‘Sit? We have an Alaskan adventure taped.’
‘I’ll wheel Dad in, then,’ I say.
‘I am perfectly capable of wheeling my son—’ begins Eddie but I cut him off deftly.
‘Someone has to carry the biscuits,’ I say.
Eddie’s face lights up.
‘I made them myself,’ I add.
‘You’re a great girl to have around the place,’ Eddie says, which is high praise indeed from him.
Once he and Dad are installed in the living room, and Eddie has his snack, I give Dad a little of the liquid protein drink he gets two cans of every day.
‘Awful muck, that,’ says Eddie balefully.
Our eyes meet.
‘But, sure, he needs it. Never thought he’d be in one of those blasted chairs before me, Freya,’ he says hoarsely.
‘It is what it is, Granddad,’ I reply.
With all this pain around her, how does my mother not cry, I think?
She can’t let herself. What good are happy thoughts here?
You’re on the money, there, Mildred.
Once all are sorted, I go back into the kitchen, to my soup and stew.
Granny Bridget comes in carrying Delilah, her tricky and elderly cat, who instantly clambers out of Bridget’s arms in order to cough a bit near the vegetables.
‘Bridget, you need that walker and you shouldn’t be carrying the cat,’ I say gently, and race off to get it for her. ‘Delilah will manage.’
‘What if she goes before me?’ Bridget wails.
How is your mother not on the gin by ten in the morning,Mildred says now.
Because she’s strong.
There’s strong and there’s avoidance.
I prescribe strong tea for Bridget, check she’s had all her medication, then give her a piece of fruit cake, which she has always loved. I tune the radio to Lyric FM because she likes it when they play waltzes sometimes and she reminisces about how she and Granddad Leo used to dance at the Classic Ballroom.
After an hour of telly, Eddie moves on to reading one of his ‘most horrible animals ever’ books and Bridget and I grin.
‘He loves those daft books,’ Bridget says, fixing her pinky blonde bouffant. ‘Mad as a bicycle, he is. Always was.’
By the time Mum comes downstairs, I hear her first go immediately into Dad and Eddie.
Via the monitor, I can hear her chat to Eddie and kiss Dad, all the while talking to him gently.
Mum comes into the kitchen smiling, and she smiles even more when she sees that I have made a comfy bed for Delilah on a big old kitchen chair.
‘Granny and I decided that Delilah only gets onto the table because she’s nosy and likes to see what’s going on, so this nest means she can be safe, closer to the floor, less close to the food, and not break anything getting down.’
‘Isn’t Freya clever?’ says Granny delightedly. ‘And sniff. She’s been cooking. There’s enough food to feed the multitudes.’
