Chapter 31
When Gemma and Laila went to the hospital to collect Timothy, he was sitting in the guest chair next to the bed.
‘Look at this, two of my favourite ladies,’ he said.
‘You’re going home!’ Gemma clapped.
‘Yes, and we need to celebrate,’ he answered.
‘There’ll be plenty of time for that,’ Laila said.
‘Do you need to check out with the nurse?’ Gemma asked.
‘Done, and I’ve seen the doc. I’m ready to go.
’ His bag was packed, his hair neatly combed, and a handkerchief poked out from the top of the left breast pocket of his short-sleeve shirt.
But he still had a protective boot on his injured leg and when he stood up, he had to steady himself on the arm of the chair.
‘Will you really be all right?’ Laila was still concerned.
‘I bloody well hope so. My arm’s better and my foot only aches when I try and run.’
Laila sighed and looked at Gemma. She knew what Laila wanted to say and, as it was as good a time as any, she nodded at the teenager to go ahead.
‘Gramps, we … I mean, I … was thinking that it might be a good idea for you to have a medical emergency bracelet. Just in case you do something silly like go for a run and have another fall.’
‘I don’t need one of those! I’m done with falling. And I was joking about the run, ha-ha! No need to worry, Ley-ley.’ He patted her hand.
Laila smiled at him reluctantly but turned to glare at Gemma.
‘It’s not a bad idea, Timothy—’ Gemma began.
‘It is a silly idea. Those bracelets are for people who have Zimmer frames or a pre-existing medical condition. I have neither.’
‘No, but Gramps—’
‘Ah-ah.’ He waggled a finger at her. ‘I don’t want to hear another word about it. Come on, you two, put your arms in mine. Never has anyone had such a beautiful pair of crutches!’ Timothy laughed.
Gemma picked up Timothy’s bag, even though she could tell he’d rather not have had any help at all. Then she and Laila each linked one arm into his, and they accompanied him out of the hospital.
‘It’s looking good up here,’ Timothy said with pride as he took in the top deck of his houseboat. ‘Has someone swept up or has something moved?’
Although the mudlarkers hadn’t wanted to disturb too much on the upper level, the arrangement of pot plants had been an obvious hazard, and it didn’t look as if it had been swept or spruced up for years.
‘I gave it a little tidy, Gramps,’ Laila said. ‘And rearranged some of the pots. I hope you don’t mind.’ Laila exchanged a look with Gemma. She was clearly worried about his reaction given his vehement insistence on not needing an emergency aid.
‘I like it, thank you.’
‘Careful down these steps,’ Laila warned.
‘Yes, yes.’
‘Why don’t you go first, Laila, and I’ll follow Timothy?’ Gemma suggested.
‘Please don’t fuss,’ Timothy said.
Slowly and carefully, they accompanied Timothy down the stairs to where Nick and Phyllida were sitting on the sofa.
While they wanted to surprise Timothy, they had already agreed they didn’t want to give him a shock so that he ended up in hospital again.
They decided that a simple joint call of ‘Surprise!’ would be more than enough to set the scene, rather than any sudden appearances from behind doors or an explosion of party whistles and streamers.
Laila started it off, followed by Nick and Phyllida, who in their enthusiasm flung their arms in the air, and Gemma, who was ready to steady him if he wobbled in shock.
‘Goodness me!’ Timothy exclaimed. ‘My heart’s going like the clappers. I think I’m going to have to sit down.’
‘Of course, of course.’ Nick shot out of his seat and helped Timothy over to his special armchair.
Timothy let out a rush of air as he sank into it and shook his head again in disbelief. ‘I wasn’t expecting this.’
‘There’s nothing nicer than a welcoming party,’ Phyllida said. ‘And you must say hi to my husband who’s joining us by phone. I hope you don’t mind.’ Phyllida waved to Timothy as if encouraging a child to wave, too.
‘Hello, husband,’ Timothy called out.
‘Hi, mate. I’m Robert,’ said Robert, who sounded like he was trapped in a tunnel.
‘Robert’s been poorly,’ Phyllida added.
‘Join the club, old chap.’
Robert said something else, but Phyllida quickly lowered the sound to make it harder for the others to hear him.
‘Right, who wants some bubbles and cake?’ Nick went to pour sparkling wine and dish up slices of carrot cake with frosting so thick, it was like a slab of recently fallen snow.
‘Where did you find these?’ Timothy said, studying the champagne flute Nick gave him, as if he’d never seen it before.
‘In a cupboard,’ Nick said.
‘I haven’t seen them for years.’
‘They were tucked away behind … I don’t know, something else—’
‘Wait a minute,’ Timothy said, looking around. ‘Where’s the stuff that was on the coffee table? And where are my dogs?’
The mudlarkers exchanged nervous looks.
‘We did some tidying,’ Gemma said hesitantly.
‘And cleaned,’ added Laila.
‘We thought, as it hadn’t been lived in a for a couple of weeks, it’d be nice to come back to a freshened-up home,’ Nick said.
‘Hmm,’ Timothy grunted, as he took in the changes to his houseboat.
Gemma sensed collective breath holding.
‘It’s certainly neater …’ he mumbled.
‘We haven’t thrown anything out, Gramps,’ Laila said hurriedly. ‘But now it’s, well … it’s safer. Less of an obstacle course for you.’
‘It wasn’t that much of an obstacle course before.’
‘It kinda was, Timbo,’ Nick said.
Timothy looked at him questioningly. ‘Hmm,’ he grunted again.
‘And, Gramps, look how sparkling everything is.’ Laila smiled.
‘It’s so sparkling, I almost need to wear sunglasses. Now, that would be a safety hazard.’
There was a strained silence. Gemma glanced at Laila, who looked forlorn, and then at Nick, who appeared to be forming a placatory speech but didn’t know where to start. Then, there came the tinny, faint voice of Robert from Phyllida’s phone.
‘What was that?’ Timothy said, leaning closer.
Phyllida raised the volume on her phone.
‘They care about you, mate,’ Robert shouted.
Timothy sat back and looked at the other members of The Mudlarkers’ Club.
Laila was crying now, the stress of it proving too much.
‘Don’t cry, Ley-ley,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry if I came across as rather ungrateful, but I got scared in hospital.
I didn’t want this to be the beginning of the end of my independence. ’
‘That’s why we wanted to do all of this, so you could stay independent,’ Laila said, wiping her eyes.
Timothy nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yes, well, I will concede the boat was teetering on the edge of being a health hazard and I’m not the tidiest of people. But how I do despise minimalism. At any rate, I guess I shouldn’t have let it get so bad, and this really is an improvement.’
‘Now, you don’t have to worry,’ Gemma said.
‘I suppose it was a mammoth task and you deserve a very big thank you.’
Laila dried her eyes.
‘You’ve all been incredibly kind to me as it is, visiting me in hospital, bringing food and conversation—’
‘It was nothing, really,’ Nick said, as if jokingly brushing it off.
‘I can’t thank you enough.’ Timothy surveyed the changes again. ‘You know what? Now there’ll be room for my new subscription of Beachcombing magazine.’
‘More magazines?’ Laila said in disbelief.
‘If it’s a digital subscription, it’ll be fine,’ Nick said.
‘Don’t be absurd, I’m not reading a magazine on a computer.’
Gemma, seeing Laila groan in despair, quickly added. ‘That sounds like a wonderful magazine. Perhaps you can share it with us, too, and that way, they won’t pile up here.’ Gemma glanced at Laila, hoping her comment had made her feel better.
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ Timothy said.
‘You haven’t drunk your bubbles!’ It was Robert interjecting again.
Timothy laughed. ‘Ah, yes, of course. A toast to you all.’ He raised his glass.
‘But you’ve got to promise me, you won’t have another fall,’ Laila said sternly.
‘I sincerely hope I won’t.’
‘Just don’t, all right?’
He nodded and smiled. ‘But if I do, maybe I’ll be wearing a medical emergency bracelet and it’ll be all right …?’ he said teasingly, letting the proposition linger reassuringly in the air as he sipped his wine.
July Discoveries:
A shard of Yellow Staffordshire slipware that resembles a bite of almond tart decorated with dark chocolate feathering.
Part of a Victorian white ceramic Gosnell Bros and Co Cherry Toothpaste pot lid.
Five handmade pins and how I’ve just learnt that the term ‘pin money’ was used for the money women were given to buy clothing pins for the household.
How Phyllida makes a mean chocolate brownie (it was so good, it might even inspire me to have a go at baking!).
And, more significantly, whenever you find out that others are going through ‘stuff’, as you are, how this knowledge of mutual angst is like an elixir of comradeship.