Page 37 - The Letter By Ann Newhouse

It’s been two months since Paul took off on his travels. Working in the bar has been going well and Penny had started to receive guests in the B&B.
‘I will have to get a part time bar maid things are starting to get very busy with summer visitors’, Penny announced.
Penny asked the butcher’s daughter, Jenny, who attended art college and was free most evenings, although she was only 18 years old she had proven to be very mature.
After a busy weekend at the bar I planned to spend the day vegetating at home. As the coffee pot moaned and gurgled percolating my morning fix a rat-a-tat on my door informed me Joe was making his usual visit.
‘Hi Joe’, I greeted him sleepy.
‘Amber chuck! Good morning what a lovely day’, he was his usual jolly self .
Sitting down he pulled a letter from his mail bag commenting that it was a strange one and that although it was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Doyle it had Brook cottage clearly on the envelope. I didn’t take much heed of Joe’s concerns but took the letter saying I’d remember the name when dealing with the estate agent.
‘Sugar today Joe?’, I asked.
‘Go on! But don’t tell the missus, she tells me I’ve put on too much weight’ he tapped his rather large belly and laughed. Pointing to the envelope Joe commented that it had a Canadian stamp on it.
‘Maybe you can take it back to the mail office’, I said inspecting it but then I noticed it had urgent written on the flip side.
‘Tell you what Joe, I’ll take it to Mr. Harris in the estate agents he might be able to shed some light on why an urgent letter should come so many months after the people