You Must Be Jo King

by Moira Murphy

  “It was the standing to attention they think hastened poor Aggie’s demise,” said Bella, sardonically.

  Ruth wasn’t bothered by any of it. She was too excited. She was to go home the same day as my mother, her daughter was coming up from Yorkshire to take Ruth to live with her.

  Bella was worried in case they told her the same. She didn’t want to go home. “What good is an empty flat to me, Joanne?” she said, “I need people around me, I like life in the fast lane, I’ll die of boredom if they send me out of here.”

  Life in the fast lane seemed somewhat of an exaggeration but I sympathized, “Well there’s nothing to stop us from meeting up again when you’re home, Bella. We can all go out for a spot of lunch now and then. We’ll go somewhere nice when you’re both properly on your feet and feeling better.”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” she said.

  “You too, Nell?” I asked.

  Nell shrugged, she didn’t seem bothered one way or the other.

  Apart from being desperate to see the elusive Nick, I really wanted my mother home. I was becoming part of the fittings in The Laurels and I needed to get on with my life. But where was he? Perhaps he’d gone back to Ireland to get the dog. I’d made a few discreet inquiries, but nobody seemed to know anything. Some said perhaps he had just spent longer than usual at the other hospital. But I didn’t want to leave without seeing him even if it was for the last time. Perhaps I needed to face facts. He had probably thought better of those walks on the beach, decided there was more to life than arranging a playmate for his dog and gone back to Ireland, made it up with Suze and decided to stay there. Damn! WHERE.WAS.HE!!

  Just then Ruth came rushing in, rushing that is, with a small ‘r’, to say that hostilities had broken out in the men’s quarters.

  Bella said, not to worry, she was sure they’d have a cream for it.

  Ruth said the men were up in arms over Flash Gordon. They said poor old Flash had been a victim of the nanny state, that he had been convicted of the death of Aggie Oliver before being given a fair trial. And in protest, a unanimous decision had been taken: they were to boycott Maud’s party the following day.

  Bella said, “So what. It’s not as though Maud would be bothered. Poor soul doesn’t know what day it is never mind that she’s having a party.”

  All the same the excitement died down. The women weren’t quite as enthusiastic about having their hair and make-up done and everything seemed a bit flat.

  Until, that is, the morning of the party when everything changed again. As the caterers brought in and arranged the food trays in the dining hall, word soon went round about the delicious looking pies and quiches and cakes and trifles etc. that the men would be missing out on. And with all that lovely food, came a change of heart. Why, they began to ask themselves should they cut off their noses to spite their faces? After all, what was Flash but an old perv who deserved all he got. He was actually bloody lucky to have escaped jail. If he’d been on the outside and not in here, under the protection of the NHS chances are he would have been beaten up.

  So, with Flash’s fate sealed, normal service was resumed. I put make-up on the ladies and curled their hair and in the case of Bella, painted her finger and toe nails bright red to go with her lipstick. I stood back and admired them and prepared to stand in the wings while they enjoyed the party.

  45

  IN THE NICK OF TIME

  At lunchtime, amid exaggerated cheers from the staff, Maud was wheeled into the dining hall.

  She’d had some beads put round her neck and some rouge on her cheeks. A stroke she’d had at some point had caused her mouth to droop and she drooled a bit but even so, she smiled happily when the candles on her cake were lit; two of them, a nine and a nought and, with help from the others, they were blown out. ‘Happy birthday to you’ and ‘For she’s a jolly good fellow’ was sung heartily, mostly in broken English by the nursing staff and mumbled along to by the party guests. While the party food was being served I decided I’d have my lunch outside and enjoy some peace and quiet.

  Strangely enough, even though I was sitting in the sunshine, on a hospital park bench, I managed to stay awake and I thought of Nick. I tried to put my finger on what it was about him that I couldn’t get out of my head. It’s not as though he ticked all the boxes, he didn’t. So what was it? Yet, whatever it was, it mattered. But the day after tomorrow I’d walk out of here and chances are I’d never set eyes on him again. Wherever he was he probably hadn’t given me a second thought and why should he? I was deluding myself, as per, it was the dog he liked, not me. And how sad is that. Second fiddle to a dog! That is really sad.

  I looked at my watch. The party animals would be making their way into the theatre just about now, perhaps I’d look in for a few minutes, wave goodbye to my mother, then make my way home. I pulled myself up, stretched, gathered up my rubbish, found a bin, then made my way to the main entrance where I caught a glimpse of a white coat disappearing round a corner. My heart thudded in my chest. Had that been him? I wanted to run to where the coat had disappeared, but I held back. What was wrong with me? It could have been anybody. Doctor Singh, anybody. My heart was pounding. I pressed my back against the nearest wall. If I didn’t get a grip, at this rate I’d have a heart attack. I took some deep breathes, straightened up then continued to walk.

  The door of the theatre was open and I looked in. There wasn’t a lot of action, couldn’t really say the joint was jumping. There was music playing and some of the party guests were stretching over seats, chatting to one another. I heard Bella telling Nurse Khamal that a babycham or two wouldn’t have gone amiss. Nurse Khamal laughed. “Azeef.” she said.

  I saw my mother and waved to her then I looked for party girl, Maud. She was parked in her wheelchair in front of the stage and kneeling in front of her, looking up into her face and talking to her, with his back to me was Nick. I nearly fainted. I don’t know how I stayed upright. And just as I saw him, he turned and saw me and we looked at each other and he smiled. The tingling started, attacking every nerve in my body then finding its way to my brain. I leaned against the door hoping to look chilled but it was just to stop me falling over. He was back.

  He stood up, took a portable CD player from his top pocket and inserted a disc. The music from it started up. Old, scratchy music. He put the disc player onto the floor of the stage then he took Maud’s bony, wrinkled hands in his and gently lifted her from the chair. Holding her just above the floor and close to him like a piece of Dresden china, as the music played he carried her round, slowly, in time with the music.

  … Moonlight becomes you…

  It was scratchy and old fashioned but everyone knew it and they started swaying in their seats and humming along or mumbling the words they could remember.

  She leaned her head against his chest. It was her Tom, her young husband who didn’t come back from the war. This had been their song, they had danced to it in the crowded ballrooms before he was sent abroad. She smelled the khaki serge of his uniform, felt the roughness of it against her cheeks, she felt the tears stinging her eyes. She didn’t want him to go. She knew in her heart he wouldn’t come back.

  The ladies in the room closed their eyes, some wiped away tears. They had their own memories. They all knew crowded ballrooms and young men who hadn’t come back from the war.

  The song finished. Nick took Maud back to her chair and gently sat her down. He took a tissue from a box on the piano and wiped her mouth then wiped the tears from her cheeks. He took the CD player from the floor of the stage and he gave it to her with the disc still in it, kissed her on the forehead and wished her a very happy birthday. I was fighting tears it was the most tender thing I’d ever witnessed.

  I hadn’t realised it, but Nurse Ali was behind me. “That was Maud’s favourite song,” she said, “Nick took the time to find that out, said he’d get a copy of
the original in time for her birthday and he has. He always makes the ladies feel special. They all worship him. Must be that blarney stone the Irish have a habit of kissing.”

  Oh to be that blarney stone.

  He walked towards me, well I was blocking the doorway and he wanted to get out, so I suppose his options were limited. He nodded a greeting to Nurse Ali then he turned to me.

  “Can I have a word, Jo?”

  A WORD word word word.

  “Oh, will it take long, just I was about to make my way home. I’ve been here all morning helping the ladies get ready for the party.” Playing hard to get! Who was I kidding?

  He took my arm and I very nearly passed out. We started walking down the corridor.

  “It’s just I’ve been over to Ireland and I’ve brought Barney back with me. I had to stay a bit longer than I had planned, there was some stuff to sort out, but I knew I had to get back today, before your mother left in case I didn’t get to see you. I thought if you were up for it, we could have those walks on the beach – you know, with Barney and Millie – or else we could leave Barney and Millie and go ourselves, just the two of us – have lunch somewhere – we could always introduce the dogs to each other some other time and…”

  “I’d love to. When?” So much for hard to get.

  “You would!” he actually seemed surprised and moreover, pleased, “I know you’ll be busy getting your mother home and settled in tomorrow, so how about the day after?”

  We stopped walking, turned and looked into each other’s eyes. This was the man I was going to marry. “The day after sounds just perfect,” I said.

  His bleeper bleeped, he clicked it off, “I’ll ring you.”

  “You’d better have my number then.” We laughed.

  46

  AND WE ALL LIVED

  HAPPILY EVER AFTER

  How did I get home? I vaguely remembered getting into the car in the hospital car park, then getting out again on my drive. There was a car parked just beyond my gates, but it didn’t really register. I opened the front door and before I had time to close it behind me, George came through it.

  “You ignored me,” he said. His hair was longish, he was tanned, his teeth looked like they’d been in a bucket of bleach and he was wearing a thick gold chain round his neck (take away the chain and tone him down a bit and he was actually not bad looking. This was something I’d never noticed before).

  “Did I?”

  “I was parked outside and you walked straight past.”

  “Ooops.”

  “You seemed miles away.”

  “Did I?”

  “Are the kids around.”

  “They’re in school, won’t be home for another hour. It’s England.”

  He held up a plastic bag emblazed with the stars and stripes, “I’ve brought presents for them; a Baseball and a Mitt for Josh, some Cheer Leader batons for Lucy and bags of American candy.”

  “Wow, that’ll make up for not bothering to ring them.”

  “You just can’t help being facetious can you, Jo? Still, why break the habit of a lifetime.”

  “Was that an ef word, George? What are you getting like?”

  “And as sarcastic as ever.”

  “Not in the mood, George.”

  “Well how are the kids and how’s your mother?” He said that with more than a hint of an American accent.

  “They’re all fine, thank you for asking,” said in the tone I would use to an enquiry from a comparative stranger.

  “I can tell you’re in one of your funny moods so I’ll just look at the work you’ve had done. I’ve already seen the invoices. I hope they’re justified. Fran thought you were taking the mick.”

  “Honestly! That Fran! As if! Feel free, it’s not as though you don’t know your way round.” He went upstairs. I waited in the hall, leaning against the living room door with my arms folded.

  He came downstairs. “Well you certainly went to town on that lot. Still they’ve made a good job, looks great. You do have good taste, I’ll give you that. You didn’t mention to the lads that we were… you know, connected?”

  “You flatter yourself, George.”

  “You look good too, as it happens, Jo, lost a bit of weight, suits you. Not that you were ever fat…”

  “You’d lose weight if you lived my life.”

  “You seem to have a kind of glow about you – sort of womanly.”

  “I am a woman.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “You’re not trying it on, are you, George?”

  “Of course not, I’m just saying, that’s all.”

  “I haven’t changed a bit. The reason I look womanly is because you’re used to looking at Fran.”

  “Oh a typical Joanne quip. I never could pay you a compliment.”

  “Yes, well. If there’s nothing else, I was just about to Cillit-Bang the hob.”

  “The hell you were.” He’d been watching too many John Wayne films. I could tell.

  “There was something else. What was it? Oh yes, I thought I’d collect the dog while I was here. I’ve arranged for her to go into a pound. Fran can’t stand dogs.”

  “A pound! Millie!”

  “You said you wanted rid.”

  “That was then, this is now and we don’t say pound in England, we say shelter, and keep your voice down, she’s just in the kitchen, she’ll hear. We’ve discussed shelters and she’s fully conversant with that concept.”

  “But…”

  “But nothing, George.” I put my hand on his chest.

  “Off you go and you awl have a nice day now, you hear,” I said that in my best American accent as I pushed him backwards through the still open front door.

  “Tell the kids I’ll ring them.”

  “I don’t lie to my children,” I said, closing the door.

  Millie was whimpering in the kitchen. I opened the door and she bounded out, tail banging, sniffing the air as though there had been something alien in the hall. I told her it had just been George with his Paco-Rabanne, a nasty man who wanted to take her away, but I wouldn’t let him.

  We sat in the hall, Millie and me, and as I stroked the hair out of her eyes, I told her that Nick used to be a dog trainer, so there was hope for her yet and that training the dog will soon be a tick on my ‘goals to achieve’ list and, with a bit of luck, I might also be able to tick off finding romance. I told her about Nick’s dog Barney and how Nick had said Barney was very handsome but even if Barney tried it on, she wasn’t to worry about getting pregnant because she’d had the operation. I told her how happy we would be when we were all living together; one big, happy family. How Lucy would be bridesmaid and Josh an usher at the wedding. How Nick would teach Josh his rugby tackles. I told her how special she was and how Leo, Arnie and Mandy had come into our lives through her, and how Josh and Leo now had rees-pect from the High Rise boys through association. I told her how she’d cheered Nell up by becoming a patting dog, of sorts – okay, not exactly a fully-fledged patting dog, but hey, near enough. Near enough to have interested Nick which was near enough for me.

  She looked up at me and I looked down at her, at her stringy beard and her wet nose and her bright brown eyes with hair straggling over them. She was actually quite cute-looking for a dog and underneath that boisterous exterior she was really very gentle. As I stroked the hair out of her eyes she plonked her paw on my knee and we sat there, waiting for the phone to ring.

  It did. “That’ll be him,” I told her.

  It was.

 

 

 
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