A ripple of laughter spread around the room and I rolled my eyes.
‘Shhh,’ said Joyce loudly just as I started talking again and I shut my mouth immediately.
‘Not you, love,’ she said with a hearty chuckle. ‘This lot. You carry on.’
Now the laughter was less of a ripple and more of a wave. Amused, I drank the tea Val had made for me with her special teabags and waited for them to stop. When the chatting faded away, I shook my head. ‘You are all like naughty children,’ I told them sternly. ‘But you’re very funny. Now just don’t talk for five minutes while I explain. Can you do that?’
‘Course we can,’ said Kenny.
‘Good.’ I grinned at them all. ‘Some of you know I’m going to be painting a mural on the end of the building, telling the story of Tall Trees, during the Second World War, in particular when it was a hospital. I’m using some words from Nurse Elsie Watson’s book that she got her patients to write in when she was nursing here during the Blitz.’
‘Can we help paint?’ Joyce asked.
‘Would you like to?’
‘Oh, I’d love to.’
Pleased, I nodded. ‘Absolutely – the more the merrier.’ I looked round at them all, thinking about what Finn had said. ‘Actually, I used to teach art for a while. I did wonder about holding some classes here. Would anyone be interested in those?’
There was an immediate clamour of enthusiasm. ‘Amazing. I’ll speak to Blessing and put a sign-up sheet on the board.’
This was going much better than I’d expected. I felt boosted by their eagerness.
‘Alongside the mural project, I thought it would be nice if we made our own book,’ I said.
I paused as the door to the lounge opened and Finn came in. My heart gave a little jump. I’d not been expecting to see him and it seemed I was very pleased about his unexpected arrival. He went over and stood next to Helen who gave him a cursory, dismissive glance.
Finn gave me a thumbs up and I smiled at him, feeling my already good mood get a little bit more sunny.
I turned back to the group. ‘I love talking to you all. I lovehearing your stories and your opinions and your takes on the world. I want you to write them down.’ I picked up the book I’d ordered online and held it up. ‘This is going to be the twenty-first-century version of Elsie’s book. I’ll pass it round and you can all write in it.’
‘What do we write?’ asked Vince, one of the residents from the top corridor.
‘That’s the beauty of it,’ I said. ‘You can write anything at all. Messages for your loved ones. Memories. Poems. Jokes. You can draw a picture if you like. Anything goes.’
‘Anything?’ said Kenny. He made the word sound rude and I rolled my eyes again.
‘Within reason, Kenny,’ I said, using my stern voice again.
He winked at me. ‘Roger that.’
‘Right then,’ I said. ‘Who wants to go first?’
Val raised a hand. ‘Could I take it? I’ve got some things I want to write. Things I should have said a long time ago and never got the chance.’
‘Of course you can.’ I took it over to where she sat and gave it to her along with a pack of pens I’d bought. ‘Take as long as you want, and when you’re done, just pass it on.’
Val looked pleased. ‘I will,’ she said. Then, to my surprise, she took my hand in hers. ‘This is a good thing, Stephanie. I told you that you’re one of the good ones.’
I looked up to the ceiling, trying to stop the tears that had sprung into my eyes from falling. ‘Thanks, Val.’ I raised my voice. ‘Thanks, everyone. Come and see me if you’ve got any questions, and I’ll put that sign-up sheet on the board today.’
‘Sign-up sheet?’ Finn said, appearing next to me. He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and I breathed in the closeness of him, feeling slightly light-headed.
‘I asked if anyone was interested in art classes.’ I stood up a bit straighter, pulling my shoulders back. ‘Lots of them were. And Joyce wants to help with the mural.’
‘That’s why I’m here actually,’ Finn said.
‘For an art class?’
