Nature Reserve Tax

Copyright Oggbashan July 2019

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

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When Patience rang me that morning I was startled. I didn't know that she had my telephone number. There was no reason why she shouldn't know it. I am in the telephone directory, run a local business, and we live in a small community. I just didn't expect a call from her.

"Hello, Alan? It's Patience."

"Hi, Patience. What can I do for you?"

"Have you still got the minibus?"

"Yes."

"Could I borrow it, and you, today, please?"

"Hang on. I'll check my appointments."

I hoped I didn't have any. I had wanted to get closer to Patience. Her life and mine rarely overlapped. If she wanted a favour I might have a chance at least to talk to her. I flipped through the desk diary. A sales rep was due at 2pm. My manager could deal with him.

"All clear," I said. "What do you want?"

"I have a school group due at eleven this morning. They were to be collected from the station by Bert. Someone hit his minibus late last night. It should be fixed by tomorrow but that would be too late."

"Hold it. How many in this school group? My minibus only takes eleven and me."

"There are sixteen including the teachers. Bert could have done it in one run. If you could do it you would have to take half of them at a time."

"Where to?"

"To the nature reserve, of course. It's only a mile from the station. I'd owe you..."

That sounded very promising.

"OK, Patience. Just for you, I'll do it. What time are they due at the station?"

"Ten forty-five. Could you collect me on the way?"

"Yes. Ten thirty? At the Reserve office?"

"Yes please Alan."

"OK. See you then."

"Thanks Alan."

Patience hung up. I told my manager I was going to be out for the rest of the day. If he needed me he had my mobile number. I doubt he would ring. He had been in charge for six months and my presence wasn't essential except for the weekly meetings.

I drove back to the Manor and parked the Jaguar beside the garage. I drove the minibus out and checked it over. There was nothing inside that shouldn't be. As a matter of routine I checked the oil, water, tyres, brake fluid and lights. If I was going to drive other people's children I wanted to be sure they would be safe. I really didn't need the minibus any more. The children had grown up and left home.

It had been six years since my ex-wife, Rebecca, had left for a new life with her Italian stallion. No. Not that sort of stallion. One of the four legged kind that she loved more than me. We had been divorced for three years. We had grown apart once I had taken over control of my father's woodworking and landholding business. The business had been a complete change from my life in the City of London. I had been able to bring new capital and new ideas and build on to the traditional business a bespoke furniture making service that worked with many of the office furnishers I had known.

If I had brought in a manager years ago perhaps I would still be married. Probably not. We had grown apart anyway. I liked horses but I didn't love them.

Ten thirty the next morning I collected Patience. She looked as desirable as ever even in her uniform slacks, boots and sweatshirt. Why her husband had cheated on her I'll never understand. She might be only a few years younger than me but she looks wonderful to me. She climbed in beside me, surprising me with an unexpected peck of the cheek. Her perfume was subtle and understated. Its effect on me wasn't.

I had another surprise at the station. The students were obviously not schoolchildren. They were all adult and all female. Patience seemed surprised as well.

We met the two teachers, who weren't teachers at all, but lecturers at an Adult Education College. Their leader, Hazel, introduced herself and the other leader Jane. Jane and seven students climbed into my minibus. I drove them to the Nature Reserve's office. As we went the students seemed more excited than I would have expected. I left them and returned for the rest including Patience and Hazel.

Patience sat with me in the front. She whispered in my ear.

"Alan, have you got anything on today that is important?"

I turned my head slightly and whispered back.

"Not really. Why?"

"I think I need some help. They have a lot of activities planned and I don't think I can be everywhere at once. Another local who knows the reserve would be a great help. Will you? Please?"

"OK." I didn't hesitate. A day with Patience might lead somewhere. I hoped it would.

Once we had unloaded the passengers I called my manager on my mobile. As I expected he could survive without me for the day even if I were to be unavailable by phone. I put my wellington boots and disposable gloves on, locked the minibus and joined Patience. She whispered again as the lecturers continued explaining the day's schedule to the students.

"This could be interesting, Alan. These students are in the last term of their course. They are a small part of the group. These fourteen have never been outside London and some of them have never even been in a London Park. They know nothing about the countryside. Their course assessor found out and had a fit. She insisted that they should go on a field trip and see some real outdoors. Some of them are already very stressed by the idea that this area has wild animals roaming around. Their lecturers are trying to calm them down explaining that there are more urban foxes than rural ones but they are making heavy weather of it. I'm taking all of them on the basic walk round. I hope they will survive the whole three-quarters of a mile..."

"Surely they will?"

"Don't be so certain. Seen some of their footwear?"

I looked. Patience was right. High heeled boots, soft mules, high-heeled sling backs -- nothing sensible except one woman who was wearing flower-patterned Doc Martens.

"OK, Patience. What do you want me to do?"

"I'll take one group of eight. Can you manage six?"

"Yes. To do what?"

"The basic walk for pre-schoolers ending with pond-dipping. Talk to them about the fauna and flora; show them the river..."

"OK."

Patience went into a huddle with the lecturers. They split the group. My part had the obviously unequipped. Whether they would manage the whole tour? That didn't matter. The pre-schoolers walk was always in sight of the reserve's buildings, the toilets and the tea room. Any that found the walk too much could retreat to the tea room.

I started with a basic introduction about the size of the reserve, its history and what we might expect to see at this time of the year. Standing outside the tea room I pointed out the small bird of prey circling above the wooded hill about half a mile away. I asked whether there were any questions. There weren't any. The six women looked very worried, perhaps even frightened.

"We'll be in sight of these buildings the whole time. You can't get lost."

They still looked scared. I started the walk, going first to the wood-ant pile. The wood ants were very active in the sunshine. Next I went to the pile of rotting wood. I scrabbled around and produced a large male stag-beetle. That produced some reaction. None of them had ever seen a stag-beetle. There was also a basking slowworm...

"Snake!" One woman squealed.

I explained that a slowworm was harmless, and not a snake but a legless lizard. They didn't know the difference.

It took me two hours to get back to the tea room. I was pleased that the women had relaxed and were asking questions even if some of them were ones any local pre-school child would have thought obvious. We stopped at the children's petting zoo. I managed to get four of them to hold a rabbit or guinea pig.

They bolted into the toilets and then the safety of the tea room. After their basic lunch Patience took them into the education room for a lecture about what they had seen. The other group had gone further but hadn't seen a stag-beetle or slowworm. I retrieved the stag-beetle, bringing it back in a plastic box before I went to get the slowworm. Patience smiled at me each time I returned.

At three o'clock we loaded them back into my minibus and took them back to the station in two trips. They were far more animated than they had been on the first journeys to the nature reserve. Once their train had gone I drove Patience back to the reserve. We sat down with the tea room's cream tea.

"Thank you, Alan," she said. "You were brilliant. The tutor with your group said she learned more from you than several previous visits to nature reserves."

"All I did was copy what you do," I protested.

"But I don't usually produce stag-beetles, slow-worms, or wade into the river to catch sticklebacks."

"I knew where they were," I said.

"So do I but..."

Patience didn't finish the sentence. She kissed me.

"Why?" I asked when the kiss ended.

"Just because... No. You deserve a better answer than that, Alan. You and your father have supported the Reserve from the beginning."

"And why not?" I retorted. "It's tax efficient to give to a charity, it's local, and uses our timber."

"And craftspeople. The Reserve gets the timber and the skills for nothing. Without you two it might never have been created. Your father owned two-thirds of the land and bought the rest..."

"At a discount, Patience. The other owner couldn't afford to give it away but was willing to sell it as unproductive agricultural land."

"But the money for the purchase really came from you, Alan, not your father."

"Again, why not. It was a very small proportion of my bonus for that year and helped my tax return. I had more income to offset than my father. As woodland I got more tax credit than normally."

"You two still own the whole reserve. Why? Why only a lease, a low cost lease, but not a donation."

"Tax again. If the charity owned the land it would be liable for land taxes. It doesn't. I do, and I pay the taxes at a reduced rate because of its use, but otherwise the charity might have to raise twice as much as it does now."

"So much?"

"Yes, Patience."

"Hang on. You just said 'I own the land'. Not your father?"

"I didn't exactly say that but it's true. I bought my father out five years ago when I took over the business. He wanted to retire and the land he owned would have meant work he didn't want to take on. I bought him out of everything. He now has a large capital balance and a great income with few demands on it. He still helps to fund the reserve but no longer owns any of it."

"So the reserve and my job depend on you, Alan?"

"No. The reserve and your salary are paid by the charity, Patience. They are funded by various means including the local council, lottery grants and private donors."

"But the largest private donor is you, and your father is next?"

"Probably. I don't take much notice except at the AGM."

"You're a trustee, Alan."

"Maybe. I'm really a sleeping partner. The other trustees do the work, or have done because I've been too busy expanding my business. My role? I suppose I write the cheques to part-fund the charity. That's it. The other trustees, and you as the sole employee, are doing a great job. Why should I interfere?"

"And why did you drop everything this morning? I'm grateful. You were almost my last resort. I suppose we could have waited for the infrequent bus service because the volunteers are only available at weekends. Yet you barely hesitated despite being known as a workaholic."

"I might have to resign as a trustee if I gave the real reason, Patience. Enough to say I no longer need to be a workaholic. The business is stable and growing with a competent manager. I can take time off if I want to."

"Resign as a trustee? Why should you?"

"You really want to know?"

"Of course, Alan."

"OK. As a trustee I'm one of your employers. If I wasn't a trustee?"

"You could do what?..."

"Ask you for a date, Patience."

Patience's response was not that of an employee to an employer. She jumped on my lap and kissed me furiously.

+++

We went out that evening to a restaurant about thirty miles away where we would be unlikely to be recognised. It didn't really matter. By the time of the next Trustees' meeting, a month later, it was obvious that Patience and I were together, and none of the other Trustees were concerned. I offered my resignation. The Chairman rejected it.

I was spending more time at the Nature Reserve with Patience yet my business seemed to be running better, perhaps because I was more relaxed about letting my manager run it efficiently.

As an aside, Patience had received a long email from Hazel, the leader of the adult group. They wanted to bring all their adult students to the Reserve before the end of their Summer term and repeat the visits in the Spring when the bird breeding season was happening. And please could Alan conduct some of the groups? He had been a hit. Patience and I gave tours to over one hundred inner-city adults over the next few months. The fees helped the Reserve's finances.

Patience and I were busy most days. Although she was only paid for five days a week and worked hardest at weekends, she was usually at the Reserve during the hours of daylight. We went out together to the theatre, to restaurants and to movies -- in the evenings. Our tastes were similar but we liked things one of us hadn't experienced before. I appreciated her. She liked my company and my ability to pay for things she couldn't afford, or at least not as often as she could with me.

Patience and I went on a short cruise at Christmas, with separate cabins. We were still enjoying getting to know each other as people. Sex? We might have sex later. At out ages, with adult children, physical sex wasn't as important as shared intimacy. We would hug, kiss, cuddle but no more.

The Nature Reserve was shut for most of January. Patience and I spent more time together often on, or overseeing, maintenance tasks that couldn't be done with unrestricted public access. She was obviously worried about something but dismissed my concerns with 'It's nothing'.

It was obviously far more than 'nothing' but if Patience wouldn't talk about it I didn't feel I had the right to press her about it. What I did do was discuss what we should do to celebrate Valentine's Day. I wasn't surprised when she rejected going out for a meal or to a dance. Neither of us like crowds of people and stressed restaurant staff. Eventually Patience told me that she wanted me to come to her house for a Patience-made meal. I accepted instantly.

I was startled by her conditions. I should come formally dressed and bring a change of clothing with my overnight things. Patience expected me to stay the night at her house. I added condoms to my mental list -- just in case. Patience is too old for pregnancy to be a real risk but she doesn't know who my sexual partners might have been. There had been none since my wife but Patience wouldn't know.

As I arrived at her house I was startled by her reaction. Even before I had a chance to put my bag of overnight things down she grabbed me, pulled me into a passionate kiss and dragged me inside. I dropped my bag and my arms went around her as we kissed again. Eventually Patience pulled back, seeming to study my face closely.

"Alan? How much would you do for me?" She asked.

"What do you mean, Patience? You know I love you."

I was puzzled by her question but I had said, out loud, for the first time that I loved her.

"You love me?"

I couldn't answer that because Patience was kissing me too hard. She pulled me through into the living room, pushed me onto the settee and sat on my laps with her arms wrapped around my neck.

"Your love relieves my worries, Alan," Patience said as our lips parted.

"Your worries? That's an unusual reaction. Why your worries?"

Patience delayed her answer, seemingly studying my face.

"You know I was married to Dean?"

"Yes, but..."

"We're separated but not divorced yet. He walked out on me without warning and set up home with Sharon, five years ago."

"I knew he had left you. I thought you were divorced already, Patience."

"I might have been but I couldn't afford it. When Dean left he also left me with an overdraft and credit card bills I hadn't known existed. He had taken them out in joint names because I was buying this house before we married. He had a good job but no real assets. The credit card companies thought I was a good risk. I might have been but I didn't know. Dean had forged my signature on the applications. I've been trying to prove that but the credit card companies have been chasing me for Dean's arrears."

"I can understand that's been a worry but why does me loving you help?"

"Dean could afford to start divorce proceedings against me. I have evidence that he left me and had been fucking Sharon for months beforehand but I couldn't afford the lawyers to present my case. His divorce petition claims that I had been the unfaithful one and he left because the situation was intolerable. He is claiming half of my house because of my infidelity."

"But you hadn't been. He had."

"I know, but I need to prove it and have a proper lawyer to represent me. Although I have almost cleared the debts Dean left me with, I can't afford a decent lawyer. But -- and this is where your love helps -- Dean claims that I was unfaithful with YOU, Alan, seven years ago and still am."

"Seven years ago? I hadn't met you and I was still married. My wife and I only divorced three years ago and had remained friends, as we still are. Is Dean mad?"

"Mad? No. Money-grabbing? Yes. He thinks he will have a good case to claim half the house if he can prove I was unfaithful -- with you. And he has expensive lawyers to support his contention. I can't afford that sort of lawyer, or anyone really. But if you contested his claims?"

"Which I would do. I don't object to being cited as a co-respondent if I had been fucking someone else's wife, but I haven't, not even you, Patience, not yet."

"I had been too worried..."

"I can understand that but if we are going to contest Dean's ridiculous allegation it is probably better than we haven't and don't -- until after the hearing. Have you got copies of the claims?"

"Yes. Dean told me early in January but I was sent the formal papers ten days ago. I had an email from his lawyers."

"Can you forward the email to me? I'll pass it to my solicitors. Until then? We should stay friends, not lovers, yet."

Patience was obviously disappointed.

"But I wanted to take you to bed, tonight, Alan."

"It would be sensible, but frustrating, if I was able to swear under oath that I have never, Patience. We should wait. But..."

I lifted her off my lap and put her down on the settee. I knelt down in front of her and took her right hand.

"Patience, when you are divorced from Dean, will you marry me, please?"

Her hand shook in mine.

"Yes, Alan, yes. But you are sure about tonight?"

"Thank you, Patience, but yes, you will have to live up to your name for a few weeks. I can wait. Can you?"

"I suppose so, Alan."

She leant forward and hugged me against her breasts.

+++

The rest of the evening was mundane. We ate a Patience-cooked Valentine meal, kissed and cuddled and I left with my unused overnight case about ten thirty.

The next morning I sent Patience's email with the court documents to my solicitors and had a long discussion with them by phone. I instructed them to arrange for Patience and me to be separately represented at the divorce hearing and for them to pursue the credit card companies about Dean's forgery of Patience's signature.