I like to touch

I like to touch base with the others when I get the opportunity. Emily moved house three years ago although she’s lost her marbles since and she got picked up by the police for wandering through the shopping mall naked and with bananas sticking out of every orifice. She’d been in one of those sheltered housing schemes after Albert died, one of those places where they let you take your own stuff and pretend that you want to be there. She had her Parker Knoll in the corner and her budgie – Oliver, I think his name was – and a pink, quilted Brentford Nylons bedspread. Oliver would spit seed on the floor but Emily didn’t worry too much because there was Edith who came in to clean up. Edith was a character too; I can’t imagine how she got around all the old folks’ rooms when she chatted for so long. I saw her once when I was visiting and could barely tear myself away and I only met the woman once. Still, you can’t beat a good cleaner. Anyway, after the banana incident, Emily was put in hospital and if I’m honest, I don’t suppose she’ll ever be let out. Apparently, she likes to touch the fruit in the basket on the counter at the League of Friends shop when she gets the opportunity, sits in the shelter next to the taxi rank outside the main entrance, meets up with a couple of old codgers, Albert and Edith whose daughter brings their dog, Oliver,to visit and they all sit on the bench looking down at the fag ends and piles of spit that someone should clean up. I’ve always liked Brentford as a place but that one in the white coat is coming now and he’s a right nosy parker.