Lockdown Lifting

It was a Thursday.   The 8th of April to be precise.

Lockdown had been lifted.  The shops, barbers and restaurants had reopened.  Buses and trains were running normally and the once quiet streets were now awash with cars stuck in traffic jams and drivers hooting impatiently at each other.

I showered and dressed.  Normally I would be returning to the office after more than a month's isolation at home, but I did not wish to do so.  A month's seclusion had left me depressed.  I am not a naturally extrovert person and I do not mind working alone in the office, with workmates working in other parts of the building, but I felt that I needed a change of scene.

I ate a quick breakfast and phoned my sister in Borehamwood.  We had not seen each other for more than a year since the first lockdown began and I was eager for her companionship.  She was married with two children, although she was younger than me.  I was living alone in Edgware, quite content with my life as a lawyer's secretary, but was always close to my sister and would travel quite often to see her.

I caught the train to Borehamwood.  My sister lived in town but would spend many weekends walking with her children in the surrounding countryside.  I could never take to the countryside, one reason being that I could not drive and that it would take me ages to get from A to B, but I was always open for a visit to the beautiful countryside.

I stopped at a local shop, contemplating presents.   I bought a woolen scarf for my sister, a game of Meccano for my seven-year-old nephew and a Barbie doll for my five-year-old niece.  For myself, I bought nothing, preferring to save money towards my return fare.  I arrived at my sister's place shortly afterwards.

She opened the door almost immediately after I had rung the doorbell and the minute I saw her, my heart sank.  She seemed to have lost a stone in weight, her hair was dishevelled and her eyes blotched with weeping.  The two children sat on the sofa, sad and silent.

"Derek has left me,"she said of her husband.  "He has another woman.  He walked out this morning."

"Oh, Ruth!" I said in dismay and hugged her.  

"Simon and Sophia, say 'hello' to your Aunt Rachel," Ruth said, trying to sound more cheerful.  

The children ran towards me.  I lifted them up, kissed them and gave them their presents.  I gave Ruth hers.  She thanked me but there was little joy in her voice.

"I'll make a cup of tea and we'll talk all about it," I offered and headed towards the kitchen.

She told me that she had suspected that he had been having an affair for at least three months.  Even though lockdown was still in force three months earlier, he had always found excuses to be out late.  Eventually, Ruth confronted him and he admitted everything.

I wanted to invite Ruth and her children to stay with me in my Edgware flat, but the children were due to go back to school shortly, so I vowed to visit them every weekend.