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Making Allowances
Chapter 13 Part 2
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The old man had, meanwhile begun to try to free his legs, but I felt I had to stop him from doing so.
“Please don’t try to do that sir, you might do yourself more damage, the experts will be here soon, they’ll soon have you out.”
“They’ll be here as soon as they can,” I smiled, trying to reassure them. “Is there anything that I can get for you ?” I poured out some coffee for the old man.
“Don’t think so,” replied the man. “Not my day I guess, wrote off my car…. I suppose I killed the damned fox as well.”
“Afraid so,” I shrugged.
“Oh dear, no!” the lady groaned.
“He wouldn’t have known too much about it,” I replied.
“I did try to stop,” the old man protested, “but I lost the back end and I couldn’t drive out of the spin.”
“You’re not the first, you won’t be the last sir,” I said comfortingly, “this is a treacherous bit of road, it’s so exposed. It catches out even the best drivers.”
“Are you local?” the lady asked.
“ Fairly,” I said, “on my way home from work.”
“And now your wife’s goin’ to bust you for ruining dinner.” the man exclaimed.
“Oh I’ve done that already,” I laughed and explained how circumstances had already conspired to ensure that she would be dining alone. The couple laughed, which helped to break the ice.
“I think we’ll take the train when we come back here next month, dear,” sighed the lady.
“Do you have family here, then?” I asked, trying to make conversation. The old man laughed, “Oh no. Not family. Racehorses!”
“Really?” I exclaimed. “Well, in that case, we have something in common!”
“You have racehorses?” the lady asked.
“Yes” I replied and then considered,” ..well, one,”. I then re-considered:
“Well…my family have one…well…did have one.”
I briefly explained the saga of Vendredi, to pass some time.
“Such bad luck, “ the old man reflected when it was all over. “You’re not kidding when you say the racing game has not been very kind to you.” It seemed a little ironic that the victims of the accident were now offering consolation to their comforter. I was aware of this and decided to change the direction of our dialogue.
“What about you sir?” I asked. You said race horses, how many do you have?”
“Oh..” the man faltered momentarily, clearly feeling pain in his legs, “about ten”.
“Sounds expensive,” I remarked.
“Oh sure,” he said, “but we’ve had a few big wins along the way, and they help pay the bills.”
“Winners?” I quizzed, “big winners?”
“Won the Champion Hurdle last year…..they don’t get much bigger than that” he grinned.
“Crepuscule!” I smiled in recognition….”and now I know who you are, I should have known from your car registration number.” I was in the company of one of the most respected owners and supporters of National Hunt Racing.
“You are Mr Dupre”, I then introduced myself.
“Mitchell Dupre,” he smiled, ”pleased to meet you. My wife’s name is Audrey. I’m only sorry we meet in these circumstances. Thank you for helping us here tonight. It’s a good job you came by, we could have been stuck down here for hours.”
“We could have frozen to death, dear,” his wife murmured.
“You have an impressive string of horses” I commented, trying to take his mind off the accident and his injuries, “Straw Poll, Allegheny, Mixed Blessing, Loch Naver Lad…all have given you a lot of fun.”
Dupre nodded, still wincing with pain, “you have a good memory.”
I smiled. “Your colours make it easy, the white stars and red stripes, very appropriate. Not only that, but I follow Dennis Eaves’s yard quite closely, he is a friend of my father, and he trained our horse too.”
“Well, there’s something else we have in common,” Dupre pointed out.
It was clear that Dupre was in quite a bad way; as time passed, the conversation dried Up and my concerns reverted to keeping Dupre comfortable and his wife warm. At last, there was a flicker of blue light that loomed over the brow of the hill. An armada of emergency vehicles soon engulfed the area. I retreated, to get out of the experts’ way, and to answer several questions about what had happened. This done, I rang Ellie to explain what had happened. I felt duty-bound to wait until things were sorted out and to see if I could do anything else to help the Dupres.
After about ten minutes, Mrs Dupre appeared from the melee, shrouded by a thick green blanket from the ambulance, her neck in a brace. She was moving rather gingerly, but nevertheless, with purpose towards me. I strode forwards to meet her.
“How are you?”
“Rather stiff and sore, but I will be all right.”
“And your husband.”
“Not so good; they think he’s broken both legs….Suppose we’ve been lucky..”
“Not lucky,” I shrugged, “but you’ve survived a nasty accident.”
“Thanks to you,” she nodded.
I frowned and shook my head in modest disregard.
“Oh yes,” she continued, “you have been a wonderful help. We could have perished down there if you hadn’t acted so responsibly.”
I felt unease at the following silence, as if I should offer something more.
“Would you like to call anyone on my phone?” I asked, producing the mobile phone once again. “Any family, perhaps?”
“Well,” she considered, “I should call my son, but it’s rather late and I wouldn’t want to disturb him. I’ll ring him from the hospital in the morning.”
“Are you sure.”
“Oh yes, quite sure,” she replied. I was struck by her composure in spite of everything that had happened. She was very calm and collected; very rational.
The paramedics appeared with a stretcher, bearing the stricken Mitchell Dupre. I joined the party as they made their way carefully to the ambulance. Dupre smiled feebly as he drew alongside me.
“Goddamn broke both my legs,” he sighed with a shake of the head.
“Well, we have much more in common than we ever thought” I replied.
“You too, huh?” he murmured.
I patted his arm and smiled, “I must go now, you’re in good hands now, they’ll do the rest…take care, sir.”
I turned to go, when a hand grabbed my arm “Hey!”
I turned back, Dupre beckoned me closer.
“I just want to thank you, for all your help tonight. Sincerely, sir, you have been terrific, and I won’t forget your kindness. Thank you so much.”
I winked, and departed, looking forward to getting home and into bed.
Mrs Dupre was waiting at the entrance to the field, I went over to say goodbye. I shook her hand gently, and she echoed her own thanks. Almost as an afterthought, I reached into my wallet and produced my business card.
“Please let me know,” I asked, handing her the card, “how you both are. I will be thinking about you both.”
“Of course, dear” she replied. “God bless you.”
Ellie was waiting with hot food and a sympathetic ear, when I arrived home.
“Isn’t it odd how racing and misfortune seem to follow me around?” I chuckled.
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If you would like to contact Richie, please email him at: richie@baylands.fsnet.co.uk
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