Bottom Of My Garden

By Peter Caunt

This book contains a collection of stories written over quite a period of time, but with one character, Lentil, occurring in all of them.
The original idea of an old, arthritic fairy came to me well before my own hands started to show the ravages of time.
The stories were intended to be read individually so if there is a certain amount of overlap in the introduction to each story, I apologise.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely left to the imagination of the reader.

We follow Lentil from his initial relocation to a garden in Knaresborough, North Yorks following the redevelopment of the street where he had previously lived. We are introduced to the owner of the garden and the various other inhabitants, human and not so human as Lentil tries to settle into his new life where his arthritic old wings can cause him problems in reaching high branches.
Gradually he becomes somewhat of a guru to some of the inhabitants, and a friend to all of them as he tries to keep the garden as a balanced ecosystem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Caunt
• Release date: Feb 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463050729

Peter Caunt

Peter Caunt was born in North Derbyshire but has spent the last thirty-five years in North Yorkshire.Peter originally had a science background and worked, in Harrogate, for the C.E.G.B, on pollution control (until it closed down), in Preston for Babtie Environmental (until they closed down the department) and in Harrogate for the Regional Health Authority (until it closed down). Following these, he worked for a software house in Harrogate until it was taken over by a multinational and downsized. Having seen the writing on the wall, he decided to copy it down and try to publish it.He has had an interest in writing short stories for the last thirty years but has only recently had the time and the enthusiasm to start accumulating a pile of rejection letters.In the latter part of 2005, a small pile of acceptances began to grow, much helped by inspiration from his wife, Pamela.Peter is a member of the Harrogate Writers' Circle.

Book preview

Bottom Of My Garden

Copyright 2019 Peter Caunt

Published by Peter Caunt at Smashwords

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

The Arrival

Lentil Finds Retirement

Lentil Gets A Lift

The Leaky Roof

The Height Of Ridicule

Lentil's Christmas

Harold And The Warm Day

The Hare And The Tortoise

About The Author

Other Books By The Author

Acknowledgements

There are many people that have influenced my writing. But there have also been many events that have served to mould my literary ambitions.

I had an English Teacher in year one of secondary school who encouraged us to read Lord of the Rings and got us to write short pieces of fiction. Then came the second year, a different teacher and the standard curriculum cut in. The set books could not have been chosen better if they had been designed to kill the imagination. Cranford, a tale of old ladies and rules about table etiquette were better than Bromine in killing the artistic ardour of prepubescent boys in the third year. That and an overexposure to Shakespeare with jokes which had to be explained in detail, which rather lost the point, resulted in me coming to regard literature as something that had to be endured.

That English teacher from year one, who's name I can no longer remember, deserves a special memtion for planting a seed that could not be extinguished by the standard curriculum.

In my teens I discovered the short stories of Ray Bradbury and the Don Camillo stories of Giovannino Guareschi. These set me firmly on the path of writing short stories which were slightly off the wall.

I turned back to writing short stories later in my life as a break from the fact ridden logic of my working life. I attended a couple of evening classes but never settled into a consistent routine of writing until I retired. At that point I joined Harrogate Writers' Circle which provided me with a peer group to encourage and criticise my output.

But more than anything else I would like to thank my wife, Pamela, who has never failed to encourage me when the rejection letters kept falling through the letter box and has provided an inspiration for me throughout our time together.

Prologue

This book contains a collection of stories written over quite a period of time, but with one character, Lentil, occurring in all of them.

The original idea of an old, arthritic fairy came to me well before my own hands started to show the ravages of time.

The stories were intended to be read individually so if there is a