Chapter Two, Episode Six - Tough Times - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update

There was little to do to Giles story, Tough Times. His wife, Melanie, had only had time to check his spelling, none of which she had to correct. All this writer had to do was fix some punctuation (never had been his strong suit) and added three words describing what the long haul trucker saw: “and a guy standing beside her that looked like a low life”. With the addition of just a few words, sometimes rearranging them, can more accurately set the scene for the reader. A specific character, in this case Giles Thornton, must write close to the way they speak. Often we may be more cautious about issues of grammar when we write, as in a new social situation. 

Tough Times

Over the previous five weeks, the Storyteller of Situationally Theirs had heard from five people. James Digby, the butler, had arranged for the Beaufort Estate staff to meet, share a meal and discuss how they could help out. Daily visits to the Estate were reduced to once weekly. As a group they decided that each week, someone would write their story and pass it on to the Storyteller. Dez Eliot was the first to tell her story as she had been at the very beginning. Digby had fallen ill not long afterwards, unable to make a submission. Much improved but still recovering, he decided to call on Giles Thornton. 

~~~~~

Giles was under the SUV in the garage at the Estate. Just as he rolled out from his monthly undercarriage inspection, his cell phone rang. Wiping the grease from his hands, he picked it up from the box set next to the vehicle. “James! How are you? It’s great to hear your voice. What’s up?”…………. “Of course I can, James. I can even get Melanie to check my spelling.” Giles laughed at his little joke. Melanie, his wife, was an elementary school teacher and always happy to correct him. “Glad to hear you’re on the mend, James and that it wasn’t Covid that had you down. Say hello to Martha and I’ll get right on to my ‘assignment’.”

Punching the off icon, Giles put his phone back in his pocket, stood up from the dirt floor and finished his check of the vehicles. Humming tunelessly, he thought about what more he could add. “I don’t have the same connections to the Estate that some of the others do.”

~~~~~

Well, here goes. I’ve been working for Mrs. Beaufort for quite few years now. Being a chauffeur and a mechanic wasn’t something I had planned for me. University wasn’t interesting, except for the student activities and protests. I drifted around from job to job, sometimes from town to country, city to town until I met Melanie. Her car had broken down on a highway in the middle of nowhere. I was hitchhiking and thought she had pulled over to give me a ride. When I heard her car clunking, I knew that I was out of luck. Tempted to keep on walking, I heard her swearing and it sounded like she was crying. I’m a sucker for a crying woman, especially when she’s as pretty as Melanie. I looked under the hood of her car, checked the oil and told her I couldn’t do anything to get it running. She looked scared so I said I’d stay with her til someone else came along to at least take her into the next town. It took a couple of hours and we talked. It wasn’t that simple. She really didn’t want to talk to this strange guy that looked - and smelled -  like he hadn’t seen water for too long, hadn’t had a hair cut for longer and whose beard was - well - unkempt, to put it mildly. But we did finally talk. She was on her way to a new job teaching 5th grade in Hartley. I was just on my way to somewhere. A long haul trucker saw a young pretty woman by a little red car and a guy standing beside her that looked like a low life. He pulled over, I convinced him I was ok and Melanie backed me up. He called a tow truck for us and went on his way. We went our separate ways, but not before she gave me her phone number. I cleaned myself up, found a job in the city and after a month, I called her. Fast forward 15 years. We married and have four boys. How did I get to a job I had never intended? When the pandemic - Covid19 - closed the business I was working for, being at home was ok to start with. Melanie was working from home developing and teaching online with her school so she was still getting paid but not at full-time hours. I was a stay-at-home dad while the two older boys couldn’t go to school. Looking after all four boys got pretty hectic somedays. I kept scanning the newspapers for part-time jobs that would get me out of the house. We still had a mortgage and regular bills, we had maxed out a couple of credit cards and her job just wasn’t enough. That’s when I applied for the chauffeur job. I liked Digby right away, pretty stiff and reserved, but he seemed a kind man. I didn’t really get to know Cook and Martha for quite while, never in the kitchen very much. I got to know Samuel, the yardman. He kept some of his tools for his truck in the garage so we’d manage a good chin-wag every month or so. 

Mrs. Beaufort took a great big turn from a nose-in-the-air society woman to just an all round good person. That seems like it's been compliments of the pandemic and her sister, Dez. I may not be real close with the people at Beaufort, but I do like them. Covid has killed a lot of people. It’s horrible and I wish it had never happened. Being forced to stay home has been a benefit in a lot of ways, though. I guess that all I have. It’s been tough, but lots of good comes from the tough times.

Giles, looked at his big loose scrawl and folded the pages in half. He set them on Melanie’s desk with the 5th grade papers she had yet to mark. “She’ll get to it in the morning.”

“It was the hardest time of my life, but the best part of my journey.”

 ~ Ellen DeGeneres