Jogging Memories Ch. 08

"Anyway, Mum looked at Jacob in mid-rant and saw him looking back at her with a big soppy grin on his face. Fortunately, she saw the funny side of it and started laughing with him. Before she realised what was happening, Jacob had dropped down on one knee and was asking her to marry him."

"Why haven't they got married, then?" Sally asked. "That must be, what eight or nine years ago?"

"Ask her, or better, ask them. I do despair of them both sometimes. Jacob adores the ground she walks on and is perfect for her. And she loves him. Neither of them are getting any younger," Helen replied, "Oh, Mum did agree to marry him straight away. She admitted to him that she had fancied him from the first time he walked into the showroom. Jacob told her that the only reason he bought the plot was just so he could see more of her. She made him check out of the hotel that very day and move in with us. They bought the ring the following day in London's Hatton Garden. That's when she found out about his worth and she suddenly got cold feet. However, they are still engaged and living blissfully happily as partners together."

"Yeah," said Sally, "I couldn't help but see that rock she's wearing on her ring finger. So where did your Jake come into the picture?"

"Well, I got home from college the evening of their engagement to find a new step-Dad had moved in. One who I'd only seen a couple of times before, dropping Mum off or picking her up." Helen laughed. "It wasn't long before I loved Jacob almost as much as Mum does, he's a wonderful man. He was a big wheel in the automotive industry in his day but he is as modest as, well as Tommy is. Then a week later his son Jake turned up and spent the night on Mum's couch."

"I'm surprised he was able to fit, dear," Sally expressed, "how tall is he?"

"Six-four," she giggled, "No, he didn't fit on that couch at all! Jacob had to buy a futon for him the next day. He was so grumpy that first morning, Sally, you wouldn't believe. He had visited us between tournaments and arrived at our house very late, or at least after I had already retired for the night. I was a bit taken aback when I found him asleep on the lounge floor wearing just his underwear!"

"I bet that was interesting, he's a real hunk!" JJ said, wiggling her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

"Well, I admit I couldn't take my eyes off his, er, his ..."

"Morning wood, dear?" Sally suggested with a knowing smile.

Helen nodded sheepishly.

"So, love at first sight, then was it H?" JJ asked, joining in with a giggle.

"No, not at all. There was no attraction whatsoever on either side. Jake was miserable as sin, angry and rude," Helen laughed. "He was annoyed at his Dad, for getting involved with this middle-aged gold digger that he'd only known for a couple of months. Jake hated our tiny little house, hated Chesterfield and resented the cab fare it cost him to get there from Manchester Airport in the middle of the night. He had decided well before he came that he hated my Mum and by association he hated me, just for being her daughter. And, to cap it, all he'd just sacked his tour manager for incompetence and was thinking of throwing the towel in on his golfing career."

"Coffee or tea, dear?" Sally asked as she got the kettle and coffee pot going in the galley.

"Ooh, tea, black, for me please, Sally. Coffee has been making me heave since 'Lump' first put in an appearance. And I can't face milk half the time now either."

"Talking of the 'Lump', how did you and Jake eventually get it together?" Sally asked.

"Jake calmed down after a couple of weeks with us. He saw how much his Dad and my Mum were in love. Jacob explained to him that although they were engaged and living together as partners, Mum had insisted on a cast-iron pre-nuptial agreement before getting married and making it official."

"Sounds reasonable. And Jake was happy with that?" Sally asked.

"He was perfectly happy at first. That was until Jacob told him he wouldn't marry Mum unless she agreed to tear up any pre-nup agreement. Old people, honestly! Excluding present company, Sally, of course."

"Oh, you can lump me in with the rest of them, dear," Sally countered, "We all know what we want and are prepared to go to the ends of the earth for it, literally in our case. I parted amicably with a perfectly acceptable husband, God bless John, simply because I still loved my childhood sweetheart. Tommy and I held hands as husband and wife all the way from London Heathrow to Melbourne and we,be been blissfully happy again these last six years."

"Well, Jake got to stay with us for a few weeks and we slowly started to grow on him," Helen continued, "I had finished my marketing MA and was busy applying for jobs. Out of the blue Jake asked why didn't I market him? I was still touchy with Jake, we'd been truculent with each other since we met, and told him to stop messing with me. He replied that he was serious. By that time we were all ready to move into the finished new house and Mum's job came to the end of the road. Jacob suggested setting up a marketing partnership between Mum and I, which we formed, using Mum's house proceeds as capital. Jake became our first client."

"Wow, I bet that must've been a feather in your cap having a world-class star on your books so early on," Sally said, pouring a compartmented tray of coffee mugs for the crew and teas for JJ and Helen.

"Back then, eight years ago, Jake was only ranked about 250th in the world and had recently considered giving up his dream. He started to get his appetite back for the game after playing on the course immediately outside the back gate of Jacob's new house. We were all members by then, Mum and I played regularly to keep fit. Our new company organised a new golf coach and back up team for him, booked his tournament entries and arranged his itinerary. He was playing well again but three or four tournaments into the season his booked caddy let him down at the last minute. We hired caddies for each tournament back then like we are doing now; Jake didn't have a permanent caddy then. So I filled in, carrying the clubs for him, on that tournament and he won his first high purse championship. I was appointed his permanent caddy from then, we travelled together all over the place and ... eventually we fell in love."

"Ah!" Sally and JJ chorused, "That is so sweet," as all three rose to go up on deck armed with hot refreshments.

Not put off, Helen continued, "Now we are married and starting a family, Jake's ranking has risen to number three and he has a Ryder Cup place as a given. He wants to be number one in the world though, of course and stepping up the number of tournaments he is entering next year."

Up on deck they found themselves sailing well off the coast, all the sails up and rattling along at a steady pace parallel to the shore. Brett's boat was alongside as they raced to where they were having their picnic. Sally strapped Helen into a chair in the cockpit, for safety's sake. Brick was steering. Tommy was scrambling about the deck adjusting and securing lines, moving very sprightly for a man approaching his mid-sixties.

"Anyway, JJ," Helen continued, "I've told you my story with Jake, time for you to tell me how Brick became Sir Brick and you Lady JJ."

"Ah," Brick said over his shoulder, "My cue, I think, JJ?"

"Go ahead, sweetheart," JJ laughed, "I've told it so many times I'm probably pretty stale."

"I'll never think you stale, my love, you are too succulent for that."

JJ gripped his shoulder with one hand while she sharply flicked his ear lobe with the other.

"Ow!" he cried.

"You should have been expecting that!" his wife grinned.

"I guess I was," Brick chuckled, "But I didn't want to dampen the unaccountable pleasure you derive, both from doing it and seeing my reaction."

"I can't resist flicking his ear lobes," JJ confessed to her amused audience, "They are so fat and fleshy, they are just asking for it!" She rehearsed the move again with an air shot in thin air, a mischievous grin playing on her lips.

"Anyway, how I became a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, to give my full title, is because of my job."

Just then Tommy returned to the cockpit and collected his mug of coffee, giving Sally a kiss in thanks and slipping an arm around her shoulders.

"Only caught the end of your conversation, Brick," Tommy said, "What's that about your job? I wondered what you get up to living in Manhattan."

"Brick was telling us, honey," Sally grinned, "For Helen's benefit this time, about how they became 'Sir Brick' and 'Lady JJ'."

"Carry on, Brick, don't let me stop you," grinned Tommy, as he tucked him arm in Sally's.

"Okay, having specialised in the Far East languages and customs, hoping for a posting to China or Japan, I was sent to Africa, one of the troubled ex-French Colonies-" he started.

"-After a year in Costa Rica, sweetheart" interjected JJ.

"Yes, Central America helped condition us a little to the heat," resumed Brick, "But it was a horrid humid heat that was really wearing. Anyway, the three main tribal groups were becoming more and more restive until civil war broke the country up into three main areas, largely along tribal and religious grounds, with the likelihood of mass genocide where the tribes and religions overlapped. The Embassy set up evacuation procedures, with JJ and I left behind to get the final few Brit stragglers out. Before we could leave with the last batch, the Embassy was sacked, with JJ and a dozen citizens taken hostage. I was up country persuading some mine engineers to give up and go at the time and was frantic when I heard."

"Oh, JJ, what happened?" Helen gasped, holding her stomach.

JJ put a hand over Helen's, "I was fine, H, we weren't mistreated, we were of value to the rebels intact."

"Long story short," Brick said over his shoulder, "I negotiated with that particular faction-"

"Brick spoke their dialect like a native and so they trusted him," interjected JJ.

"- and secured the release of the hostages - got everyone out," continued Brick.

Brick steered off a couple of points to starboard and Tommy hopped over and trimmed the mainsail accordingly. This was Brick's third outing in the "The Three Ts" in the last couple of years and was a natural, thought Tommy.

"Brick had studied all three main dialects," took up JJ, "And he was able to persuade the factions to free not just us but a number of other nationals. Not only that, he got the factions all talking together and started peace talks which ended in reasonably stable power sharing. If we'd stayed, they might have made Brick the new President!"

"An exaggeration on your part, JJ," smiled Brick, "Anyway, the airport reopened and JJ and the rest were repatriated by the RAF. I followed on a week or so later."

"Brick was then posted to New York and assigned to our team in the UN," JJ chimed in as she collected the empty mugs, "And we heard about the award about a month before the New Year's Honours were announced. We couldn't tell anyone until it was announced, of course. Sir Bartrum here wasn't too happy about having a morning suit made that he'd probably only wear the once, you know how parsimonious he is by nature." She wrinkled her nose at her husband. He poked his tongue out at her. She smiled as she scooted down to the galley with the tray.

"I did have to fork out for a new gown for Lady Jennifer," Brick called after her, "That was what stretched our budget to the limit!"

"I saw the investiture on the news," Helen shouted down below, "Hey, JJ! That Prince William looks a dish, don't he? We met him at The Open, you know, the year before last."

JJ climbed back to the cockpit, "Yes, he's gorgeous, he makes you feel so at ease, I had more butterflies at that ceremony than at any time during the Embassy siege, and I was only waiting in the background, it was Brick who had to go through the ceremony with a silly grin on his face the whole way through."

They sat for a moment reflecting, the sound of the sea, wind and the tapping of rope on wood dominating.

"So, Tommy, why is this boat called 'The Three Ts'?" Helen pointed to the life buoy on the side of the cockpit.

The other four all laughed uproariously.

"What have I said?" Helen asked innocently.

"Tell her, honey," laughed Sally.

"Go on, Dad," encouraged JJ, giggling away.

Brick diplomatically said nothing but did little to hide his wide smile. Helen looked puzzled and turned her full attention to the skipper.

"Okay, Helen, you remember my memoirs that were ghost-written while I was incarcerated?" Tommy said.

"Yes, but I confess I never read it, Tommy. I keep meaning to borrow it, Mum said it was ... Okay."

"Well, nobody else read the book either, which was dull as dishwater, just the serialised highlights, but the ghost writer asked me if he could write a screenplay and hawk it around," Tommy said, scanning the empty horizon, "No fee, he said to me, pure speculation on his part."

"We saw the film 'Jogging Memories' last year, while flying the Atlantic," Helen said, "I thought it nothing like I remember the drama of the real events, but the way it was played was very funny. I had to explain the jokes to Jake; he pretends to be so German sometimes, but only does it to wind me up. His only comment was that he pointed out that Bond girl, who was playing my part, saying that she looked much better in my running shorts than I do!"

"That is actually the perfect cue, that girl was Hannah Knight, who has done very well for herself in films since. It was a budget film, so the director let Hannah play you Helen, and her mum, Alicia, actually played herself-"

"That was Alicia? I didn't recognise her! Oh, she looked lovely! I don't think I was ever introduced to her daughter."

"Hannah was at the barbecue at my house in Buxton," Tommy continued, "But she suffered a little bit from puppy fat then, which she grew out of, and how!"

"She certainly did that," Helen smiled, "Oh, I pointed your cameo part out to Jake, too, playing the prison officer signing you out on release near the end of the film. Anyway, I thought that American actor playing you as the jogger who had lost his memory was good, although his accent was a bit off. Didn't he date that Hannah Knight for a while?"

"Yes he did I recall, but not for long. She was far too young for him. He's with Alicia now, and has been for over a year and a half. That's some kind of record for him I think. Alicia's so grounded that it's settled him down a lot, in fact he's tipped for an Oscar nomination for his latest blockbuster. I think he agreed to work on our film for a share of the royalties. It was filmed on a shoestring, with all the location scenes shot on the Isle of Man. It showed a nice profit actually and my cut helped pay for this boat that Brett sorted out for me."

"The Three Ts: TT-Tommy, the name of the boat!" Helen cried, "You and the Isle of Man, of course!"

"Not quite, Helen," Sally laughed, "It was Alicia that coined the name after the number of takes that Tommy had to shoot for his tiny cameo, and I'll give you a clue, Helen, it was more than two."

"Surely not ... 'Ten-Take Tommy'?"

"Double that number, Helen," laughed Sally, while Tommy's healthy tan became even more enhanced, "The trouble with Tommy and his memory is that he could never remember his lines!"

THE END