Page 33 of Merrily Ever After
‘What colour is it, Dad?’ Emily scoured the floor, trying to remember if she’d seen a tin when unpacking. She sat beside him, perched on the arm of his chair, and took his hand in hers.
‘Red, I think, and black. Scottish. It’s the only thing I’ve got.’ Her dad heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. ‘I need it with me, or I’ll forget.’
‘Forget what?’ Emily asked. But his breathing was slowing, and his hand twitched in hers. She laid it down gently on his stomach and reached for a blanket to cover him. He’d dropped off to sleep. ‘Poor thing,’ she murmured, brushing his hair from his face. ‘He’s exhausted.’
Gail got to her feet. ‘A nap is the best thing for him.’
‘Do you know the weird thing?’ Emily frowned. ‘He only seemed bothered by the missing tin, which I’ve never even seen before, and not by the fact he’s in a new place.’
‘Brains are complex things,’ she said wisely. ‘The contents of the tin may have links to his past that he remembers more clearly. Dementia attacks the short-term memory first. What he did this morning might have already vanished from his memory banks.’
Emily thought back to the lovely walk they’d had this morning while her mum had packed up the car for her. Despite his reluctance to go out, Ray had enjoyed looking at all the Christmas decorations along the little run of shops in the next street to his and it had unlocked stories that she’d never heard before. He’d told her about his best Christmas present – a chemistry set which he’d spent the whole of Boxing Day playing with and confided in her that he’d always wanted to be an inventor but wasn’t clever at school.
‘I’d better go back to his old flat,’ she said, getting to her feet gently so as not to wake her dad. ‘I don’t know what’s special about this tin, but I ought to find it for him. I’ll be as quick as I can.’
Gail glanced at the time. ‘No rush. It’s time for lunch soon anyway. When he wakes up, someone will bring him down. And afterwards, he might like to sit in the lounge to meet some of the others. Everyone loves a new resident; he’ll have no end of invitations to this, that and the other by the time you come back. Does he play cards?’
‘He used to,’ she answered. She had a sudden recollection of sitting at the dining table playing cards and using buttons from her mum’s old button tin for money. She’d completely forgotten about that. It had been a Sunday evening thing: a game of cards and cheese and biscuits for supper. The memory cheered her.
‘Good.’ Gail gave her an efficient smile. ‘Now do you need any help? Anything heavy in the car to bring up?’
‘All done, thank you’ she replied. ‘I had help from Will.’
‘Ah, lovely Will,’ said Gail with a wide smile. ‘He’s our community occupational therapist and one of our volunteers, and very popular with our residents.’
‘I can imagine,’ remarked Emily.
Gail raised an eyebrow and she felt herself flush.
‘I’d better go and hunt down the elusive red, black and Scottish tin,’ she muttered, and after kissing Ray’s cheek, fled from the room.
Emily called her mum to update her as she unlocked her car.
‘He’s in,’ she said when Tina picked up the call. ‘And it went surprisingly well.’
‘Good,’ Tina replied. ‘And now at least you can relax, knowing he won’t be able to go wandering off in the middle of the night. You must be exhausted.’
‘It was fine, I had help actually.’ She smiled to herself thinking of Will. Would he be there when she got back, playing cards, she wondered, or doing his armchair exercises? ‘But you’re right, I’m ready for a rest. First, though, I’ve got to go and look for a red and black tin. He got a bit worked up when he couldn’t find it. You didn’t see anything, did you?’
No,’ said Tina warily, ‘but knowing what your dad was like when he was younger, I hope it’s not full of whacky baccy.’
Emily winced. ‘Me too. The manager assures me the residents can do whatever they like, but presumably she draws the line at rolling spliffs at the breakfast table.’
Tina laughed. ‘I don’t know, it could certainly make the place very cheerful. Anyway, good luck, love, keep me posted.’
Emily ended the call and headed off back to Ray’s flat. As soon as she pulled up, Julia flew out to greet her. She was an attractive woman in her sixties, all curves and curls and never without mascara and lipstick.
‘How is he?’ she asked, her hands clasped together under her chin. ‘I haven’t been able to settle to anything since he left.’
Emily filled her in as the two of them entered the communal hallway.
‘I think I’ve done the right thing,’ she told the older woman. ‘It wasn’t fair to let things continue as they were.’
‘I suppose so,’ she said, looking regretful. ‘And he did have a terrible habit of coming up to see me without any clothes on.’
Emily’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Oh dear. You didn’t tell me!’
Julia looked coy. ‘I’ve been single for eight years, dear, at my age you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.’
