Round the Round O

We walk the curves of the Round O on Sunday afternoons, the slow shift of sandals seeping my mother’s tired years into the gravel.

There is only the lake here now and an empty coffee house long boarded up and dead, a swimming pool weed-choked and indistinct, concrete belly slimed by its curse of neglect.

We have become the water’s outer skin my mother and I, skimming its surface like stones until the final suck pulls us under unlayering the bruises of our love.

Regrets secrete themselves unaware of what will come, but now it is enough to simply know the comfort of her shuffling feet and hear her say, ‘Remember to feed the dog when we get home,’ and me thinking of her cat waiting there on the sill behind a netted windowpane.

A page from mum’s jotters.

Sunday: Lynda came for lunch and took mum and Lily for a very wet drive! Sandwich in the fridge for mum’s tea. O – thank you for calling in again to check on mum yesterday.

Monday: A typical day of work for O - mum’s home help – Made lunch – mince and potatoes, rhubarb tart and custard. Started Maude on new tablet today. Made ham sandwiches for tea. Called back mid-afternoon. Checked on mum at bedtime.

Thursday: Hello O. George here. I just missed you this morning. I will be back about 6pm and will make tea for myself. Will you please prepare something for mum’s tea? I will stay overnight – tomorrow about 9.10 I will head down to Lily. Also tomorrow, I will get something for tea for mum and myself. See you later, George.

O – I made some sandwiches for teatime. Called at 4 o’clock. George, I will see you in the morning.

Sunday: Lynda came and had lunch with mummy and Lily. Took them out to the farm, daddy’s grave and then a drive around Tempo. Two sandwiches left from last night for supper. Gave mummy a pedicure!

Thursday: ‘Half Door Club’ for mum and Lily today. O will take mum to get her flu injection today.

Saturday: O – please give mum her ‘memory’ tablet at breakfast time – the packet is in the cupboard (under the jam jar shelf) above the fridge – Rimelyl.