Free In The Name Of Love by Jendai Rilbury

she gave a shrug and moved closer to Cyril
    as the programme started again.
     
    -o-
     
    Grant felt somebody shaking him and he opened his eyes to
    see Edna standing before him. "Come on sleepy head, it's past ten, and you'd
    better get a good night's sleep. April wants you away early in the morning."
    "Oh, thanks for waking me, Edna; I was dead to the world."
    "I guess you've been very busy, lately."
    "You've no idea how busy—thank goodness!" He looked
    up at Edna's worried face and patted her hand, "Don't worry yourself, girl, I'm
    okay. Just bring me up a coffee, while I go and sort out my things."
    He watched her buxom figure disappear into the kitchen, and
    as he climbed the stairs he marvelled at how there was only ten or eleven years
    difference in their ages, yet she seemed so much older. Perhaps it was just
    because since her husband died down the pits some ten years ago, she'd been too
    busy bringing up April and trying to get food on the table to care about her
    appearance.
    She was about the same height as April, but that was all they had
    in common. Her body had filled out even in the two years Grant had known her,
    but her smiling round face was without wrinkles and she wore little makeup.
    Tonight her shoulder-length brown hair bounced as she walked, and he guessed
    she was pleased to have his company, even though he'd been asleep most of the
    evening.
    He took off his jacket and flung it on the chair, and then
    emptied the two wardrobes onto the bed, before sorting out the clothes into
    different piles. He took down the two suitcases from their place on top of the
    wardrobes, and then spent the next ten minutes cleaning off the dust and trying
    to get them more presentable.
    He then emptied the drawers and the dressing
    table, and when he saw the massive piles of clothing on the bed he realised it
    there was too much for just these cases.
    Edna brought him a coffee, and said, "I'll use the bathroom
    first, because by the look of the dust on you, you'll use up all the hot
    water."
    "Yes, and I'm just off into the attic for some boxes. God
    knows what I'll look like when I come down."
    "I'll run a bath for you, then."
    "Okay, that will be great." He watched her turn to smile at
    him before she left the room, and he then guzzled down the coffee before going
    up into the attic. When he came down with an arm full of cardboard boxes, he
    was dusty and smothered with cobwebs. He took a look at the dirt on his hands,
    and realised he couldn't pack the clothes until he cleaned up, so he just wiped
    down the boxes until later.
    Edna came out of the bathroom wrapped up in her dressing
    gown and said, "There's a hot bath waiting for you, so get in there now, before
    it starts to cool."
    "Thanks, that's just what I need right now," he said,
    turning off the bedroom light and going into the bathroom. He knew how Edna
    hated lights left on in empty rooms, worrying about the wasted electricity and
    her large bills, so he tried to keep her happy. He shook his dusty clothes,
    then realised there was a room full of clean ones next door, so he folded them
    to slip in a box.
    The bath water was just right, and he sank deep into the water
    until his whole body was covered. Drying himself some ten minutes later, he
    realised he'd not brought his clean clothes with him, and he couldn't put the
    soiled ones back on.
    He wrapped the towel around his waist, wishing it was one
    of the large bath towels, but there were none in the room. Leaving the bundle
    of soiled clothes on the stool for morning, he crept from the bathroom to find
    the landing in darkness.
    "Damn woman, why can't she at least leave a small light
    on?" He walked into the general direction of his bedroom, staring into the
    gloom, when the door to Edna's room behind him opened, and a splash of light
    showed him the way.
    "Here, let me put on the light for you," said Edna, pushing
    past him to open his bedroom door and turn on the light.
    They stood just inside the room