I’d once been the heart of our little community, yet things were very different now . . .
BY TERESA ASHBY
IWASN’T happy to hear a knock on my door. As I have a face that reflects my feelings, it was no surprise when the young man outside took a step back.
“Mrs Lockwood, I’m sorry to bother you on a Sunday.”
“Why did you?” I snapped.
He’d moved in opposite a couple of weeks ago.
So far I’d managed to avoid him, just as I avoided all the new people now living in Cornflower Way.
The previous owners of his house, Mel and Sean, were the last to move out . . .
“We’ve sold it to a lovely young man,” Mel told me. “You’ll like him, Linda.”
“No, I won’t,” I muttered.
“Why don’t you think about moving, too?” she asked. “A nice bungalow or one of those new flats.”
I gave a withering look, but Mel had become used to those over the past few years and took no notice.
“You know why I can’t move,” I said.
“Oh, Linda.” She sighed and hugged me. “I wish you’d consider a fresh start. It’s been seven years.”
“And I’ve lived here for more than thirty,” I said. “We all have. I don’t understand why you’ve all moved out.”
“We don’t need a big house now,” she explained. “It makes sense to get somewhere smaller and cheaper to run. We’ll retire in a few years and want to get settled before then.”
Her face broke into a big smile.
“You could do what Jan and Kevin did! They moved into a lodge, and for the two weeks a year they aren’t allowed to live there, they go on holiday.”
“Why would I want to live anywhere I had to vacate every year?” I asked. “What if I wasn’t well?”
“Oh, Linda, you’ve always had too much imagination.”
We’d all bought houses at the same time when the estate was built.
We were a group of married couples, but my husband and I were the only ones that hadn’t started our family yet, and it was starting to sink in that maybe it wasn’t to be.
It was a heartbreak we tackled together, just as we did everything together.
Back in those days, Cornflower Way was like one big, happy family.
I enjoyed being Auntie Linda, and I had fun baby and pet-sitting.
It was a wonderful life until all the kids grew up and started leaving home.
Sale boards sprang up like invasive weeds.
Once Pat and Clive moved out, it seemed to set off a chain reaction.
Some people simply wanted to downsize, others fancied
