Page 77 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘You can help by taking this monstrosity away,’ said the critic, pushing his half-eaten plate away from him. ‘The boar was almost inedible in its toughness, the potatoes were burnt, the jus was inexplicable and I’m not sure what on earth that brown mush is supposed to be in the corner.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ said Belle, just as Pete came up to join them.

‘Is everything all right?’ he asked, smiling down at the man.

But his smile quickly faded.

‘No, it most certainly is not,’ replied the critic, pushing his chair back and standing up. ‘The food is a disgrace. This is not a gastronomic experience. This is a disaster. The food is inedible and quite revolting. I cannot believe you have wasted my time like this.’

Belle was horrified to hear a smattering of applause agreeing with the critic’s words.

‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ said Pete, looking stunned.

‘Not as sorry as I was to have agreed to come here in the first place,’ said the man, glaring at him. ‘Now where is my coat?’

To add insult to injury, the man’s coat which had been hung up next to the cutlery and condiments appeared to have some kind of mustard spilled up the sleeve.

As he marched out, a few more people also got up and left without paying their bills. Belle really didn’t blame them. Why should they pay for disgusting food which was inedible?

There was no doubt. The restaurant was a qualified disaster. And the inn looked more likely to close down than ever before.

42

After the last of the customers had left and the inn was officially closed, Belle sat down in the cosy lounge next to the fireplace with her friends. She felt utterly exhausted by the whole, disastrous evening.

‘Well,’ said Lucy, sitting down at the next table with Tom. ‘Erm…’

But even she seemed lost for words and looked to Tom to say something positive.

He gave Belle a smile that she noticed didn’t quite meet his eyes. ‘It could be worse,’ he said.

‘I don’t see how,’ said Belle with a sigh. ‘The restaurant critic walked out, we may have given half the village food poisoning from uncooked food and those that aren’t ill walked out because they never even received their food which, apparently, was disgusting and they wouldn’t have enjoyed their meal anyway.’

‘See? Doesn’t that mean that less people will be ill if they walked out?’ said Tom with a gentle smile. ‘Every cloud and all that.’

‘And we don’t feel ill,’ said Amber, who was sitting next to Belle. She reached out and squeezed Belle’s hand.

‘That’s because you didn’t have the pork,’ said Belle. But she was grateful for their support.

‘I’m not sure what I had,’ said Josh, frowning. ‘It was supposed to be wild boar or something, but it was just chewy. Really really chewy.’

‘I wouldn’t even give that food to Keith,’ said Grandma Tilly, sneaking a crisp under the table to where the dog was sitting. He took the crisp gently and seemed to enjoy it more than anyone else had enjoyed their food that evening.

The food had looked very pretty on the plate, thought Belle, but, according to nearly everyone, it had been almost inedible.

She couldn’t believe that all the effort and hard work had been for nothing.

‘The waiter and waitress did well to handle it all,’ said Cathy, obviously trying to find something positive about the whole disaster.

‘They really did despite everything,’ said Belle.

Cassie and Aaron had left only a short time ago after being told not to bother tidying up. She would do the washing-up and clearing away tomorrow. It wasn’t as if the restaurant would be in use after that evening. It would never be used again, she suspected. Nobody would want to eat there now.

Poor Brad, she thought. He would be out of work again and heaven knows what that would do to his fragile confidence and trust in people.

‘Well, we really enjoyed pulling a pint behind the bar,’ said Lucy. ‘So if you ever need a break for an evening, then we’re happy to step in.’

‘Thanks, but I don’t suppose I’ll be around much longer anyway,’ Belle told her in a dull tone.