Page 30 of Birds of a Feather

‘Sweetie, at our age, there really is no time like the present,’ she said, obviously sensing my surprise that they were speaking again so soon.

‘Fair enough. Well, keep me posted.’

‘I will, pet,’ she replied. ‘And thank you again.’

‘Morning,’ Alannah said when I arrived at my desk, gesturing to the phone that was still in my hand. ‘Was that my favourite drug dealer?’

I laughed. ‘Yes, it was. She’s just reconnected with someone she’d lost touch with years ago, and she was keen to tell me about it.’

‘That’s nice,’ they said, looking back towards their screen. ‘It’s so nice that you’re close to your gran. I really miss both of mine.’

Alannah’s maternal grandmother had passed away last year, six months after their mother had succumbed to cancer. They said what upset them most was knowing how much fun the two of them would be having ‘upstairs’ without her. Their family was Irish, and the tales of family gatherings were legendary.

‘Just make sure you make the most of her while you’ve got her. She won’t be around forever,’ they said tenderly.

Alannah was right.

This whole business with Gerry had started because I wanted to use my lotto winnings to make Gran happy. Admittedly, this had catapulted us both on a journey I did not anticipate. But sixty years after they had been separated by a chasm of distance – geographic and sociopolitical – they had the opportunity to cross the abyss and reunite properly. And I had the means to make it happen.

I picked up my phone and hastily typed a message to Gran.

Is your passport valid?

I waited as three dots danced on the screen.

Yes. What have you got in mind?

Chapter 18

Beth

Gran had, in principle, agreed to a trip to London to see Gerry, but was oscillating between being giddily excited and wanting to call the whole thing off.

‘What was I even thinking?’ she said to me days later, only hours before I was planning to book the tickets. ‘It’s lunacy. Fancy thinking that I could just pop over to London to catch up with her after all these years. Women my age don’t simply jump on a plane and traipse halfway around the world on a whim. How would I even explain it to people?’

‘You don’t have to explain it to anyone,’ I replied emphatically. ‘It’s no one else’s business. You’re quite entitled to go on a holiday any time you want to.’

‘But I don’t even know if she wants to see me,’ Gran responded. ‘What am I meant to say to her? “Hey Gerry, you know how sixty years ago we fell in love and carried on a secret relationship? Well, what’s say I put my wrinkly, arthritic eighty-two-year-old body on a flight to London and we can pick up where we left off. Next Tuesday work for you?” She’ll probably assume I have frontal lobe impairment caused by dementia or a stroke. Goodness. Maybe I do.’

‘Well, if she doesn’t want to see you, then we’ll just make the most of a trip to London. Are you planning on speaking to her tonight?’

‘Yes. She’s calling at eight.’

‘Well, just talk to her,’ I urged. ‘Tell her you’re thinking of coming over. If she reacts well, tell her you’re planning to come sooner rather than later. If she seems unsure, then we’ll go anyway, and she’ll be none the wiser. We can tour the palaces, wander through galleries and see a show or two. We don’t even have to stay in London the whole time. Don’t you have family in the country? We could go and visit them.’

‘Maybe,’ she said. I imagined she was stroking her thumb on the back of the opposite hand. ‘It just all feels very rushed. Maybe we don’t need to cancel it. Perhaps we should just delay it for a while.’

‘But this is the only time we can both go, remember,’ I rationalised. ‘I’ve got the installation of my possum bridge, and you’ve already locked in the dates for your orchid field trips. You said it yourself: there’s no time like the present.’

‘I hate it when you use my words against me,’ she groaned.

‘Besides,’ I continued, ‘you’re hardly rushing into this. This reunion has been sixty years in the making. And somehow I don’t think any amount of warm fuzzies would see you through a northern hemisphere winter, so it has to be this time of year.’

She emitted a loud hmmmmm down the phone.

I had to admit, encouraging someone else to be bold and supporting them to step bravely into an uncomfortable situation wasn’t my usual role. But hearing Gran talk about Gerry, having Alannah remind me she wouldn’t be around forever, and the idea of using the lotto money to travel to a city I loved, propelled me to continue.

‘And don’t you want to catch up with Gerry properly?’ I continued. ‘A phone call here and an email there isn’t going to bridge all the years you’ve spent apart.’

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