by stan graham
STRANGER IN PARADISE
by S. GRAHAM
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Stranger in Paradise
Copyright © 2010 by S Graham
All rights reserved.
Smashwords Edition 2010
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SPRING.
Chapter 1. MARCH.
When Jane first suggested sheltered housing I wasn’t keen but after thinking about it and speaking to Peter I began to see that it could have some benefits. I won’t say it was easy but the idea of a small flat of my own had a growing appeal.
The neighbours knew that there was something unusual, going on at Janice Bond’s house, number 148 Devenish Street, Stripford.
“I’ve never seen the like of it in all my born days, there’s something fishy going on if you ask me.” Betty Trundle from number 154 informed everyone who would listen. Lots of comings and goings & hushed voices.
Mrs Bond had lived in the street longer than anyone could remember so it was unlikely that she would be moving although all the signs indicated that that was exactly what was happening.
Mrs Elizabeth (The Mouth) Trundle had even had the temerity to ask outright what was going on but Janice had ignored her, pretending not to have heard.
She didn’t need to be polite to them any longer. Peter and Jane had ferried what remained of her furniture to Peter’s garage where it would stay until she decided what to do with it. Handley the second-hand furniture dealer from Brute Street had taken his pick “There’s not the call for this stuff nowadays, the youngsters don’t appreciate this sort of quality they all want new stuff,” Handley had said.
I remember when just after the war he had obtained tea chests full of old army helmets which he somehow managed to dispose amongst the neighbourhood children. If he could sell those he could sell anything.
We were only taking the essentials such as a Bed, a Cooker, the Welsh Dresser a few prize possessions and personal stuff on this trip.
Despite the secrecy several neighbours stood at their front gates watching in the cold morning light, somehow aware by the jungle telegraph that today was a big day.
"Don’t slam the bloody door Mum.”
“There’s no need to use bad language Peter it doesn’t do anything for you. I just wanted to make sure it didn’t fly open and I would fall out. And don’t mutter under your breath, I heard what you said.”
“Sorry Mum. Have you got to hand the keys in?"
"No I handed them in last night once I was sure that I wouldn't need them any more. Besides I kept back the spare set."
"What on earth for?
"I don't really know. I just thought they might come in handy, anyway the rent is paid for another two weeks so I can hold them until then. Do you know I had to give four weeks notice?"
"Just put them through the letter box. So are we all ready, anybody you want to say goodbye to before we leave?"
"No, glad to see the back of the place, and the people. I thought Laura and the children might come to see me off."
”They were still in bed when I left.”
"Right."
“Well give everybody a smile and a wave.”
"Look on it as a new adventure, a new life," said Jane.
"Hmm, let’s hope we find a decent place to get some lunch."
It’s three weeks before my birthday on the twenty third, so I am an Aries, dynamic and forceful. Just so you know. I am quite young for my age, which I shall not be telling, as a ladies age is her own business
The trip from the West Midland town of Stripford to the small market town of Upper Magister near the south coast took eight and a half-hours. It could have taken a lot less if Janice had allowed her children who were taking it in turns to drive, to use the M6 motorway, but Janice was determined to enjoy the journey and couldn't see any pleasure in travelling non stop on the motorway. It's better to travel hopefully than arrive, she had told them.
Early in February a conversation between her daughter Jane and her son Peter had been the primary cause of the move.
"Mum will have to move into a smaller place where it is easier for her to manage and she can cope for herself Peter. I can't continue helping with all her cleaning and chores. The place is getting too much for her. The last winter was nearly the end of her what with her chest and that"
“I thought you liked helping her. Anyway she’s not that bad.”
“Typical man, just because I do it doesn’t mean I enjoy doing it. It’s just a job that has to be done. But it means that my own life has to be put on hold.”
"Yes I see your point but will she agree?"
"Well if she doesn’t you will have to take your turn in doing the work.”
“You know that I would love too but I have plenty to do with my own job and as for Laura she can barely stand her.”
“Don’t you think I have a job to do as well. Anyway I might have a solution. I have heard of some sheltered flats down at Upper Magister near the south coast. They are run by a Social Housing Charity. There is a Sheltered Housing Officer on site whose job it is to look in on the tenants and make sure they have everything they need. Apparently it used to be a mansion but it fell into rack and ruin and then there was war damage until finally it was sold off and the developers demolished it and built sheltered housing designed for distressed gentlefolk but nowadays they allow anybody to live there."
"That’s a bloody long way away, couldn't you find somewhere closer?"
"Probably but it could take a while, whereas this place is available now, they only become available when somebody dies. Most people once they move in stay. Besides you know Mum & Dad always planned to settle on the south coast."
Maybe but its a bit different now that she's on her own."
"Nonsense, that is the whole point of it, she wouldn't be on her own. There is a fast train from Manchester that stops at Birmingham, so we could easily visit."
"The kids will miss her."
"Who are you kidding. Your Kristin has no time for anybody except herself and Jake doesn't even know she exists, the amount of time he gives her. He only notices you are not there when he wants his pocket money. The children don't pay her any attention, they are hardly likely to even notice she is gone."
"Won’t she miss her garden?"
" Have you seen the state of it? I doubt if she has been out there since Dad died. Even the old Magnolia looks like its dying, I always loved that tree. Did you know the neighbours have started complaining to me about the overgrown state of the garden? Mr Picket offered to come round and mow the lawn if I paid him £5. Anyway there is a communal garden and I'm sure that if she wants to she will be allowed to potter about in it. Stop looking for excuses."
"Can we get her in there, won’t there be a long waiting list?"
"I think I can swing something through my contacts at work. There are special arrangements."
"So it is just a question of persuading her to go. That won't be easy she's lived here most of her life. You know how stubborn she can be."
"I'll explain to her that I'm not going to be available as frequently. It might soften her up to find that I'm not able to be at her beck and call all the time."
It wasn't easy persuading Janice that the time had come to make a break.
"Weren't you and dad going to move to the south coast on his retirement anyway? You will be fulfilling part of his dream. He wouldn't like to think of you stuck in this big house on your own."
" I’ve always lived here ever since we got married. It's not the same on your own, we were going to be together, I wish he hadn’t abandoned me like that."
"He did not abandon you mother, he died" said Jane exasperatedly. "He did not chose to leave you. I miss him as well but it is time to
move on."
"Now you and Peter want to get rid of me as well. I'll never see you." Janice let a tear leak from her eye.
"Of course you will mum, don't cry, I often go down to London for work and I could easily come on to see you. I was talking to Peter and he said that we could both come down during our holidays and spend a few days with you."
"Oh you’ve already mentioned it to Peter have you. Plotting behind my back as usual.”
“Of course not Mum, it’s just came up in the conversation. We were talking about how sad it was that you spent so much time on your own since Dad died.”
“If you say so. But how could I put you up if I've only got one bedroom?"
"We will sort something out mother don't you fret. Do you think I would abandon the best mum in the world?"
"Well if you promise."
"It will be an adventure, you could do with a bit of excitement in your life.“
They keep emphasising the excitement and adventure aspects of everything as if I could be doing with all that at my time of life.
“You will really like it. Look I've got a brochure that shows you what it looks like and explains it all." Thrusting the brochure into her mother’s hands Jane leaned back exhausted.
"I shall have to talk it over with Peter before I make any decision Jane. He might not like me being so far away."
"Okay mum I will give him a call and ask him to call round."
"Don't bother I am quite capable of calling him myself when I am ready. I am not going to let you rush me into this."
"No of course not mum. I will call round in a couple of days to see what you have decided."
Peter was blunt and to the point.
"It will suit you down to the ground. There will always be other residents for you to talk with. Jane or I will phone you frequently to make sure you are all right and if you really don't like it you can come back and stay with one of us."
"Promise."
"Would I lie to you Mother?"
Of course he would if it suited him but I am not going to say anything, he always calls me mother when he is telling fibs. They both think I have lost my marbles but I know what I know.
" Very well then on those conditions I accept."
Everything happened very fast after that. Much of the furniture was put into storage in Peter's garage. "There won't be room for everything and I will look after it for as long as you want" Peter said.
Two weeks later we were on our way.
When Janice left our West Midlands home for the final time she was in my thoughts every mile of the way. To me "until death us do part" meant more than just that, it meant now and forever. I watched while Peter made his inane remarks and cringed when Jane asked her if she was excited. Excited, she was bloody scared stiff. I know that she had worried that I might get under feet when I retired but she was saved that. Just because I had wanted to get to work early to make sure the shelves had been restocked overnight. Bloody bus. The pain had been excruciating. Sharp pains as if my chest was in a vice and shooting down both my arms. My first thought had been Janice would kill me, I knew that she will see it as abandonment. I worried about how she would manage but all had turned out right in the end.
Unlike Janice I did feel a tinge of excitement when we first saw Paradise Lodge.
Upper Magister is a small market town about thirty miles North-east of Bournemouth
and about ten miles from the coastal town of Liddlemouth at the estuary of the River Liddle. A town for the elderly with a traffic free High Street, Ample parking near the shops and a disabled scooter shop which does a thriving business.
Now the van turned into the tree lined street and there on the left was their destination. An old wooden gate bearing a blue plastic nameplate boasting the name Paradise Lodge Retirement Homes stood propping itself against a brick wall.
Having manoeuvred the gravel path to a small car park, Peter edged into a space between a clapped out old Vauxhall saloon and a delivery van. "All out who's getting out, it’s the end of the line" Peter grinned.
'End of the line is right, the final step before the bone yard' thought Janice bitterly.
Janice Bond caught her first glimpse of her new home. A grassy courtyard surrounded by twelve blocks of two storied flats, plain pink stucco like blancmange, straight up and down, impersonal, no balconies; Janice would have dearly loved a balcony where she could sit out during the summer without being bothered by other people. They looked as if somebody had taken a sixties tower block, cut it into cubes and dumped them. She knew from the brochure that she had seen, that each block contained four single bedroom flats, two on the ground floor and two on the first floor making a total of forty-eight. Little patches of garden which tenants had commandeered by ignoring the keep off the grass notices that technically forbade them from approaching their plots.
At the entrance to each block was a sign stating its name and the numbers of each flat within. The block where Janice had been allocated flat 40 on the first floor was called Winston, others were named after other military leaders such as Gordon, Beresford, Nelson, Beatty, Drake, Haig, Wellington, Hawkins, Mountbatten, Raleigh and Cheshire.
A couple of elderly ladies with their blue tinted hair all done up in a bouffant style were sitting on a bench outside Nelson block, their heads swivelled as one and they nodded with a smile and a wave.
I had actually looked forward to the move. It’s not often at my time of life that one gets the opportunity to start life afresh. But oh! When I saw the place.
I could see at once that Janice disliked the place. Elated she was not, "A bit too twee, like Peter Pan's Neverland" is how she would put it. She was sad that neither Peter nor Jane had wanted her to stay with either of them but had shipped her off to the wilds of the south, it being the only place they had been able to get at such short notice. She never said much but I could tell. It was a horrible pink colour but Janice actually never seemed to mind that.
Despite the grey overcast sky that had followed them from the Midlands daisies scattered the grass. Pigeons bossily strutted around as if they owned the place. Grey squirrels leaping like acrobats between the trees that edged the perimeter of the grounds. Flying rats she thought scornfully, although they were quite attractive with their white bibs and fluffy tails. A gnome in denim jeans, shirtsleeves and a flat cap, sat on another bench, nearby a small black and white mongrel dozed; she peered over the top of her glasses to see if he had a fishing rod.
He nodded, "Afternoon Missus."
All that was missing were the fairies dancing in a little dell and no doubt some of the residents could see them too she mused. Her thoughts soon turned to despair. She was only there because neither of her two children had wanted her living with them, and don't let anyone tell you different, although they wouldn't admit it.
"A new life with people your own age and interests." Peter had said. Well she hadn't seen any yet; most of them looked ready to fall off the perch at any minute. A tear trickled down her cheek.
"Don't cry mum, you'll soon settle in."
"I'm not crying Jane, just a speck of dirt in my eye."
The gnome stood up and started tending a flowerbed. Pulling up daffodil bulbs and lying them in a pile. "Cheap flowers daffs, last forever mind you, just pull them up and save them until next year, always remind me of Spring, as you sow so shall you reap, my old feller told me that," he muttered to her.
After spending over eight hours, in a white van for god’s sake, I wasn't in the mood to take prisoners. " I'm sure he did," I snapped feeling like I could scream. Although I must admit it had been quite comfortable, and the children had been good company for a while.
I like them well enough but a few hours of their company and that is sufficient. You are supposed to love your children and god knows I do, the sacrifices I made for them but that didn't mean you had to spend every waking hour with them.
I had always known that I just was not a natural mother but what could you expect being bro
ught up during the thirties when a girl was just seen as an affliction.
Taking Jane to the nursery for the first time I had felt an immense relief as if a burden had been lifted. Only to suffer again when three years later I had fallen for Peter, and had to go through the whole thing again.
I just wished they were not so full of life about everything, pointing out this and that as if they were the only people who had ever been anywhere. The truth is they were just relieved to get me out of the way, hundreds of miles away from my home and where they still lived. Though time would tell. They would miss all those little things I did for them. I know the children think that I am losing my marbles but my mind is as clear as ever. Everyone has senior moments but it doesn’t mean they are potty. I might be snowy upstairs but I’ve got all my own teeth.
Now her bum ached from so much sitting and her back was stiff. She could feel a migraine coming on, a dull throb at the back of her head.
Stopping for a meal at a service station had been a rare treat, although there was a Little Chef back home she had never been in one before. Arthur had always said home cooked meals are the best but then he had never had to cook them.
Fish and chips on the way home from the Regal picture house had been Arthur's idea of a Saturday night treat, and he always seemed to begrudge even that. He wasn’t what you could call a mean man, just a bit careful with his money. Never bought ice creams in the pictures like Mickey Mitchell had when I was fourteen.
