in which I finally break the news to my mother, who remains calm throughout, and face the scorn of drunken cavaliers alone…for now…     “What are you doing here?” says my mother. She’s smiling, as if relishing my surprise. Her head is bowed as usual and her shoulders are almost in line with her …

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in which an ‘outing’ leads to an unlikely bond between adversaries and the reservations of well-intentioned parties rattle my confidence…     My sister is cleaning my parents’ bungalow with my ex-wife as enforcer. I can hear their exclamations and appeals to God from the other end of the bungalow. I’m in the kitchen clearing cupboards …

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in which, I, or rather we, ruminate on love at first sight and Genie’s photo in particular…why did she choose it? Am I reading too much into it?  And what would Genie herself say? Last time, I promised a break from family matters and especially the war between fathers and sons…so, in keeping my word, …

Continue reading “episode four: reflections on love”

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in which my father comes back to life, only to face a ruthless assassination attempt by his faithless son… We sit either side of her, me on the piano stool, my sister in a resident’s chair that happens to be empty. That’s maybe the spookiest element of this place. Sometimes the residents disappear without warning …

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in which love arrives unexpectedly, in the form of a photograph…a photograph of a woman I recognise and yet have never seen before… It was full night when we arrived at Phil’s broken down farmhouse. Nothing had changed. In fact, everything was just as it was when he’d moved in twenty years before. A Belling …

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in which the end of one life signals the beginning of another, and I recall a road trip to the south of France…   This is what I remember… I remember the busy corridor jammed with people. I remember the nurse, in something of a panic, asking us to wait before going into the hospital …

Continue reading “episode one: endings and beginnings”

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