Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Shut Out

Tuesday 11th April


Day 356


Before our picnic lunch we gather round my father in his reclining chair. My brother says,


‘What shall we do when you are gone? Who will be the head of the family?


Who will be the chief in our village when there are only the elders left?


I can’t imagine it. That aching empty space.


I call my husband on my mobile after his meeting with the partners in his company.


They say I have to leave,’ he says. ‘In two months time’.


Later, he opens a bottle of wine and we drink it while I chop mushrooms and leeks for supper. He shows me the proposals, the figures for our future on the piece of paper from the meeting. They look like options. But I can see they are an ending. A door he thought was open for two more years is closing. Shutting him down.




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