“Thanks for looking over the house with me, Suzanne. I really do appreciate all the help you have given me.”
“No problem, Tonie. I’m just happy to be able to help you a little.” I noticed that Suzanne was wearing a perfume which had a delightfully fragrant scent. It followed us as we worked our way through the house and was a distinct improvement on the stale, dry smell of a long-empty house.
It was a fairly typical 1930’s semi. A lengthy, paved drive along one side of the house, small front garden, a quite spacious entrance hall with doors leading to two, good-sized reception rooms, both with bay windows. A third door led to a dining kitchen which had been extended about fifteen years earlier. Upstairs, we took our time to inspect two sizeable bedrooms, both with bay windows, a third, smaller room and a bathroom. There were carpets and built-in wardrobes in the two main bedrooms. Strangely, there was, even, one bed, complete with bedding, in the rear bedroom. The mainly-empty rooms echo to the sound of our voices.
Looking around the bedrooms, Suzanne commented, ”I don’t think these rooms need anything doing to them, apart from the addition of some items of furniture. In fact, they look as though they have only been decorated a few months ago.” She paused and said, “The bed’s not very good and I can’t imagine why they would leave the bedding. Nobody would want to use somebody’s old bedding, would they?”
It did seem strange that the occupiers had left their bed, complete with sheets, blankets and pillows, as though they had been forced to move out in a hurry. I just felt relieved that decorating was one job that would not need to be done. Suzanne did say that the décor of the rooms although recent, still managed to look a bit dated and old-fashioned, but, as long as it saved some work, I was not really bothered. As expected, she confirmed that the carpets did look a bit worn and tired and had obviously been there for many years, but, thankfully, could still, probably, last a few years longer.
Kelly was really intrigued at this new place with lots of different smells from her usual haunts. All the rooms had a thorough sniffing, hopefully passing her ‘sniff test’. “Kelly seems to like the house”, I said with a smile.
“She’s certainly enjoying sniffing around each room, especially the bedrooms.”, Suzanne agreed with me.
After going through each room, we returned to the kitchen and opened the door to the rear garden. Kelly was particularly excited at the opportunity to run around the large grassed area, which was quite a bit longer than I had realised on earlier viewings. Suzanne estimated the length to be about thirty five metres and ten metres in width.
“Kelly!”, Suzanne called to the excited dog. “I’ve never seen her run so fast. She’ll certainly get plenty of exercise, living here.”
I wondered why it should be any different here, rather than at home. The rear garden at my parent’s house was quite long, but, my father, who had always been a keen Gardener, had divided the area into paved areas, raised flower beds and an immaculately maintained lawn area. In this house, it was one huge grassed area, with occasional flower beds dotted around the perimeter. There were, also, a couple of medium-sized Maple trees towards the end of the garden. I was going to have to find someone who could keep the grass cut and garden regularly maintained for me, as I knew that I would be useless at these tasks. Removing weeds may be possible for me, yet, how would I know the difference between genuine flowers and unwanted weeds?
I thanked Suzanne as she dropped me back to my parent’s house. She had become a good friend while working together over the past couple of years, yet I felt that the relationship I had hoped for was unlikely to ever develop into anything deeper, even though I had wished for more. She understood me, which is all that I could expect from anybody, at that time. I did find her very attractive, yet did not wish to chance losing her if I should make an unwelcome move.
I did have to rely on the observations of other people at the office to discover Suzanne’s appearance. I was told that she had long, black hair, dark blue eyes and delicate features. She was of slim build and about five feet seven in height. I had to tell myself not to rush into a romantic relationship and determined to take my time to get to know her better.
I remembered the regular vision I experienced whilst sleeping, yet, somehow, felt certain that the unknown naked woman could not be Suzanne, even though her hair and colour of her eyes were similar to the woman in my vision. I reasoned that, since I had experienced the vision a couple of years before I had even met Suzanne, then it could not possibly have been her, yet my imagination did provide me with exciting visions of her.
Like any young, unattached male, I could still use my rather vivid imagination to conjure an image of Suzanne and I, completely naked, making sweet, beautiful love.
I really enjoyed hearing Suzanne’s voice. Warm, educated, smooth and without any trace of sharpness. Thankfully, her accent was not noticeably regional, probably as a consequence of growing up in Wilmslow, one of the richer areas of the “Cheshire Set”. Even so, there was absolutely no hint of arrogance, her nature being one of generosity, calmness and self-assurance. Suzanne, her brother and parents had moved to Hale when she had finished her primary education, making her journey to Altrincham Grammar Scool for Girls easier for commuting on a daily basis. In addition, Suzanne’s father was a partner in a legal practice in Altrincham, which meant that he could avoid the daily congestion around Wilmslow.
It would be a few weeks until I was able to organise a new bed and the miniMum of furniture. Thankfully, the previous owners had left most of their downstairs furniture such as dining table, chairs, sofa and even curtains at all the windows, which would save me quite a bit of money. There was a bed in the rear room, yet I felt that I should not use it and agreed with Suzanne that I would be better to order a new bed and bedding. I just had a feeling that, with such a personal item, I would not want to sleep where somebody else had once slept, even more so with the bedding.
We were both surprised to find that there was even some food in the fridge, some of which needed to be thrown away. What had been left in the freezer could still be edible, yet it would seem strange to eat meat or fish which had been left by the previous owners. Whoever had lived in this house had not wanted to stay around while the contents were emptied for new occupants.
After I had contacted the Guide Dog centre, they sent a trainer to assess the necessary changes for Kelly. They even helped in organising a concrete run for the Alsatian, draining it to a gutter, allowing the run to be hosed down to keep it clean and hygienic. At the end of the drive, there was a fence, with a gate opening onto the lawn. This would be useful to prevent Kelly from escaping, although I could not imagine that she would ever feel inclined to do this.
When it came to the big day, a hot, Sunday morning in June, Mum, Dad and Hannah had gone with me to my own house at number sixteen Eastcroft road. The car was stacked full, with all my clothes, computer, printer and my many other gadgets and personal possessions. Dad did tell me that he would make a separate journey to bring my exercise bike and weights, as there was no room in the car along with everything else.
When the kitchen had been extended, the main appliances had been built in to the kitchen units and these still worked well enough to make them usable for me. I did have a tube of “rubbery” material which could be used to stick on the controls of oven, microwave and washing machine. This was used to create little “bumps” to assist in setting oven temperature, timer and anything else which could be improved by the addition of tactile markers to assist me with their programming. Hannah had offered to add these markers for me and, once done, she showed me the controls on each appliance. I just hoped that I could remember the various settings, yet Hannah was very patient with me as I tried to master all the controls