Page 15 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

Left alone for the first time since arriving in Cranfield, she could feel her normal confidence eluding her as she wondered how on earth she was going to clear it all in one week. She was very much out of her comfort zone of financial documents, timekeeping sheets and invoices. And she had never known such a mess. It was unbelievable. How could anyone think straight in a muddle like this? It was awful.

And where to start? There was just no order, no sense to anything or any kind of system in place. She began to open each box, none of which were labelled. But all she found was more clutter and chaos. The boxes were filled with various items from what appeared to be the days when the railway had still run to Cranfield station. So far, she had discovered old posters, reams of blank tickets, presumably for a ticket machine which she had yet to discover. There were hundreds of books of old timetables and parts of some kind of train engine, she presumed. Then there were other more surprising items, such as Christmas decorations and children’s toys.

The most annoying part of the process was that there was nobody around to ask what to do with it all. But she trusted her instincts regarding organisation and so took it upon herself to begin clearing what she perceived to be rubbish, starting with the half a dozen boxes of old timetable books. They were twenty years out of date, so she put one aside and decided that the rest had to go.

Remarkably, she had a stroke of luck when she was moving the boxes to the front entrance because the refuse lorry had just arrived to empty everyone’s wheelie bins. With a bit of sweet talking, Katy persuaded them to take the boxes of timetables away to be recycled, as well as a couple of other boxes of rubbish.

She gave a sigh of satisfaction afterwards, happy to have cleared at least one small corner of the mess.

However, when she informed Ryan and Bob of her progress so far a short time later, instead of being pleased, Bob looked horrified.

‘You’ve done what?’ he repeated, his eyes wide with shock.

‘I’ve got rid of all those old timetables,’ she told him, with a smile. ‘So now we’ve got a bit of space to move around in.’

‘But they were important!’ insisted Bob.

She was amazed to see him looking so upset. ‘I don’t understand,’ she told him. ‘They were from about twenty years ago. They were no longer necessary and I didn’t think they were worth keeping.’

‘But that was the history of the railway,’ said Bob, still staring at her aghast.

‘Well, ancient history,’ she joked, giving him a small smile. ‘After all, who needs a timetable when the trains don’t run any more?’

But Bob didn’t join in with a smile and merely frowned. ‘History is important,’ he told her.

‘I agree,’ she replied, feeling confused. ‘I’m sorry,’ she added. ‘I just thought that they were surplus to needs and that by throwing some things away, I could begin to clear the place. After all, isn’t that the purpose of me being here?’

‘Throw away!’ repeated Bob, with a grimace. ‘We never throw anything away here!’

‘Which explains all of this,’ said Katy, with grim humour.

But Bob didn’t see the funny side at all.

Katy couldn’t understand his sentiment. Couldn’t he see how by clearing everything out he would feel so much better? That he didn’t need any of this clutter? She had come across this attitude before in a business setting, but it would normally all work itself out. Surely this was just the same?

So she pressed on. ‘How about this box?’ she said, opening up the nearest one, which appeared to be various newspapers and magazines. ‘It all looks like rubbish to me. All from some years ago, in fact. So let’s get it out into the bin.’ She tapped her chin in thought. ‘On the other hand, we might just need a skip if we can get one organised this week.’

She looked at Ryan hopefully but before he could reply, Bob stepped in between them and picked up the box to clutch at it like a desperate man. ‘It’s all important,’ he told her, looking cross. ‘Nothing should be thrown out.’

‘But surely pretty much everything needs to be thrown out if we’re going to clear the place?’ she told him gently, looking around the mess surrounding them.

‘Everything?’ roared Bob, making her jump.

‘Okay,’ said Ryan, finally stepping in between them. ‘How about you get on with that engine, Dad? It won’t mend itself anyway, will it?’

‘What about her?’ asked Bob, giving Katy a glare.

Katy took a sharp intake of breath, realising that Bob’s positivity about her working there had come to an abrupt halt.

‘Nothing will be thrown out without your approval,’ Ryan told his dad in a reassuring tone. ‘You have my word.’

‘Humph.’

Bob gave them both a frown of disapproval before finally leaving, still holding the box as if it were something precious.

After he had left, Katy looked at Ryan. ‘Well done,’ she told him, with a grateful smile. ‘I agree that it might be better if he’s not here whilst we clear the place out.’

Ryan gave her a similar look to the one his father had given her only minutes before. ‘What are you talking about?’ he asked, in a stern tone. ‘I meant what I said. Nothing gets thrown away until it’s been checked by Dad.’