Fast Fiction: Leonard
...Anyway, what's for lunch?'
'Lunch? That's all you ever think about these days. Why don't you play golf or something? A hobby, that's what you need - instead of moping about the house all day, getting on my nerves...
Richard Mallinson captures the bleakness of ageing in this short story.
To read more of Richard's fast fiction please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/fast_fiction/
As he walked past the bus stop somebody shouted 'Good morning, Leonard,' but he couldn't make out who it was so he went on, awkwardly.
At home his wife said, 'Did you meet anybody on your walk?'
'No, not really - though somebody at the bus stop shouted "Good morning, Leonard.'"
'Oh, that would be Enid. She usually catches the bus there.'
'No, it wasn't Enid. I'd have recognised her voice.'
'Oh, would you? Anyway, I assume you said "Good morning" back?'
'No, how could I? I didn't know who'd spoken and there were about twenty of 'em. I wasn't going to hang around gawping, was I now?'
'Hm, it must have seemed very rude to whoever'd taken the trouble to ... Was it a man or a woman? You haven't even told me that.'
'Oh, it was a female, I'm pretty certain.
'Wait a minute, it was probably Cynthia . . . She usually catches the bus there when she's going to visit her friend in that care home . . . You know the place I mean, don't you? "For Retired Gentlefolk". . . That's what it says outside.'
'Yes, I've seen it... I suppose that's where I'll end up one day.'
'Don't be silly. You're only a retired pharmacist. You wouldn't fit in.'
'No, perhaps not... Anyway, what's for lunch?'
'Lunch? That's all you ever think about these days. Why don't you play golf or something? A hobby, that's what you need - instead of moping about the house all day, getting on my nerves.'
'Golf? You must be off your bloody - '
'I bet it was Mavis . . . She's always fancied you, hasn't she?'
