Stories by Roni Moore
Living with Maggie
The sound of the key turning in the lock arouses me from my nap, I hear
Maggie's high heels clicking up the hall, it’s a sound I hear every day.
‘It's a very welcome sound it means Maggie is home from work. She
doesn't really like leaving me alone all day at my age but she doesn't
have a choice, we have to eat and I can't work.
I hear her taking off her coat and shoes and she comes in the living
room wearing her slippers. She looks tired, she says: ‘Have you been
snoozing in that chair all day, you lazy old woman?’ But I know she's
only joking she loves me, after all there's just her and me now. Maggie
says: ‘I’ve brought a nice piece of braising steak for your dinner
tonight,’ and goes about getting our dinner ready. I don't get out of
the chair but I can hear her rattling around in the kitchen, she is
talking to me all the time she is working; she tells me how her day’s
been and about the train ride home. I can tell she's glad to be at home
with me, she knows how much I love her. She says: ‘We will go for a nice
slow walk when we've had our dinner.’ I don't know why she says this as
we go out for a walk every evening after our meal. We also take a short
walk to the newsagent’s every morning before she leaves for work. Maggie
says this will help my arthritic legs keep moving, I'm not as young as I
use to be you see.
I came to live here with Maggie about fifteen years ago, that no good
husband was with her then. I knew what he was up to right from the start
and let him know I didn't like him, and he never wanted me living here
either, but Maggie said I was staying so he just ignored me. I could
hear him making phone calls and talking quietly to someone when Maggie
was busy so she didn't hear him. He broke her heart when he left, she
often sat crying her heart out to me. It broke my heart to see her like
that and I tried to make her feel better, but it wasn't easy. Eventually
she got used to living without him, and told me from now on it was just
the two of us. I wouldn't have minded if she had met someone who was
kind to us both but she didn't seem to want to so here we are together
in our own little world.
Maggie called from the kitchen: ‘Come on get your dinner I'm not
bringing it there you always spill it when I do.’ So I got off the chair
and shuffled into the kitchen to eat my food. It was a lovely meal of
braised steak, it's my favourite. Maggie knows it has to be tender as I
don't have too many teeth left now. She sometimes buys a nice bit of
fish as that is good for me too. She ate her salad, how she can eat that
rabbit food I don't know. She says it's to keep her slim and healthy.
I’m glad she doesn't try to make me eat it, I'm too old for all that
modern stuff. After we eat Maggie makes herself a cup of coffee. I don't
like coffee, I mostly drink water but sometimes I drink tea and if I'm
not feeling well Maggie will give me some warm milk. While she drinks
her coffee she talks to me, I know she's lonely. She doesn't have many
friends now, she did have but they were also friends of her husband. She
told me one evening when she was feeling low that when she was divorced
the women must have thought she would run off with their husbands so
they started avoiding her more and more, then stopped ringing her
altogether. I don't understand some people. Maggie is the sweetest,
kindest person in the world. Mind you I would say that I love her very
much. She finished her coffee and said: ‘Well are we going for that walk
now before we settle down and watch a bit of television?’ I look at her
and she smiles and goes into the hall to get my lead I jump off the
chair wagging my tail I love my walks with Maggie. I must say I'm not
doing badly for a dog of fifteen years old - am I?