The Queen and Mr Dukes : 1

3. New Things

3

New Things

THE BEST THING ABOUT BOB’S NEW OFFICE was the view. The beach was a mere 100 yards away down a gentle slope. There was a track down to the beach which ran between a scattering of coconut palms and flamboyant trees. The beach was the coral sand of travel brochures and startled the eyes with its brilliance.

It was low tide when Bob walked into the office for the first time. He could see the rock pools stretching away for a quarter of a mile out to the reef where the Indian Ocean broke onto this coral barrier, one which Bob knew would make the sea inside the reef a safe playground for the children as it kept out the sharks.

What a place to work. What a joy to look out over such a picture during the working day.

Running towards him from the horizon was the indigo of the deep ocean, shading into olive green just beyond the reef. Enclosed within the reef, the limpid turquoise of the sandy based calmer water ran inwards to the lettuce green of the rock pools near the shore. Gentle waves ran up over the pale beige of the wet sand below the high tide mark and rippled on to the eye dazzling white above the high-water line. Moving upwards from the beach towards Government House were the different greens of the trees with their highlights of vermillion flamboyant flowers and the faded cerise of oleanders. To cap it all, below his window grew a row of his favorite tree, the frangipani, both pink and white.

How his prospects had changed in twenty-four hours. He must do all he could to hang on to this luck. Who would have thought only a week ago that he would have a new exciting and challenging job, an inspiring workplace and a wonderful home for his children?

He turned from the window and looked round the office. There was nothing out of the ordinary — just the usual office equipment. However, there was a portrait of her Majesty the Queen hanging on the back wall facing the sea. As befitted her regal status, the portrait was large and set in a heavily embossed gilt frame. It was a copy of Annigoni’s famous portrait of the Queen. Bob had fallen in love with this particular portrait the first time he’d seen it. Painted when she was twenty-eight and had been Queen for only three years, it showed a beautiful young woman standing as straight and as tall as could be. She was dressed in the robes of the Order of the Garter, the weight of the robes being a metaphor for the weight of the task she had inherited.

A royal portrait was standard in all HM’s offices but Bob was pleased that he had an Annigoni copy in his office. We have something in common, he thought. I feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of this position and I suppose she was, too, when she became queen at such a young age.

“Quite so, Mr Dukes”, said a quiet feminine voice.

Bob looked round. He hadn’t heard anyone come into the office. No one had. He must be imagining things. It was a result of all the stress of the last few weeks. He had to pull himself together and collect the children from their primary school and take them to see their new house. He couldn’t wait to see their delight when they found they could walk down to the beach.

THE CHILDREN LOVED THE HOUSE as much as he thought they would. It was an old wooden structure set on pillars of rough-hewn coral to keep the house and its palm-leaf roof safe from termites. It consisted of three spacious rooms, twenty foot by twenty foot, with a wide verandah running all the way round. The verandah was enclosed by large windows and wooden shutters. The kitchen and bathroom were at ground level and built of coral blocks, with stairs enclosed by burglar-proofing leading up to the main house. There was a dining room and two bedrooms. The verandah was set up as a sitting room. The front of the house looked out over the same seascape as could be seen from Bob’s office but just a little further around the island. It was a charming building of much character.

“Daddy I can’t believe we’re going to live here after that dreadful poky hotel,” said Poppy. She ran up the stairs calling out to Suze and Charlie to follow. After they’d had a good look round, they started to argue about who would sleep where.

“That’s enough from the three of you,” said Bob. “Why don’t you explore the garden and run down to the beach?”

Off they went, the girls skipping and laughing and Charlie trying to keep up.

Bob locked up the house and followed them down.

Later, on the way back to what Poppy had called their poky hotel, Suze asked, “When can we move in, Daddy? I’m longing to live in that pretty house.”

“I’m sure we can manage it by the end of the week,” answered her father. “I need to sort out sheets and blankets and boring things like that, and take on someone to help with the housework and garden.”

“You know, Daddy,” piped up little Charlie from the back seat. “There’s only one thing missing.”

“And what’s that?”

“We need a dog to come and live with us. What’s the point of such a wonderful house and garden if we don’t have a dog to go on adventures with us? Do you think Mummy would let us have our old dog?”

“That’s an interesting idea, Charlie,” replied his father smiling. “I’ll certainly ask her. What kind of dog is it?”

“It’s a sausage dog and we call her Coca Cola,” answered Charlie.

“That’s because she’s fat and looks like a Coke bottle,” added Suze.

THE NEXT DAY, WEDNESDAY, was a school day. Suze had a piano lesson on Wednesdays after school during term time. Poppy would collect Charlie from his classroom and the two of them would sit at the back of the school assembly room behaving while Suze had her lesson.

But this week Suze’s teacher was late for the lesson — just when Suze had so much to tell her. Suze was sitting kicking the piano stool and lifting up the lid and banging it down again when Annette Nolini, her piano teacher, rushed in.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she said as she dropped her clutter on the floor and then refastened her long, dark curly hair into a bunch. “The babysitter was late arriving to look after my children this afternoon. We’ll just have to run our lesson on a bit to make up for the lost time. What time is your mother coming to fetch you?”

“Mummy’s not coming today,” said Suze. “We’re living with Daddy now, and he said he’d be here at the usual time.”

“Well then, we’d better get on with our lesson, Susan. I haven’t met your father, and we don’t want him to think I’m a bad teacher, do we?” said Annette, picking up the music book and turning to the right page. “Here you are, start from the top line.”

Thirty minutes into the forty-minute lesson Suze was still torturing the piano the way most young children do, when the door opened and Bob came in.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you would be finished by now,” he said.

Annette looked up to see a youngish man. About thirty-five or so. Rather young to have sole charge of three children. He was tall and slim. As he walked over to shake her hand, she noticed that his brown eyes were gentle behind his round tortoiseshell glasses. When he spoke, he had a pleasant voice with a slight English regional accent. Annette didn’t know enough about such accents to know what part of England he came from for Annette was Seychelloise — a beautiful woman of mixed French parentage from the islands of the Seychelles out in the Indian Ocean. She was married to an Italian aircraft mechanic who worked for Alitalia in Mazita. Married woman or not, she summed Bob up as an attractive man, one worth knowing.

Annette explained that the lesson was running late and invited Bob to sit in on the rest of the lesson. He would be happy to, he said, as he was something of a pianist himself. He could play by ear, he added, but had not had proper lessons.

When the lesson was over Annette suggested that he consider learning to play from music. The family could stay on after Suze’s lesson. Bob replied that he would think about it, but he had a lot on his mind at the moment with organizing the new house.

“And Daddy’s just started a new job. He’s important now,” boasted Charlie.

“Yes?” asked Annette.

“I wouldn’t say I was important but I think the job is. I’ve been appointed Commercial Officer to the new Governor of Mazita.”

“Congratulations! And good luck with the new job,” she added as they all left the hall together.