We went to visit her in her ‘benign prison’. Her walking is improving, she is determined that it should be so. She looks more aged when she stands. He is not keen on her hair being so long. Strands of it catch on her cardigan. I watch her feet in those peep-toe shoes as she walks. She has much grace. A feminine woman, I think. We talked as I drew her. She told us how many of the inmates use Alexa to turn on their music and so on. The woman in the room next to hers loves The Sound of Music soundtrack apparently and asked Alexa to put it on. She did so but so did all the others inmates’ Alexas and soon her corridor was filled with it. She groaned, I hate The Sound of Music, she said.
He was outside the coffee shop as usual, looking furtive under his hoodie. He told us of a cat that sometimes comes to greet him and sometimes doesn’t. I asked him if he had a pet and then went on to list the ones he’d had as a child including rabbits, hamsters, stick insects and snails. He fancies getting a polecat. You can walk them, he said. We talked of foxes. I told him how I’d seen two in Aber. I love his brightness when it shines, as it does, now and again.
We put the heating on last night for a delicious half and hour. It felt dangerous. But the smell of the warming dust from the radiators was so comforting.
He came to visit her at the weekend. Finally. She looks better for it, not so blown through.
