Page 8 - Leighton News December 2018
P. 8
Dolly and Ted had failed to survive his early became increasingly moribund, and no longer went
retirement. He was a dull but robustly handsome on the painting holidays that had taught her how to
maths lecturer at the University, she a warm and see, if not how to paint. For a while, she made her
worldly student counsellor. They had met in the home a social hub, but fewer people came calling
campus carpark over a terminally floppy squirrel that now—old friends moved on either mortally or
he had inadvertently run over, and that she had geographically, the track was in poor repair, and she
tearfully failed to resuscitate. He just happened to was deeper in a world of her own
have a spade in the boot, and as a gesture of remorse
had scraped a shallow grave, whilst she snuffily Her sons, now nearing forty, continued to explore their
snatched up a fistful of memorial buttercups. He lives ever further from home; Laurie had finally
suggested a moratorium over coffee, and within days despaired of the brutality of inner-city teaching and with
they had blundered into a shallow but steamy his modest savings and a wispy Dutch girlfriend, now
summertime affair. aspired to be an eco-peasant in Bulgaria. Jake, a gifted
mathematician like his father, was currently a burlesque
It might well have spluttered to a close, but by the dancer in Melbourne. They both seem to have fallen
start of the new academic year, Dolly was much further from the family tree than Dolly could
overwhelmed by the nausea that heralded twin sons either have hoped or expected. They stayed connected
and that would fuel the ongoing blunder into a through bubbly intermittent internet, and on her
marriage that held scant promise once the passion birthdays they always sent far too many flowers.
faded. Not that it was a bad marriage, just that it
lacked depth, laughter, and intimacy. They muddled Soon, all the days began to feel much like another,
along amiably enough on the common causeway of having lost their distinction. Likewise, the clock no
family life, and even survived his regular longer imposed its disciplines. Dolly and the cats all
undergraduate infatuations. However, within days of rose from and sank back into her wide and cosy bed
his retirement, his longstanding dalliance with young to the rhythm of the sun. Sometimes she would stir in
Maeve, the raven-haired potter in the barn conversion her sleep to acknowledge the calls of the owl or the
across the valley, exploded into an inescapable reality, whistles of the otters. Dressing for comfort before
and he just moved in with her. This was harsh for style, being still tall and lean with a wild shock of
Dolly, not least because Maeve's place was directly black and silver hair, she cut a bright dash as she
visible from the landing window. Ted now parked his pottered along the banks of the river. As she was
red Fiat ostentatiously in her yard, hitherto having doing on the chilly October afternoon when she heard
hidden it. For some weeks, Dolly took the bend on the a deep shout from up by the house and went to
stairs with her eyes screwed shut as she loudly cursed investigate. A disarmingly warm and familiar grin
their brazen and humiliating disregard. She was glad broke through the generous beard of a very tall figure,
that their sons, having left for university, were spared a large package under his arm. She felt warmly
this outrage. She would tell them at Christmas. appraised as she tried to clump elegantly up the path
in her overlarge wellies, escorted by two weaving
Then came the solemn visit from the police to tell her cats. The man hoped she would receive and sign for
Ted had died in a head-on collision with a local the parcel intended for the new young couple further
tractor. At least she would no longer have to see the down the track. He ducked to step into the kitchen to
red car. The wails of Maeve echoed across the valley, deposit the box, and they exchanged easy banter
but Dolly felt no pain whatsoever—just a joyous surge whilst she washed the sticky compost from her hands,
of freedom and cosy singularity. She was going to before drying them down the front of the grubby cow
enjoy being a widow; Ted's pension enabled her also onesie that she had scrambled into at sunrise.
to retire from a rewarding but draining career. Best of Glimpsing her dishevelled self in the dresser mirror
all, she could finally express her inner Bohemian into she felt suddenly shy and vulnerable, and as she
their tired old home and she could both lose and find turned towards him, felt the rise of a teenage blush
herself in the sweet sanctuary of the riverside garden. accompanied by a burst of gibberish smalltalk as he
proffered a stylus for her to sign the delivery console.
A few years later, Dolly's life was well and truly hers In those few seconds of electronic closeness she
and hers alone. A few complicated brief encounters yearned to tuck herself into the seemingly familiar
established her preference for uncompromised warm crook of his shoulder. She saw herself add a
singledom. She enjoyed her own company, reinforced childish kiss after her signature, at which he laughed
by a few old friends and four cats. She less frequently aloud- a deep rolling Disney laugh.
attended the local poets' group, as their ramblings
retirement. He was a dull but robustly handsome on the painting holidays that had taught her how to
maths lecturer at the University, she a warm and see, if not how to paint. For a while, she made her
worldly student counsellor. They had met in the home a social hub, but fewer people came calling
campus carpark over a terminally floppy squirrel that now—old friends moved on either mortally or
he had inadvertently run over, and that she had geographically, the track was in poor repair, and she
tearfully failed to resuscitate. He just happened to was deeper in a world of her own
have a spade in the boot, and as a gesture of remorse
had scraped a shallow grave, whilst she snuffily Her sons, now nearing forty, continued to explore their
snatched up a fistful of memorial buttercups. He lives ever further from home; Laurie had finally
suggested a moratorium over coffee, and within days despaired of the brutality of inner-city teaching and with
they had blundered into a shallow but steamy his modest savings and a wispy Dutch girlfriend, now
summertime affair. aspired to be an eco-peasant in Bulgaria. Jake, a gifted
mathematician like his father, was currently a burlesque
It might well have spluttered to a close, but by the dancer in Melbourne. They both seem to have fallen
start of the new academic year, Dolly was much further from the family tree than Dolly could
overwhelmed by the nausea that heralded twin sons either have hoped or expected. They stayed connected
and that would fuel the ongoing blunder into a through bubbly intermittent internet, and on her
marriage that held scant promise once the passion birthdays they always sent far too many flowers.
faded. Not that it was a bad marriage, just that it
lacked depth, laughter, and intimacy. They muddled Soon, all the days began to feel much like another,
along amiably enough on the common causeway of having lost their distinction. Likewise, the clock no
family life, and even survived his regular longer imposed its disciplines. Dolly and the cats all
undergraduate infatuations. However, within days of rose from and sank back into her wide and cosy bed
his retirement, his longstanding dalliance with young to the rhythm of the sun. Sometimes she would stir in
Maeve, the raven-haired potter in the barn conversion her sleep to acknowledge the calls of the owl or the
across the valley, exploded into an inescapable reality, whistles of the otters. Dressing for comfort before
and he just moved in with her. This was harsh for style, being still tall and lean with a wild shock of
Dolly, not least because Maeve's place was directly black and silver hair, she cut a bright dash as she
visible from the landing window. Ted now parked his pottered along the banks of the river. As she was
red Fiat ostentatiously in her yard, hitherto having doing on the chilly October afternoon when she heard
hidden it. For some weeks, Dolly took the bend on the a deep shout from up by the house and went to
stairs with her eyes screwed shut as she loudly cursed investigate. A disarmingly warm and familiar grin
their brazen and humiliating disregard. She was glad broke through the generous beard of a very tall figure,
that their sons, having left for university, were spared a large package under his arm. She felt warmly
this outrage. She would tell them at Christmas. appraised as she tried to clump elegantly up the path
in her overlarge wellies, escorted by two weaving
Then came the solemn visit from the police to tell her cats. The man hoped she would receive and sign for
Ted had died in a head-on collision with a local the parcel intended for the new young couple further
tractor. At least she would no longer have to see the down the track. He ducked to step into the kitchen to
red car. The wails of Maeve echoed across the valley, deposit the box, and they exchanged easy banter
but Dolly felt no pain whatsoever—just a joyous surge whilst she washed the sticky compost from her hands,
of freedom and cosy singularity. She was going to before drying them down the front of the grubby cow
enjoy being a widow; Ted's pension enabled her also onesie that she had scrambled into at sunrise.
to retire from a rewarding but draining career. Best of Glimpsing her dishevelled self in the dresser mirror
all, she could finally express her inner Bohemian into she felt suddenly shy and vulnerable, and as she
their tired old home and she could both lose and find turned towards him, felt the rise of a teenage blush
herself in the sweet sanctuary of the riverside garden. accompanied by a burst of gibberish smalltalk as he
proffered a stylus for her to sign the delivery console.
A few years later, Dolly's life was well and truly hers In those few seconds of electronic closeness she
and hers alone. A few complicated brief encounters yearned to tuck herself into the seemingly familiar
established her preference for uncompromised warm crook of his shoulder. She saw herself add a
singledom. She enjoyed her own company, reinforced childish kiss after her signature, at which he laughed
by a few old friends and four cats. She less frequently aloud- a deep rolling Disney laugh.
attended the local poets' group, as their ramblings
