Story: Chest of Drawers

Joanne lived alone. Although she had enough to live on, she was constantly worried about money. She knew that the outside of the house needed painting and one of the windows was badly in need of replacement. The upkeep of the house was something that kept awake at night. When there was a storm, she was anxious in case the roof started to leak. Her father had left the house and furniture when he died and Joanne was grateful for somewhere to live with no mortgage or rent, if it wasn’t for the upkeep!

There were times when Joanne was lonely. When she had first moved into the area, she had a spaniel, which needed regular walks. She had met people: mostly of them dog owners and struck up some friendships. Somehow these diminished when the dog died. Joanna missed the dog talked herself out of getting another one.

Now she spent more time in the house, Joanne started to notice the problems. She would see a tiny crack and worry about subsidence and if she felt a draught, she would imagine the place was rotting around her. If only she had more money.

One day Joanna received a phone call from an old school friend, Wendy who wanted to come and visit. Joanna’s first thought was to put her off. She wasn’t sure if Wendy was “ her kind of person “ any more. Wendy might not have been, but she was the kind of person who, once set on something, wasn’t easily deflected – she came anyway.

Joanna and Wendy were drinking coffee and reminiscing, when Wendy suddenly stood up and walked over to an old chest of drawers in the corner of the room.

“Joanne, how long have you had this? It looks valuable to me!” Joanne was surprised. “That old thing?” She said, looking at all the stuff piled on top of it. She recalled how she would put her coffee mug on it when she sat on the chair next to it.  “My dad always had that.”

Wendy heaved a chest of is out from the wall and peered at it. Next she looked underneath it and pulled out some drawers.

“I could be mistaken, of course but I reckon this is worth a bit. Look, I have a friend in the business, why don’t I get him to come and have a look – no obligation of course.”

After Wendy had gone, Joanne moved everything off the chest of drawers and examined it closely. It was a good piece of furniture and she’d never realised. She promptly went out and bought some polish and cleaned it up. Now she really looked, it was quite lovely.   Her respect for the chest of’s grew. She certainly didn’t piled junk or put her coffee mug on to it any more. Sometimes she would pass her hand over it as one might/. How incredible that she hadn’t noticed it before!

By the time Wendy’s friend came to see her Joanne had done her home research so it was not surprised when he offered a £15,000 for the chest of drawers. Strangely though, she refused. After all, she knew she had it now and that changed everything.

Hilary Farmer