Resting my aching legs on a bench in the square, I look at the solitary old lady opposite. What are her memories or is she already starting to forget? If I stayed in England, would I be her one day?I look at the little boy scaring the pigeons and remember.
When I was back in Birkenhead on visits, mum used to bring Kerem here as a toddler in his pushchair. They`d feed the pigeons and he would laugh ecstatically at the ensuing squawking and fluttering.
Years later, he would wheel her down to the same place. He loved her. She loved him completely and unconditionally and I was so thankful for that.
Nothing much has changed since then, except now, you`re not allowed to feed the pigeons-and my mother died.
Hi Doreen,
ReplyDeleteYour account of the old lady in the square made me think of a strange thing that happened to me last week. I was sitting on a bench in the place that you mentioned writing a father's day card. It was just a blank card which didn't mention anything about fathers' day on the front, so you would have had to be looking closely over my shoulder to see that I was writing to my dad. Anyway, I almost jumped out of my skin when an old woman grabbed my shoulder and said "Do you know what I'd give my father for father's day? A grenade with the pin pulled out!". She then proceeded to talk for at least 20 minutes about how her father was a bully and both he and her mother left her to starve until she was "nothing but skin and bones!" All this time she kept hold of my shoulder. Then all of a sudden she let go and walked off into the shopping centre pushing her shopping trolly!
Hi Elaine
ReplyDeleteAre you winding me up?!
I think I read something similar in a Stephen King novel Elaine.
ReplyDeleteIn the book.
The parcel came back to the old lady marked "Not Known at This Address"
It promptly exploded as the old dear took it from the postman, killing both.