The Rural Voice, 2019-02, Page 14 “I had never planned to reach 55.
Yet it lies just ahead,” Dahlia says.
She makes the remark as a matter
a fact, no complaint in her voice. She
and her friend Eddie are sitting in the
narrow space between Christmas and
New Year’s in her kitchen, a deck of
cards and cribbage board between
them.
It’s a long rectangular room with
space enough for a table and two
chairs rescued from down the street
some years ago and set against one
wall. A black counter, white-painted
cupboards and a tiny double sink lit
from above by a small, square, four-
paned window line the other wall.
Eddie has shed his brown, quilted
coat with its frayed sleeves placing it
on a coat hook behind the door and
then, sitting back, allows Dahlia to
pull off his boots.
“What’s that you got there,” Eddie
says, pointing with his chin toward a
gallon jug of amber liquid.
“Raisin wine. My friends gave it
to me. It’s the last of it.”
Eddie accepts a glass, holds it to
the light, takes a sip, then another.
“Passable. Might have let it clear a
bit more though,” glancing Dahlia’s
way.
She’s a diminutive woman,
though ample in a way Eddie
appreciates, with a pale heart-shaped
face and brown eyes, topped with
frizzy, grey-streaked hair parted
down the middle. A gentle soul. And
generous, in her way.
“Been taking your pills, your blue
babies?” Eddie asks.
Dahlia doesn’t answer, only
smiles. “I don’t know why they call
you Fast Eddie, you’re never fast
with me.”
Eddie only grunts, shifts in his
seat, glances down at his faded, red-
tipped socks.
“You mentioned Pinkie the other
day. How’s she getting on?”
Dahlia knows Pinkie from the
Saturday lunches they take together
at the downtown mission. Pinkie
serves and Dahlia helps as well,
chatting with the old fellows, picking
up the odd dish and taking the
occasional swipe at a table before
settling down with her friend for
soup and a sandwich.
“Well as can be expected. It was
hard for her, seeing her mother like
that.”
“I hear they don’t have enough
staff. Something about the formula,
the government came up with,”
Eddie says.
Pinkie had good only words for
the nurses, the PSW’s and the little,
fine-featured doctor who came by on
occasion. She said there was lovely
music downstairs, at least once a
week, if not more often. Folks would
even stamp their feet, join in. Even
the elected parliamentarian showed
up, just before Christmas. “He has a
passable voice, they say.”
Eddie snorts, looks to the arched,
plaster doorway leading to the next
room. It’s warmer in there. He hears
the ancient wall furnace puff to life,
and then its erratic metallic gasp. ◊
10 The Rural Voice
Eddie
appreciates
Dahlia’s ample
offerings
Jeff is a
freelance
journalist
based
in Dresden,
Ontario.
Jeff Carter
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