Catherine Miller - The Gin Shack on the Beach

Olive stopped herself from reminiscing too much. She didn’t want the past pulling down the present.

‘How funny that you knew each other from coming to the beach and you’ve both ended up in the same home,’ Skylar said.

Olive and Veronica were sitting on deckchairs outside Skylar’s colourful beach hut while Skylar prepared a makeshift picnic for her son.

‘We’re in retirement quarters. They get very het up if you call it a home,’ Veronica said.

‘How are you finding it, Olive?’ Skylar buttered bread as she spoke.

Olive drew her attention away from Lucas playing on the sands. ‘It’s a bit early to say. The people are lovely, as is my room, but it’s an entirely different way of life. It’s going to take a bit of getting used to.’

‘How’s it different?’ Skylar passed them both a mug of tea and joined them on the deckchairs.

‘They’re not too keen on any residents having much freedom and Richard is making it harder by making sure I’m supervised when I come here. We have to check in and out with everything we’re doing and we’re not supposed to go out by ourselves after dinner.’

‘We’re lucky Matron has said I can come with Olive as her chaperone,’ Veronica said. ‘It’s providing Olive with some extra get-out-of-jail-free cards.’

‘They’ve given us permission to come down here together if you or any of the others aren’t about. Very gracious of them, don’t you think?’ Olive wasn’t able to hide the sarcasm in her voice and she had no need to, being among friends.

‘Oh, Olive, that’s not going to sit well with you for very long. How are you going to cope?’

Olive sipped her tea. It was still hotter than she liked it, but she used the opportunity to catch Veronica’s eye, trying to suss if she would be happy for her to share that they were in fact able to escape once a week.

‘We’re trying to come up with a plan,’ Veronica said. ‘Just between us, I manage to escape on a Tuesday morning. I’ve been doing it for a long time. That’s how I recognised Olive in the first place. We just need to see if there are any other times we can escape.’

Lucas ran back to Skylar’s beach hut, collected his food, and then headed back to his three-foot-high sandcastle. It obviously needed protecting so he picnicked over there.

‘What about in the evenings while they’re lighter? Surely you could pop out one day after dinner without being caught? Say you’re in your room reading?’ Skylar said.

‘I haven’t been there enough days to know how easy it would be to escape. What do you think, Veronica?’

‘I’m not sure. I’ve always just gone to the evening entertainment after dinner. It would be reasonable to retire early and try to find a way to pop out. I’m just not sure how.’

Checking her watch, Olive realised that time was marching on and soon they would have to walk back up the slope and along the road to return to Oakley West in time for dinner. ‘Maybe we can suss it out tonight. See if any exit routes are clear enough to escape unnoticed.’

‘Great idea,’ Veronica said, clearly enthused by the idea of getting out more. ‘Although, we wouldn’t get away with it every night. They’d soon notice if we did that.’

It was a shame Olive wouldn’t be able to continue her tradition in the same fashion she was used to, but the whole move required reinvention in one form or another. ‘We can do a recce tonight. Then try and get down here later in the week and hope we get away with it.’

‘What will you do here in the evening?’ Skylar asked.

‘I know exactly what we’ll do,’ Veronica said and peered at her watch. ‘Surely it’s not too early today?’

Barely requiring the encouragement Veronica was providing, Olive got up and ventured into her beach hut. Like she had the previous morning, she set out the gin bottles ready to be admired. She selected three of her finest cut glasses and retrieved a small bottle she’d been saving for a special occasion. Inaugurating others into her hobby deserved something special.

‘Ready…’ Olive said, inviting Veronica and Skylar to join her, hoping Skylar wasn’t a teetotaller. ‘This is what we’ll be doing.’

‘Wow. Have you always had these hidden in here, Olive?’ Skylar asked.

‘I’ve spent fifty years searching for the perfect G&T. I’m yet to find it. I think continuing that search is a pretty good way to spend our evenings here.’

‘I’m in,’ Skylar said. ‘If you two manage to get down here one evening, I’m getting a babysitter so I can come and join you. Why didn’t you tell me about this before?’

Olive shrugged her shoulders. It wasn’t that she’d intended to keep it a secret, just that she didn’t want to endure disapproving looks from her son. Gin was mother’s ruin, isn’t that what they said? But she never had more than one or two. She was very good at not overdoing it. As far as she was concerned it was the opposite of her ruin. Some days it was what continued to give her that spark for life.

‘It’s a bit earlier than I normally would, but it’s the only chance we’ll have today. Can I interest you both in having a gin and tonic?’

‘Wild horses won’t stop me,’ Veronica said.

It made Olive grin. They were definitely kindred spirits and she was already glad to be sharing her hobby with friends.

Skylar was admiring the bottles like they were rare jewels, and in some cases they practically were. ‘A small one should be okay. We walked here so I don’t need to drive.’

Olive spotted a delighted twinkle in Skylar’s eyes. It was either that or the reflection of the bottles.

‘Marvellous. Well, in that case, I have something a little special I’ve been waiting to try. My friend sent me some violet syrup. Apparently, if you add it to your G&T you have a Parma violet gin. That sounded rather fun, but I’ve not got round to trying it yet. Would you like me to make you both one?’

‘You just combined childhood sweets with alcohol. Of course I’d love to try one,’ Skylar said.

‘Me too.’

‘Fabulous. I never really liked Parma violets as a child, so I’ll have to see if the flavour is more acceptable in the form of alcohol.’ Olive set about putting the drinks together. It was a shame she was having to forgo ice cubes. They were an essential part of a G&T and, as she wasn’t able to have a fridge-freezer in the hut, she’d taken to using reusable freezable ice cubes. They weren’t the same as the real McCoy, but they were a means to an end. It did the job even if the magical sound of ice chinking on glass was missing. But today she didn’t even have those, not having been able to find anywhere to freeze them at Oakley West without raising questions. As she added the violet syrup to the G&Ts they each started to turn a bright purple. Stirring the liquid in with straws, she hoped she’d not added too much. They’d soon know if the taste was too overpowering.

‘Here we go,’ Olive said as she passed the drinks to her two guests.

‘Wow. These look amazing,’ Skylar said.

‘To beach-hut trips,’ Olive said, raising her glass in a toast.

‘This isn’t a beach hut,’ Veronica said. ‘This is a gin shack.’ She raised her glass with a smile. ‘To The Gin Shack.’

And it was as simple as that. With a round of toasts and a lengthy discussion on what they thought of the Parma violet flavour, The Gin Shack Club was born.

Chapter Eight

Olive had always known life at Oakley West would take some getting used to. It wasn’t quite the tortuous process she’d imagined, where she was stripped of her identity. In fact it was far more like the cruise-ship retirement she’d once hoped for. It was an existence where she didn’t have to want for anything. The ex-hotel was so large it was almost like being on a cruise liner, only without a built-in bowling alley or cinema. Everything she needed was available to her. The only thing absent was towel origami. If the staff could start cracking out some towels folded as swans then she’d really feel she’d arrived.