Bert sat on his retirement home bed. Everyone said how lucky he was now not having to worry about maintenance anymore and to have support close to hand. Bert thought differently as he was most reluctant to move. "Yet another nail in the coffin" he said to his daughter June. She had merely shaken her head as he stared out the window as other oldies sluggishly pushed their walkers down the footpaths.
She thought of letting her dad stay with her but when she mentioned it to Jim her husband frowned and shook his head as her dad was quite argumentative and interfering. No he would be happier here...she hoped.
Bert now moved from room to room checking them out; "Thirteen seconds" he muttered "And the grand tour is completed." He sat in his favorite chair and picked up the newspaper for the umpteenth time that day and moaned "There must be something else I haven't read". Just as he was thinking of screwing up the paper and throwing it in the bin the bell rang followed by a knock on the door. So he got up opened it and in front of him was a smiling Indian girl.
"Hello Mr. Daly, I am your cleaning lady, we will come to your place each fortnight to do the cleaning. We will come every other Thursday".
Bert just stared at her, so she lowered her eyes. She then said "My name is Deepal. You do not have to leave when we come, it's up to you". She paused then added with a smile "We can clean round you".
Bert was still looking at her, he thought she was beautiful and her eyes were kind and discreet. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, so just nodded.
Illustration found at www.pixabay.com
