Page 46 of The Winter We Met
‘Oliver and I don’t live in each other’s pockets.’
Nik had hardly texted since Sunday and now he’d turned up early today to visit Glenda on his own, without telling me – this new distance between us was no doubt caused by Oliver’s abrupt behaviour.
‘Jess? What’s going on?’
‘Nothing,’ I said in as innocent a voice as I could muster and I stood up.
‘Well, if you don’t want to tell me…’ She gazed out of the window again.
‘Okay… look… we had an argument.’
‘What?’ She turned back.
‘I can’t face talking about it, Gran. Not at the moment. Let’s just say I’ve hardly spoken to him since Sunday night.’
‘Oliver has got a heart of gold – like you have. Life’s too short for long silences. I often wonder if I should have made more effort with your mum as her occasional visits, after prison, started to peter out… but I didn’t want to rock the boat for you.’
‘You did your best, Gran, and you and me – we’ve always had each other.’ She drifted away, back into deep thought. I leant over and kissed her on the top of her head before making my way to the reception area.
Nik was in the lounge, crouched down next to Phyllis. He patted her arm as she played with a fiddle muff. It was another of the dementia items Lynn had ordered in and was perfect for restless hands, with a soft small ball attached inside and beads and tassels along its hems. He got up and sat next to Glenda. He laughed loudly with Nancy and I heard him say something about decorating her wheelchair with tinsel. Fred, Pan and Alf stood by the building’s entrance doors, along with Lynn and Buddy. The walk was just going to be a slow one. Lynn said a bit of gentle exercise would do them good. Everyone wore boots as the forest was always muddy in places, regardless of the weather. Lynn zipped up her coat and put on thick pink gloves that had sparkles sewn through them. Her woolly hat was crowned by a fashionable fur pom pom. It made a refreshing change to see her wearing something other than her navy uniform. A rucksack stood by her feet.
‘I think this walk is going to be what we’d have called a constitutional, back in the day,’ said Fred, a cigarette bobbing up and down as he spoke. He wore a tweed trench coat and matching trilby hat and leant on a walking stick. Its handle was shaped like a duck’s head.
‘The nice cup of coffee Lynn has got in her flasks and the fruitcake she made,’ said Alf, ‘that, me old mucker, is the main reason I’m going.’
I went over to Nik to tell him we were ready. Several of the residents were wearing Christmas jumpers. ‘Jeez, sympathies, Glenda,’ he was saying. ‘I had backache once for a couple of weeks and that felt bad enough. What do you think has caused your bad hip?’
‘Oh, a fall. It’s the osteoporosis. I found out I had it when I broke my wrist in my fifties, falling off a ledge on a hike. It was a team-building weekend with work, in beautiful Somerset and very pleasant apart from that. How did you injure yours?’ she asked.
‘You don’t want to hear that… it was down to me being silly.’ Nik gave me a hug.
Thank goodness for that. Oliver hadn’t entirely put him off.
She smiled. ‘It can’t be sillier than me tripping off a ledge whilst I was powdering my nose. I think I must have a mild disorder that makes me perspire more than others.’
‘There’s nothing silly about anything that makes you feel good,’ he replied.
‘So, your… well, let’s not call it silliness, then,’ she said. ‘Yourmisfortune– what happened?’
‘I’ve got to go. How about another time?’ He tightened his scarf.
I pushed his shoulder. ‘Did a kangaroo punch you out? Or you tripped over a didgeridoo? Did wearing a cork hat mean you couldn’t see where you were going?’
Glenda rolled her eyes.
‘It was nothing really – a couple of years ago I was buying groceries at the supermarket, down the road from work… some kids were in there, hassling two members of staff. They were still at school but tall and full of bravado and were trying to steal alcohol and cigarettes. One of them grabbed a couple of bottles and bolted. I ran after him and wasn’t as fast – no surprises there, turned out he was the son of an Olympic athlete, he’d fallen in with a bad crowd – but I lunged as he turned a corner and managed to catch his leg, falling in the process. I ricked my back.’
Glenda and I exchanged horrified looks.
‘He could have had a knife,’ she gasped.
Nik’s shoulders bobbed up and down. ‘I didn’t think about that. It probably sounds worse than it was. Honestly, they were just kids and I was happy to help. Anyone else would have done the same.’
‘We must tell the others,’ said Glenda. ‘What a story. What a tremendous thing to do.’
‘No… please,’ he said and looked sheepish. ‘I’d rather not have the attention. I mean… people might expect all sorts from me then. I’m no superman.’ He grinned.
By the look on Glenda’s face, like me she totally disagreed.
