As the last batch of leaves was swept into a neat pile, Philip switched off the noisy petrol-driven leaf blower and straightened his back. It was thirsty work and he hoped the lads would be meeting up at the Red Lion this lunchtime. In some ways he disliked the winter months as a gardener – less hours of daylight, more general maintenance than actual gardening – but in others he enjoyed the slower pace to take the opportunity to plan for next year and to contemplate the successes and failures of the past seasons. With fewer visitors in the colder months, the space around him felt more “his” (if ever land could ever truly “belong” to anyone – he had doubts about that) which gave him more opportunity to be creative. Not that he had that much influence – the park’s landscape architects did the lion’s share of the planning and design, but they allowed him a little leeway on the smaller things which was always satisfying.

He glanced at his watch, still another hour before lunchtime. He supposed he’d better clear these leaves up into the compost heap now otherwise the large mound would just be crying out for someone to take a running leap into it, ruining all his hard work. Although, if he was really honest with himself, he’d admit that he was fighting the urge of behaving like a six year old too. He grinned privately to himself and got to work.

Just as he’d transferred the last batch over, he noticed Peter wandering aimlessly around the edge of the lake. It was a rare event, even in the summer months, as Peter was never the outdoorsy type unlike his younger brother. He watched with amusement as his obviously distracted sibling had no clue he was being observed, even when he got quite close.

“Morning, Peter. Come to feed the wildfowl? You know, it’s traditional to bring bread with you, but I’m sure I have some spare birdseed somewhere seeing as how you’re family and all.”

Peter looked up with a start. “Oh, hello Philip, didn’t expect to see you here! What are you up to?”

“I work here, remember? Although you remind me on a fairly regular basis, so I’m pretty sure you know that. My morning has actually been action packed – I think I’ve cleared up enough leaves for the country’s entire hedgehog population.”

Peter frowned. “Don’t you have … um… underlings for that?”

The laugh burst out before Philip could stifle it. “I’m fresh out of minions this month. Most of my staff are seasonal. There’s not much to do this time of year so we practically have a skeleton crew. You okay? You’re not usually that interested in what I get up to, let alone make time in your busy schedule on a work day to come and see me.”

“Hrm? Oh, no … I didn’t come out to see you. I forgot you would be here to be honest. I don’t normally see you when I walk through early in the morning so it didn’t really occur to me.” Peter started looking a little lost again which was so unlike his normal calm controlled persona, Philip began to feel worry as well as curiosity and grasped at the first thing he could think of to keep the conversation going.

“Well, seeing as your here, you can buy me some lunch, I’m starving.”

Peter looked startled and glanced at his scruffy younger brother, dressed in muddy green overalls with shoulder-length hair pulled into a rough ponytail.

Philip caught the look and chuckled. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to take me anywhere posh. A hotdog or greasy spoon will do. You look like you could do with some feeding up yourself. Shirley finally put her foot down and got you on a diet?”

Peter didn’t respond but just shoved his hands deep into his pockets defensively.

“Come on then. Standing here isn’t getting us fed. Look, we don’t even have to go far, there’s a hotdog stall on the south side of the lake.” He pointed across the bridge which was a futile gesture as the aroma of sausages on the grill could be detected from where they were standing.

Peter gave up the fight; he had little will or emotional energy to argue the point and walked with Philip to the stall. This made Philip feel even more uneasy as he’d expected a jeering comment at the very least. Half the way across the bridge he laid a hand on Peter’s arm bringing him to a halt.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Shirley’s well? Nothing bad has happened at home?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine, Shirley’s fine, we’re all fine. Just a tough project on at work, that’s all. Of course, you’d know we were fine if you accepted any of Shirley’s invitations to Sunday lunch.”

The accusation, although milder than the usual criticisms reassured Philip somewhat but did remind him that he hadn’t seen enough of Shirley or the girls recently. Despite his somewhat ambivalent relationship with his older brother, he did get on with Peter’s family. He’d played a lot with Peter’s daughters when they were younger, helped Shirley plan out her garden and spent a lot of time with them all before he started to drift away, tired of Peter’s frequent attempts to get him interested in a more “rewarding and respectable” career. “Look, if the offer still stands, I’ll make it down to see you all this Sunday. Tell Shirley I expect nothing less than her finest fatted calf!”

Peter was surprised. “Sure. I’ll let her know. She’ll probably give you a call to find out what time to expect you.”

They continued to the hotdog stand and bought their lunch. Philip applied a generous amount of ketchup and mustard over his and took a large bite. Peter left his unadulterated, stood staring at it for a while in silence with Philip pretending not to notice.

“You know, it’s a shame you don’t have any younger kids,” Philip said between mouthfuls.

“Eh?” Peter looked startled.

“Well,” his brother explained, “I could have given them the most awesome autumn leaf scrapbook collection from this morning’s work. I guess Clare and Michelle are a little old for one of those to be exciting now.”

Peter flinched a bit but didn’t respond.

“Hmm,” thought Philip. “Kids seem to be the sore point. I could have fun with this.” Out loud, he continued. “Of course, the kids that I see walking through here don’t seem to think much of the joys of foliage either. They’re mostly absorbed in destroying space aliens on their Gameboys rather than pay much attention to their surroundings. Shame.”

Disappointed at no further reaction he continued eating then when he finished pointed to Peter’s still untouched hotdog. “You going to eat that?”

“No. Go ahead.”

Philip took his brother’s food, helped himself to another generous portion of sauces and carried on eating. “So, what’s this big project that’s causing so much stress?”

“Oh, just the usual sort of thing. Could lead to further business though so it’s important to the company.” Peter was vague hoping that his brother wouldn’t continue the conversation and seriously regretting stopping for the lunch and chat. He hadn’t wanted company this lunchtime, just some space to think. It was time to count his losses and run. He looked pointedly at his watch. “Speaking of which, I really should be going. We’ll look forward to seeing you on Sunday.”

“You know where I’ll be if you fancy a chat,” said Philip, hoping that his brother wouldn’t take him up on the offer. This lunchtime had been strange enough as it was.

“Sure. Bye then.” Peter moved quickly away, making a mental note to wander around the National Gallery in his lunchtime next time he wanted some thinking space.

Philip watched his brother walk back across the bridge in the direction of work with a bemused look. What was that all about? He’d never seen his sibling this unhinged so something fairly serious must have happened. Looking at his own watch, he realised he still had some time to kill if he wanted to. He should probably give Shirley a call to check she was okay about him inviting himself around for lunch this Sunday. Having never bothered to get himself a mobile phone as he would probably only end up dropping it in a muddy hole somewhere, he went to the nearest phone box, rummaged in his pockets for some coins, fed them into the slot and dialled the number.

“Hello?” Shirley answered after the third ring.

“Hi Shirley, it’s Philip. I know I’ve been really crap and haven’t spoken to you in ages. How are you?”

“Oh hello, Philip! Truth be told, it hasn’t been a good morning today. I had my handbag snatched while I was out in town and I’ve only just finished phoning the banks and credit card people.” She sounded tired and exasperated.

“That’s dreadful! Oh, I’m so sorry. Do the police think they will be able to catch the person responsible?”

She sighed. “No, I barely saw the guy, it was all over so quickly. Without a decent description I don’t think they have much of a chance.”

“Hmm. I’m not convinced they’d manage to do much even with a description. Unless they catch them in the act, you’re very unlikely to get anything back. I hope you didn’t lose too much.”

“No, not much. I hadn’t quite got around to going to the cash point so I had very little money on me, and the cards could all be cancelled of course. I was lucky really. It was all just a bit of a shock. You don’t expect to feel unsafe in your own local high street, do you?”

Something dawned on him. “No wonder Peter looked stressed when I saw him earlier, he must have been worried sick!”

“You saw Peter today?” Shirley sounded surprised.

“Yes, he popped into the park and said hello. He seemed a bit distracted.”

“Oh. Well, I haven’t spoken to him yet. I don’t really like disturbing him at work, he’s got enough to worry about and I doubt he would appreciate his wife calling him when he’s busy. He must have been worrying about his project, he’s got something rather important he’s working on at the moment. Did he mention it?”

“Yes, he did say something about that in passing.” Philip wasn’t convinced by Shirley’s explanation, but that left him wondering about what had really happened between them this lunchtime. Not that it was really his business. If Peter didn’t want to discuss whatever was bothering him, it was hardly his concern. “Anyway, the reason I was calling was that I seem to have ended up inviting myself for Sunday lunch this weekend, but I perfectly understand if under the circumstances you’d rather I didn’t.”

“Oh don’t be silly, Philip! We’d LOVE to see you on Sunday! We don’t see you nearly enough you know. Of course, the girls will talk your ear off as soon as you walk through the door, I feel it’s only fair to warn you. Have you got any special requests for the roast?”

“No, no. Whatever you cook will be fantastic, you know that. Only…”

Shirley laughed. “Yes?”

“… if you were to offer me some of your famous apple turnover as dessert I would be able to have my arm twisted.”

“I’ll see what I can do! What time do you want to come over? One o’clock okay with you?”

“That’s perfect. I’ll see you then.”

Philip put the phone down still none the wiser about what had happened between him and Peter earlier. Still, he was sure that it would become clearer on Sunday and even if it didn’t, it would be good to see Shirley and the girls again. For now, there were more leaves to clear and borders to be dug over. The rest would wait.