All Is Safely Gathered In
All Is Safely Gathered In
There had been a Harvest Festival and some of us took a box of stuff down to the Day Centre – jam, marmalade, various cans and vegetables. We went down the steps and a self-appointed helper, Pauline, peered inside the box and picked through the contents. She disappeared somewhere.
The Centre was in the basement of an abandoned townhouse that had seen better days. Actually, though dark it was actually quite tidy – some people had got together to make the best of it. There was a table, some formerly fly-tipped chairs and sofas, a few battered carpets. An assortment of mugs and cups lay around in various places. People of non-descript ages and clothing sat around reading, talking, sleeping – tired of rough floors, cold and dark empty places, tired of life or of waiting for whatever.
I turned to an old chap just waking up. I hadn’t seen him for a while – but then, he tended to come and go. Waited for him to register where he was. I noticed someone come in, start talking loudly on the other side of the room. An angry shout and a crash – I looked up to see something shiny flying at me. No time to blink let alone duck. Anyway, the chances were I would nod into it anyway. Glass crashed on the wall beside my head – I turned and saw jam or something slide slowly down the wall.
I turned back – Pauline’s face was frozen in horror or amazement, hand to open mouth. “You never batted an eyelid!” she said. “Never had a chance, lousy shot!” I replied. I smiled, though still a bit rattled inside. A nervous titter somewhere. “It’s OK,” I said. Again, “it’s OK.” She smiled uneasily, disbelieving. Someone laughed – we all laughed, thinking how I could have been wearing rather than eating the jammy stuff. I turned back to the chap now awake but still drowsy, baffled by the clatter and clamour. Someone got some paper to wipe the wall.
I never was clear what had set her off. She took up the general chatter now, looked at me sideways from time to time. Wondering, no doubt – so was I. Later our lot left quietly up the stairs – I was still shaky. But the chit-chat we left behind then was different – we had a bond now.