‘Mum, wake up.’ Tess shook her mum urgently. ‘What’s the matter, are you not feeling well?’ She peered into her face for some kind of response.
Marjorie stirred, an unhappy groan emanating from her mouth, as she tried to turn her body deeper into the chair.
‘Grandma, what’s wrong?’
Hannah’s voice seemed to have the desired effect because it caused Marjorie’s eyes to flutter open.
‘Oh, hello,’ she said, much to her daughter and granddaughter’s relief. There was a moment there when Tess thought she was totally unresponsive. ‘What’s going on?’
That was a good question and one Tess wanted to know the answer to as well.
‘We’ve been worried about you, Grandma.’
‘Oh, have you?’ she said. ‘There’s no need. I was just having a little nap.’
‘But look at the state of this place,’ said Tess, unable to stop herself.
‘It’s perfectly fine,’ said Marjorie, clearly riled. ‘If you’ve come round here to criticise me, then you might as well go straight home again.’ She wriggled in her chair, sitting up properly, before running a hand through her dishevelled hair.
‘Ah, hello, Marjorie.’ One of the carers came into the room. ‘Are you talking to us now?’ The woman turned towards Tess. ‘She wouldn’t let us in earlier to clear her plates so I’ll do that now if I can.’
‘I am here, you know,’ said Marjorie fiercely.
‘We were disappointed, Mum, that you cancelled our lunch. It’s so unlike you, and hearing that you’ve not been eating and you’ve been holing up in your room, what are we expected to think?’
‘Oh for goodness’ sake, can you hear yourselves? You’re treating me like a child. If I say I want to spend time on my own or that there’s something I need to do, then people, including my family, should respect that decision. Honestly, I’m so fed up with it all that I might check myself out of here and go and join a commune somewhere.’
‘Mother, does this have something to do with those new online friends of yours?’ Tess asked, looking aghast.
Marjorie gave a wry chuckle.
‘Well in a way, I suppose it does, although I’m not really going to disappear off into the sunset even if I might feel like doing so. No, if you must know, the reason I missed lunch was that I had a deadline. Today. And I was right up against it.’
Hannah and Tess shared a puzzled look.
‘A deadline for what exactly?’
‘A competition. My new online friends are in a writers and readers group and I’ve been trying my hand at writing a novel. They’ve been terribly supportive and encouraging, and it’s something I’ve been enjoying sinking my teeth into. I didn’t realise I would find it quite so compulsive. I must admit it’s taken over my life a bit, but anyway, it’s all done now, so I promise not to break any more lunch arrangements.’
‘Blimey, Grandma, that’s amazing. I’m so impressed.’
‘But why didn’t you tell us?’
‘Well, because it was something I wanted to keep just for me. I thought people might pooh-pooh the idea if I told them and think that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I didn’t know if I could do it myself. So I now have a huge sense of satisfaction knowing that I have completed my very first novel. How about that?’ she said with a note of glee to her voice. ‘I’m not sure that it’s any good, but for me, it’s about the journey rather than the destination.’
‘Well, that would certainly explain it,’ said Tess, full of admiration as her gaze travelled around the room, taking in the untidiness. ‘And you’re sure that this is all it’s been about?’
‘Yes of course, what else would there be?’
‘Well, it’s good to know at last what’s been going on. And I’m sorry that you felt you weren’t able to tell us about your endeavours. You know we would support you in anything you wanted to do.’ Marjorie and Tess shared a look of understanding. ‘Anyway, Mum, you must be starving if you’ve been working hard all day.’
‘Ravenous,’ she said, with that old familiar smile on her face. ‘I can get one of the girls to bring me up a sandwich.’
‘No need. I’ve brought you along a roast dinner if you fancy it? I didn’t want you missing out.’
‘Ooh, have you darling? That’s sounds divine.’ Marjorie was closing her laptop and tidying away her notebooks to one side, trying to restore some order to her surroundings. ‘We can ask them to pop it in the microwave for us.’
As Tess went to find someone to help reheat the meal, she was still shaking her head, hardly believing, but hugely relieved, that it could be something quite so straightforward as being preoccupied with a new demanding hobby, when all along Tess had been imagining the worst.
