The Therapeutic Effects of Tea       

by sloanranger 

Part 3

Outside near the carriage house, Ernest Sibley was sitting on a bench by an old  yew tree in the damp November air. He was biting the leaves off a slender stem and staring up at the sisters' bedroom window waiting for their light to go out.  

Ernie had very good teeth.

Since he was a boy he had learned to pick and twist almost anything handy - straw, twigs, string- between his teeth to keep them clean. His Aunt Pat had first taught him and over the years it had become a long ingrained habit.

The habit stood him in good stead. He had decent breath, his teeth were always clean and they gave him his best feature, a grand smile. A real treat, Ernie's teeth were.

Leaves off, he began to work the stem on his gums, twisting it around the bottom of his teeth.

Ernest Sibley had no father with or without lumbago, at least none that he'd seen or heard from since he was seven years old. The old man had taken off without a word and him and his Mum had gone to live with Uncle Nigel and Aunt Pat after he'd left.

They were still there when Ernie turned eighteen and joined His Majesty's Regulars to fight in The Great War. His Mum, always fragile, was never right after the old man left and she died not long after they sent Ernie to France.

Died a young woman she did, and Ernie had not been able to attend the funeral.

(To be continued).