Free One Last Love by Derek Haines Page A

decided it was time he moved. It took more effort for him to turn on his side and then push himself up into a sitting position. When he finally managed, he sat on the side of his bed and waited for a minute or two before exerting himself again. He let his weight slide from the bed until his feet hit the floor, then steadied himself with his right hand on the bed. His legs weren’t obeying his wish to take a step or two, so he waited for the message to get down to them. He grabbed at the top of his bedside cabinet and more or less dragged his feet towards where his body was heading. Then he slowly started work on getting his dressing gown on. One arm at a time, then tying the cord around his waist. Holding the cabinet with one hand, he pushed out the other and pulled the wheelchair that was beside the cabinet closer to himself, then turned his body and flopped his backside into the chair.
    Finally mobile, he wheeled back to his bed and grabbed his gift from Paul and made his way to his terrace. His mouth still enjoying the aftertaste of his coffee, which only served to heighten his need for a smoke. His first puff instantly brought on a coughing fit, but he was used to that. It had been like that for years, so why worry now. He waited for the coughing to subside and puffed again with better results as he enjoyed the fresh morning air and the morning sunlight that was painting itself on the trees and garden. After another puff he looked at the ash forming on his cigarette, opened the lid on his new ashtray and carefully tapped his smoke with his finger and deposited the ash inside. ‘That should keep ‘em happy,’ he thought to himself.
    Bonnie wheeled himself out from his terrace and onto the adjoining path and looked down towards the road. The early morning traffic whizzing from left and right as people hurried to work or to drop kids off at school or just hurried to wherever their busy lives demanded them to be so early in the morning. Being in the distance they reminded him of lines of worker ants scurrying backwards and forwards from their nest. Then he moved his focus to the long driveway leading from the gates. He wondered if Jacobs & Sons would be paying a visit this morning. He hoped not. After a while, and with no sign of a car entering, he turned to the rose garden and hoped he may have seen Madeleine sitting on a bench. But he knew it was too early in the day. She’d probably still be eating her breakfast he thought and then wondered in which order Paul delivered the breakfasts. Perhaps he hadn’t delivered Madeleine’s as yet.
    He shook his head a little as he retraced his thoughts. Why in hell’s name was he thinking about Madeleine? And worse, if she’s had breakfast yet. ‘Bloody idiot,’ he muttered to himself.
    He turned his wheelchair slowly and looked all around. There was no one to be seen and no movement other than the traffic in the distance. With not a breath of breeze, even the trees stood perfectly still. Then he saw two birds flying slowly from the trees and across the grass towards the building behind him. As he looked up to watch them fly by, he caught sight of a spider busily at work building a web up on the eave above his terrace. As he stared at the spider he realised how much people miss while they’re all so busy scurrying like ants from one pointless place to another. After a little while the spider was apparently content with its morning’s work and crawled back into a crevice to wait for its web to catch breakfast. Bonnie lit another cigarette and waited along with the spider. Madeleine again returning to his thoughts. He shooed them away.
    ‘There you are.’
    ‘Oh, did you think I’d run away?’ Bonnie smiled as Mary appeared at the door of his terrace.
    ‘Well, you’ve got wheels Bonnie.’
    ‘Oh yes, but not a lot of petrol in the tank.’
    ‘Look, you seem so comfortable there. Do you want me to come back later to help you with your shower?’
    ‘No, I’ll come in