THE GLASS DOOR.

“Sit up straight now Maud! Just look at you! All that soup running down your chin! We’ve got to make you a pretty girl now haven’t we? Never know who may be popping around here after I’ve gone home”. Maud gave Carmel a rye old smile. She knew nobody would be popping around but she was glad of that. All she wanted was peace and quiet so she could look at her old photos and play her 78’s. Carmel was lovely but she chattered on so much and Maud was no longer used to it. She loved to see Carmel – Well let’s face it she couldn’t do without her now – But somewhere in a little secret part of her she was glad when she went home. It was like going on holiday, Maud thought. At first you longed to go then longed to get back to the unequalled comfort of your own bed. “I’ll be in later to tuck you up”, Carmel said. “Snug as a bug in a rug”. She always said that to Maud as she left, as though she were talking to a child instead of an old woman of eighty-nine.

Maud had no relatives who “owned” her as Carmel said. Carmel was her home help. Of course she had become more than that. She had become her confidante, carer and friend. She wasn’t employed by Social Services but by Maud privately. She, Maud, had come into money when her husband died and took on this lively girl four years ago when she started to feel her age and realised that she could no longer manage by herself. Without help.

Carmel described herself as being from “across the water” and hadn’t lost her accent. She had the energy of a dynamo and the ability to talk and work at the same speed and time. Being close to home, the job suited her and when she went on holiday Maud went into a nursing home for respite care. She often cooked for: “Me owld lady”, as she affectionately referred to her and they got along well together. The cleaning she didn’t mind – Even down to dusting Maud’s innumerable China cats but what she really hated was shining up the glass door on Maud’s shower cabinet. For some irrational reason she was filled with an indescribable hatred for this glass door. She knew that in less than a day the door would not be spick and span as it was now but splashed and smeared again and the thought annoyed her intensely. She knew that all the other jobs would also need doing again so realised how silly it was to feel like this but some things were beyond explanation. Every time she saw it she had to fight the urge to put a fist through it or kick it off its hinges. Each day she cursed it and pulled faces at it as if it understood and could respond to her venom. Then she’d catch herself pulling a silly face in the shining, gleaming glass and say to herself: “God Carmel! You’re an eejit! It’s only an owld door!” At that point she’d look away, embarrassed at her silliness.

Old people get lonely sometimes as do all of us and that’s when they say things they perhaps shouldn’t. Carmel and Maud were growing very close and Maud started to take her more and more into her confidence. She had already shown her the masses of photos she had in her albums and all her jewellery. Carmel knew about her life as a young girl. Maud had been a dancer and had worked abroad. She’d lived in Italy and was well travelled. She loved the sea and animals of all descriptions but her favourite – The ones which captivated her heart above all others – Were cats. Her last pet cat Simpkin had died and she now felt that she was too old to have another one. Her arthritis was now very bad so she had to allow Carmel to dust her beloved ornaments, with which she now had to content herself and Carmel carried out this duty as though it were a labour of love. Only once did Maud get cross with her when she dropped one and broke its ear. However all was restored to peace and harmony when her boyfriend, Jimmy, stuck it back again with glue and did such a professional job that you couldn’t tell it had ever been damaged. “Ah! We all have little mishaps now and again”, she breezily told Maud who grudgingly agreed that this was so. Maud always said after one of their little spats: “What would I do without you? One day my dear you will be rewarded and I don’t mean in heaven. As you know I’m rich and nobody has been so faithful to me as you except Simpkin. He was more like a dog than a cat. Yes you will be well rewarded for having me as your cross in life”. “Wisht! Don’t be talkin’ like that! I don’t like to hear all this stuff about dyin’. You’ll outlive us all for you’ve the constitution of an ox!” Carmel was genuinely distressed to hear Maud talk of her inevitable death because she had grown fond of her and thought of her as a mother. Besides which she knew she’d be out of a job once Maud died. As I said the position suited her well and although Maud could be irrascible and tetchy sometimes, well you made allowances didn’t you? She was always generous and had a fund of amusing anecdotes and stories with which to brighten Carmel’s day.

It was in the spring that Maud started complaining of the pains. The doctor came and went, saying they were the result of old age and prescribing pain killers. Immediately after she’d gone Maud insisted Carmel throw them down the toilet saying: “What use will they be? I should go to hospital. I know it’s something serious – Must be at this age! I may have a malignancy”. “Ah no! Don’t be workin’ yourself up like that now! You look as bonny as ever. Besides the quack won’t be very pleased when she finds you’ve t’rown all your pills down the loo now will she? They don’t be inclined to take as much notice of you the second time if you don’t do as they say the first. That’s what I tell Jimmy after he is after goin’ with his back. He’s no sooner bin’ to the doc’s than he’s up the pub or doing the garden again. Ah! Men can be awful stupid sometimes! You don’t want to be folly’ing them now Maud”!

Maud and Carmel took their holidays apart and as usual missed each other greatly. Maud wouldn’t always admit it though, saying she was glad to get away from Carmel’s constant chat and her endless jolly smile. She let her have the spare key while she was gone so she could spring clean for her before she went away with Jimmy.

“Ah! There you are you owld bugger! I left you till last as usual! Couldn’t face you till now but when you’re done this time you’ll stay clean for the whole two weeks! Oh I could smash you so I could! I could put a brick right t’rough you! You’re the most god-awful t’ing I ever set me eyes on so you are and god forgive me!”

Six months after Maud’s return home she died from a stroke. Carmel was heartbroken. She cried for the best part of a couple of months and Jimmy was quite worried about her. Then she received what can only be termed the shock of her life. She was the sole beneficiary of Maud’s will. The house, money and jewels were hers and it was just as Maud said it would be. However there were certain conditions she had to agree to. Firstly she had to live in the house and run it as a cats’ home. She thought she could just about manage that. It was the second condition she found so unbearable. On no account was she to dismantle the shower unit and replace the glass door with a curtain. Maud had commented how lovely she kept it and how brightly she’d made it shine. In a private letter to Carmel she wrote: “Dear Carmel, thank you for all you’ve done for me. I trust you will enjoy living in the house and running it as a cats’ home just as much as I know how much you enjoyed polishing my glass door. You did it with such zeal that I’m sure you loved it best of all since you always saved it till last”. Carmel thought and said aloud to herself: “You owld bugger Maud! You know damned well I hated it! Ah well! I’ll just get the vinegar and newspaper”!