They are all dead now…

It stated in Maise’s obituary that she was predeceased by her 3 children.

‘Not a line you read everyday.’

And I felt sad for her tragedy.

I lived in her house for 3 months in 1987. She was kind and accommodating. When I arrived she was embarrassed about the state of her house. She had gone away for a vacation and when she came back; someone had broken in and stole all her furniture.

I don’t know whether I believed her or not.

At the time, her daughter Diana and son Roger were both living with her. They were both in their mid 20’s.The oldest son Brian was in prison on some trumped up charges according to Maise.

At Christmas dinner while Maise was bemoaning the absence of her eldest at the holiday feast, her youngest Roger, admitted that it was him who had stolen the furniture to pay for a drug debit and his absent brother took the rap so he could go back to prison…

Brian was what prison people refer to as “Institutionalized. “

Christmas dinner ended abruptly.

I could hear her moaning in her grief and I left in silence on Boxing Day 1987.

The world was strange and alive.