Heritage Players by Chris Jennings

Author:Chris Jennings [Jennings, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Southmere Books
Published: 2020-05-25T22:00:00+00:00

4.

Now that I’d spoken to Leonard and got his approval, the next thing to do was recruit Maude Peacock.

I had to wait until she was alone before approaching. Luckily – given her personality – she usually was, and I found her nodding off in the small ‘Green Room’ just left of the reception. Filled with portraits of previous residents, the room was meant to be reserved for receiving guests, but was more often put to use as a nice place for a quiet doze.

‘Maude, I’m glad I caught you.’

She awoke with a snort, but when she saw it was me she gave a start which set her off coughing.

‘I’m not supposed to be talking to you,’ she spluttered. ‘Hester said not to.’

‘Well Hester’s not here, is she?’

So the order had been given. And they really had turned against me if word had stretched as far as Maude. I’d already noticed it at mealtimes where hardly anyone spoke to me. But I was so preoccupied with Leonard that it hadn’t bothered me too much. Still, good to have it confirmed – at least I knew what I was up against now.

‘And how often does Hester ask how you are? Very rarely,’ I pointed out. ‘But I always do, don’t I? That’s why I wanted to see you Maude, to check how you’re feeling.’

I’d thought this was the ideal gambit to get her back on side, except she then proceeded to tell me.

‘Well I had a terrible night last night, Irene, just terrible. I’m on these new pills you see, and I don’t know what they’re meant to do, but they don’t let you sleep, I’ll tell you that…’

It would be easy to think that in endlessly harping on about her medical problems Maude was looking for sympathy. And yet while you’d be expected to listen to the minutest detail, if she felt you thought her an object of pity she’d get distressed. It wasn’t sympathy she was looking for, I’d come to realise, it was admiration. Admiration that despite her many difficulties she was still here talking to you. She wanted your acknowledgement of her strength of character in the face of a unique set of health challenges.

But her challenges were not unique, and constantly drawing attention to them gained the poor women neither admiration or sympathy. Just a reputation for moaning that warned others to stay clear. But not me.

‘… Honestly, I was up half the night! And my leg, Irene. They won’t even look at it. Anyone else would have been sent straight to A&E with a leg like mine…’

And so on - completely self-absorbed. Not even the slightest interest in my own leg injury which she’d been a witness to. But I knew the drill: listen politely until she’d run out of steam and then say my piece.

I’d had a lot of time to think it through. The sleeping pills had been a distraction at first, why had they not taken with Hester? Phyllis, so I gathered, had

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