13 Dates by Dunn Matt

Author:Dunn, Matt [Dunn, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781612185798
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2017-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

We’re on the back foot the moment we arrive at Parkview, because it’s not actually anywhere near the park, and even peering out of one of the poky-looking rooms at the top of the slightly rundown two-storey building with a pair of powerful binoculars, I doubt you’d have a view of anywhere that has so much as a distant view of the park. The only park it does overlook is the next-door car park, a huge concrete monstrosity that blocks out the light, and while it occurs to me to mention that perhaps that’s where the home got its name from, given the look of disappointment on Mary’s face, that wouldn’t be such a great idea.

She gives the doorbell a firm push, and after a moment, a stern-looking middle-aged woman dressed in a blue nurse’s uniform cracks it open.

‘Can I help you?’ she says suspiciously.

‘Mary Davidson. I phoned yesterday.’

The woman – Candice, according to the badge pinned to her chest – stares blankly back at her in an ‘a lot of people phoned yesterday’ kind of way.

‘And?’

‘I understand you have a vacancy?’

‘To live here?’

‘I think I’m a little old to apply for a job, dear.’

Candice narrows her eyes, as if trying to decide whether Mary might be trouble. ‘Right. Well, you’d better come in, then.’

As she opens the door fully, Mary gives me a look, then I follow her inside, squeezing past Candice in the narrow hallway. She bolts the door carefully behind us, and Mary nudges me.

‘Do you think that’s to keep people out, or in?’

‘I think we’re about to find out.’

We’re ushered into the reception area, a tiny space with a water cooler bubbling away like someone with a bad case of dysentery in the corner, and a small table at the far end, where Candice motions us towards what looks like a visitor’s book.

‘Did you want us to sign in?’ I ask. ‘Or is this for leaving a review?’

‘Sign in,’ says Candice flatly. ‘We take security very seriously.’

I scan down the list of names. Given that the last few entries include a ‘Pearl E. Gates’ and a ‘Jerry Atrics’, it appears that’s not a sentiment shared by the home’s visitors.

‘Okay. Do you have a pen?’

Candice pats her pockets, then sighs, as if the absence of a biro is the latest in a long line of things that have plagued her day. ‘Don’t worry,’ she says, as if doing us the biggest favour possible. ‘So, Mary, was it?’

‘It still is, dear. I’m not dead yet.’

‘When did you want to move in?’

Mary makes a face. ‘I don’t know if I do, yet. I thought I’d come for a tour first.’

‘A tour?’

‘Of the facilities. And perhaps meet some of the – what do you call them . . . ?’

‘Residents,’ says Candice, in the same way a prison governor might say ‘inmates’.

‘If that’s all right?’ says Mary sweetly.

‘Fine,’ says Candice, in a tone that suggests it isn’t really, and as if we’re already proving to be difficult customers.

Without another word,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.