A Nice Quiet Life. Chapter 1

A Nice Quiet Life

This is my take on Ciane’s renovacy.
The link to the story and the download is here:
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Chapter 1 All I want is a nice quiet life, thank you very much. Rachel Grey has officially had enough of life in the fast lane.
I’ve spent the last four years working as part of a forensic fraud team – only in a very junior capacity. All of the hours and none of the bonuses. My friends used to say it must be great, being part of a team that travelled the world, staying in good hotels all the time. They never got that all I did, wherever we were, was stare at a screen and crunch numbers. Sixteen hours a day. In the end, I’d had enough. I cashed in everything I owned, bought this place and moved here. Yes, I know it looks like a shipping container from the outside. But it’s got a byCianeTM interior! It’s got everything I need. Plus some lovely views. Now all I use my laptop for is playing chess, and keeping in touch with one or two people. And I get to read real books again – I’d forgotten how much I loved reading, books, poetry…I was always good at English at school, loved writing, but my family pointed out that maths got you a better job, and since I was good at that too, why not?
I’ve found my nice quiet life! I can earn enough for my day-to-day needs selling specimens to the science lab (don’t ask me what they do with them!) and I don’t need to be bothered by anyone or anything. Look at the setting! It’s perfect – and far enough out of town that no-one’s going to come and build here. These farms are productive, and making money enough. And it isn’t going to turn into some grubby trailer park either – the town’s pretty fussy about not allowing eyesore developments. And yeah, technically, this plot could be used to build on, but the guy from the town hall who I spoke to assured me that the chances of that happening were non-existent. So I own my home and rent the land it sits on. Couldn’t be better. I like fishing. I like the precision, the calmness and the quiet. Did I mention that I like quiet? The town at the top of the hill is lovely. It’s an old walled town, and you still come in through the mediæval gates. It hasn’t gone all touristy either (though I’ve heard that the new mayor would like more tourists!) but it’s still lived in properly – the surrounding farmland’s prosperous enough to support the town. This is the only eyesore in the whole place! The mad cat lady lives here with hundreds of cats, so I’ve heard. All the other buildings in and round the town are lovely and well-kept. This is just an ugly mess! Plus I don’t really like cats anyway.
“Why don’t you get a pet?” people said. “You’ll be lonely.” Well, I like my life the way it is. This is the town’s other eyesore! Just as you think you’ll sit and read peacefully in this lovely square, up he pops, twangling away on his guitar! I see he’s had a change of hairstyle – lost the horrible headband and finally washed his hair. But honestly! I mean, who does the hippy thing these days? And he’s there in the morning as well! I’m on my way to my favourite bakery and he’s playing again.
“Long-haired layabout,” my previous boss would have said. “What’s he doing to make the world a better place? Why doesn’t he get a proper job? Now, about these figures, Miss Gray…” If I started a little garden and grew my own ingredients, I could save even more money. Gardening’s a bit grubby, but it would give me more income yet. The fishing and collecting pays the bills nicely, but I wouldn’t mind having a bit of money in my savings account. I haven’t got much of a pension fund yet. I’d like this bed to be a bit neater, but I’m planting things! Soft fruit and salad ingredients. I’ve put the garden at the side of the house, so as not to spoil the look from the front. The town hall guy’s coming soon to look the place over now that I’ve been here for six months – it was in the terms of the lease. After that, it’s at their discretion how often they inspect the grounds. “Hi!” This was not Vaughn Robinson.
“I’m so sorry – Mr Robinson couldn’t make it: the Mayor called a sudden important meeting. So he sent me instead.”
She didn’t look old enough to be a town hall employee! Despite the sunglasses and the grown-up clothes. I stopped myself from saying so, but she must have read my expression – oops. “I’m actually here on work experience. Actually, this is the most exciting thing I’ve done all week! Mind you, it’s not really official, and Mr Robinson will have to be the one who signs it off…” She was a real talker. Either that, or she’d been working in total silence for a week and it was all coming out now. Both, I decided. The chatter never stopped as she looked round the site and checked things off on her list.
“Actually, I love your little garden. And with all these farms and things, it makes perfect sense too. And being organic and so on – actually, that’s all the rage now, isn’t it?” She was still talking as she got ready to leave.
“Actually, I don’t think you’re going to have any problems. The Mayor’s got this big thing going at the moment about beautifying everywhere, but actually you’ll be fine.”
I knew her type. I’d met it before at some of the places we’d investigated – chatty and indiscreet. Some of our helpful hints had come from gossip in the ladies’ room. I knew how to encourage her to – I was going to say, keep on talking, but she didn’t need encouraging to do that! I knew how to encourage her to tell me more about the Mayor’s plans for turning the town into a Tourist Beauty Spot. Fishing in my favourite place later on, I thought about what she’d let slip. The Mayor would probably like to get rid of my little home. But he couldn’t – not legally. And if he tried it illegally, I’d blow the gaff on him, and bang would go his chances for re-election. I could read contracts – very well indeed – and I knew that as long as I kept the site clean and tidy, there were no grounds for revoking the lease. And as I wasn’t about to make a mess, I’d be fine. My quiet life could continue.