​

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

​

​

 

 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dolly and Mollie went into the pub.  It was a not a strong entrance.  They would not have won any awards.  They were not actresses; they were not beauties.  They were old.  They knew their audience.  But people make a pub - the staff, the welcome, the presence.  Dolly and Mollie had a presence.  They were precise.

 

Dolly and Mollie made an entrance.

 

Immediately I could not help but like them as they entered.  Entered stage left.

 

They seemed bemused as to how they had arrived – unsure.  Surety was their thing.

 

They were engaging.  Everyone likes the elderly.

 

Nobody wants to be them.

 

“Two Merlots- don’t make them small ones”.

 

A laugh.  Laughter is intimate, especially when you have the ability to laugh at yourself and I thought that was what they did.  First impressions count.  I counted the times they said something I admired, something that made me laugh. 

 

Laughter is intimate. 

 

They made me laugh.

 

I never said a word to them.

 

Words are so important to me.

 

I wish I could hear words more clearly.

 

Mollie could not see the words.

 

Age defines you.  It is not something you understand when you are old.  It is not something you understand when it happens to you.  It doesn’t happen to everyone.  You do not always have a choice. 

 

Why me? 

 

Why not me?

 

He cried when I was ill. 

 

Why her? 

 

Why not her?

 

Please God, never let it be him.

 

People listen to other people’s conversation.  Eavesdropping.  It is human nature.  I don’t do it so much.  I do not do this as much as others.  I am nosier than others, but it’s just that I cannot hear.

 

So, I watch people.  I try to ascertain their relationships.  I am nosey.

 

I thought they were sisters.  I thought they looked alike.  Of course, if I had looked properly, watched, I should had known.  If I could have heard.  They were not alike.  It was just that they were both old.  I had made an assumption.

 

We often assume about the old.  We often assume about children.

 

Assumptions are often wrong.

 

Recollections of time spent when the other one has not shared was the clue.

 

“When I was here with my husband … “

 

Intimate friends do not talk like that.  They may have known each other for years.  They did not know each other for decades.

 

We all repeat ourselves, we all repeat ourselves, have our catch-phrases.  They can be extremely annoying.  We don’t know we are doing it.

 

Officially.

 

If truth be known.

 

If truth be known, you can annoy me every day.

 

If truth be known, I annoy you every day.

 

If truth be known, I wake up every morning and can’t believe my luck.  If luck is a lady, Dolly and Mollie have it in spadefuls.  But nobody has spades as loaded as mine.  Good things come to those who wait.

 

And I had waited.  Waited for you to come.

 

You rescued me.

 

You made me be the person I could always be.

 

It was obvious that Dolly and Mollie were widows.  You could tell by their talk.

 

One was 98 and one was 92.  I don’t know how long they had been widows.  I don’t think I could last a day without you.

 

*

**

​

Dolly was made-up.  Make-up in crevices, the crevices of age.  Wrinkles around the eyes.  Not flattering.  Flattened hair.  Woollen hat.  A sign of the times, a forgotten time.  Hair flat, eyes bright.  Bright and alert.  Hair flat, mind sharp.  Dolly was 98.  Does wisdom come with age?  I don’t know.  I have certainly not got wiser as I have got older.

 

Mollie was younger.  She was just 92.  She had difficulty seeing, so Dolly needed to read the menu.  They read the menu after they had ordered.  Fish and chips. The specials board was an afterthought – they never gave it a thought.

 

We are never too old, or too young to help I thought.  I could learn from them.  I could learn from others, others with much less experience of life who were wiser, who had lived more.

 

Fish and chips – simple and plain.  They did not even ask what the fish was.  The fish, the dish of the day.

 

I laughed.

 

You should not laugh at your elders, at the things you do not understand.  But they were charming.  They made me laugh.  Dolly was 98, Mollie was 92.  They were out enjoying themselves in the pub.  Lunch and two large Merlots.

 

I hoped I would be like that.  Wine and chat.  Words.

 

“We usually go to the other pub in the village”.  An explanation.  There was no need.  “It’s closed – renovation”.  Mollie’s voice was full of sighs.  “Why do people always want to change things?”

 

“Why do they think things can improve?”

 

They were a choir.

 

Harmonious.

 

*

**

​

You look at older people and make assumptions.  You look at children and make assumptions.  Everyone assumes people are happy.  We assume older people have always been the same.  Intelligence tells us this is not so, but emotion is different.  Did I assume they had never been young?  I hope not.  I hope I am above that.  I unfortunately know that age is catching up on me - me who is forever young.

 

We talk to them – the elderly and the children.  We make the mistake of treating them the same.  They are not the same.  Their knowledge and understanding are not the same.

 

It was October.  We were celebrating my birthday.  Celebrating early.  A late celebration.

 

It wasn’t a trick or a treat.  It was just funny, funny laughing at other people, other people that were not you.  You could pay for that.

 

Just because you cannot see, doesn’t mean you cannot watch, doesn’t mean you cannot see.

 

*

**

​

I have always loved pubs.  Pubs are not about drinking.  Pubs are about people, they are about presence.  A pub needs a presence, a welcoming.  A landlord, landlady, a presence.  Someone who cares, someone strong.  A present.

 

*

**

 

Lesley was a welcoming presence.  She knew all about the likes of her customers.  It was not because she asked anyone – anyone can do that.

 

I was because she cared.

 

She was a presence.

 

*

**

​

Questions are simple.  Lesley did not talk to them as if they were simple.  She talked to them as if they were people.  They were.

 

“Where’s Heather”?”

 

“Sorry ladies, do you know Heather?”

 

Lesley was at a bit of a loss to find the person they were looking for.

 

She was at a bit of a loss.

 

Lesley was lost.

 

“Not working today” Lesley replied, a bit too casually for her own self.

 

Heather had not worked there for three years.  Three years since she had gone.

 

“How do you know Heather?” Lesley asked, a bit too casually for her own self.

 

“She always used to look after us, made sure we got home safe”. Was it Dolly or Mollie who spoke.  Lesley wasn’t listening.

 

Heather had made sure the ladies had got home safe.  She had not been safe.

 

Her Heather.

 

Her daughter.

 

*

**

​

Diplomacy is the word.

 

The word not spoken speaks the loudest.

 

 

*

**

​

The food arrived.  I had food envy.  Fish and chips.  Chips always need to be fat-fried and fulsome.

 

There was nothing of Dolly and Mollie.

 

Not a pick on them.

 

There was nothing left on the plate.

 

*

**

​

Lesley had wanted to be an actor.  She was too old now.  She was not acting.

 

I could always spot a deception, a falsehood.  We all tell lies.

 

Lesley was not lying.

 

People thought she was distracted on the phone.  She was not.  Lesley was doing the job she was not employed to do. 

 

Putting on a brave face.

 

“Heather can’t make it.  I have arranged for someone to give you a lift home.  It is someone I know, you don’t need to worry”.  Lesley did not want anyone to worry.  She was an experienced landlady.  She was experienced.  She was experienced in worry.

 

Dolly and Mollie took their lift home.  And they were safe.

 

Their present.

 

They had given Lesley their presence.

 

*

**

 

The batter was crispy.

 

The peas were perfect.

 

A little kindness, a little thought.

 

Dolly and Mollie were not dismissed.

 

Old ladies usually were.

 

Not noticed.

 

*

**

​

Nobody noticed the scribbling.

 

Scribbles.

 

*

**

​

‘Excellent host, attention to detail.  Attention to the elderly – we don’t always get it’.

 

Who are the elderly?  Who were they?

 

*

**

 

It was the review they had written.

 

Their scribblings.

 

Dolly and Mollie were full of praise.

 

They loved their jobs.

 

Their loved their Merlot.

 

They loved their fish and chips.

 

They loved their jobs.

 

They did it well.

 

*

**

​

A warm welcome was extended to all customers.  She even organised for us to have a lift home.  We did not ask for this.

 

We did ask for something that could not be delivered.  We did not know.  We only found out later, when it was too late.  Old ladies make mistakes but we were not mistaken in this place.

 

Lesley delivered.

 

I am 98 quoted Dolly.  My companion, Mollie, is 92.

 

We exist said Mollie, everyone whether old or young wants to feel special.

 

We were made to feel special.

 

*

**

​

That is what they scribbled.

 

That is what they wrote in their pub review.

 

That was their job.

 

They loved their jobs.

 

*

**

 

I liked Dolly and Mollie.  I don’t know their names.

 

I made a mistake.

 

I underestimated age.

 

I judged where it was their place to judge.

 

They judged wisely.

 

Never judge a book by its cover.

​

​

​

 

​

​

​

​

​