The happy valley set

Chapter 12 - the end of happy valley

Unfortunately, the lifestyle the aristocrats has carved for themselves could not last.
One by one, the men were recalled to England to do their duty. Some were already in the officer ranks of the army, but had not done jot of work these last ten years, despite still drawing a substantial salary. Some enlisted, some had to be conscripted, but not one of them entered the war as a typical private.
Just as well, because they were so unfit, they would never have survived basic training!
The girls left behind languished for a while. Savouring as much as they could. The war would change everything. They knew that. The empire as they knew it was over. Britain could not afford it any longer. It was only a matter of time...
Meanwhile, they continued to laze around in the sun, eating, drinking and getting fatter.
Lavinia's behaviour became very bizarre. She went walking into town in the middle of the night. She could have been eaten by lions, hyenas and mosquitoes as well as being knocked down on the dusty dirt track. She eventually got a lift from a passing local, but had no idea why she had undertaken such a terrible journey. She could not remember. She left her bath tap running and flooded the house on another occasion.
On other days, she simply stared into space and did nothing.
Eventually she was persuaded to see doctors and was deemed to be insane. She was sent home to England and locked up in a lunatic asylum.
Lady Jane simply refused to believe that the world was changing. She did not want to face returning to England, where she would have to tolerate gossip and scandal. Nor did she want to stay in a country where the natives made up the rules. What did they know about 'civilised' society? She could not bear it. Rather than make a choice, she took her husband's rifle and shot herself in the head.
Unfortunately, she missed! She took off an ear and a good part of her jawbone and spend months in hospital recovering. Her beauty was gone, she faced years of plastic surgery just to emeble her to eat properly again.
Charlotte or Charlie as she was commonly known, simply disappeared. She had started to look more portly. Her men's suits only emphasised her roundedness.
She could not enlist as a man, yet she appeared to be a man, until she spoke, but even her high pitched voice could be explained away. Rumour had it was she had escaped to the African mainland and now helped in the conservation of wildlife.
Henry, as an elder statesman from an army background was not forced to go home and fight, but he was asked to take regular tours of the island, spying on the natives, making sure the germans and the other axis nations did not invade. He held on to his farm, continuing to experiment with crops and livestock until his dying day.
Virginia was henry's daughter. She had not known anything but happy valley... and she had seen it all! She'd seen xander riding into the bar of the club in town. She'd seen the partner swapping. Marriage did not mean a thing. Boys wanted girls who wanted girls who wanted boys who wanted boys who wanted girls. She'd seen the drunkenness, the drug taking and some of the violence that ensued as well.
She was not interested in any of it for herself. She was happy to remain single. Becoming a farmer like her husband was much too hot and dusty a job for her.
So she sat at home and ate.
After the war, zenithia was given independence and Virginia came to England to the family seat. In a country tired, and still recovering from the ravages of war with rationing still part of everyday life, she found the restrictions, compared to happy valley unbearable. At 300lbs, she felt she needed substantial sustinance the bedraggled Blighty could not sustain. She surmised every country in Europe would be the same. She considered her options. America was her top choice for quite some time, but then she settled upon somewhere more British... yet further away... australia.
The journey out on board a passenger liner full of other immigrants was most unappealing. She did not want to be associated with the 'common' folk. She was better than them and she disliked the way that they tried to put on airs and graces to impress her.
She retreated more and more to her cabin, wishing she had been able to choose a different mode of transport. If she'd tried, she might have even found someone who knew someone who had a plane and were willing to fly her over. Despite the frequent stopovers, it had to be better than being on board an immigrant ship!
Onc they landed in Melbourne, Jane felt better. She booked herself into an exclusive hotel for a few days while she looked for somewhere more permanent to stay. While she was there, she took advantage of some luxury body treatments and the extensive restaurant menu. This was more of what she was used to. Ordering people about as if they were servants was second nature to her. She did not care what they though of her.
A month later, she was still ensconced in her luxury hotel suite, no further forward in her search to find a suitable property and twenty pounds heavier.
Her clothing was becoming increasingly tight, but she was not considering slowing down. Indeed, she wanted more!
She stuffed herself to the absolute limit at least once a week. Pushing herself to the point where it was painful to move and her belly felt tight as a drum. She'd look down and admire her handiwork admiring her own flabby curves and wobbly exterior.
Meanwhile, back in happy valley in zenithia, nature reclaimed the buildings. The jungle invaded the neatly manicured gardens and creepers hung from the eaves. Twenty years later, it looked like no one had ever even loved there.