Category: Passages

What the hell was he doing there unsupervised?
– An arterial road at 8:20 a.m,
work traffic, school traffic, out of city traffic
a zebra crossing
he did …. then didn’t
stepping on … then off … to the edge
then away.
Would have been called intellectually handicapped once
not sure what the now politically bowdlerised  would be.
He is confused,
vehicles are confused stop .. go… go …stop … back on the curb.

I can’t – a 50-year-old male –
out of the question, but
it’s just  a matter of time until ….
I see an early 40’s woman, parking her car
I point and explain.
Got it she says
she takes him by the hand, to the other side.
She can – I couldn’t,
it’s the way the world these days
men are in danger, helping a child in danger.

Aged 30, the song sang of
blame,
misunderstanding
of each generation deriding the one before.
We were homeowners by then
clamped to work and bank by interest rates
14.75%, down from 15.25%
how we rejoiced at the fall – the odd bottle of wine
limbo danced under the fiscal door.
And
clenched teeth at our parents generation –
government assistance to first home buyers
3% state backed loans
Keynesian benevolence underwriting full employment.

A mortgage repaid lifetime later
a friend’s 21-year-old
inventories the financial yokes of his generation :
student loans
high housing costs
health insurance,
his peers will do it tough he says because
the baby boomers fucked it up –
eating the goose that laid the golden egg.

Be part of the solution not the problem
a maxim seen and heard
heard so often, it isn’t
belonging with – have a nice day
you’re welcome.

But Sarah was.
Sole night cleaner employed when things were quieter
now, more work than hours
phoned and made an appointment to speak with me
came prepared,
had kept a record of the rising number of rooms to be serviced
supplied corroboration from reception.
Presented her case, and proposed,
perhaps :
move some tasks to dayshift, or
increase her hours, or
add staff.
Quiet, well-dressed, well spoken, well-prepared.
Her mother was to look after her three or four-year-old
but struck with food poisoning
unable to arrange cover at short notice … so if I didn’t mind …
throughout the little girl is quiet, patient and well-behaved.

21 years later I bumped into Sarah in the supermarket,
still the same and still well presented
and proud –
accompanied by her mid 20’s daughter
and three or four-year-old grandchild.