WILD ORCHIDS - CHAPTER FIVE

By Denise Main and Ian Chisholm

Archie’s feet were sore. The red, swollen and throbbing toes were giving him jip. To add further insult to injury, the soles of his old and battered shoes had let water in from the puddles he couldn’t avoid. He hobbled painfully up the slope pulling his shopper behind him. George watched as he struggled.

‘You need new shoes Arch. You can’t hold onto those any longer. Don’t be such a tight arse; go visit Vinnies, they’ll help you out.’

‘OK, OK, I will. You’re right. Can’t manage any more, even with the carboard insoles. These chilblains are killing me,’ Archie agreed.

They reached the lights and on green Archie crossed with an awkward shuffle to the other side, while George waited for the green sign to walk to the opposite corner. On most days they took different directions and pathways, the decisions, mostly on a whim. Days were spent doing individual things that occupied them until their return, like rabbits to their burrow.

Archie’s shopper bounced behind him carrying only his old transistor radio, which rattled with each bump. His steps were slow and laboured, his swollen, throbbing feet would not allow an easy walk that morning. The broken-down shoes were the culprits. They were the last of the two pairs he had packed when he had left for good.

He headed straight for Vinnies and Beryl, a volunteer, who had helped him choose the radio, their shoppers and several other things.

‘Hiya Archie,’ buxom Beryl greeted him in her singsong voice. ‘You look like you’re in pain my friend. What’s wrong?’

‘It’s me feet, they’re crook. Bloody chilblains. I need new shoes. But they must be cheap you know, can’t afford to be extravagant,’ he said trying a big laugh, but which came out skinny.

‘Sure thing, Archie, I’m sure I can help you out. Come over to the chair and sit yourself down. Take off those old ones, you’re not going to need them anymore.’

Archie sat down, hindered by his greatcoat which restricted every movement and with his thickly mittened hands he gradually dragged one shoe off after the other. Beryl stood wide-eyed and voiced a motherly ‘tut-tut,’ as Archie’s hands reached for his feet and the sodden socks which sported large holes in both heels and toes. The toe holes in the socks of each foot revealed swollen blue-red appendages resembling two rows of small frankfurters.

‘Good God Archie, your feet are in trouble. How about you come to the back of the shop. take off those socks and I’ll find you another pair.’ Beryl walked away with a deep frown creasing her forehead and shaking her head in sympathy and bewilderment. Archie stared at his naked feet; the first time he had seen them properly in a bright light for a long time.

Beryl tottered up to him, ‘I hope you don’t mind; have a bowl of warm soapy water for you to soak your sore feet and another pair of socks before you try on some shoes.’

‘Thanks Beryl, much obliged.’ Archie blushed and mumbled the embarrassed reply.

With some effort and a bright smile, Beryl got to her knees and bathed his stricken feet with gentle strokes, massaging the effected toes in the warm water. Archie released deep sighs of relief.

After she had dried his feet with a fluffy pink towel, applied ointment to each toe to ease the pain, Beryl pulled on the clean socks. Easing herself to her feet with the help of a nearby chair, she left and returned with a pair of sheep skin boots. He looked at them in wonder.

‘What do you call them?’ Achie exclaimed.

‘Ugg boots,’ she said, unable to resist a wide smile and a giggle. ‘Try them on. They’re in good nick and to you, only five dollars.’

‘Five dollars!!!! Gee that’s a lot for some odd-looking boots.’

‘Well let’s see, with the socks thrown in I can give them to you for four dollars eighty. How about that? She replied.

‘It’s a deal, that’s if they fit,’ he added cautiously.

‘Of course,’ she said,’ and helped to ease his feet into the fleecy lined boots. A smile gradually creased his face.

‘Gee, they feel beautiful. Never had Ugg boots before. Thanks, ever so much Beryl, you’ve helped this old man well and truly today. I won’t forget your kindness.’

‘You’re welcome, any time. Your money is as important to the work we do as anybody’s.’ She walked him to the door and waved as he padded along the footpath in the unaccustomed Ugg boots. Archie, for the first time in weeks walked without pain. He felt like he was walking on air. Things were looking up.

‘What’ve you got on your feet?’ George enquired as Archie came into view under the Bridge. ‘Looks like you’re wearing half a bloody sheep.’

‘Ugg boots, that’s what they are. You said get some new boots at Vinnies, that’s what I did; that’s what they’re called. For the first time in ages my feet are warm, dry and not killing me.’

After another meal of baked beans on bread for their tea, Archie and George settled in for the night and the shared reading time. They brought out their books. Archie read from Luke 7.36-50; the story of Mary Magdalene and her anointing the feet of Jesus’.

‘George, not that I’m comparing Beryl with Mary Magdalene, or me with Jesus, but her kindness in bathing my dirty, raw feet covered in chilblains, was done with similar compassion.’

‘Beryl has been your savior. A lovely and rare thing for us in these harsh days,’ George softly replied and turned to open the pages of his book.

‘I’m going to read a quote from Shakespeare’s play, Richard 111. 1594; Now is the Winter of our Discontent. It can be seen as a metaphor which in a nutshell expresses the idea that we have reached the depths of our unhappiness and that better times are ahead.’ George’s voice had Archie mesmerised as he read the first famous lines,

‘Now is the Winter of our Discontent

Made glorious by this sun of York

And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.’ George’s voice faded to a meaningful whisper.

‘You know George, that could be us. It would be good to think that we may have reached the depths of our unhappiness, the winter of our discontent. If we are still prepared to give it a go together, we might be able to forge a brighter future.’

George drew in a deep breath.

‘That is something good to think about Archie. When Fingal Sound is made glorious by the summer’s sun and our hope is that contented times are on the way.’

‘That is something to sleep on George. Sleep tight.’