Elderly Woman Struggles to Rise and Go to the Yard with a Bowl of Bread.
The elderly woman hauled herself out of bed with difficulty. Leaning against the wall, she shuffled to the door. In the kitchen, she picked up a bowl of breadcrumbs and stepped out into the yard.
“Feels like Im rusting away. Those hens clucking so loudlyshould I let them into the garden? Wont catch them again by nightfall. Oh, what am I thinking? Any day now, my daughter-in-law will pack me off to a care home.”
She unlatched the henhouse door. Seven hens scurried out, followed by a proud rooster strutting behind. The old woman scattered the crumbs for them, then headed to the loo.
When she stepped back out, she glanced at her vegetable patch.
“Gwendoline,” came her neighbours voice by the fence. “Still keeping busy, are you? Nearing ninety now, arent you?”
“How could I not, Felicity?” The old woman edged closer to the fence. “Still got the cabbages and carrots to harvest. Lucky Michael and his Irene dug up the potatoes for me.”
“Youve got a good grandson!”
“Hard for him now, without his dad,” the woman began to weep.
“Now, now, Gwendoline, no more tears,” Felicity soothed. “Your boys not suffering anymore. A whole year without movinghow do you think he felt? Now hes watching over you from above.”
“Felicity, he was only sixty. Strong as an ox! And in just a year, he withered away.”
“Soon enough, Ill be joining my son.”
“Dont rush it, Gwendoline! Theres time yet. Live a little longer!”
“Live how? My legs barely hold me,” she sighed heavily. “Late September already, and the chills setting in. Howll I manage alone?”
“But youve your daughter-in-law and grandchildren.”
“Oh, Felicity, what are you on about? Michaels got three kids and his mother-in-law living with him. Joannas in a cramped one-bed flat with her two.”
“And Catherine, the daughter-in-law?”
“All she thinks about is my passing. After Daniels forty-day mourning, I overheard her telling Joanna shed sell my house to buy her a flat.”
“Dont you agree to it, Gwendoline!”
“Joannas my granddaughterlet her live decently.”
“And you?”
“Theyll cart me off to a home, I suppose. At least there, someonell look after me. Here, Im even scared to light the stove. No firewood left, either. Ill freeze, and no onell know.”
“Thank you, Felicity. Right, best be off,” she waved. “Let the hens loosenow theyre all over the garden. Best fetch the eggs!”
The yards mistress hobbled back to the henhouse.
By morning, Gwendoline felt the cold deepen. She barely wanted to leave the warmth of her blankets. But she must.
She rose, shivering, wrapped herself in a shawl, and stepped outside. No sooner had she fed the hens than her grandsons car pulled up. He usually visited weekendstoday was Wednesday. The old woman knew change was coming.
“Morning, Gran!”
“Whats happened?” Gwendoline frowned.
“Enough of you living alone,” he gestured skyward. “Winters coming.”
“But my hens? The cabbages and carrots still need pulling,” she fretted.
“Gran, Ill tend the hens. Ill harvest the lot while you pack. Go on, hurry up!”
Gwendoline dawdled. Shed lived here over sixty years, since William brought her as his bride. It was where Daniel was born. Fifteen years since William passednow Daniel too. She sank onto a bench and wept.
Time slipped by before she jolted up, peering out the window. Her grandson had already uprooted every carrot and was chopping cabbages. A fine haulhuge heads. She took a deep breath and began gathering her things.
“What to take? Leaving it alls a shame. Cant take everything. Will the home even allow it? Ill take the photo albumto remember. Must gather the papers too. Theyll sell the housewhat if they cant find the deeds? Clothes, then. New ownersll toss the lot.”
“Gran, you done yet?” Her grandson interrupted. “Harvests all in the shed. Ill distribute it this weekend.”
He loaded her belongings into the car, helped her in, and drove off. Gwendoline gazed out the window, bidding the village farewell.
The town wasnt far. Soon, rows of terraced houses appeared. The car stopped.
“Oh, were at Daniels,” Gwendoline realised, puzzled. “Come to say goodbye to Catherine?”
“Aunt Gwendoline!” Catherine greeted her brightly, even pecking her cheek.
“Hello, Catherine!” Though inwardly, she thought, “Worried I wont sign the house over, I expect.”
“Aunt Gwendoline, weve cleared a room for youwhere Daniel spent his last days.” Catherines eyes welled up.
“Weve done it up,” she guided her mother-in-law inside, “new bed, new wardrobe.”
“Catherine,” the old woman finally grasped her meaning. “So youre not sending me to a home?”
“Mum, mum, enough now!”
“Why the tears?”
“Gran, whered you get the idea wed sell your house?” Her grandson laughed. “Turning it into a holiday getaway for us all. Summers there, with the woods right there.”
Gwendolines heart swelled with joy. After all, she had such fine grandchildren.
“And what a daughter-in-law Ive got! Howd I miss that for forty years?”
