A bell rang.
‘It’s Linda, Mum,’ her son said. ‘With her husband, Jeff. They’re driving you to your brother’s.’
‘Linda?’
‘Hello, Aunt Violet.’ A woman at the door was kissing her.
‘She’s not been there in decades,’ her son said. ‘Good of Ronnie to deign to see her again, isn’t it?’
He was chuckling but the woman kept a straight face.
In the car the woman said, ‘It’s Uncle Ronnie’s sixtieth wedding anniversary.’
‘Anniversary? Is he married?’
‘To Betty. Remember Betty?’
They got out and she saw a big house. It was in a nice area, very quiet, no dogs barking like where she lived. She lived on an estate. Didn’t she?
A man was hugging her. He was old, his hair silver like tinsel, his face pale and lumpy. It made her think of the white stuff on the ceiling at home.
‘How we doing, Sis! Good to see you. You keeping OK? Those carers keeping an eye on you? Come in and speak to Betty.’
A stiff woman, tall, appeared and said ‘Violet’, like you’d say ‘hello’, then just stood there, sort of unhappy.
‘Do you remember when we were children?’ he was saying. ‘You used to get me into trouble. You’d take my hand and we’d walk through the allotments, the men shouting to get out, and then into the woods. Exploring you called it. I was your little brother, and you promised Mum you’d keep me safe when we were exploring.’
‘Did I?’
‘Now, I’ll have to look out for you, won’t I?’
His face seemed to crumple like wrapping paper you’d throw in the bin when you’d opened a present, and he was wiping his eyes.
‘Are you still my little brother?’
The woman at his side, tall and faint like a ghost, was staring at her. Oh dear, she was glum.
‘Glad you could come to our diamond anniversary, Sis.’
Then she was led around the room. Was it a sitting room? It was much larger than her one. Lots of people asked how she was ‘after all this time’. Somebody else said, ‘It’s less difficult now since Keith… you know. It was world-war three with Betty and Keith together, wasn’t it?’
‘We all miss Uncle Keith,’ the woman who had been at her side all evening was insisting, ‘don’t we, Auntie Violet?’
Keith? He was her husband? What had happened to him?
Next thing they were in the car and back home.
‘You look happy, Mum,’ her son was saying. ‘Have you enjoyed yourself?’
‘Oh, I had a lovely time. I met my brother.’
‘Thanks for everything, Linda,’ he told his cousin. ‘And you, Jeff.’
As the couple got back into their car, Violet studied the driver.
‘Is he my brother?’ she asked.
‘He’s Jeff. Someone who cares about you.’
‘Does my brother care about me?’
‘He thinks he does. Funny thing families, aren’t they?’
‘Is Keith here?’
‘He died, Mum. Remember?’
‘Yes, a lovely time… Died?’ She smiled at her son’s joke.
