Cherries

By Pat Daniel

The London Borough of North Wick hasn't got anything going for it till the Chief Executive of the Council makes some big plans.
She wants to put it on the map for all time, but her plans go awry with the help of the Urban Farm and the local street girls.
Mix into that a Russian oligarch and his plans for a take-over, and the metamorphosis by her downtrodden PA make this the cure reception of the century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781398408777

Pat Daniel

The author was born, raised and currently lives in the West Midlands. After studying psychology and having a keen interest in family history and ancestry, she enjoys delving into peoples backstories, researching and bringing them to life.

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About the Author

The author was born, raised and currently lives, in the West Midlands. After a degree in psychology and having a keen interest in family history and ancestry, she enjoys delving into people’s backstories, researching and bringing them back to life.

Copyright Information ©

Pat Daniel (2021)

The right of Pat Daniel to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398408760 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398408777 (ePub-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

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London

E14 5LQ

Cherries

It was raining in Northwick borough. The rain there wasn’t the sweet revitalising sort, but rather the dingy, dismal, drippy sort. It turned everything grey, and people were scurrying from doorway to doorway with their collars turned up and their mouths turned down.

In another part of London stood a brave new office building, all glass and chrome; it almost looked as if it had a spire. In this temple to the god of money there was a crack team of consultants who were cudgelling their brains to come up with a slogan. Their remit was to put the London borough of Northwick firmly on the map. Little did they know, that their ideas would certainly put Northwick on the map for eternity. But today, scrunched up bits of paper were flying into the bin, and pencil leads were being broken. The chief consultant was named Eric Rydale. It was his business, and he’d built it up from scratch; that’s why he was prematurely grey. He’d schmoozed the chief executive of Northwick Council for a few months now and the time was nigh when he had to come up with the goods.

He admonished his team as they gazed at the pictures of Northwick pinned on boards around the room. This was supposed to kick start their brains to come up with a positive slant on the dreary neighbourhood. ‘Come on guys, get your ducks in a row,’ he paused, as three pairs of eyes looked back at him as if to say, ‘Well, you do it then.’ ‘Let’s just take a mindfulness moment here,’ he couldn’t resist the adman speak, ‘Just brainstorm it,’ he added.

‘How about Northwick-the road to the Future?’

There were mutterings of ‘trite’, ‘banal’, and ‘rubbish’ from the others. Rydale couldn’t agree more, as there wasn’t a road in sight that didn’t have a pothole, or workman’s cones around some sort of void. He put the idea on the scrap heap with a slightly kinder, ‘I’m not in love with that.’

‘Well, you’re not going to get the moon on a stick with any of it. I mean what’s the place got going for it?’

There were a few sniggers at this and Rydale glared at the speaker, ‘Nothing except your wages next week.’

‘Okay, I get the message. You’ve actually been there, so what’s the feel of the place?’ Rydale could only sum up one thought,

‘Bosnia on a bad day.’

This set off a train of thought, and one bright spark suggested, ‘You could twin it with somewhere in Somalia?’

A light bulb went on in Rydale’s head, and he began pacing up and down. ‘I hear you. I’m excited…’ the magic word there was twin.

Suddenly everyone galvanised into action as they followed the train of thought. Another suggestion, sensible this time, came forward. ‘I’m with you; how about a twin with somewhere in Europe to raise the profile?’

Rydale had nailed it, ‘Gotcha! How about somewhere in France with the same size population, that’s got everything Northwick has got? Although I’m not altogether sure what it’s got at all, we’ll go with that.’

The team was focused, laptops were fired up, and the energy flowed.

*******

The Chief Executive that Rydale had been cosying up to was in her office. She was dealing with the day’s detritus and had a nobody called Peabody, scribbling away. The Chief, whose name was Celia Bagshott, was trying to get the work done as quickly as possible, and she rattled off strings of instructions to the hapless Peabody. Jane Peabody was actually a very competent girl, and her shorthand was exemplary, although it was a little tricky at times, knowing what Bagshott actually wanted doing. Peabody was watching her as she wrote and saw her admiring herself in front of a big mirror. Offices didn’t usually have mirrors as big as this, if at all, but it was Bagshott’s wish, so