Page 63 of A Christmas Celebration
‘Why didn’t you sleep?’ Albert asked.
‘Too much excitement in town last night,’ I blagged. ‘It was quite an evening. Now, what shall we do first?’
‘Have some breakfast,’ Albert said decisively. ‘You’ve got a determined look about you this morning, so I’m going to need some sustenance to keep up.’
After we’d eaten, Albert tidied away and I went to see what the bedrooms and upstairs bathroom were like. It wasfortunate that his sister had had a downstairs shower room installed, otherwise Albert would have been really stuck during the last few months.
‘So, how is it?’ he asked, when I went back down.
‘Not bad at all,’ I told him. ‘I’ve turned on the radiator in your room, stripped the bed and opened the windows to let the space air and I’ve given the bathroom a bit of a scrub. Not that it needed much.’
There were three bedrooms upstairs but I’d only gone into the one which had the door open and Albert had described as his. He’d insisted he would deal with the other two.
‘I’ve missed having a soak in the bath,’ he sighed, looking wistfully at the stairs.
‘I had a feeling you’d say that,’ I smiled. ‘Which is why I’ve run you a bath and filled it with some of the pine scented bubble bath which was on the shelf.’
‘A bath at this time of day,’ he tutted. ‘Whatever next? That’s far too decadent.’
‘Well, it’s run now,’ I said enticingly, ‘and it would be terrible to waste all that water, wouldn’t it?’
His eyes twinkled.
‘Well, as you’ve already gone ahead,’ he said, ‘I suppose I could hop in, couldn’t I?’
‘I don’t know,’ I laughed. ‘Are you up to hopping?’
‘Let’s see, shall we?’
With his new glasses, Albert was more than capable of negotiating the stairs which, thankfully, weren’t of the old-fashioned Norfolk variety, and already had double handrailsfitted. Getting used to them again was just going to be a matter of confidence and practice.
‘If we come up and down a few times before I go,’ I told him as he neared the top with me behind, ‘you’ll be fine to come up to bed on your own tonight.’
‘If you make me do this a few times before you go,’ he chuckled, ‘I’ll be too tired out to do anything other than go straight to bed this morning.’
‘And where would be the harm in that?’ I scandalized him by asking.
Once he was safely on the landing he turned and looked back down.
‘I wasn’t too keen when we had the extra handrail fitted,’ he told me, ‘but I can appreciate now that it made all the difference to Stella.’
‘Stella?’
‘My sister.’ He swallowed. ‘Haven’t I ever mentioned her name?’
I shook my head.
‘Well.’ He nodded. ‘There you are, now you know and thinking about it, you’ll need to go into her room for sheets to make up my bed again. That’s the room.’ He pointed. ‘The airing cupboard is in there. And as you’re going in, you might as well turn the radiator on, but I’ll still do the other room.’
‘How about I remake your bed while you swim in the tub?’ I suggested. That way I knew I would be able to keep an ear out for him without making it obvious that I washanging about. ‘Do you think you’ll be able to get in and out on your own?’
‘Oh,’ he said, ‘I hadn’t thought about that.’
In the end we reached a compromise. He undressed and pulled on a bathrobe and I then went in and helped him step over the side into the bath. I then left again so he could disrobe and lower himself in.
‘Are you down?’ I shouted through the closed bathroom door when I heard a splash.
‘I am,’ came the slightly muffled reply. ‘But what if I can’t get out?’
