Jessica and Frank

Jessica stepped down off the last wooden plank which had been haphazardly nailed to the tree years and years ago. Frank had jumped from the fourth one but he’d been ascending and descending these planks since he was a boy. Jessica had only been on the property for 36 hours so her agility in the huge ‘playground’ that Frank had been talking up for days was not forthcoming. He’d finally decided that this weekend he would take her to visit his mum and dad and the property he’d grown up on. She’d met his mum and dad a few times before this weekend; they liked coming to visit London. They were really nice the first few times she’d met them. His mum’s eyes had positively popped out of her head when she’d met Jessica, introduced as “my new friend”. Frank was lovely so it made sense his parents were lovely. That didn’t stop her from being incredibly nervous each time she spoke to them though. She’d bonded with Paul (Dad) about West Ham’s slow start this season and what changes Avram Grant could/should make to pick up after Christmas (Jessica had a sneaking suspicion Paul was an ex-Mile End Mob member, and, even if he wasn’t she liked the idea of it and imagined him running after Chelsea fans after matches). Janet (Mum) was a classic beauty and the most caring person Jessica had ever met. She had modeled in the early 70’s and even though she was ageing now she still retained that simple beauty that made Jessica feel incredibly self conscious. But Janet had given up her modeling not long after starting because she found the other girls ‘a little bit silly’ and had settled down with Paul soon after they met through friends at the pub. She said she fell for his confidence in wearing a Ben Sherman polo with tight trousers (“Always had a thing for mods I did”) after seeing Paul Weller do it. Paul said it was Janet’s eyes, which made Jessica blush and try her hardest not to look at Frank in case he was looking at her. They’d suggested to Frank that he bring her up the property so she could get some colour back in her cheeks after the long winter spent indoors at her computer writing endless releases for the company and sending them out to every single media outlet she could think of. It had not been a fruitful undertaking and Jessica was beginning to grow concerned that her job was on the line. But all of that was far away now that she was walking alongside Frank down to the edge of the large pond that marked the end of the backyard. Jessica had heard about backyards as a girl but the closest she had come to seeing a proper backyard was when her friend Sammy had invited her to her Gran’s house and her Gran lived in a flat which was on the ground and out the back was a square patch of grass with some flower pots around the sides. But now Jessica understood. She imagined a young Frank running wild through the leaves that would have fallen in autumn from the huge oak tree that stood next to the house. She could see the 9^th birthday party that Frank had told her about when his parents had let him have a bouncy castle and all the kids had been absolutely sick with jealousy. It was not long after that party that Frank had stopped bringing other kids round to his place. Even though he had the best backyard in the county, Frank had decided that no one should be able to share his space again. But now 15 years later here he was, with a girl holding his hand walking down from the tree-house he had made with Paul to the edge of the pond. Jessica felt grip Frank had on her hand once they reached the water’s edge tighten and he seemed to hold her back ever so slightly as if to confirm she wouldn’t keep walking right into the water. For the first time since she had arrived at this place she felt slightly uncomfortable. She looked up and Frank’s eyes had glazed over as he surveyed the rippled water of the pond and watched the ducks swim silently across. She’d never seen him look like this, he was usually so focused and attentive. He was far away now thinking about something he hadn’t thought about since he’d met Jessica a few months ago. She’d managed to block everything out particularly well and he was happy to have met her. She was beautiful, funny and completely unaware of the effect she had on the men around her, but suddenly being here in this space with her seemed like a terrible idea. Jessica squeezed Frank’s clammy hand with hers and he snapped quickly out of the distant daydream.

“I need to tell you something about this pond”.