A New Lease on Life

Connie used the shower first and, while I scrubbed myself, she got dressed and went into the kitchen to help Mum with dinner.

"Did you get everything done that you wanted to today?" Mum asked.

"Yes, we make a good team, we work really well together."

"In more ways than one I think. How soon before you two decide when we're having a wedding?"

"We want to have the house finished so that we can move straight into our own home and not have to rent for a while."

"You could always live here while it's being built, let's face it you practically live here now."

"Thanks for the offer, but we've discussed it and this is what we want to do."

"What do you want to do?" Dad asked as he came in from the garage.

"I told them that, if they wanted to get married soon that they can live here with us while they finish their house."

"Sounds good to me." Dad replied.

"But we're determined to have our house finished before we get married."

"What are we talking about?" I asked as I came into the kitchen.

"Mum and Dad want us to get married soon, and have offered to let us live here with them while we build." Connie had been calling them 'Mum' and 'Dad' for some time.

"While I like the sound of the first part, if we do that there won't be the strong motivation to finish. That we have our own place before we marry is a realisation of our dreams."

"I'll tell you what I'll do." Dad said. "Seeing as how I'm getting more work from Harvey's, and that's largely due to you and your plans, I'll work out how much profit I stand to make, and provide labour and expertise to the value of that profit, just so that you can finish it sooner. It's not that I don't want you two living here, it's that I know that you two want to get married sooner rather than later."

"I don't want you to lose out on this. Look, I'm working on a commercial development for Harvey's that's close to what I designed for my assessment, I'll have a chat to the developer and see if there's any opportunity for you to get a contract on the project."

Construction time on our house decreased significantly following Dad gaining the contract to build the shopping complex. Because he had to commit large blocks of time to the project, any slow periods between phases saw his sub-contractors working on our house. Six months after we'd started, and well within the twelve that I'd planned on, we were ready to move in. The furnishings were a combination of friend and family donations and stuff that we'd acquired from second hand shops. It was all good, strong stuff, especially the bed, we figured on giving that a pounding, not particularly fashionable, but it would do until we could afford to buy new.

The Pastor either decided that we were innocent of any sexual indiscretions or, that he'd overlook them, because he had no hesitation in officiating at our wedding. Connie looked absolutely fabulous as she walked down the aisle on her father's arm. He beamed at me as he handed her to me, and she positively beamed as she came to stand beside me. My sister Peggie was Connie's Bridesmaid and my best man was Jonathon, a friend from Uni. The service went off without a hitch and we ran the gauntlet of rice and confetti on our way to the car that would take us to the reception. I had decided to confound our friends who were hell-bent on doctoring my car in the usual way, by leaving it unlocked outside the reception venue. I reasoned that if there was no effort involved in finding the car and doing the usual things to it, they'd leave it alone. I was right, it remained untouched.

After a short honeymoon up the coast, we returned home, to our own home, the house that we had built, with a little help, a lot actually, and that was to become the only house that we would ever live in, and that we would raise our family.

Connie finished her Paediatrics qualifications and found work at our local hospital. She was there for three years before having to give it up because Warren was well on his way. He was followed in quick succession by Trudi and Jenny. We called a halt at three and Connie had her tubes tied to prevent any further additions.

It was a happy family life for us, we were comfortably well of financially and Connie and I made sure that we spent as much time with the kids as we could. Holidays were family holidays right up to the time that they each married and moved on with their own lives. Trudy became a Teacher and moved to wherever she was sent, her first posting was a High School in a rural city where she met Bryan, a fellow teacher and they married a year later. Jenny had decided that she wasn't cut out to be a Teacher, so she became a Landscape Architect and found work with the State Government in its Environmental Planning Department. She married an MP and became active in politics, supporting his efforts to convince the Government that reforms were necessary.

Warren studied Accountancy and from early on in his career he questioned why I hadn't started my own Architecture business. He argued that I could have made a lot more money than I had working for Harvey's for all of those years. I couldn't convince him that his Mother and I were content with having our modest needs met, and that we had no great desire to work ourselves into an early grave, just make more money. What I didn't tell him was that, despite the fact that my name wasn't on the business name, as a Partner in the firm I was quite well paid.

Fifty years on and Connie became ill. At first we didn't know what it was, but tests were to reveal that her constant headaches were due to a small but rapidly growing tumour on her brain. Her Doctors took scan after scan to monitor its progress and, due to its location, came to the conclusion that to operate would leave her in a vegetative state on life support. We talked it over and came to the decision that we would let nature take its course, resorting to palliative intervention when the pain became unbearable.

It was a short illness, no longer than four months, and that was when Warren had decided that he would lavish his love and attention on his dying mother.

"I don't know how to tell Warren that he's making a fool of himself coming here all the time, I can't tell him that I don't want him here, but I don't, at least not as often as he's been dropping in."

"He's an Accountant, he'll get over it." I said to her, the bitterness in my voice echoing hers.

"No. Look it won't be long now and I don't want to go leaving any animosity in the family. By the way, Trudi and the kids will call in on Saturday, she's in town for a conference and has brought Ben and Amanda with her."

"That's fine, maybe we can go out somewhere. Where would you like to go?"

"Both kids are into Art so I thought a visit to the Art Gallery would be good."

"Art Gallery it is."

"How is she getting on?" Trudi asked as Connie walked ahead of us with the kids looking at the paintings on the walls.

"She's hanging in there, but it may not be long before the pain gets too much for her. She's been having these dizzy spells and the Doctors have said that this is due to the pressure on that part of her brain."

"And nothing can be done?"

"They're doing everything that they can, but no. She's already decided that she's prepared to let it take its course, she tells me that she's just thankful that we've had the good life that we have, and that she couldn't wish for a better life."

"Yeah, I look at the two of you and think to myself that I've never seen anyone so in love for so long as the two of you. I remember Grandma telling me that they had to chuck a bucket of water over the two of you at times to stop you from embarrassing them with the way that you were always kissing and cuddling each other, even in public."

"They should talk, it was their fault, they could have told us that we shouldn't show our love for each other in public, and stopped us from making love every chance we could get, even before we were engaged, something frowned upon back then. I think they enjoyed seeing us so much in love."

"I'll have a chat to Jenny when I get home, just to bring her up to date. Have you spoken to Warren lately, Jen and I sort of avoid him as much as we can, he insists on telling us that he could make us really wealthy if we'd let him. We don't want to be rich if we end up like him."

"He's been dropping in on a regular basis, he has just about worn out his welcome, but we don't want to say anything to him about it."

"Do you want me to say something to him?"

"No, best that you keep right out of this."

Connie and I had discussed the matter of her Will, and that was when she decided that her share of the house would revert to me, and that when I died I should insist that the house be sold and that the money be split between them, forty percent going to each of the girls and the remaining twenty percent to Warren. Neither of the girls were interested in the house, they had their own very nice houses, but the money would help with little things like kids education, future wedding cost, they both had daughters, and the odd holiday.

It was almost a relief when she left me. She did it quietly, she hadn't wanted to go to hospital to die so we carried on at home as if there was nothing wrong. I kissed her good-night and she returned my kiss. "Good-night my Darling." I whispered to her. She returned my kiss but said nothing. There was nothing unusual with that. I woke the next morning and turned to her, kissing her lips. There was no response and her body was cold, she had passed away during the night. I rang her Doctor and broke the news before making myself a cup of coffee and ringing, first Trudi. "Hi Darling, it's Dad."

"She's gone, hasn't she?"

"Yes, she went quietly in her sleep."

"I'm sorry Dad, I'll take time off from work and come down and stay with you."

"That would be nice, and bring Bryan and the kids, you can stay here."

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a nuisance."

"No, I insist that you stay here, there's plenty of room for all of you. I've got to go, I need to catch Jenny before she goes to work."

My next call just caught Jenny just as she reached her front door. "Hi Jen, Darling, it's Dad. I'm just ringing to tell you that your Mother passed away during the night. I've spoken to Trudi and she and her family are coming down, I'd appreciate it . . ."

"Don't say any more, I'm on my way, I'll call Tony and let him know, he can pick the kids up and bring them around. I'll see you soon."

"Thanks Jen, and now I have to call Warren."

"Good luck with that." From this you can gather that there's no love lost between Warren and the girls.

I got Warren's wife Francine just as she was leaving. "Hi, it's your Father-in-Law, I'm just calling to let you know that Connie passed away during the night, could you call Warren and let him know for me?"

"I will when I have time, got to dash, 'bye." She was an Accountant too, and time was money to the both of them. I was relieved that Warren had already left for work.

The funeral was not a happy occasion for me, and it wasn't just that I had lost the love of my life. It was a sombre occasion made even more so by the miserable weather, it was un-seasonably cold and wet, at least I got to wear that big black overcoat that Connie had bought me for our trip to England a couple of years ago. Trudi and Jenny both looked appropriately funereal in basic black understated dresses and hats, while their kids did the best they could, given that black isn't that trendy. Warren looked like an Undertaker in his attempt to be the grieving son, but his wife had obviously decided that, as her Mother-in-Law had given up making an effort to let her into the family, she wouldn't make any effort to look sad on this occasion. It was obvious that Warren and she had had words, they hardly spoke to each other during the funeral and afterwards, as we gathered around sipping coffee and munching on little snacks provided by the funeral Directors.

I miss Connie very much. I have never loved another woman, never made love to another woman. Our bed, rather than giving me comfort, made my loss even sadder. Trudi and Jenny stayed with me for as long as they could, but eventually they had to leave me, after extracting from me a promise to keep my chin up, to attend to their own families.

I drifted, moving through life on auto-pilot, and trying not to dwell on my loss. I tried to think only of the good times that Connie and I had experienced over the years, but that opened up the void even more. The girls rang at least once a week, just to check on me, I told them that I was growing a beard, not because I couldn't be bothered shaving, but because I had one years ago and had shaved it off because Connie had complained about getting a beard rash. I didn't tell them that it wasn't only around her mouth that she had the rash, I thought that might have been too much information.

After Warren's visit I was feeling even worse so I decided that I needed to get out of the house for a while. I went shopping, not for anything frivolous, I needed to eat, so off to the supermarket. I was just entering the Mall, the one I'd designed all those years ago, it was still my local shopping centre, when she banged into me. She had been coming out of the mall with her bag of groceries when this young kid on a skateboard slammed into her, knocking her off her feet and into me.

"I'm sorry." She said as she scrambled to her feet to allow me to get back onto mine.

"It's not your fault, there are signs all over the place banning the riding of skateboards among other things, but obviously he can't read. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, nothing a trip to hospital won't fix," Whether she was making light of her injuries to cover for the fact that she had been frightened by being knocked over, or she wasn't hurt, I couldn't work out until I saw the smile on her face. "My biggest problem is that I have to replace some of my groceries like eggs and anything in jars, they all got smashed, and I don't have money until my Pension goes into my bank account on Wednesday." (Pensions and income assistance from the government is paid directly into bank accounts her in Australia, and not by cheque.)

"Don't worry about that, I'll replace them for you."

"I can't let you do that, why I don't even know you."

"I'm Leslie Faulkner, Les to my friends, and I'm glad that I bumped into you just now."

"Emily, Emily Langley. Leslie. . . "

"Les, please."

"Les, you don't have to do this for me, I have stuff in the freezer I can have, I don't need you to replace this." She pointed to the mess oozing from her environmentally friendly re-usable supermarket bag, which you have to pay for by the way.

"I insist, come, you can help me." She followed me into the supermarket and I grabbed a trolley and headed for the deli section. I bought a handful of Marinara mix for a home-made seafood pizza. From the fresh milk section I bought some supermarket brand milk, only because it was cheap. We moved around through the meat department (chicken pieces), fruit and veg, (apples, pears, bananas, potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, onions, green peppers, you know the stuff). From there it was the bread section for fresh bread and on to the cereal section for muesli and then the grocery section, finishing off in the pet food section where I got my monthly supply of dried dog food to go with the stuff I cook up and freeze for them. On the way around I replaced her eggs and the jars of tomato paste and honey.

"I have to find some way to repay you." Emily said as we walked out of the mall.

"You could invite me to dinner one night." I said hopefully.

"Don't you have a wife at home waiting for you?" She asked.

"No, I seemed to have mis-placed her a couple of months ago, she ran off with a brain tumour." I was trying to make light of my grief, it was all a front of course.

"I'm sorry to hear that." She headed for the taxi stand to wait for a cab to take her home. She could be a while, a couple of cabs cruised up and, on seeing a Pensioner with one shopping bag, kept going, they hate short trips, and she looked to be one of those.

"Look, you could be waiting forever here, why don't you let me drop you home."

"You've done more than enough for me already, I don't want to take up any more of your time. Thank you for the offer."

"Time is something that I seem to have plenty of just now, so a couple of minutes aren't going to make a difference in the overall scheme of things." How wrong was this statement going to prove to be.

Her reluctance was apparent as she opened the door to allow me to carry her bag inside. Her unit was tiny by my standards, the whole unit could fit inside my living room, it was what is described as a bed sitting room, and in this case the bed was a single. Against one wall was a small table and two chairs, the kitchen, if you could call it that, consisted of a two plate cook top, a small toaster oven, a small sink, all on the one cupboard, and a bar fridge. I used to own a caravan that was more luxuriously appointed than this, and bigger.

Emily took off her jacket and threw it onto the bed. "It isn't much but it's all that I can afford." Her head drooped in embarrassment.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of here. Look, why don't I take you to dinner tonight?"

"I couldn't, I have nothing decent to wear."

"Wear what you have on, it's perfectly adequate for the pub. I wouldn't know what to do in a posh restaurant, I'd probably use the wrong fork or something. Please, I could do with the company and it sure as hell beats what I'd planned to cook for dinner, baked beans on toast is about my limit."

She raised her head and looked me in the eye, the beginnings of a smile edged its way from one side of her mouth to the other. Her eyes became alive and her attitude returned to what it was immediately after she'd been mown down by the skateboarder. "Okay, you'd better pick me up, I can't afford a cab."

Roast of the day (lamb, nice enough) with vegies followed by fresh fruit and cream, washed down over the course of the meal with a very nice, but inexpensive, Cabernet Sauvignon and the meal was over. "That was nice, thank you very much." Emily smiled at me. She wasn't, as suggested, wearing the clothes she wore this morning, she had a grey skirt and matching jacket over a blue blouse, not new, possibly Op Shop specials, but clean and well ironed. The conversation, once the ice had been broken and she'd relaxed, was easy flowing and intelligent. Her present situation was as a result of the high cost of specialist medicine, her husband had a protracted illness that proved to be terminal. The cost of treatment was far higher than their Health Cover could cope with. She had to give up her rental accommodation for a cheaper retirement unit after her previous Landlord showed a typical lack of compassion.

"Look, it's still early, why don't you come to my place for a coffee. No strings attached, just lonely old me wanting more of your company, I've enjoyed this evening so far and don't particularly want to end it so soon. What do you say?"

"I think I can stand you for a little while longer, no funny business, do you promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die, I promise."

"This is a nice house." Emily said as I pulled into my driveway. "It's huge."

"Yeah, I built it with a family in mind."

"You built it?"

"I also designed it. I was an Architect in a previous incarnation." I opened the door and ushered her into the living room. "Sit while I get the coffee started, how do you like yours?"

"White."

"Do you have sugar?"

"That depends, if it's instant yes, if not I'll wait and see, usually no."

I went into the kitchen and busied myself with the coffee machine, setting it to produce two cups of coffee while I put some nibbles on a tray. I frothed the milk and topped the cups up before walking back into the living room to find her looking at the stack of CD's in the entertainment unit that housed a large flat screened TV, CD player, DVD player and turntable for my collection of vinyl.