Rallying Round

I've been away for a couple of days, being a Viking in schools, so I got back this morning on the ten o'clock bus, and took the short cut through Backfold home.
Marijana called me into her shop as I passed. "Go in to see Joyce," she said. "She's just had a fall and she's a bit shaken up."
So I went into the Wool and Willow shop. Joyce had been shopping at the market before she opened up, and when she was walking back along Castle Street with her bags of shopping, she turned her ankle on a pothole and fell over. She twisted her ankle, and sprained her wrist. Fortunately, Marijana saw it happen, and took her and her shopping round to the shop. Then Sue at the Sandwich Cellar came round with a reviving cup of coffee, on the house. Someone else in Backfold went off and bought a pack of frozen peas, so Joyce could sit with it on her ankle to keep the swelling down, and later on, one of the other Backfold ladies walked up to her car with her to put her shopping away, so she wouldn't have to struggle on her own at the end of the day.
She was still there to open up for Stitch n Bitch, but she went home as soon as everyone had arrived, leaving the key with me, so I could lock up and give it to Sue so Joyce could pick it up from her on Saturday morning. She phoned the shop as soon as she got home, to let us all know she'd arrived safely.

This is what Hay is like. Everyone rallys round.