Too Young to be Old: From Clapham to Kathmandu (Frank's Travel Memoirs, #1) by Frank Kusy

Author:Frank Kusy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: travel, india, humour, eldercare, buddhism, shoestring travel
Publisher: Grinning Bandit Books
Published: 2016-11-04T04:00:00+00:00

Three days later, I had reason to be very thankful for that. Without warning, in the middle of the morning, the door to my office in the home flew open and Mr Parker, accompanied by Mr French, the Committee Treasurer, charged in.

‘Don’t say anything,’ muttered the red-faced Chairman, jabbing a key into the safe and pulling out the cash box. ‘Don’t say a word.’

My mind went into free fall. What on earth was happening here? Had I done something wrong?

I watched in dumb silence as Mr Parker flicked through all the pocket money envelopes I had earlier collected from the post office. Then I saw him pause and pick out one of them.

‘So it’s true,’ he murmured as he opened it up. ‘Been nicking money off my mum, have you, Mr Kusy? How long has this been going on?’

To say I was flabbergasted would be an understatement. I stared at Mrs Duff’s pocket money envelope – turned upside down and devoid of contents – in total disbelief.

‘I...I don’t understand,’ I stuttered helplessly. ‘I’m sure the money was there when I put it in the safe.’

‘Well, it’s not there now,’ said the grim-faced Chairman. ‘No, I’ve got you bang to rights, Mr Kusy. You’re going down for this.’

And before I could stop him, he marched over and began frisking me, digging his rough, dirty-nailed fingers into my pockets one by one, then patting me down as though I was some kind of drug smuggler. In the background I could see timid Mr French shrugging as if to say ‘I’m sorry, but what can I do?’

As shock gave way to embarrassment, I pushed my assailant away. ‘Get off of me!’ I cried unhappily. ‘I haven’t got your money. There’s been a mistake!’

‘Oh, there’s been a mistake alright,’ puffed Mr Parker. ‘And you’re the one who made it. So the cash isn’t on you, have you spent it already? I see you got a new car!’

Light began to dawn. I had given up on the helicopter idea for the time being, but I had been chanting to afford a car. It would be nice, I reasoned, to run my mum down to the coast at weekends, or simply to do errands from the home that were taking up a lot of time on foot. And then Greg, another Buddhist friend of mine, had rung and offered me his car – a very nice Ford Cortina – for next to nothing because he was moving to Spain. ‘What luck!’ I had thought at the time and drove it straight to the home to show it off to everybody. But I had been surprised by their reaction. Only John Gray had showed any interest – all the rest of the staff just looked sullen and resentful.

‘Of course, how stupid of me,’ I thought, giving myself a mental slap. ‘None of them will ever have money to buy a car. I’ve made enemies here. And one of them has set me up for a fall. Now,

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