The Hedge Pt. 04

On Saturday the twenty-ninth, Aaron and Vicky arrived at Sharon's house with the hire van he'd booked. With good packing they managed to get it all strapped inside with the cross trainer right at the back. Vicky and Sharon stayed behind to clean the empty house ready for the new owners but it didn't take very long as Sharon was always very house proud.

Alice didn't get the keys to the new house until mid-day and found the other two waiting to get in when they arrived. The house was very impressive with a large brick paved parking area in front of the house, which had a double garage on the right end.

The left end had a front to back lounge, leading off the entrance hall, which also had doors to the guest bedroom, the study, a bathroom and two doors into the dining room/kitchen (also front to back). Another door in the kitchen led into a utility room which led into the garage.

Upstairs, because there was no loft there was ample storage in the eaves at the front of the house and some at the rear. The landing led into the second bedroom (for Alexis), a second bathroom and the big master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom.

Outside to the left, there was a wooden rail fence and the other side of that was a wide grassed paddock running the full length of the property (the previous owners kept horses). The garden was large and mostly grassed with a side flower and shrub border and there was a large shed and greenhouse on the opposite side. There was also a wide paved patio area across the complete rear of the house, running from the high side gate, overlooking the garden.

The vendors had also cleaned the house before they had vacated it so the furniture could be moved in straight away. They laughed at how little furniture they had brought until Alice reminded them that she still had some in storage. When the van was empty, Aaron and Vicky left to go to the storage facility to collect the contents, leaving Alice and Sharon to start unpacking.

When they returned they saw Ashley's Corsa in the parking area next to Alice's Honda and Sharon's Civic. The double garage door was open but the only things in it was Sharon's freezer and Alexis's buggy. Aaron and Vicky hugged and kissed Ashley first and then asked where the next load should be put.

By six o' clock they had finished putting everything in place except a few bags and small boxes, the hire van had been returned and Ashley had been thanked and had gone home.

49.

Sharon started a list of things that they would have to buy for the upstairs, while Alice did one for the downstairs. Aaron started on a list for the outside area, she had a few gardening tools and a lawnmower but they were at her house as part of it being fully furnished. Sharon had a few things and her mower was old.

"The most expensive item will be a lawnmower" he said.

"My last one only cost about a hundred pounds!" Alice.

"And I've got mine here!" Sharon added.

"With that little thing, it would probably take you two hours to cut the back lawn and what about the paddock. If you don't keep that reasonably low it will become a jungle" Aaron explained, "You will need one that you can ride on, unless you plan to get sheep or goats."

"Sheep are stupid but goats are quite intelligent, you could have your own milk supply and even breed them for the freezer or sell, Mum" added Vicky, grinning wickedly.

"That's worth thinking about, I'll do some research into it, thank you for the suggestion Vicky" her mother replied, enjoying the surprised look on her elder daughter's face. Aaron and Sharon were trying hard not to laugh at her joke which backfired.

Aaron assembled the women's double bed in the master bedroom and Alexis's cot in the second bedroom where all her toys had been put. Sharon's spare double bed that he had dismantled and stored in her loft, he assembled in the guest bedroom and stood the mattress up to air as it had been store (still sealed) for some months.

He and Vicky had been asked if they would like to stay the night and accepted, giving him time to set up their TV and music system.

"Then we will not feel like two peas rolling around in a in a large pod, this is so much bigger that Redi's little bungalow and even your big house" Alice said.

The new owners prepared dinner for the five of them, while Vicky played with her sister and Arron continued to make his list. Not everything needed to be bought immediately so he separated the items into four lists.

'Now', with the minimum of garden tools to keep it up together, until they decided how they want to use it and a very good quality padlock for the shed where the mower would be stored.

'Soon', the mower and a burglar alarm system with outside lights for security, being on this list.

'Later' had potting compost, pots, trays and hand tools for starting new plants from seeds. If they were going to grow some of their own fruit and vegetable next year they would need a bigger freezer.

The 'Maybe' list, jokingly had the goats or sheep on this one, along with all the extras the animals would need. Both women had the tools for decorating the inside of the house in the colours and style that they chose and of course he would be available to help them.

After they had eaten and the novelty of a having a dishwasher had been explored, they sat around the table and went through the lists, while Alexis played on the floor. Later each adult played with the little girl before Aaron carried her upstairs for Alice to bath her and put her to bed.

They opened a bottle of wine and relaxed, unwinding from the busy day and when it was bed time they stayed in their usual partnerships, with Aaron and Vicky in the guest bedroom and making gentle love before going to sleep. Alice and Redi kissed and cuddled for a while but were too tired for anything more energetic that night except sleeping.

The next morning, they all walked around the garden and discussed the way that Alice and Sharon wanted to use it. Aaron offered some suggestions about growing their own food and checked out the large compost heap at the bottom of the paddock, consisting mostly of horse straw and manure plus the trimmings from the hedges and the flower borders.

He and his wife went home after lunch, leaving the fairly newly-weds to their new house. Alice only had a twelve inch ruler but took it out to the shed and measured the opening before she looked into the size of ride-on lawn mowers.

They were not cheap but she chose a Lawn King in bright red with a thirty inch cutting width and a big grass box at the back for well over a thousand pounds. She also ordered all the gardening tools Aaron had suggested plus the high security padlock, she even got free delivery on the lawn mower from Amazon.

She discussed with Sharon the offer to Ashley of moving in with them, if they didn't move to Lincoln by the time Martin Baxter was released from prison.

"Hopefully they will be settled in Lincoln long before October and he will never find them. It will be hard on them to start with but maybe they will make new friends and we could go and visit them occasionally if they wanted us to" Sharon said sadly.

Aaron called Alice and gave her the details of a good local security firm to get a quote from, she called them and someone came out on the fifth to give her an estimate for the work required. For security lights outside, front and back with movement sensors, internal sensors on the landing, in the hallway, the dining room, lounge and one in the garage it was going to cost about a thousand pounds.

It all came with a five year warrantee and free annual service, which would only cost fifty pounds after the warrantee expired. A quick call to Aaron for a conference, then she accepted the estimate and booked the company to come and install the system on that Saturday.

Two teams of two men arrived, one for the inside and the other for the outside work and were very efficient, Sharon provided them with tea and coffee and the work was done in three hours. They did a walk-through test of the system and then explained to Alice and Sharon how the system worked and how to set it up the way they wanted and giving them a user's booklet and warrantee.

After a midweek phone call to arrange a delivery date, the Lawn King was delivered on Saturday the twelfth of August. The man set up a pair of ramps and drove the mower out of his van and Alice directed him to the paddock gate for a demonstration.

He explained the controls and cut a short strip through the six inch high grass, then let her have a go. She loved it and made a fancy pattern in the grass before driving it through the back gate into the garden. She took out the keys and walked back to the house with the driver, who also gave her the paperwork and an empty fuel can which came free as a bonus, before he left.

Carrying Alexis and using her walking stick, Alice explained everything to Sharon and she had a go too before emptying the grass box onto the compost heap then carefully driving it into the shed and locking it up with the new padlock.

The end of Part Four.

The Hedge continues in Part Five, chapter Fifty-a.