Jason

 

4 hour acrylic sketch on paper

Jason arrived in the village some years ago with a suitcase, a toolbox, and the kind of shoulders that make doorways feel slightly self-conscious. 

He is not officially employed by the Community Hall, because Official Employment in Mrs Nugget’s opinion involves paperwork and wages, both of which she regarded as unnecessarily bureaucratic. 

Instead Jason simply become part of the building by standing by the door during events in a manner that suggested nothing untoward would be tolerated, though he rarely had to say anything. The mere sight of him leaning against the coat rack is usually enough to make the more ambitious cider drinkers reconsider their plans. He also makes the best emergency cheese sandwich in the county.

Mrs Nugget refers to him as: “Our Jason. Built like a brick out-house, but with excellent manners.”

Jason also runs the lost property at the Hall, which under his careful supervision has become the most organised department the hall had ever known. Scarves are folded. Gloves are paired. One mysterious accordion has remained catalogued for six months under the label “Possibly Morris related.”

When Mrs Nugget has taken one sherry too many, which was to say, any number after two, Jason had the gentle habit of appearing at her elbow and guiding her into a chair with the quiet efficiency of a man accustomed to moving furniture.