All Roads Lead to Swatragh - Chapter 6

“Morning, there,” Peter said as he breathed heavily. “Since I pass here on my daily run, I thought this would be a good time to come by, eh?”

“It's just fine, Peter. By the way, I don't think I introduced myself yesterday. I'm...”

“Grace,” Peter completed Grace's sentence with a smile. “This is a small village and everyone knows everything here. Doesn't take long when someone new comes along for the news to spread.”

“Would you like to come in?” Grace was still very confused about this lad.
“Actually I'm pretty sweaty at the moment, do you mind if we sit on the step?” Peter seemed to want to stay outside.

“That's fine,” Grace awkwardly situated herself on the step easing her sore calf down as she sat. “I hope you don't mind. I need some advice on a few things where Donovan cannot help.”

“Shoot away,” Peter was curious as to what Grace could be asking.

Grace explained about the need for Internet access to keep in touch with friends and work in Dublin, and to be able to do some research. Peter told her she would probably need satellite access to broadband and that he would contact the company to come out and get her online. Grace explained that Donovan was contacting the local phone service to get a land line set up and reinstate the old phone number.

Grace also told Peter that she would like to get back to running as soon as her calf was healed and asked about running routes in the area. Peter advised her that there was not much except the route she was on. It was a pretty much a straight shot from Maghera to Coleraine. He recommended she wait at least another four days before she started to give he calf sufficient time to heal. It might feel better, but would not be completely healed. Peter also offered to run with Grace her first time out, to make sure she was okay.

Grace and Peter finished their conversation and Peter headed out to finish his run. Grace could not hep but think how Peter seemed like such a kind person, but just a little awkward.

Grace continued going through her grandmother's papers. Time after time she found out things about Aine that she had never known. This was not going to be as easy as she thought, and her time here was going faster than she had expected. Two weeks off work might not be enough to get everything in order to put this property on the market.

The next stack of papers from the desk drawer brought even a bigger surprise. The drawer was full of scrap papers filled with handwriting notes of poems and paragraphs. Did her grandmother write these? If not, who did? Were they ever published? To find that out Grace would have to wait until she had Internet service to do some more research. But for now, she put them all back in their place and headed to the kitchen to make some lunch.