Mary Mary.

When I got married and moved into my husband’s house. We soon realized there were, women on our street, who could chat! There was an advert at that time the slogan was, “You know when you have been Tangoed!” Well between us, if I took ages to get back home, Paul would say, “How come you are SO late?” I would say, “I was Jackied,” Or, “I was Janeted,” Or “I was Nerindered,” Or, “I was Maryed!” It would make us laugh. If it didn’t happen to me, it happened to him. These conversations could go on for well over thirty minutes, rain, or shine, it made no difference.

Mary had two huge cats, they never went outside, because she didn’t want them to get hurt or killed. Back then, we had five cats, their names were, Jade, her sister was called Daddies Little Girl, Spot, and Jarvis. When Jarvis and Daddies Little Girl was caught having sex, the pretty blue dress was quickly removed from the doll and hastily put onto Daddies Little Girl, as her bridal gown and Paul and I carried out a shot gun wedding! Suddenly Jarvis wasn’t keen, and tried to leave the solemn ceremony, but we got them married, photos were taken and cat food was given to them and the others after the wedding. In due course, Jarvis Jr was born. We had no kids then; our family was complete! When the kids arrived years later, that was a Bonus.

Janet was our next-door neighbour, then two doors after Janet was Mary, then next do Mary’s was Nerinder’s, Jackie was the lollypop lady, she was at the other end of the street.

Mary never married nor did she have kids, so the cats, they were her kids. Mary often told us, “All your five cats come to my home, at my back door, in the mornings and I feed them chicken.” She went on, “They never come inside my home.” As time went on, both her cats died and all five of our cats moved right into her home! We were catless!

At first, we would pay for any vet bills, that Mary would tell us about, but after a few years, Mary said, “There is no need, they are my cats now, I am more than happy to pay for them. When each cat died, years later, she would let us know.

At Christ mas when I wrote a card for that household I would write, “Happy Christ mas from Maxine and Paul to :-

Jade,

Daddies Little Girl,

Spot,

Jarvis,

Jarvis Jr

And Mary.”

That would tickle us every time and make us howl with laughter. Mary had such a lovely sense of humour. She was a good sport. We Loved Mary!

We would often do voice overs for our cats, over the years and it was always the same, “I’m going to Mary’s!” As we didn’t often give chicken to our cats but cat food and scraps of meat that was left over.

Mary would always send us a Christ mas card, every year without fail, but as the years went by, she became housebound, and then her lovely neighbour became her carer.

The only time we would see Mary was when she would be going into the ambulance, and as time went by Carole her lovely neighbour needed help, so then carers, would arrive in twos. Then as the years went by we would see male and female carers going in to support, Mary. Mary was old when we first met her, so she was a lot older now.

Then about three weeks ago, Carole told Paul, “Mary has hours to live.”

Then she died soon after. No more would be get Christ mas cards from her, about three years ago was her last one, written with a very shaky hand, given to us by Carole. I have kept them all.

I was waiting for information about the funeral, and nosy Karen had told me, “Are you going to Mary’s funeral?” I had replied, “When is it?” Nosy Karen said, “It is tomorrow,” I replied, “I didn’t know, no one told me,” And yesterday as I was going to work, I saw Carole and some others all dressed in black, it was for Mary’s funeral. There wouldn’t be many people there, as most of the people on the street, don’t know Mary, they are new, and those who knew her are either dead or moved away! Lovely Mary was old when we first knew her. My kids have known her all their lives. I bought a lovely card, and put it through Carole’s door, to say, “Thank you for all your help and care you gave to Mary.”

I said, to Meghan, “We didn’t even know her surname,” She replied, “Maybe her name was, Mary Mary.”                               

March 2023A.D. RIP xXx