Episode 65

Yaxley Farcett rubbed his face with his hands to spark some life back into it. He was tired. The excesses of the night before were starting to wear him down. However, he cast his eyes back to the computer screen and clicked on the E-Mail that had been sent by Reg Dixon to Graham Trent, the editor of Ealham On The Net, on the 13th of June 1997. It was Dixon's reply to the offer of a part time writing job by Trent.........

 

FROM: Reginald Dixon DATE: 13/06/97
TO: Graham Trent
CC:
Subject: Re: How about it ??

Mr.Trent, I was surprised at your offer of a job and, I  must admit, flattered. I'm not sure how you could have found out about my interest in writing; maybe you read my short story 'The Day Charlie Bates' Dog Had A Fit', published in the Barnham Parish magazine last month ? I would be delighted to take you up on your offer and already have a few ideas kicking around which I would be pleased to hear your opinions on. I hope to have my first article completed by the end of next week to send to you. Thanks for the offer. Yours Reg Dixon

 

Yaxley sat back in the chair. 'So, that explains how the unlikely pairing came about' he thought to himself. Very handy this E-Mail. Just check the dates and times and you can piece together all sorts of things. Yaxley flicked through a few more of the mails that Dixon had subsequently sent to Trent. They seemed to follow a weekly pattern. Every Monday there was a page full of writing on fen related topics. Farcett didn't read any of them but just cast a glance over the titles; 'The Floods', 'Sugar Beet & it's introduction into Cambridgeshire', 'Blight !!', 'The difficult art of cauliflower growing' and many more in the same vein. Bloody hell thought Yaxley, I bet they were a riveting read. Growing slightly tired of this obsession with vegetables, Yaxley had another look at the list of folders that Dixon had created to keep his e-mails in. The one labelled 'A.W' looked intriguing, so he clicked on the line and was presented with literally scores of mail that had been sent to Dixon by Anne Worthington.

Yaxley cast his mind back to the previous morning and his encounter with the enigmatic Anne. Thinking about it, her study was very similar to Dixon's, which he now sat in; the PC, the books, the files and the air of 'librariness'. If that was the word he was looking for. Scanning through the dates and the subject titles it appeared that Anne was rather an intense lady, e-mail wise. Most of the subject titles were festooned with exclamation marks and lots of Capital letters. Yaxley scrolled through the list until he came upon the first one, dated the 4th of November 1997...............

 

FROM: Anne Worthington Date: 04/11/97
TO: Reginald Dixon
Cc:
Subject: HELP !!!!!!!!

Mr.Dixon (or Reg. Can I call you Reg ?), I read your 'World Of Dixon' column with great interest every week. I especially enjoyed last weeks, unaware that there are so many different ways of cooking a parsnip. Shame on me, being a farmers wife. My mother in law does most of the cooking though, luckily for me. But I digress. The reason for this E-mail (and I hope it's reached you), is that I need your help. I am Chair of the Barnham Historical Society and have promised to produce some posters and pamphlets on my computer. However, my evening classes have yet to instruct me on how to do this. Pleeeeaaasseee can you come to my aid ? I will be at home all day on Thursday.  Yours Anne W.

 

Ahhh, thought Yaxley, that tallies with Fred Rickett's rumour that he had divulged with a wicked grin the previous evening. Yaxley could vaguely remember something about Dixon visiting Anne on Thursdays when all the Worthington's were out at Ealham market. Clicking over to 'sent mail', Farcett eagerly sought out Dixon's reply to Anne Worthington's cry for help...........