a return to the house of death (6)

A few days later the telephone rang. He raised the receiver and spoke. Hello? Hi Jill. Yes I'm fine. Are you? Well yes, yes, these things are sent to try us as they say. Busy mostly, work. A lot of work. Oh she's fine yes, really well. Has she not? She's been quite busy too. In and out a lot. Right. Well it's only a few days Jill. I appreciate that. I know she does. She's a considerate person. Very much so, she says it all the time herself. You want to speak to her? Well she's not here actually. No, no, she went out an hour or so ago. I haven't seen her for a few days. Pardon? She's fine Jill. No I haven't seen her no. How do I know? She's sent me some messages. One or two. She's just busy. Spending the nights with friends I think. Do you know Sarah? That's her. Yeah, that's her. Nasty breakup I think. Another one, yeah. More off than on. This is it. Poor girl can't seem to get it right. Thank you Jill, that's sweet of you to say so. I will. I will. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'll ask her to give you a call just as soon as I see her. Okay. You take care. Give my love to Donald. I will now. Bye now. Bye.

Her phone vibrated on the coffee table almost immediately. He picked it up. One message received. Entirely unpunctuated. What makes the old so wilfully ignorant. He tapped to open the message. Give me a call when you get this love just for a quick chat nothing to worry about I hope sarahs ok and youre ok love mum xx

He turned the phone off and removed the SIM card and then destroyed it and went upstairs. He gagged on the landing at the smell. He just couldn't seem to get used to it.