A story for our times
Ken Smith retells the nativity with a modern twist
It was a cold but clear late January day with a keen north wind blowing. The two women had met in the marketplace, and now in a pub, over coffee, were ready to talk.
‘I’m really glad I ran into you, Mandy,’ said Kate. ‘I need to talk to somebody and you’ve known me longer than most.’
‘You look like you need a heart-to-heart,’ observed Kate. ‘You look a bit different.’
‘Yes, I suppose I am. Everything seems to have changed.’
‘You’d better tell me all about it.’
‘Well, back in December, this young couple turned up at the pub, just as we were opening up…’
‘What young couple is this?’
‘I don’t know where they were from, but they didn’t sound English. My Paul was a bit sharp with them at first, then he realised the girl was pregnant.’
‘What did they want – a drink?’
‘No, they wanted somewhere to stay.’
‘Knowing your other half, I expect he sent them off with a flea in their ears.’
‘It’s funny because normally he’d have had no time for them – you know how he feels about foreigners. But something about them seemed to change him. He mumbled something to me about getting them some hot drinks and a snack while he got the garage sorted out.’
‘I didn’t know you had a garage.’
‘It’s at the back of the pub. We think it was an old stable originally, but it was used for a while as a garage before it became a sort of dumping ground for odds and ends.’
‘So, what did the couple do?’
‘They settled down with some tea and some sandwiches we had left over from lunchtime. They seemed glad to be somewhere warm.’
‘How were they travelling? Were they walking?’
‘No, they had an old car, a big old Ford. Anyway, after about half an hour, I went to see what Paul was up to. He had cleared the garage and was trying to set up a sofa bed we had stored in there. He had scrubbed the floor and walls, and I could smell the disinfectant. He had even set up a heater and the place was warming up nicely. He did not seem his normal self. He was very quiet. Usually he would have been effing and blinding by now. Then, when I went back in the pub, several of our regulars were talking to the young couple and one of them, Maisie, whispered that the young woman was getting contractions and looked ready to give birth.’
‘What did you do? Ring for an ambulance?’
‘That would probably have been a sensible thing to do, but, instead, I went quickly up the road to the church hall. I knew that, on Thursdays, there are often childbirth classes there. Sure enough, they were just finishing up. I know the lady in charge – she was a midwife. I asked her to come down and have a look at our mum-to-be.’
‘What did she say?’
‘She came and spoke to her for a bit, then asked if there was a more private place. So, I took them back into the garage.’
‘Didn’t she want to get her into a hospital?’
‘Well, everyone who spoke to the young couple seemed to become changed by them. Sandra, the midwife, said that the young mother did not want to go to hospital. She wanted to have her baby right there in our garage. She gave me a long list of things to get: bedding, buckets and bowls, towels – all sorts of stuff. Then she went off and came back with her bag of midwife-kit plus sterile gloves, sheets and God knows what else.’
‘Are you telling me that, in this day and age, a certified midwife is quite happy to deliver a baby in a garage?’
‘Well, that’s what happened. Paul took over in the pub and I stayed to help out.’
‘Did it all go to plan?’
‘It did go surprisingly easily, considering it was her first baby. It was all over in a few hours.’
‘What about baby things and blankets?’
‘I found a blanket and some muslins that our Jenny had as a kid, and Maisie turned up with a Moses basket – bless her.’
‘Are you sure you weren’t breaking any law, allowing a birth in your old back garage?’
‘I don’t know, but nobody seemed to be concerned about it, considering how many people turned up.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Well, it must have been mid-evening when the guys from the garage arrived – to see the baby, they said. One of them had brought some nappies and another one a babygrow. You don’t know them, but they’re quite a rough bunch normally. They like their drink, but this time they were really well-behaved and left after a short visit. They’d hardly gone when a bunch of very posh gents turned up – expensive suits, the lot. One of them was wearing more gold bling than I’ve ever seen before.’
‘Who were they?’
‘I don’t know, but they left some very costly-looking, wrapped presents. Someone said they arrived in a stretch limo.’
‘Did they stay long?’
‘No, they were there for ten to fifteen minutes, paid their respects and left. I think they came to see the baby rather than the parents.’
‘You had quite an evening.’
‘That wasn’t all. After closing-up, Paul came back. You know him – he reckons all babies are boring until they can walk and talk.’
‘What did he want?’
‘He looked a bit sheepish and said he wanted to see the baby. I never saw such a watchful newborn. Normally they are sleeping, or looking startled at everything, but this one had such a calm and searching look. He watched Paul come over. They looked at each other for what seemed like a long time, but must only have been a few seconds. Then Paul turned away and I’m sure he brushed away some tears.’
‘Tears? He must be cracking up or something!’
‘I know! I’ve never seen him like it before, not even when his mum died. After that, we left them to it and went to bed.’
‘So, what happened the next day?’
‘It was strange. What with all the excitement, we slept in a bit. By the time I knocked on the garage door, they’d gone.’
‘Gone where?’
‘We don’t know. They left a little message with a £10 note thanking us. They had signed the note “Josef and Maria”, so they were from overseas, after all. Maybe they were illegals.’
‘I bet your Paul blew his top over that. I know he hates immigrants.’
‘Well, it’s weird, but ever since that night, he’s changed. We all have.’
‘He’s not going funny in the head, is he?’
‘No. He seems kinder, somehow. Mandy, you won’t believe this, but he’s talking about setting up a football club for the Syrian refugee boys over at the sports field. I think he means it – he and the guys from the garage have organised a whip-round to buy boots and kit.’
As the two women put on their coats and scarves to face the cold, Kate said: ‘I was just thinking, if that baby can have such an effect as a newborn, what on earth will he do when he’s grown up?’
