For old Jack, home is where the hut is

OlD Jack really loved his garden shed. Florie, his tolerant wife, said it was the third party in their marriage. Jack would read, carve, paint and do whatever men do in their sheds for hours — until it burned down one guy Fawkes Night. Jack was devastated. We never did discover if it was caused by a firework or his own latenight soldering. The strange thing is, it was a different fire that had brought us together. about 40 years ago, i had been fishing on a river bank when i became aware of a storage hut on fire behind me. i rushed over just as another man had kicked in the door, releasing a young lad who had been trapped behind it. That man was Jack. everyone said he had saved the kid’s life. Jack ridiculed the suggestion, saying it was ‘nothing’. Jack and i became good friends and we would meet in his shed for a tea or a beer and sort out the world’s problems. after the fire disaster, Florie told him to use one of their spare rooms as his new ‘man cave’, but Jack wasn’t happy and would gaze out of the kitchen window for ages at the pile of ash that had been his pride and joy. ‘He’s started saving for a new one,’ Florie informed me, but knowing their financial situation and the price of sheds, i realised that would take for ever. Then i received ‘the phone call’. i sat down afterwards, stunned. ‘it must be a scam,’ i said to my wife, but she made me carry out the instructions i had been given. So, several days later, i took Jack along to ‘give me a hand’ at our local church’s sports day. The day dragged slowly by until the final cup had been awarded and we headed home. and there it was, a brand new state-of-the-art garden shed standing proudly where the previous one had been. Jack gasped in amazement. Beside the shed stood Jason, the young lad Jack had rescued from the flames all those years ago. Jason was now the owner of a very successful DiY store and had seen the small feature about Jack’s shed in the local paper. ‘i had always felt that a “thank you” from me and a mention in the papers had never been enough for what this man had done,’ said Jason. ‘So, it’s a bit late, but this was my chance.’ emotion got the better of Jack and he started to cry. Soon, the whole contingent was standing blubbering. ‘oh, for goodness sake,’ snapped Florie, dabbing her eyes. ‘i hereby declare this shed open.’ She flung the door wide to reveal a massive selection of nibbles and drinks awaiting us. ‘one thing is banned from this shed,’ said Florie. ‘Barbecues and flame-cooked burgers.’

Bernard stanley, Portstewart, co. Londonderry.