Chapter 52: What They Had In Common
"That Day"
It was only when the police finally arrived from Delabole that Martin could relax a bit and survey the damage to his car, where Jonathan had pried the boot open. The boot had to be fastened closed with a bit of cord. Fortunately, the mental patient had only taken the bag of explosives out and not the shotgun, which Martin turned over to the police. The Baker and Jonathan were taken off in separate ambulances, the police put Terry Glasson under arrest, and Martin, Bert, and the Colonel drove everyone to the station to give their statements.
One by one they were called in to give their eyewitness accounts about exactly what had happened at the Portwenn Surgery and at the cliff. Martin was one of the last to be called. He had some trouble convincing the detective in charge that he was not culpable for having blown up a nesting pair of rare birds, but the moronic detective finally accepted that it was an accident that happened in the course of keeping the mental patient who had caused all the trouble in the first place from making off with some dangerous explosives.
When Martin came out, Louisa was the last to be called in. He sat alone in the waiting area, unsure of what to do next. The adrenaline surge he had felt at the cliffs had long since worn off, the aches and pains of having been dangled and dropped amongst the rocks were kicking in, and, worst of all, his suit was filthy and tattered. He hated looking and feeling so untidy. Still, he decided to wait for Louisa to be finished.
A moment later, Terry Glasson was brought out from the holding area, his wounded arm bandaged but no longer in a sling as his hands were cuffed behind his back. He sat down, apparently awaiting a police van to take him away to a more secure location. Martin tried to ignore him.
Terry twitched his nose. "Hey mate, do me a favour and scratch my nose, eh? Can't exactly do it myself, can I."
"No."
Terry lifted his knee and with some difficulty managed to rub his nose against it. There was an awkward silence, then he spoke again. "You know, you and me, we've maybe got more in common than you realize."
Martin stared into the distance, but then couldn't resist retorting. "What could we possibly have in common?"
"I seen the way you look at my girl Louisa and how she looks at you. She told me a bit about you, how you left your fine life in London due to a professional setback and came out here to set up shop."
He smiled and went on. "I was once a young man, born and raised in London myself. Not in the same circles as you I'm sure, but still I had my friends, my business dealings, life was good. Then I ran afoul of some higher placed colleagues, due to a… let's just call it a misunderstanding about the handling of some payments to them. I decided to leave town for a while, but I didn't have any plan. Just got in my old car and headed west, kept driving until I saw the ocean. Found myself in the quaintest little village you can imagine, Portwenn. Like a picture off a biscuit tin, it was. I never intended to stay long, it was just a place where I could hide from my problems till I figured things cooled down back home."
"So what happened?" Martin asked, reluctant to admit his curiosity was piqued.
"Eleanor Wilder, the postman's daughter, that's what happened. I was living at the Crab, got a job as a deckhand on a lobster boat. Nosy parkers in town wanted to know all about me, first new face in town in years. They wanted to fix me up with some local girl but I managed to fend them off. I only meant to be in Cornwall a few weeks, maybe six months at most, but the very first day Eleanor crossed my path and fate kept throwing us together. The prettiest girl in the village, she was then, with her ginger hair and hazel green eyes, and a feisty spirit too. She was like the very spirit of Cornwall come alive and she and Cornwall together seduced me."
Terry was smiling broadly now as he remembered. "We flirted and danced around each other until we couldn't keep apart no more. Soon she was pregnant so we got married and settled down, had a kid and then a second one. But we were like chalk and cheese, as they say. Fought like cats and dogs till one day she just took off for sunnier climes. My Cornish girl found herself a Latin lover and I was left behind in my little Cornish village with my two Cornish children. I stuck with it though, worked steady jobs mostly, took care of my kids as best I was able… till the gossip mill got them villagers all pointing their fingers at me over the missing Lifeboat money."
"Hm. Hardly an unfair accusation, from what I understand."
"Oh yeah, I forgot Joan Norton is your aunt." Terry's smile disappeared. "In any case, things were uncomfortable for me here, my kids were old enough to fend for themselves by then. My boy Tommy left for sunnier climes, he always took after his Mum, and Louisa was off to university. So I went back to London, bought myself a small house, took in some lodgers for extra income, and set up some new business dealings."
"Business dealings that included smuggling dangerous materials for use in a planned warehouse burglary," Martin retorted. "Not to mention having a mentally unstable partner in your criminal enterprise."
"Oh, I know it's easy for a posh bloke like you to scoff at the likes of me. Don't blame you, really. It's just that…well, you should give me credit for the one thing in life I did really well, brought up my girl Louisa." He began to smile again. "You'd never expect a rare flower like her to come up from rocky soil like me. She got herself through university all on her own, the first person on either side of the family to do that, and got herself a good career. Now she's a pillar of the community, Portwenn's pride and joy, and she deserves every bit of success she's had. She deserves to have a good man too, someone solid who'll take care of her and appreciate her for what she is… and not look down on her for having a Dad like me."
Martin didn't want to admit the man's words hit a bit close to home. "Er… I suppose I've no right to look down on anyone else for the character of their parents."
Terry chuckled. "You mean everything wasn't all love and kisses in the elegant Ellingham household when you were brought up?"
"Hm. Hardly."
They were both quiet a moment, then Terry spoke up again.
"They f- you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were f-ed up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself."
Martin grunted. "Philip Larkin."
"That's right. Don't look so surprised, a thievin' geezer like me spoutin' poetry. Me and Louisa and Tommy used to love sharing poetry when we were all together. Not Larkin though, obviously."
"Obviously, you didn't take Larkin's advice."
"Nah, I can't blame my actions on my own miserable parents, much as I wanted to when I was younger. And I went on to be a dad myself and damn glad I did, Louisa's the best thing I ever did in my life by far. Me and Eleanor both, we didn't do right by her, but she turned out OK. You'd never know she had a thief and a deserter for her Dad and Mum."
Martin wondered if that were really true, if perhaps Louisa had psychic scars that were visible if one looked beneath the surface.
"Anyway," Terry continued, "it's the primal urge to become a parent. I suspect you'll find that out yourself soon enough."
"Hm." Martin responded only by checking on Terry's bandages. "Everything seems fine there."
The constable came in to announce the police van had arrived. Terry stood up and twitched his nose again. He said to Martin, "would you mind, mate?"
Slowly, reluctantly, Martin reached out and scratched Terry's nose.
To be continued…
Disclaimer: I derive no profit from my (expurgated) quoting of "This Be The Verse" by the late Philip Larkin, and I would never dream of infringing on any rights of whoever owns the copyright for the poem now.