AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

For full Chapters 1-2a see my blog or attachment; for an explanation of this dreadful story, see my first Blog Posting : The Cardiff Grandma. WARNING: This novel contains fake Welsh.

In the previous episode‘ Dddwwchllyff carries on with his darn near silent reminiscences, “lengthening the chapter…”

The Cardiff Grandma Chapter 2b

Growing up in Cardiff had not been easy for the young Dddwwchllyff, especially when his family all lived in Bangladesh. His Welsh mother, Diana, had insisted that the boy be educated in Wales. The young Dddwwchllyff had arrived at Cardiff with only a battered old suitcase and a Welsh Phrase book. On the long sea journey the batter around the outside of the luggage had provided his only substanence.

His father had been a diplomat with the Bangladeshi Office of Foreign Affairs. Foreign affairs were something that Ddwwchyllff’s father knew all about. That was how he first met Ddwwchyllff‘s mother. He had been the Bangladeshi Under Ambassador to Luxembourg. His mother had been a young and impressionable language student spending a year in Europe and working at a Bureau de Change in the Luxembourg capital, Luxembourg. Ddwwchyllff’s father liked almost nothing more than to take advantage of his diplomatic status. Almost nothing with one notable exception – he liked taking advantage of young and impressionable women more than anything. It wasn’t long before Diana Dddwwchllyff fell for his charms, stumbled into his hotel room and she was under the Under Ambassador. A whirlwind romance ensued and was followed by a monsoon wedding and a spring birth.

His father’s rampant sexual appetite was also why Dddwwchllyff was called Dddwwchllyff. Marriage had done nothing to stifle the man’s urges. He continued to carry on as before. However, Ddwwchyllff’s mother was not one to sit back quietly while her husband tried to personally cement international relations. The impressionable Diana may have fallen for her husbands charms, she the hard headedness that had long been a Ddwwchyllff family trait soon kicked in. She wasn’t going to stand for his shenanigans. Before long a bitter divorce followed. In an attempt to keep what he regarded as his spotless reputation intact Ddwwchyllff’s father had agreed to see to it that his ex-wife would not be short of money. In truth the diplomat’s reputation was spottier than a room full of Dalmatians. The young Dddwwchllyff took his mother’s maiden name, his mother took a new husband and the boy was sent abroad to school.

At times, when he had first arrived, Ddwwchyllff had longed to be back in the family home. How he missed the tropical heat and storms, the monsoon winds. All that had been traded in for cold rain and fog. Incessant rain. Endless fog. And the nights, the long dark nights. But that was years ago now. Now rain and fog were like familiar old friends to him. He had come to love Wales, come to love it and regard it as his true home.

Wolfcastle cleared his throat. Miss Cassleberry sneezed. Dddwwchllyff was roused from his daydream.

“Mr Dddwwchllyff, I think I ought to be going now. I’ll leave you in capable the hands of your Miss Cassleberry” said Wolfcastle sarcastically. This wasn’t ideal but he knew well enough that it was pointless hanging around any longer. They couldn’t talk business with the ‘chiropodist’ in the room. He’d have to get to the bottom of his friend’s role in the affair of the Awful BusinessTM another time. There would always be another time to talk. On nights like this there were other things that a man of Wolfcastle’s standing should be doing with his time.

“I’ll see myself out” Wolfcastle said curtly as he paced over to the coat hanger, removed his coat and slipped it on. “Call me in the week Dddwwchllyff, there are still a few more things we need to ‘talk’ about.” Wolfcastle exited briskly through the front door and ventured out into the foggy night. He had no idea that the next time he saw Dddwwchllyff he would be looking at a corpse.

Within yards of the house the cold fog had swallowed Wolfcastle up like big blanket of dense water droplets. As he looked back over his shoulder the lights of the house gradually faded. In the distance a dog barked.