Chapter 19

Sunday came and went uneventfully. Martin caught up on his paperwork, pausing every now and again when he remembered last night's activities. Louisa's subliminal promise was more than satisfactorily realised. In fact, both had reached a level of contentment not attained before.

Louisa meanwhile, was busy marking the books from year 5 and after finishing that, set about writing out her tasks for the week ahead. The school had arranged for the pantomime to be performed on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00p.m. She knew they would have to get a dress rehearsal in on Monday, to prepare the children to act in costume. Letters had already gone out to their parents inviting them along to see the play.

The hall was being cleaned over the weekend and would be ready for everyone by Monday. To keep the children occupied during this week she had asked the school secretary to cut some coloured card into equal sizes. When lesson time came, she got the children to draw, on slightly smaller pieces of paper, a Christmas wish for their families. When the drawings were complete, she showed the children how to paste their drawings onto the card and then fold it into a Christmas card. The cards were displayed around the classroom until Wednesday when they would be taken home to their families.

Monday was dress rehearsal day and there was excitement amongst the children as they donned their costumes for the first time. Louisa had allowed an amount of time for this but realised that she needed help or more time to get ready. Fortunately, the school secretary, Mrs Draper came along to help as well as the class assistant from Year 6.

The children trooped along to the hall and got ready to go through the play. Louisa was glad to see that the principal actors were ready to play their part, but some of the children playing the smaller parts were nervous or not quite as ready. With some encouragement all got through the play without any serious mistakes.

On Tuesday Martin wished Louisa well for the performance and asked her what time it was being done.

"It's this afternoon at 2:00 o'clock. We've asked the parents to be there beforehand to get seated and ready. I'm sure the children will be in a high state of excitement all day, though." Louisa laughed as she remembered previous years when things had not quite gone to plan.

"Hm, well good luck." Martin stooped to kiss her before walking off to the surgery.

Louisa was slightly surprised at this but delighted that he'd remembered.

Tuesday morning and lunchtime seemed to go in a flash. The children came back into class and with suppressed (mostly) excitement began to get into their costumes. Once again, Mrs Draper and the assistant came to lend a hand in the outfitting.

As the children walked past the hall, they could see their parents seated in front of the stage ready to watch the play. The board of Governors were on the front row talking to their colleagues and some of the parents. The stage curtains were closed when from behind them Rose Golightly stepped out. "Ladies and Gentlemen," she began. "Welcome to our Christmas pantomime." Louisa smiled at her encouraging her to continue. "It is cold and wet as two people approach a small inn in the middle of Bethlehem." At that the curtains opened and the audience could see Mary (on a live donkey!) and Joseph coming to the inn.

The play was going well when Louisa heard a slight commotion behind her amongst the audience. Looking back her eye was drawn to the tall figure of Martin standing at the back watching the action. She managed to keep her composure but her glowing expression was all he needed to see to know he'd done the right thing.

As the final scene drew to a close the audience clapped and the children were relieved their ordeal was over. Family members waved to the cast and then went outside to wait for their offspring.

Louisa herded her class back to the room and saw that all got back into their everyday clothes and that the costumes were stacked neatly ready to be put back into storage. The bell went and they all rushed outside to greet the waiting parents. "Did you see me?" was a phrase heard many times from the excited children. Louisa was congratulated on all sides and even the Chair of the Governors was complimentary to her. Soon the schoolyard was empty as she went back inside to clear the room ready for the next day.

At last, she was able to go home and wait for Martin to finish seeing his patients.

He came into the kitchen and she crossed the floor to greet him. She gave him a big hug and said "Thank you Martin, for coming along today. It meant a great deal to me."

"You're welcome. I thought the donkey did a good job!" His teasing caused her to bat him playfully on the arm.

"I've marinaded some tuna steaks which I thought we could have with roast broccoli and carrots," she announced.

"Right, I'll see to that, you go and rest on the couch until it's ready," he told her. "Do you want some tea whilst you wait?" She declined and he set about laying the table and putting the vegetables in the oven to cook. The tuna would have to wait because it didn't need as much time.

Martin liked to wash up as he went along and so it didn't take long before all the crockery and utensils were stowed back in their appointed place. They relaxed together on the couch drinking their tea. "How was your day, Martin?"

He just grunted.

"Oh, as good as that eh?" Louisa was slightly exasperated by his laconic reply.

"Actually, my day went really well. The handsome local GP visited the pantomime and the donkey behaved himself so that I didn't have any poop to remove!"

Martin looked sideways at her. "Doesn't the caretaker do that for you?"

"Usually, he does, but one of the boys' toilets was leaking and so he was off seeing to that."

Martin nodded and put his arm around her. He told her a little about his day, without disclosing any confidential details and mentioned that Pauline was pestering him to let her put a little Christmas tree in the surgery.

"Why not let her? It cheers people up, and they do say laughter is the best medicine, don't they?" Louisa couldn't see anything wrong with the idea.

"Huh, next thing will be, she wants to dish out tea and mince pies" he growled.

"Oh Martin, don't be such a Scrooge," Louisa admonished him.

"Bah, humbug," was his rapid reply.

Louisa looked up at him seriously. "You do realise that I'll be putting a tree up in here, don't you? And with decorations and fairy lights."

"Why? What we do in our home is no business of anybody else."

"Because, Martin, I want decorations up! It adds to the enjoyment of the season, for me."

Martin gave this some thought, and, knowing when he was beaten told her to get someone to carry the tree in for her after she'd bought it. "I don't have any decorations or lights either. You'll have to get some, yourself."

"Fair enough. I'll see what I can do."

Martin went to read his BMJ's and Louisa continued with her list of things to be done to get ready for Christmas. An early night was called for after the exertions of the day and both were soon asleep.