'No, my dear. Some things are best left unsaid. You and Landen will have a wonderful time together, mark my words. Read on, young Thursday!'
There was a ripple and my father was standing on the other side of the bed.
'Dad!' said the old woman. 'Thank you for coming!'
'I wouldn't miss it, o daughter my daughter,' he said softly, bending down to kiss her on the forehead and hold her hand. 'I've brought a few people with me.'
And there he was, the young man whom I had seen with Lavoisier at my wedding party. He laid a hand on hers and kissed her.
'Friday!' said the old woman. 'How old are your children at the moment?'
'Here, Mum. Ask them yourself!'
And there they were, next to Friday's wife, who he had yet to meet. She was a one-year-old somewhere, with no idea of her future, either. There were two children with her. Two grandchildren of mine who had yet to be even thought of, let alone born. I continued reading The Faerie Queene, slowly pacing myself as more people rippled in to see the old woman before she left.
'Tuesday!' said the old woman as another person appeared. It was my daughter. We'd vaguely talked about her but that was all - and here she was, a sprightly sixty-year-old. She had brought her children too, and one of them had brought hers.
In all, I think I saw twenty-eight descendants of mine that afternoon, all of them sombre, and only one of them yet born. When they had said their goodbyes and rippled from sight, other visitors appeared to see her. There was Emperor and Empress Zhark, and Mr and Mrs Bradshaw, who were never to age at all. The Cheshire Cat came too, and several Miss Havishams, as well as a delegation of lobsters from the distant future, a large man smoking a cigar and several other people who rippled in and out in a polite manner. I carried on reading, holding her other hand as the fire of life slowly faded from her tired body. By the time I had started on the final verse of The Faerie Queene her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. The last of the guests had gone and only my father and I were left.
I finished the verse and my sentence was complete. Twenty years of gingham and ten boring books. I closed the volume and laid it on the bed next to her. Already her face had drained of colour, and her mouth was partly open. I was alerted by a quiet sniffle near me. I had never seen my father cry before but now large tears rolled silently down his cheeks. He thanked me and departed, leaving me alone with the woman in the bed, the nurse discreetly waiting at the door. I felt sad in that I had lost a valued companion, but no great sense of grief. After all, I was still very much alive. I had learned from my own father's death many years ago that the end of one's life and dying are two very different things indeed, and took solace in that.
'Are you okay?' asked Landen when I got back to the car. 'You look as though you've seen a ghost!'
'Several,' I replied. 'I think I just saw my whole life pass in front of my eyes.'
'Do I feature?'
'Quite a lot, Land.'
'I had my life flash in front of me once,' he said. 'Trouble is, I blinked and missed all the good bits.'
'It will need more than a blink,' I told him, nuzzling his ear. 'How's the little man?'
'Tired after a lot of pointing.'
I looked into the back seat. Friday was spark out and snoring.
Landen started the car and pulled out of the parking space.
'Who was the old woman, by the way?' he asked as we turned into the main road. 'You never did tell me.'
I thought for a moment.
'Someone who knew me really well and turned up when it mattered.'
'I have someone like that,' said Landen, 'and if she's feeling up to it, I'd like to take her out for dinner. Where do you fancy?1
I thought of the old woman in the bed, dressed in gingham, hanging on for the last verse, and all the people who had come to see her off. Life, I decided, would be good, and more than that, unusual.
'If I'm with you,' I told him tenderly, 'SmileyBurger is the Ritz.'
Credits
My great thanks to Maggy and Stewart Roberts for the illustrations in this book.
My thanks to Mari Roberts for huge quantities of research on everything from the Danes to Hamlet to conflict resolution and the piano gag, and for companionship, and love.
Mr Shgakespeafe's quotes and Hamlet kindly supplied by Shakespeare (William) Inc.