DAY TWO HUNDRED TWO - Mystery at the Richmoor Hotel – the Case of the Missing Cases

Late this afternoon Loraine’s youngest son, Jaymie, who lives in the next county over, with his dad and his wife, and who turned 16 just a couple days ago, came down to Weymouth by train, to collect the birthday present his mom was offering – an all-expense paid, two-night stay at the Richmoor Hotel, for him and fifteen or so of his friends. (I gather this is a tradition in the Godwin family.) Some came down with him from his new home in Devon, while others joined the group from his old stomping grounds right here in Weymouth. Several girls were included in the mix – one in particular, Jaymie’s new girlfriend – the reason he emphatically asserts that he has no desire to move back and take up his former life anytime soon! (We just won’t go into a diatribe about how I feel about this whole thing – ‘cause that would make this into a multi-pager. Just, WHAT THE HECK IS SHE THINKING – 15/16 year olds?  . . . for a multitude of reasons!)

You will NOT be surprised to learn there was an inordinate amount of clomping up and down the stairs for the next couple of days, with a goodly amount of revelry going on. I admit that to bed to sleep was where I eventually ended up – not sure those young people EVER did! Later the next day, as I was standing outside the door to their room, helping some guests with something or other, they good-naturedly asked if things were going to settle down this night – as it had been very late before they were able to get to sleep the previous night. I said I was afraid I could not guarantee anything, regrettably, but that I would be sure to pass along their concerns. Oh, good gosh – those poor guests, and they were so nice about it, too! (I don’t even dare think about the state of those kids’ rooms!)

Can’t remember if I mentioned it or not, but Loraine (the eBay junkie) acquired a pool (or is it billiards) table* around Christmas time – ‘for her boys’ – while actually it’s been a big hit at the hotel altogether. (You can well imagine with the worker boys staying here, as well as the boys’ friends who come to call.) Anyway, on one occasion during the afternoon I had to pass through this room, and one of the most polite of Jaymie’s friends, a sprite of a boy – said his name was Ollie – asked if I happened to have a sewing kit, that the button on his pants had come off and he wanted to sew it back. Happy to oblige, I went to get my supplies. ‘Grey thread is all I have – will that work okay?’

Started thinking on the way back down about my one little embroidery-eye needle that I’d brought with me from home and how very devastated I would be to lose it. (What was I thinking, to have thought ONE would be enough – over a year’s time?!) These were boys after all and there’s no telling what would become of my precious needle! Relating that to Ollie, he said, ‘well, would you mind doing it for me in that case?’ And then I made a real faux pas: ‘Sure! If you’ll just take your pants off, I’ll fix them for you – I can have it done in just a minute.’ And I said this right in front of his peers. Of course, there was a lot of sniggering taking place on the sidelines – but seeing as how I’m known to often miss details due to people’s heavy accents, especially when they’re talking quickly, I didn’t pay it any mind. It wasn’t until later that the crux of the situation suddenly dawned on me. (What I should have said was the word ‘trousers’!) Sought Ollie out later to apologize, hoping I hadn’t embarrassed him too much. He said it was fine – pretty well-adjusted little guy.

[So – is it pool or is it billiards? Hhm, good question. Technically, it seems, billiards is the term used to describe all games that are played on a billiard table. The real name for what we call ‘pool’ is ‘pocket billiards,’ just one of the many version of billiards. (Some billiard games are played on tables where pockets don’t even exist.) In the 19^th century, ‘poolrooms’ existed, but were not the pool rooms that we know today. They were simply betting parlors where people came to bet on horse races or play poker. They were called ‘poolrooms’ because everything that took place there involved a ‘pool’ of money surrounding the betting. Pocket billiard tables were installed to amuse customers while they sat around the ‘pool room,’ waiting for results. People began, of course, to gamble on those, too. Therefore, the name ‘pool’ became attached to billiards simply because of the betting – it has nothing to do with actually playing the game. When people say something like, ‘hey, want to play some pool,’ we all know that they are referring to billiards, but in reality they are asking if you want to place a bet!]

At one point during the day, we had to suddenly switch the girls to a different location, as their room was needed for a different party of guests – kind of like me getting to be swapped hither and yon at a moment’s notice. (I’ve almost come to expect it!)) The girls were off somewhere, enjoying the sites of Weymouth, so Stacey and I had to do the exchange for them ourselves and then ready the room. Two pillows were missing from one of the single beds (whether a single or a double, each bed has a set of pillows per person – a base pillow with a plain pillowcase, placed beneath the duvet cover over the sheet, and an upper pillow with a much nicer case that goes above the cover); never did find what became of them – but, hey, we’re talking kids here!

A little while later, as we continued our scramble to find the right-sized duvets to right the suddenly-desired rooms, cleaned and ironed on some bed not in use, I happened to check in a room that is right across the hall from my little bedroom – which, to my expectation, should have been sitting vacant and completely done up. And what should I find there, but . . . a double bed with two of ITS pillows missing. (You could see that someone had lain gently on the top of the bed.) Have NO idea who it had been – or when – or why a set of pillows had been removed! (Hhhm – don’t quite know what to make of all this . . . Could there be such thing as pillow mice?! Or, better still, perhaps it’s a case of Goldilocks!)

Around 7:30 I went down to see what was going on, maybe to ask a question. Came upon Loraine and her older kids in their lounge, just about to start a card game of rummy. (The other lounge – the hotel lounge – as you can well imagine, was inundated with posing, wrestling and noise.) Did I want to play? (And there was Stacey, too, hobnobbing with the Godwins. ‘Still here? I thought you left.’) There were also several young single adults from the branch who I recognized by sight. One especially was Joseph (Joe), who will leave to serve a mission to New Zealand next month. Came in third - not bad for a beginner, to a whole new set of rules. The top two were Charlotte and her mom; surprise, surprise – as they are both sharp cookies!

Later as I was headed back upstairs, I asked Stacey what she was up to for the rest of the evening. She said that she was headed over to her friend’s house, as both their boyfriends were at the A & E (Accident and Emergency, aka the emergency room) and they were going to keep each other company, waiting til the guys returned. Seems their men had been playing a friendly little game of football (you know what that isn’t, right?!) and a spontaneous altercation had erupted.  Her friend’s boyfriend had tackled a guy who somehow didn’t seem to appreciate it, who in return had head-butted him in the face. When Stacey’s boyfriend had gone to intervene, the marauder had punched him in the face. (Heard the next day that Stacey’s friend’s guy ended up with six stitches, while hers got off with merely a tender face. Amazingly, Stacey’s boyfriend had had enough cool to not retaliate in the face of the threat, making a sure case against the perpetrator. So much for a friendly game of football, eh?!)

Photos_

1- missing!

2- Jaymie et al. consented to be photographed – with some hesitation; told them I wanted to show my 15 and 16-year old grandsons what their15 and 16-year old counterparts, halfway around the world, looked like. (Can you spy who is the coolest of the cool? Jaymie, by his body language and by his refusal to lower himself to even look into the lens; Ollie is to his left – as viewed by us.)

3- what Jaymie’s group could NOT get excited about – the silly party games Loraine is full of. She had tried to get them involved but they were having none of it. (‘They’re just plain boring!’ is what Loraine had to say about that. In truth,‘too cool’ is more like it!) Modeled by Miss Chloe Belle, replete with a chocolate pudding face, a prop from one of the funner relays.