries. And then she gets bossy, and I want to kill her. Which isn’t good.’
    ‘Of course I’ll help, if I can. How bad is this barn? Has it got electricity?’
    ‘Oh yes, all mod cons. Well, not gas, but there’s water. Quite a lot of water, actually. Mostly in puddles all over the floor.’
    Elsie’s going to throw a fit.
    ‘But there’s a tap, and a loo?’
    ‘Not exactly.’
    She’s going to freak out. Big time.
    ‘So it’ll be more like camping then, for a while?’
    ‘Yup. I knew being marched along to Scouts every weekwould come in handy one day. I can toast marshmallows round the fire while I try to work out how to stop the whole place falling down.’
    Four napkins later I know exactly where he’s going to put the new biodegradable cesspit, because the barn’s not on mains drainage, and where the solar panels will go, and the woodburner, and how beautiful the old beams will be once he’s cleaned them, apart from the rotten ones, which he’ll replace with some green oak he’s been saving. And why ash is such a great wood, and what design he’s going to use on his chair legs.
    Connie brings the coffee over and he shows her his drawings too, and then he starts telling me about yew, and how pliable it is, which is why they used to make longbows from it, which requires another napkin for illustrations.
    He’s telling me about the two-hundred-year-old yew tree in the churchyard, which apparently is practically a teenager in yew terms, as we walk back