Miscellany: Where is Home and Other Stories

By Winfreda Donald

Seven short stories: A dying mother battles to secure a daughter’s inheritance. The daughter of another family seeks peace as her mother’s dementia escalates. A grandmother makes an astonishing decision. Events lead a young woman to doubt the youthful, emotional connection she had with her vibrant grandmother. An elusive memory frustrates a mother of twins. An elderly lady gets the better of a young couple. Suddenly a child’s future is under threat.
Hopefully the story situations will resonate ― because of familiarity, or because there’s a sense of that’s what it can be like for some people, or because I never thought of that or because of unfinished business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Winfreda Donald
• Release date: Dec 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9780987529039

Winfreda Donald

WINFREDA DONALDNow retired from the paid workforce, Winfreda is able to indulge a life-long ambition to write fiction. Although she enjoyed her later work-life writing (research reports, policy documents, academic theses), the joy of allowing imagination to run is liberating. Farewell to the constraints of facts and statistics.Another ambition is to stay healthy for long enough to tap out the myriad fancies itching to take shape.Winfreda calls on experiences from a long working life and a fascination with family dynamics to fashion characters and plots. But as she writes, some alchemy happens to merge the temperaments and personalities of the characters with unforeseen events that often surprise her.Most of all Winfreda is interested in the rich and hidden stories of everyday people's lives - happy stories, sad stories, people in danger, exhilarating tales, ambitious exploits, self-sabotage and workplace skulduggery. Other incidents that weave into the fictions explode from our shared environment of tension, violence, and the increasing streams of news reports and documentaries of our times.Since 2013 Winfreda has published the first three books of The Long Shadows Series. This family and friendship saga traces the lives of young Freya Dunbar and Alexander Marcou, played out in the late twentieth century, against the legacies that World War II laid on both their families. Past Imperfect (Book One) begins the story with settings in Scotland and Australia. Present Tense (Book Two) and Future Hope (Book Three) follow the trials and adventures of the young lovers in Europe and Africa. The fourth story in the series, Tides of Time is still incubating (for publication at the end of 2015 or early 2016).Winfreda is also working on a short story assortment and possibly a memoir-ish collection of reflections.

Book preview

MISCELLANY:

Where is home?

and other stories

Winfreda Donald

Copyright 2015 Winfreda Donald

Published by Winfreda Donald at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN: 978-0-9875290-3-9

Contents

Introduction

The stories:

Pantomime

Where is home?

Memory rings true

Errant hearts

There are more things

Unintended consequences

Cruel fate

General:

Acknowledgements

About the author

Other publications

Connect with Winfreda Donald

Introduction

I trust that you will take pleasure in this collection of seven spare tales, some with flashes from other dimensions, and all with family as a dominant theme.

A dying mother battles to secure a daughter’s inheritance. The daughter of another family seeks peace as her mother’s dementia escalates. A grandmother makes an astonishing decision. Events lead a young woman to doubt the youthful, emotional connection she had with her vibrant grandmother. An elusive memory frustrates a mother of twins. An elderly lady gets the better of a young couple. Suddenly a child’s future is under threat.

Hopefully the story situations will resonate ― because of familiarity, or because there’s a sense of that’s what it can be like for some people, or because I never thought that could happen or because unfinished business is unsettling.

Please enjoy. And I’d love to know your reactions.

Pantomime

Jean Arthur grimaced. With a wrist-flick she snapped the messager from its hook on her belt. Would this shift never end? What now? More full-moon stuff? There had been one ridiculous incident after another ― and all of them time-consuming. Thank God the ’flu absentees were easing off and the regular nurses were starting to trickle back to work. Agency staffing just didn’t work well.

Jean tapped the receive button.

From the switchboard, Dawn’s agitated voice was distorted by static. There’s an urgent call . . . Nurse Moran in Female Medical . . . . an emergency. Wants you to go down?

Any details, Dawn?

There was a lot of background noise. Something to do with the pantomime.

That’s days away. Are you sure it’s urgent?

Absolutely, ma’am. . . . got that bit, no mistake.

Stepping outside the Admin Office, Jean pulled the edges of her cloak close and hitched the front of the hood well down over her forehead. Even so, the sleet stung her cheeks and the wind shivered through every gap of the wrap. Clouds covered the moon. Guided by the pallid light from her torch Jean zig-zagged between the puddles left by earlier melted snow.

When the doors of Medical Block flapped closed behind her she sighed with relief, enfolded by warmth. There was no-one in sight as she shook out her cloak and hung it up. There was no need for directions. She followed the trail of an angry voice towards a two-bed ward.

Ah! Clearly the problem had nothing to do with the harmless hospital pantomime. This was a real and potentially serious clash.

Jean held back, invisible to the participants in the room as she watched through the glass partition to absorb the evolving drama. One bed was empty. In the far corner bed, a ravaged elderly woman edged against the wall. Sitting on a rolled up dark brown bundle, her legs drawn up protectively, she shouted in a hoarse voice, No you can’t have it. It’s for my daughter. I must give it to her myself.

Nurse Moran’s hand was reaching forward as if to pat the woman comfortingly on the shoulder as she said, I couldn’t get your daughter by phone so I contacted the police. They say it will be days before she can get here as the flood waters in that area haven’t peaked yet. Everyone has been evacuated to safety, but the town is marooned.

The woman hauled herself and the brown thing more tightly into the corner. Even though she was acting like a full-force enraged monkey protecting her young, it was clear her strength was ebbing.

The nurse’s rigid shoulders and flushed complexion spelled frustration. Her voice was clipped, Mrs Donald, your coat will be much safer in our secure storage. She handed the woman the hospital leaflet about the Rights and Responsibilities of Patients and pointed to an item on the second page. If you read that you’ll see what our policy is. The hospital cannot be accountable for valuable items kept in the ward.

I won’t sleep then, so no-one can get it. You won’t have to worry.

In a more placating voice, the answer came, You are ill Mrs Donald. Sleep will help you to heal. . . . Please give me your coat.

The woman held it closer again, rolling it with difficulty into a slightly smaller package ― expression tight ― her