2082. Hospital emergency

Goodness, exclaimed Leith gazing at the calendar on his dining room wall, it’s March 20 already. I thought it was only Thursday.

He had spent all week, days and a good part of the nights, at the hospital. This was his first breakfast at home since that Monday. He was dog tired, and now there was so much to arrange; so many people to contact and so many questions to answer. Being the weekend made it doubly worse because people were away and much harder to contact.

Had his wife, Antonia, been there things would have been easier. She could do half the work. But goodness me! How silly of him! She was gone! Gone forever…

Leith forced himself to eat a piece of toast. The butter in the fridge was rock solid. He went without and spread a bit of apricot jam on the slice. It was horrible and cold. He had better face the task at hand.

It was tedious being a plumber. How three water mains burst at the hospital all in one week was a mystery.

Music 114: Almost bedtime

Almost bedtime.

Listen to the music HERE!

1034. Dudley comes to stay

Don’t get me wrong, Granny loved having her grandchildren come to stay. One at a time, you understand. At her age the last thing she wanted was to be worn to a frazzle looking after a large brood of pre-schoolers. She had fourteen grandchildren in all, but not all of them were little.

So little Dudley (“I’m going to be four in two months”) came to stay. Just for a day and a night.

It was ten in the evening. Granny had just gone to bed and turned out the bedside light, when a little voice next to her head said, “Granny can I get into bed with you? I feel sick.”

“Of course you can, dear,” said Granny.

Dudley’s breath was wheezy. He fell asleep cuddled up to Granny. Granny lay awake all night listening. In the morning Dudley was better.

“Thank you, Granny,” said Dudley as he kissed her goodbye.

“I love having you stay with me,” said Granny. But, oh, she was tired, so very tired.