A New Coat Of Paint

A New Coat Of Paint  
By Paul McCann

 

She lay awake there on the bed thinking about the past and wondering about the future  , she could hear the clock on the mantel piece ticking in the parlour and waited until someone came to lift her out of bed and place her into her wheelchair .

The bedroom door opened and she heard the gentle voice say ,

“Good morning, Mammy , did you sleep well ? “

“Aye I did “

She replied. 

‘I have your breakfast on a tray by the fire . Are you ready to get up now ?”:

With a nod of her head she said ,

“Aye”

She was assisted to sit up on the edge of the bed and after she was washed with a sponge and bucket of warm water she was dressed into her day clothes and placed in her wheel chair before being transferred into an armchair by the fireplace where she would stay for the rest of the day .

With the bay window behind her and her bedroom in front of her she ate her porridge and drank her tea . The fire was lit and provided a welcome warmth for anyone who would call .

She sat in the armchair watching time pass to the ticking of the mantlepiece clock . On both sides of the mantel piece where these brass ornaments , crocodiles , oriental lanterns , a donkey and an ash tray that her husband once used . The ornaments were highly polished each week.

Sunlight came in through the bay window and bathed the walls around the parlour . After breakfast there was a knock on the front door . It was the coal man and he walked through the front parlour with a bag of coal over his back making his way into the kitchen and then into the back yard where he dumped the coal from the sack onto the ground .

On the way out the coal man lifted off his cap and wished everyone a good day .

She heard the man with who had one leg shorter than the other walk past . He had one heel shawed on the boot on the longer leg and the shorter leg had this extension device that was strapped to the boot of his shorter leg that allowed him to walk upright and steady . There was only the sound of one boot that could be heard as he walked past .

Then she heard the clinking of bottles as the milkman arrived and left two bottles on the doorstep . It was lunchtime when her grandson called in to have some lunch ,. He sat to her left on the small sofa in front of a coffee table that had a scene from Venice on it .

She always loved to see her grandson and would listen to his stories about what was happening at school . Sometimes she would sing The Old Bog Road to him while he had lunch . There was just enough time to finish the song before he said ,

“See you tomorrow, Granny “

Then he would get up and rush out the door to get back to school .

Twilight fell softly around the village and as the street lights came on her daughter turned on the light in the parlour on . Outside on the street men were coming home from work to have their dinner . Next door the man stood outside his door with a plate in his hand shouting to all the street .

“Look at that will you just take a look ; That’s no dinner for a working man “

Most of the people on the street were used to all his carry on , There was always a fight on a Friday night outside his house as he would hurl abuse at them passing by . .

A painter walked down the street in white overall carrying a ladder and some buckets on paint , He knocked on the front door .

”Hello . are you ready for me to start ?“

The daughter ran to the front door mumbling ,

“Oh dear I forgot all about the painter coming tonight ?”

She opened the door and he stood in the doorway with all his stuff ready to start work .

There wasn’t much room in the quaint little front parlour and the painter asked ,

“Can we mover your mammy outside while I paint the parlour ?”

They assisted her from the armchair into the wheel chair and then pushed her into the kitchen where she sat and watch the painter working .

He unfolded this small wooden platform that he was able to stand on and with a bucket full of paint he began coating the walls and door . Outside on the street all the nosey parkers came to have a look at him working . They stood watching as he decorated the room .

Somebody pointed over through the window saying.

“You’ve missed a bit there “

He gave her a scowling look ‘

Then he went over the place she was pointing at and then he went into top gear and started to brush around and around the edges of the parlour stopping now and then to have a painters peek at his work . In the corner was an accordion on the floor that he had to move .He placed it at the front door and one of those nosey parkers lifted it and started to play a tune that started a singsong . Half the street came to join in . The paint was drying quickly and the painted was able to slap on a high polish that gave the job a glossy finish .

Then with his face and hands covered in paint and polish he said.

“That’s it . Are you happy with that ?”

“Aye “

She said from her wheelchair .

The daughter handed him an envelope which he put into the pocket of his overalls , then off he went back down the street  ,’She sat in her wheelchair looking at the freshly painted parlour  .

The daughter pushed the wheelchair back into the bedroom and assisted her mother to sit on the edge of the bed and as she washed her and put on her nightdress she looked at her mother and asked.

“:Do you like the new colours in the parlour?”

And she answered.

 “Aye “

After a wee hug she helped her mammy lie down on the bed ,

“Good night, Mammy  “

She said in a gentle voice that seemed to float all around the room .

She lay in bed looking at the ceiling with a twinkle in her eye and though about her freshly painted parlour.

 

The End