Needled – Sandra 39

 

[For back story go here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and more recent Sandra episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

“No,” said Sandra, “I definitely don’t think you should say anything about that.”

“But it’s a great story, don’t you think?”

“Honestly, no,” she said. “Plus it’s too much like head above the parapet for my liking. Do you really think the CEO will go for that? His name in lights plastered all over the press?”

“We’re talking about a feel-good story,” said David. "In a local paper."

“All the more reason not to run it,” said Sandra.

“What?”

“Think about it, a feel-good story about a driver and the dog he picked up in France, ran the gauntlet bringing him back here, adopted him, driver got ill, had to send the dog to a shelter, dog gets adopted up by a stranger, and three months later driver just happens to be walking in same park..? Dog recognises him, he recognises dog, current owner says fair enough and lets them get reunited….”

“In a nutshell, yes, it's perfect…”

“It’ll start in a the local paper and before you know it Sky News will be hot on the trail and after you all. How did he get the dog across the Channel in the first place? Did he look for the owner of the dog or just take it? Is the dog inoculated? Is it in fact a wolf? How would you feel if you'd adopted for a while and some bloke came along and said it was his?"

"But everyone involved is really happy..."

You don’t want that kind of publicity, believe me.”

Sandra was half way through her second packet of luxury gourmet hand cooked crisps. David had been emailing her all day with this bizarre tale of man and dog and dog and truck and shelter and dog and man and she hated it. Thankfully the current feeling of anxiety felt by her employer made it pretty easy to duck the opportunity and walk on by.

David sounded sullen and like he might object but she knew he’d inevitably cave in. “If you think it’s best…”

“Oh, yes I do. Let’s face it, what do you want this company known for, hey?”

It was a good question because Sandra knew David didn’t have the answer. “Actually, here’s an idea, why not go away and speak to your boss and maybe the CEO and see if they know what they want their company known for. That would be a start.”

“Well, we want to be known for transport and logistics…”

“And dogs?”

“We have a human side.”

“Dogs?”

David was silent. Then he courteously closed the call and left.

Satisfied, Sandra buckled down to more crisps while flicking between cooking recipes and a twenty-four hour news feed. She'd taken down the small Xmas tree this morning, the streamers cards and everything else, still needed taking care of. Usually she was a stickler for doing it by the right date, even slipping by 24 hours would have been enough to bring her out in a rash, but now it literally felt like nothing was that important. Sure she could have done it but who was there to see it?

Her attitude had come as something of a shock to Frankie who traditionally relied on Sandra to ease her kids into saying goodbye to the decorations and tree. Auntie Sandra would even regale them with tales of how the Christmas Goblin would turn up and curse the entire year if they didn’t take down the decorations and get on with January in a sensible and productive way. Not this year. Even with a video call set up Sandra just sat there with a coffee in one hand and luxury peanuts in the other telling them the Goblin didn’t care at all this year.

“What difference will it make?” she asked flatly, “Goblin’s already here.”

Frankie pulled the call as quickly as possible with just enough time to castigate her sister and ask her what she thought she was doing.

“Just look around you,” said Sandra. “No point hiding anymore. How long is this going to last? Who knows? Batten down the hatches and give them more of what they want to keep them happy. Pandemic’s taken loads away, it’s not much off your nose to let them keep a tree.”

“They can’t keep the tree,” emphasised Frankie. “It’s dropping needles all over the place.”

“Natural process,” said Sandra. “The whole idea was to bring something from the outside in. No point in moaning when it does what nature intended it to do.”

“Nature can do what it likes outside,” said Frankie. “But if it’s in my house it needs to be beautiful and neat.”

“It’s nature,” said Sandra, “Since when was that neat?”

“Have you been drinking?” asked Frankie.

“Nope,” said Sandra, “but that's a fine idea.”