"Erm...if you don't mind, can you start by telling me about your childhood?"
"What would you like to know? I grew up in the mountains. There is no point telling you where, the country doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for a long time. We were poor, but myself, and my six brothers were happy. We lived in a small cottage. Mother kept it clean, though as I'm sure you can imagine, with six growing boys under her feet, it was a never ending job! Still, we knew we were loved and we were happy. We didn't see our father all that often, he worked in the mines further up the mountain. He made it home maybe once a month, so while he was away, we made sure we looked after mother. We fetched firewood, water from the stream and tended the vegetable garden. My older brothers went hunting once a week too so we always had meat on the table. And we always made sure that the cottage was in good repair. Like I said, we were poor, but our home was a happy home."
Peter looked wistful.
"It sounds idyllic."
"Oh aye lad, it was indeed. Unfortunately, mother caught a chill during my fourteenth year and never really recovered. By the time winter arrived she had developed a fever and was delirious. She never saw spring, thank the Lord." The old man sighed deeply. "Come spring, there was a cave in at the mine. Our father was caught in it. They never recovered his body. So, before I turned fifteen, I was an orphan. My brothers and I moved higher up the mountain and entered the mines ourselves. We had to make a living somehow, our youngest brother was a sickly child and needed medicines quite regularly. The village herbalist was a bit of a conman and knew how to charge you if he knew you were desperate. Hard times my boy. Hard times."
The old man paused to gather his thoughts. He hadn't talked about his childhood in many years and his memories were dusty.
"What happened to your brother?"
"Eh?" The old man shook his head and straightened in his chair. "Oh he grew out of it lad. Good job too, if he had gotten seriously ill we would never have gotten him help in time, not with how far up the mountain we were living. Aye, he had no choice but to get stronger."
"It sounds like you had an interesting start in life Mr Smith."
"I think I had a better start in life then a lot of kids nowadays lad."
The old man took a sip of his tea and glanced out of the window. The street was quiet today, almost as if it knew he had a story to tell and so had removed any distractions to enable him to tell it. He turned his attention back to Peter.
"How did you find working in the mines?"
The old man tutted.
"I'm sure you can do better then that lad! How did I find it? How do you think I bloody well found it! Fourteen hour days in a stuffy, dusty, dark mine; only candlelight allowing you to see. It was damned hard work! By the end of the day it took all of our energy to climb back out of the mine and head for home. Try again lad."
Peter swallowed nervously. The old man's previous willingness to talk had lulled him in to a false sense of security.
"Can you tell me about your early adulthood? How you lived? Your first love? That kind of thing."
The man nodded approvingly.
"Much better my boy. Much better." He scratched his beard and focused on a point over Peter's shoulder.
"Pretty much my whole life has been spent doing the same thing. My brothers and I all worked alongside each other digging for precious gems. We were lucky enough to discover a rich vein of diamonds and so we were able to start working shorter days; ten hours instead of fourteen hour days. We built a cottage in a forest clearing a short walk from the mine entrance. It was lovely. Quiet, peaceful, and near a quaint babbling brook. We had everything we needed. Just as in childhood, we led a simple life. Quiet. We worked enough to keep us and put something away for our old age. We didn't need a lot; we weren't bothered about the luxuries that seem to drive people now. Drives me to distraction all this demand for the latest gadgets. Spoilt! That's what people are nowadays. Spoilt rotten."
The old man took a deep breath.
"And then she showed up."
Peter's interest awakened with this.
"By heck lad! She was a sultry little thing. A buxom little wench who everyone, and I meam everyone, lusted after. She was all eyes and curves. Not like them twigs you get now. She was beautiful, a proper woman, and she knew she were beautiful. Oh aye, she definitely knew it! There were many a young buck, and a few maidens too if my memory serves me right, who were completely enamoured with her," he said with a lecherous wink.
"She's getting me all heated just thinking about her and at my age that's a dangerous thing. Very dangerous indeed my boy." He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "But she weren't conceited, not at all. She had one of the kindest souls I've ever known, and I've lived a long, long time my boy."
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