Written for Pancreatic Cancer UK to fundraise and raise awareness of this terrible disease after losing my dad in November 2020.

First sentence from  Gloria Mcbreen

Alone

Just as she closed her diary, she heard a voice.  Looking up, the room was empty.  Glancing out of the window all she could see was the meadow. The fruit trees loaded with apples and pears and Freddie the Labrador running in and out of them.  Freddie was alone but appeared happy with his own company.

Mollie had been alone for months, she knew how Freddie felt, a sense of freedom, her time was her own.   Putting on a loose cardigan, she then pulled a brush through her hair.  Time to face the day and find her dog.

An hour later, walking along the high street, Freddie’s tail was wagging with excitement. The large recreation ground up ahead.   A route that Melissa often went every day, she saw the same people going about their daily lives.  Today something was wrong, the bench under the Oak tree was empty.

Wilma

Eighty-year-old Wilma Greene loved the outdoors.  She particularly loved the recreation ground. She would spend hours sitting under her favourite Oak tree.   Today, she had got up as usual and made herself breakfast.  Finishing her boiled egg she stood up and went to take her plate to the sink. As she rose, she felt dizzy, taking a step forward she tripped over the rug.  Lying on the floor, she felt pain in her leg, crying in pain she assumed it was fractured.

A friend in need

Mollie knew it wasn’t like Wilma to not be there, something must be wrong.  Trying not to think the worst she reached into her pocket for her address book.   Patting Freddie, she started walking to Hill Street a short walk away.  Always alone, Mollie was thirty, she hoped she wasn’t destined to be alone forever.

Reaching Hill Street, she looked for the familiar red door.  Finding the doorbell, she rang it, when not answered she became more worried.  Noticing the immaculate front garden, she opened the gate into the equally tidy back garden.  Surely Wilma didn’t maintain the gardens herself.  Trying the back door, she was relieved as it opened.  Walking in, she shouted for Wilma. Seeing her lying on the floor she dialled 999.

“Mollie, phone my Grandson, please, I can’t reach my phone.  The number is next to it.”

Grandson, that explained the garden.

Leaving Freddie with Wilma, Mollie phoned her Grandson.

Liam

Sitting in a cold kitchen chair she waited for the ambulance.  As the door opened, Mollie was expecting a paramedic, instead in walked a dark-haired man. Her stomach lurched, the day had just got better.

“Liam love, I fell.”

“Grandma they will be here soon.”

She watched as he sat next to her and held her hand.

“Liam, this is my friend Mollie”.  She smiled, “You are both single.”

After being alone for so long, she wondered how this worked.  A little lady slips on a rug and her single Grandson meets her single friend.

“Hello Mollie, thanks for looking after her.”

“She wasn’t on the bench under the Oak tree, so I came.”

“You mean the one in the park.”

“Yes, she is there every day.”

“When my grandfather was alive, they would be there every morning.  Now he has gone she continues to sit there.”

“I like it there, it’s quiet and I can think..”

“I agree Wilma, it is lovely in that spot and the park is a lovely place to be.”

The paramedics

Hearing the ambulance arrive, Mollie was relieved that she was going to finally get help.  Racing in with their emergency packs they checked her.  Deciding her leg is fractured they now went for the stretcher bed.

Moving Freddie away from Wilma, Liam glanced at me.

“I’m going to go with Grandma in the ambulance, but would you like to go for a drink tomorrow night?”

Surprised she stammered, “Yes, I’d love to.”

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his phone.

“What’s your number?”

Answering him, my phone rang, and I now had his number.

“I will phone you tomorrow, and we’ll arrange a time.”

Smiling, Mollie now watched as they wheeled her out of the house.  Following Liam with Freddie she started to imagine tomorrow night.

Diary

Mollie wrote in her diary every day.  Today had been different and she hoped tomorrow she would be able to finally say that she was no longer alone.  Liam seemed nice and she needed that, she needed calm and supportive, she needed a change. Mollie wanted some excitement and tomorrow looked like it would be a better day.

Here is my fundraising page if you would like to donate.  Any size donation is appreciated.

Written for A story a day for Pancreatic Cancer UK