‘Sometimes, although they’re tricky. What sort of birds do you like?’
‘All of them, but mostly birds of prey.’
‘I take commissions,’ said the man, looking up at Alexander and me.
‘What does that mean?’ asked Theo.
‘It means I can carve whatever you want,’ he replied.
‘Oh! You could do Runcible!’ exclaimed Theo. ‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Fallon?’
‘Who or what is Runcible?’ asked the woman. ‘A runcible spoon? Lando’s made a few of those.’
‘She’s a dog,’ I explained, pulling out my phone to show her a photo. ‘She’s a bit of a mystery, like Lear’s spoon, hence her name.’
‘Oh, she’s very sweet,’ said the woman, then held out her hand. ‘I’m Penny, by the way, this is my husband, Lando, and this’ – she nodded at the little boy – ‘is Billy.’
We introduced ourselves and explained that we would be selling gin outside in the Citroën.
‘Maybe you’d bring us one later?’ asked the man, grinning. ‘This is the first time we’ve done something like this, so I think we might need it.’
‘It would be my pleasure,’ said Alexander. ‘And you’re welcome to come over one day and see where it’s made. Are you local?’
‘Only recently, and only for a while,’ replied Lando. ‘We live in Dorset, but I’m up here running a carpentry course – teachingyoungsters the craft so that they can show it to others. There’s a lot of tree work near here, so we only use offcuts.’
We spoke for a few moments more, and exchanged numbers, before heading back to the van, where we found the rest of the family, as well as Sam, waiting for us.
‘Ah, there you are,’ said Douglas. ‘All ready for the off?’
‘Definitely,’ said Alexander, squeezing my hand.
‘Good. Well, we wanted to do something to mark the opening of your business. I’m so proud of you, son.’ He hugged Alexander, and then me. I hugged him back hard. Having never had a father, I could hardly believe that I was gaining such a lovely one. ‘Now,’ he continued. ‘Champagne seemed a bit ‘coals to Newcastle’ given what you’re selling, so we thought we’d keep it simple.’
On cue, they all pulled out what looked like large party poppers, held them up and pulled the strings. We were instantly standing in a glittering white storm of swirling flakes that floated around us before settling to the ground. Theo, who had screamed with delighted surprise, now looked disappointed.
‘Oh, it’s all melting already,’ he said, looking at the floor.
‘I’m afraid so,’ said Douglas. ‘It’s all very eco-friendly and only lasts a moment, but wasn’t it lovely while it did? And,’ he added in a conspiratorial stage whisper, ‘I’ve got plenty more at home so we can refill them and do it again whenever we like.’
There were a few minutes left for hugs and photos before Douglas and Mum took Theo’s hands and led him inside, leaving Alexander, Sam and me to open up the Citroën and cross our fingers.
As it turned out, we didn’t need any luck: the van was a huge success. From the moment the first customers started arriving at the Christmas Fayre, we were a knockout. Many of them hadseen our advertisements and headed for us deliberately; others couldn’t resist our festive van and stopped to see what we had on offer. Even if it was too early for many of them to drink alcohol, people were seduced by the flavoured syrups to drink then and there, or by the beautiful packaging to buy bottles for presents. By five o’clock, we had to ask Sam to drive back to the house to collect what we had left there, as we were in danger of running out. I came down to help him unpack the boxes from the car, and he put a hand on my arm.
‘Fallon, you’ve made a huge success of this, it’s amazing! But this is probably one of the busiest events we’ve ever done. I just wanted to check that you’re all right? I’m sure Alexander and I can hold the fort if you need us to for a bit; I ran the others back to the house, but Constance said she’d be happy to come back and help. I can give her a ring?’
I hugged him.
‘Thank you, but actually I feel fine. And don’t worry, that’s not my usual “fine” as in “I’m going to run myself into the ground and keep going on adrenaline and caffeine” fine. I’m enjoying myself.’
‘Good. Well, just say if you need a break, deal?’
‘Deal.’
We carried the boxes to the van, then carried on serving and smiling right until the very end.
‘Phew!’ I said, pulling the hatch shut before anyone else could plead with us for just one more. ‘I think we can call that a success, don’t you?’
‘I can hardly believe it,’ replied Alexander, who looked exhausted, but happy. ‘I never dreamed it would go so well. And as well as all the sales, I’ve handed out hundreds of business cards and flyers to people who want to hire us for their weddings and birthdays. The organiser of that huge country fair even came along, said she’d seen our advertisement and now she’d seen usfor real would love us to go to that. We’ll be busy for a year. Thank you both so much for all your help.’
