Her Melting Point

Welcome Back

Jackie watched green hills, picturesque groves, and orchards in bloom rush by, through the window of her cab.

"Would it be possible to pass through Fleckney Woulds, please?" she asked the driver.

He threw her a quick glance at the rearview mirror.

"It'll be longer, miss," he said. "You know, more dear for you too."

"It's quite alright," she answered softly. "I'd like to see the town."

He nodded. A few minutes later she felt him his gaze on her again.

"If you don't mind me asking, miss," he said gingerly. "But you look sort of familiar. You aren't Fleckney, though, right?"

"No, I'm not." She gave him a small smile. "But I lived here for a few years, quite a long time ago."

"Oh, I see," the cabbie answered. "I can't quite place you, though."

"I was a teacher in the Comprehensive," she helped him out.

"Ah, aye! I remember now!" he exclaimed. "About a dozen years ago, or so, innit? My oldest was still in primary. Bobbie? Bobbie Rogers."

Jackie gave it a thought. "Oh I remember Bobbie. He wasn't in my class because I was teaching Further Maths, but I spent at least some time with all the children in the school when doing extracurriculars. Wasn't he in the gardening club with Ms. Clayfield?"

"He was!" The driver shook his head in surprise. "Blimey! That's quite a memory you've got there–" He quite obviously checked his panel screen for her name. "Ms. Burns."

"I was Mrs. Mair at the time," Jackie said.

"Aye, right, you were."

Just as always when she'd correct people or if they'd known her before, there was this awkward little pause.

"That's quite a common thing, really. A divorce, I mean." Jackie kept her tone casual. "Teachers never have time for their spouses, since we're married to our jobs," she added her usual joke.

He nodded, visibly relaxing. Jackie looked out of the window again.

"Has it changed much since you were here, miss?" the driver asked.

Jackie shook her head. "Somehow it feels that it hasn't. Some shops are new; and I'm sure I'm misremembering; but it's like–"

"Like you never left?"

Jackie laughed. "Yeah. Is that weird?"

"Well, we're old-fashioned here." There was obvious pride in the man's voice. "We know what we love, and we don't let it go, innit?"

"It's wonderful," Jackie said, her eyes drinking in the county town.

It seems like the same idyllic 'postcard meets railway poster' - cobblestone side streets, cosy little shops, tea rooms, perfect flower pots on every building - but of course, one couldn't trust one's faulty human memory.

"So, what is it that you're here for, if you don't mind me asking, m'am?"

Jackie noted the change in the honorific and gave the cabbie an amused glance. She remembered that - how antiquated some of the local ways were.

"Just visiting." She decided that a half-truth was better than what would be her honest answer, since said honest answer would be 'I don't know.' "I've recently reconnected with Mrs. Dyre, the Headmistress. So I thought I'd come to visit Fleckney for a bit."

She omitted mentioning the email she'd received from Mrs. Dyre, which, in no uncertain terms, informed Jackie that she was expected to come to Fleckney and have a 'quick chat' with the Headmistress.