Southend U3A

Writing for Fun

January 2019

Reflecting - Diane Silverston

Joan was sitting in her usual chair in the lounge, just by the window. Although there were others in the room and the TV was on, Joan was in her own little world, remembering things from long ago. She would be 99 tomorrow.

Joan was curled up tightly into the corner of the chair in the front room. She was really scared. A week earlier there had been a knock at the door and her mother had let in a tall, smartly dressed man. Mum had told Joan it was her father but he was a stranger and frightened her. There had been an argument in the kitchen this morning and she had run and hidden in the large armchair. She should be feeling happy as she would be 4 tomorrow but she wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

* * *

Joan was sitting quietly crying in the chair in her Grandmother’s kitchen. It was warm there and she had been given a cup of chocolate and a biscuit but she was still unhappy. Her Mother was very ill and in hospital. No-one knew whether she would recover, things were not right.

She would be 15 tomorrow but it wasn’t going to be a good birthday.

* * *

Joan was sitting in her chair, listening to the radio. Things in the world seemed to be going from bad to worse. Then those words came over the airwaves, ‘We are at War’. There it was, what everyone had dreaded. Everything would be changed. Jonnie, her young husband would have to go and fight. She would be alone in this strange city, not sure how she would cope.

She would be 19 tomorrow.

* * *

Joan was sitting in her armchair by the fire, looking through the albums. Pictures of her and Jonnie with the children, in the park, at the seaside. Then pictures of the family weddings and grandchildren growing up. She had a smile on her face as she remembered those good times. She was looking forward to seeing them all, at her special party. She would be 65 tomorrow.

* * *

Joan always sat in the same armchair in the lounge. The one just by the window, so she could look out at the well-kept garden. No one disturbed her there. Everyone else had left the room and gone into the dining room but Joan was still sitting in her chair. ‘Come on Joan,’ said the young nurse as she approached Joan’s chair, ‘It’s time for tea.’

Joan didn’t move. She hadn’t heard the nurse.

She would have been 99 tomorrow.