Trains and trams, running on rails and using solar power to make it as clean as possible, were the easiest way to get around the city. All cars, buses and taxis had to wait for them to pass before moving on. Ally jumped on a tram after consulting her phone as to which one to take and sat on a seat next to a window. She hoped off in an outer suburb and walked the half a block to Fielding Aged Care.
At the desk she was greeted by Imogene.
“Miss Sterling,” she smiled, “this isn’t your usual visiting day.”
“I got off early.” Ally glanced into the lounge room. “How is she?”
“None of the nurses have reported any changes in demeanour,” Imogene tapped on her computer, “but it usually depends on how tired she is.”
“Saturday mornings means she’s pretty lucid unless she’d had a bad night.” Ally nodded.
“It’s early afternoon,” Imogene shrugged, “she’s probably her usual lovely self.”
“Thanks.” Ally used her family card to log in and entered the lounge room. Fielding Aged Care had only been built five years earlier and while the architect had tried to make it as modern as possible, he’d also had an ounce of humility and researched other aged care facilities as well as consulted numerous nurses as to what worked best.
The lounge had windows on three sides with lovely views of a garden that was hemmed in by a wall, the stark red brick softened by hedges and climbing plants. There was plenty of room for the heavy and large recliners that the elderly tended to need. There were no TVs. They were in the cinema rooms, meaning those that came to the lounge room wanted to socialise and not have to deal with the glare of sunlight off the screens.
Ally moved through the lounge room, heading for the back corner. Several of the clients looked up and smiled at her, a familiar sight after three years.
“Ally!” Gigi stood up and beamed. “You didn’t say you were visiting today!”
“I got out of work early.” Ally embraced Gigi then sat down in the chair near her. “You look good.”
“Ageing gracefully suits me.” Gigi smiled, faded brown skin softened with laughter lines and warm lips that were never shy to smile. She had a mountain of curls that had once been dark but had turned silvery and wiry. She was quite tall and her yellow dress only came down to her calves, her feet in brown sandals. “How are you, Ally?”
“Pretty good.”
“Hrm…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I don’t believe you.” Gigi answered with a twinkle in her eye. “Don’t think you can fool me. I could always tell, even as a teenager, when you were wrestling with something internally.” Ally leaned back in her chair and gave a small smile. “Is it work?”
“Just…dealing with the boss.”
“Mr Kingsbury?” Gigi frowned. “I thought he was your biggest advocate. He’s the one who read your plot synopsis for Horizon and said, ‘write it the way you want it’.”
“David Kingsbury got married a few months ago,” Ally swallowed the lump in her throat, “he…he’s still on his honeymoon. Fred Farrows is the stand in CEO.”
“Isn’t he the one who changed your story when you weren’t there?”
Ally closed her eyes. “Uh…yes…but it’s not important…”
“Your words say one thing and your eyes say another.” Gigi remarked.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“It’s okay, really, Gigi.” Ally shrugged. “It’s…complicated.”
She fiddled with the threads on the recliner she was in, trying to work out how to change the topic.
“When you went to work for Commando…I know I wasn’t very…understanding,” Ally blinked and looked up at Gigi, “I couldn’t understand how someone with your creativity and writing skill could be happy in that glass prison…and even when you told me about the offer to turn your proposal for the Horizon game series into a reality…I didn’t really understand what it all meant. But I could see what it meant to you.” Gigi put her hand over Ally’s and squeezed. She could feel the wrinkles, the softness of her skin and the warmth in her gasp. “It was an extension of yourself…and you sowed so much into it.”
“It’s just a story, in the end.” Ally shrugged. “I mean…it’s not like it’s real.”
“It was real to you.” Gigi corrected. Ally shook her head, unable to agree or disagree. “Alright, we’ll move on, shall we?” Ally smiled at her as she changed the topic. “Been on any dates lately?”
“Gigi…”
“What about your friend?”
“Hannah?”
“Can’t she set you up with one of her boyfriend’s mates?”
“Adam is her partner, not boyfriend.” Ally chuckled. “Boyfriend makes them sound like they’re teenagers.”
“I guess I still think of them that way, you and she sitting on the steps of my house eating ices…dodging that magpie that insisted on chasing you every spring…when you skinned your knee and Hannah called the ambulance because she thought it was serious?”
Ally smiled. “I remember. They were good times in the cul de sac.”
They swapped stories some more, Ally confessing she had stolen cookies from Gigi’s pantry and felt so guilty about it she hadn’t slept properly for a week. Gigi letting the girls help her weed the garden then replanting all the pansies they’d pulled out by accident. How Ally and Hannah had swung on the clothesline around and around and used Gigi’s dresses for capes.
“Can’t believe you put up with us like that.” Ally shook her head. “We treated your house like it was ours.”
“I never begrudged your company once.” Gigi insisted. “I never married, never had children…but I always felt like the neighbour’s children were partly my responsibility...to give them a grandparent in a way.”
“And a safe place to go for Halloween candy,” Ally chuckled, “do you remember the time I wore three different outfits, a ghost, a mummy and a dinosaur of some kind and went to your house three times for candy?” Gigi smiled but it was a vague, almost pained expression. Ally sat up. “Gigi?”
“Sorry,” she shook her head, “I was a million miles away. Feeling a little tired. What were we talking about?”
“Oh…just me nabbing three lots of candy on Halloween.”
“You be careful or you’ll rot your teeth young lady,” Gigi said and Ally paused, puzzled by the change in Gigi’s voice, “oh, I’ve been meaning to ask, have you spoken to your mother lately?”
Ally stiffened, swallowing hard past the lump in her throat. “My mother?”
Gigi gave her a slightly disapproving look. “Now Ally, I know you and she have had your differences…but just because she made a decision to change her lifestyle, doesn’t mean you ought to cut her out of your life.”
Ally’s heart sank. “Gigi…I can’t talk to my mother…”
“Did Charles tell you that?” Gigi’s voice turned hard and she shook her head. “I’m not saying what she did was right or wrong…and your father was always bound to be hurt by it…but don’t take his offense on as your own, Ally.”
Ally stared at her, all the warmth blown out of the room by a sharp, cold front. “I…I’ll talk to her.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise, Gigi.” She licked her lips. “I’m sorry, I have to go. It’s nearly rush hour.”
“You go then.” Gigi patted her hand but it lacked the same kindness as it did before. “Do what you need to do.”
Feeling like the wind had been sucked from her sails, Ally logged out of the lounge room and paused by the desk. Imogene looked up, sensing something was wrong.
“She had a turn,” Ally said quietly, “just now…forgot about the last ten years…called me ‘young lady’…thinks my parents are both still alive.”
“Ally…I’m sorry.” Imogene breathed. “She doesn’t mean it. You know she can’t control it when it happens.”
“I know,” Ally sniffed and cleared her throat, “it’s just when it does…all the problems of ten years ago come flooding back.”
“I can only imagine.” Imogene tapped on the screen. “I’ve notified the staff that she might be out of sorts and the nurse will administer something to calm her down if she becomes agitated.”
“Thanks.” Ally left the centre, washed out and tired. She climbed onto a tram and headed back into the city. The houses in the suburbs shrank with smaller and smaller yards until they gave way completely to business districts with apartment buildings. Then, as the tram entered the city proper, skyscrapers filled the landscape and the atmosphere thickened, the crush on the roads and on public transport becoming overwhelming. Ally got out two stops early to escape and breathed a sigh of relief on the pavement. The sunshine that had been pleasant an hour or two earlier had turned the city streets into an oven. It was hot and oppressive.
She paused, avoiding a flood of people crossing the street as the lights did their usual dance between red, orange and green and felt her phone buzz. She pulled it out and checked her messages.
“I’m at Morgan’s with two drinks. If you’re not here soon, I’ll drink both.” Ally allowed herself a small laugh and typed back quickly. “See you soon then.”