gammy hands.’
Joseph pushed Denise’s arm playfully, ‘Oi, don’t make fun of my mitts.’
Denise winked at Mia, ‘You’re a big girl. How old are you?’
‘Almost ten,’ Mia replied.
‘That,’ Denise said to Joseph, ‘is a very good age for games.’
Joseph put his hand up, gesturing he’d had enough tea. ‘Any age is a good age for games,’ he retorted.
‘Well, there comes a time when...’
‘Thank you, Denise,’ he said, dismissing her. ‘Leave me to talk to Mia.’
Denise tossed the remaining tea over the patch of grass near the roadside.
Mrs Glasson approached the nurse, ‘I’m Mrs Glasson, Mia’s mum.’
‘Well, I didn’t think you were her sister,’ Denise said with raised brow.
‘Ha, yes. I guess I’m so used to introducing myself as Mia’s mum.’
Denise smirked, not taking her eyes off her charge.
‘Joseph said he’s been unwell?’
Denise nodded.
‘Did something happen? Have you known him long?’
Denise paused before answering, glancing at Joseph, ‘You could say that.’
Mrs Glasson smiled, waiting for more information.
‘Last Christmas he had a fall, and I’m to provide homecare until he’s well enough to fend for himself. Isn’t that right, Joseph?’
Joseph didn’t seem to hear, too busy talking to Mia.
Denise didn’t wait for the reply. ‘He took ill during recovery, the lack of movement isn’t good for them, you know, so I’ve stayed on since. Every morning he has made me come down and check the wall for a letter. As if I don’t have enough to do...’
Joseph was speaking to Mia. His voice was very quiet and he spoke slowly. Each word seemed to be a great effort. Mia had to listen carefully to hear and understand him.
‘I’m on borrowed time,’ he said.
Mia’s mind raced to understand what Joseph was telling her. Borrowed time? Who did he borrow time from?
‘I’ve already outlived my doctor’s expectations,’ he was saying.
Mia was more confused than ever. Is he leaving? No, it sounded more serious than that. Could he be...? Mia’s ears grew hot as she flushed. Not only had she spent an entire year playing a game with someone she thought was like her, but now, well, she might not be playing with anyone. She had never before thought of death or sickness, she didn’t know how she felt so said nothing of her thoughts but instead listened to the man tell his story. He recounted parts of his life to Mia as if reading his final chapter. Mia tried to understand the meaning of his words. She was at the start of her life and had never been alone, as Joseph had been for many years. She learnt that Joseph had had a wife he adored but that she had passed away twenty years earlier.
‘I stayed on in our home for a few years living amongst her things, but one day I couldn’t feel her anymore.’
Mia nodded, ‘Have you lived alone long?’
‘The last seventeen years.’
‘That’s ages. What are your neighbours like?’
Joseph used his handkerchief to dab his face, ‘Don’t really know. I nod at Deborah every now and then when she’s out getting her paper, other than that I keep to myself.’
‘Do you go out much?’
Joseph rested both hands on the top of his cane, ‘No, my wife was the social one. When we were young we were real socialites. Well, more her than me. She’d almost never say no to a night out and I’d have to find excuses not to attend that social faff...’
Mia tried to imagine a younger more vital Joseph. She thought his clothes, though clean and pressed, were from a lifetime ago – charming in a way. His trilby hat sat loosely on his head and now and then he adjusted it revealing wispy hair and a spotted scalp.
‘...of course, I’d go to any and all of those boring nights if it meant having her back.’
‘Do your friends visit you?’
Joseph shook his head, ‘Not since Rose passed. I have found there are few people worth knowing, and even fewer you can trust.’
Mia raised her brows and tried to think of something to say. She had lots of people in her life and couldn’t imagine having no one. She was relieved when he spoke again.
‘I suppose I have had to be very careful who I mix with,’ he moderated. ‘Some time ago I was entrusted to keep a secret, a very important secret. Because of that I have kept to myself not wanting anyone to find out.’
He looked away realising that the young girl looked uncomfortable, as though she’d heard something for the first time. He paused recalling some distant memory, perhaps of Rose, his dead wife, before bringing himself back to Mia. He smiled and wiped the corner of his mouth before continuing.
‘You, I have come to know, are a good person. Your mother seems a good sort too,’ he added, with a nod in her direction.
Mrs Glasson had moved from her place on the grass to sit further along the wall with Denise. The two ladies were talking and seemed to be getting along very well.
Joseph fell silent for a few moments as he watched Mia draw one foot in an arch across the other, as was her way when she tried to work things out.
‘You know, I go to dance lessons.’
‘Right yes, I think you told me. Ms Justine’s your teacher right?’
‘Yes, that’s right – well there’s a girl there and when I’m there, she won’t let me play with others, she just wants me to herself.’ Mia looked up at Joseph before continuing. ‘She’s always pulling me away from others and from what I want to play. Always pulling, pulling.’
Joseph nodded his head sagely, ‘There will always be people like that who will try to pull you away from your desires, your destiny. Keep yourself first. People shouldn’t let themselves be swayed from what’s right for them or persuaded to leave their dreams behind.’
Mia wasn’t sure what Joseph meant exactly but she felt that what he said was the truth. Suddenly she realised she had already wasted enough time on the girl. She told herself she would give the girl that troubled her no more of her time. It was as if Joseph had given her the permission she needed to do what she wanted.
‘In the end,’ continued Joseph, ‘we are born alone and often, we die alone. We must live in a manner that is true to ourselves.’
Mia
