Charity Begins at Home, Chapter 6 – Communication Problems

Richard woke up with a start; must be getting old to be falling asleep in his armchair in the middle of the afternoon! He was only 67, relatively fit and felt that he should be doing much more with his time and his life, but he seemed to have slipped into an apathetic frame of mind lately and the days drifted by in a monotonous stream of meals, daily paper, walk to the shops, TV and bed. It had been over a month since that Sunday lunch with Lorna and her sister and, although he had telephoned to thank her for the lovely meal, he had not spoken to her since, leaving messages on her mobile number and leaving it up to her to contact him if she so wished.

Lorna walked briskly along the cliff path, enjoying the lovely sunny day after so much rain. She had really missed her walks and had only just got back into her stride after being laid low with a horrible bout of ‘flu for ten days. Luckily one of her neighbours had called round when they hadn’t seen her for a few days, otherwise she might be one of those poor unfortunate people who were found dead in their home weeks or months after their death. Even if anyone had telephoned her, she hadn’t had the strength to get out of bed to answer the ‘phone and her mobile ‘phone was nowhere to be found.

She pondered over the lack of communication from Richard. Their lunch together had gone well, despite Karen’s rudeness, and they had parted on good terms; he had even telephoned the following day to thank her for a delicious meal, but there had been nothing from him since and she wondered if he was waiting for her to call him. What was the social etiquette these days? In her younger day, the girl always waited for the man to telephone, but surely that was “old hat” now? Feeling invigorated by her walk she decided that she would telephone him when she got home.

Major problem; she did not have his mobile number written down. It was in her contacts list on her own mobile ‘phone, but she could not find it anywhere. The last time she remembered using it was to receive Richard’s thank you call and she must have put it down somewhere strange – it usually sat in its little pocket in her handbag. She tried the old trick of phoning her mobile from her land line but was just invited to leave a message; she had either switched it off or put it on silent. She phoned the charity shop, in case he had popped in there and left a message; no luck. The shop manager asked when and if she was coming back, so she told her she would be back for her usual shift next Tuesday, if that helped.

Richard was unsettled; he wanted to see Lorna again but was concerned that she hadn’t returned his calls – did that mean that she didn’t want to see him again? He knew where she lived but would she think it intrusive if he just turned up on her doorstep? If she didn’t want to see him, he didn’t want to upset her or be accused of stalking! On the other hand, if he did nothing, he would never know. “Get a grip, you silly man”, he chided himself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”. With that, he picked up the car keys and left the house before his courage deserted him.

No-one was at home. What did he do now? Leave a note? Just go home? He stood on the front step for a while, trying to decide what to do for the best. “Can I help you?” said a voice behind him. He turned to see an elderly lady in a pink pinny, leaning on a walking stick.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m looking for Lorna and was trying to decide whether or not to leave her a note”. “She went out about half an hour ago but I don’t know where she was going”, said Dilys. “If you want to leave a message with me, I’ll see that she gets it”.

So Richard wrote a brief note, including his address and land line number, inviting Lorna to lunch at the Royal Hotel for the following Sunday. Dilys took the note and shuffled back to her own front door.

Lorna returned home, refreshed and pleasantly tired after her walk, put on the kettle and took out some home-made shortbread biscuits; a little indulgence wouldn’t hurt and she needed to recoup her strength after her illness! Her favourite lemon and ginger tea made, she settled down in the armchair in front of the window and picked up the paper. She hadn’t done the crossword or the code word this morning, so now was the time to test her brain power. She awoke about three quarters of an hour later, tea cold in the cup and the paper on the floor – now she knew she was getting old! Giving herself a mental shake, she took the cup of tea to the kitchen and threw it away, then decided to call in on Dilys to see how she was.

Dilys was also fast asleep in her old horsehair chair which Lorna could not abide – so scratchy – but Dilys loved it and could not get comfortable anywhere else. Lorna knew that Dilys’ grandson would take it to the council tip as soon as Dilys passed away. Lorna knocked gently on the window; she didn’t want to frighten the old lady. There was no response so she knocked more loudly; still no response. By this time, she was getting concerned, so went back into her own house for the emergency key to Dilys’ house. Having let herself in, she called out loudly as she approached the sitting room, but still no response. Now a little scared, she checked that Dilys was breathing but her face was waxen and her lips tinged with blue. She phoned 999 immediately and waited impatiently for the 20 minutes it took for the paramedics to arrive – one of the penalties of living in such a lovely spot away from the town. They were gentle with Dilys and confirmed that she had suffered a heart attack; had Lorna not called in to see her, she would probably have died alone.

Back in her own home, Lorna pondered on the downside of living alone, so far from relatives. If Dilys and Amanda had not called in to see how she was a few weeks ago, would she also be really ill or dead? It didn’t bear thinking about; but thank goodness she had found Dilys in time to do something about it. When Lorna was growing up, all of the neighbours knew exactly where you were, what you were doing, and with whom! It could be extremely annoying but was also a comfort when things went wrong. She supposed that she’d better contact the grandson and let him know what was happening; she didn’t like him and knew that he was just waiting for his grandmother to pass away so that he could inherit her lovely old cottage and use it for a holiday home. She didn’t look forward to having him and his family as occasional neighbours but that was the way of the world these days.

Having telephoned Graham and let him know which hospital his grandmother had been taken to, she prepared her supper, watched some TV and went to bed early. The walk and the upset with Dilys had taken all of her energy today, despite the cat-nap in the afternoon. Her sleep was disturbed by dreams of the houses falling down the cliffs and Richard coming on a white horse to find her!

She awoke at 6 a.m. on another lovely sunny day. Should she do some gardening, go into town, go for a walk? She needed to do something physical to stop her worrying about Dilys or how to contact Richard. Or should she do some housework, in the hope that she would find the missing mobile ‘phone? The latter option seemed to be the most sensible so she set to, cleaning as if the Queen was visiting! Still no sign of the ‘phone after three hours hard work, but a gleaming house and a very tired Lorna.

Richard was now annoyed as well as worried. Surely Lorna would respond to his note and his invitation to lunch on Sunday? It was now Friday and nothing heard from her at all. He had booked a table for lunch but was not sure now whether or not to cancel it. As a last resort, he decided to go into town and call into the charity shop where she sometimes worked and see if they had been in contact with her. He was relieved but still worried when they told him that she had been quite ill with ‘flu and had not been into the shop, but would be returning to her normal shifts next Tuesday. Although they knew him, they refused to give him her land line number, so he left the shop still unable to contact her.

It was a lovely day and he decided to drive out to her home; if she didn’t want to see him, she could tell him to his face. All the way there he rehearsed his speech but it all sounded so stilted and confrontational – he was just concerned that he had done or said something to upset her and wanted the chance to put it right. His fears were put at rest when her face lit up as she opened the door to him, “Richard, how lovely to see you! I’ve been desperate to get in touch with you but have lost my mobile ‘phone and have no other means of contacting you”. “But I left a message with your elderly neighbour when I called round yesterday”, he explained.

Lorna told him what had happened with Dilys, how she herself had been ill for ten days and how she had been looking everywhere for her mobile, to the extent of cleaning the house from top to bottom. They sat in the garden, enjoying the sunshine, each other’s company and the tea and cake. This time, Richard wrote down his address and his land line number and took Lorna’s land line number as well. He was not going to risk losing touch again; this had taught him that he really wanted Lorna in his life.

They parted company at 6 p.m., with the promise of meeting for lunch at the Royal Hotel on Sunday. Richard even risked giving Lorna a hug and a kiss as he left and she went indoors with a smile on her face. As she passed the coat rack, she noticed that her raincoat was inside out, so took it down to correct it. In the left pocket was her mobile ‘phone, with 10 missed calls on it, mostly from Richard! She switched the ring tone back on and put it safely into the little pocket in her handbag so that she would not lose it again.

To be continued …….

Chapter 7

Written by Laura Wickham