It’s tea time. I’m parched. It’s mid-afternoon and I’ve emptied everything out of the barn and have hosed it down. It’s a massive space. I look around and up into the rafters. The exposed beams reach up to the tin roof. There are no internal walls, except at one end there’s a small store room under a loft space. Other than that, it’s just a big open room. Such a waste! There’s a fireplace at one end and little windows to the front, made up of tiny squares of glass. It’s stopped raining so I sit down on one of the old wooden benches outside and sip my tea. I’ve pushed the boat out and had one of the brownies from the fresh batch I’ve baked for Gerald. I bite into the gooey chocolate centre. It feels well-deserved. I’m half way down my tea and brownie when I see Margaret’s little silver Fiesta bumping up the lane. ‘Hey, this is where you’re hiding.’ She gets out of the car cheerfully. ‘On your own?’ She has a quick scout around for Sean as usual.
