Tom....cont...7

'Melvyn....Toms voice cut through the heads and faces of clients; sitting the length of the table. Some replacing half eaten sandwiches or cakes with cream that splurged from the edges then onto their hands. Lots of people still lived at home, some with elderly relatives who worried about what would befall their loved one, once they had gone for good.

Day centres could be seen like a invisible long umbilical thread; a step away from home and into the next best thing. Also a place to be socialised.

Tom couldn't fathom what socialised meant but figured it had to be important. He remembered his mum, who loved him for just being him, saying those words many years before his dad went away forever. His mum talked a lot about heaven after that. Tom thought heaven must be quite a busy; everyone seemed to be sent there. Some went without any warning although Tom knew in his head that his mum was going to heaven soon as she appeared to get smaller and thinner and her clothes bigger and her bones showed through and she found it difficult to stay on her feet for very long. In the very bad end she had to be carried to the bathroom; even though it was only a few of his footsteps away.