Just another day

Back home, Leonora and the little crutches settled into their quiet and uneventful routine. Leonora was feeling quite a bit better and was wondering when she should start hobbling to the shops rather than using the internet.

"Would you like to go to the supermarket?" she said to the little crutches one day.

They beamed happily and chirruped together, "Oh, yes please Leonora."

Leonora wasn't quite sure how she was going to manage two little crutches and a basket or a trolley but she thought she would worry about that later. It was time for an excursion.

.............................

She'd heard briefly from Leonard, in his usual fashion. Leonard seemed to think a few terse emails were appropriate communication. Leonora invariably puzzled over the cryptic one-liners and nearly always misunderstood them.

But she had no energy for arguing with him, or trying to get him to be more communicative so she decided to reply to him in similar fashion.

Leonard was puzzled to receive her abrupt replies. Clearly something was wrong. Leonora always wrote loads.

It was pretty obvious that when he wrote 'Morning' or 'How are you?" that she was expected to reply with the usual sort of ramble about what she was up to, or planning, or sometimes something totally unrelated. That was one of the good things about emailing Leonora, she could usually be relied upon to write something silly that would distract him for at least a few minutes at work.

So when she replied "Morning" and "OK" he realised that he must have upset her. He had sighed, and written asking if she was all right.

He received another one-word response. "Meaning?"

What a nuisance she was. He asked her if there was a problem.

Apparently Leonora did not understand that. He wondered if she was being deliberately obtuse.

Leonard made a supreme effort and wrote two sentences. He pointed out that she was being unusually abrupt and asked if he had said something wrong.

He was proud of himself. That was very conciliatory of him. He could just as easily have written "Leonora, stop doing the spoiled brat routine, and just write normally." But he hadn't.

It made no difference though. All she did was accuse him of being abrupt, and said there was nothing wrong and she had nothing to write about.

Leonora had considered Leonard's emails to be a cheek. Only Leonard, who never wrote more than a few sentences, and used one word when ten would be more explanatory, would criticise her for being abrupt.

Their email exchange didn't improve over the next week or so, with each accusing the other of being bad-tempered and irritable.

Leonard considered ringing her, but that didn't seem too good an idea either.

So they had reached a stalemate, with an infrequent email exchange still continuing, but which said very little either way.

........................

Leonora was brooding about this as she set off for the supermarket. The little crutches were unusally quiet, sensing that she was thinking about something. They also wondered how she was going to manage a basket or a trolley but as neither of them wanted to be left behind they had not mentioned this.

In the end Leonora hooked a basket round her arm in a most uncomfortable position. It was clear she wouldn't be able to put much in it, or it would fall out as she couldn't carry the basket level. She wandered up and down the aisles. But her head was full of Leonard. She gazed at the items and had no idea what to buy. Nothing took her fancy.

When she got to the check-out she stood patiently in-line. And then looked in her basket. It was totally empty. She looked at the little crutches and smiled. They smiled back although wondering if Leonora always came to the supermarket and wandered around without buying anything.

She put the basket down with some difficulty and limped out with the little crutches to go home and place an order over the internet.

When she got home, she sorted the shopping order first, and then decided to get on with transferring her medical records from the hospital near Leonard's where she had originally gone, to the nearest one to her. This took some time, and she was pretty fed up with the whole bureaucratic system, but she was determined not to visit Leonard's again.

She had been there too long, too often and it had run its course. Then she decided it was time she planned a trip. Lara's trip to south east Asia had inspired her, although she didn't feel like hiking off to China just yet. As soon as she was reasonably mobile, a few weeks or months in Europe would be very nice. And she could spend the next couple of months planning it.

Then Leonora wrote a nice email to Leonard. Well, she thought it was nice anyway, or nice-ish.

She told him that she had organised the transfer of her records so she wouldn't need to come down for any follow-up appointments, thanked him and Mrs Leonard and Tata (yet again) for their very generous hospitality, and then said that as soon as she was reasonably mobile she would be clearing off for a while.

........................

Leonard received her email when he got in from work that day. He felt pretty ropey anyway, but Leonora's dismissive email just about finished him off. He had a cup of tea but felt sick. He had eaten nothing since lunch time, and he knew he should have eaten a pack of jaffa cakes or a large bar of chocolate during the afternoon to sustain himself.

Tata had taken up all his sofa so he was forced to sit in the chair which he rarely used. She was glaring at him, and had no intention of moving from her sofa. She had not forgotten being pushed off the sofa the other evening and was determined to get her revenge.

He put down the lap top, and thought about what he needed to do next. Then his eyes shut.

Missed connections

The evening went ok, although Leonard had to bite his tongue a few times.

Lara was busy talking about giving up her job before she left for her trip and Leonard was decidedly unimpressed. The firm she worked for had agreed to hold it open for her when she returned, but she was thinking about moving elsewhere and thought it was immoral to accept the offer of returning to her job after six months if she only stayed in it a few weeks or a couple of months.

Needless to state, Leonora agreed with Lara. She thought it was great that the firm was happy to hold the job for her, and if Lara intended to stay there for some time that was fine. But as Lara's intention was to leave the area as soon as she returned - subject to finding a new job, Leonora could understand her moral dilemma.

Flippin' women thought Leonard. Lara will come back skint from her trip, needing somewhere to crash and someone to feed her until she finds a new job, and guess who will end up funding her? He desperately wanted to open his mouth and play the bossy father routine, but just couldn't be bothered with the grief. He felt very virtuous sitting there with his mouth shut. And hoped Lara had the sense to hang onto the job.

After Rod and Jane had achieved their main objectives of free showers and food, they left fairly early, on the grounds that they had work in the morning. Nothing else worth scrounging, thought Leonard grumpily.

As usual Leonora cleared off to bed early, and after a while Lara and Mrs Leonard followed her. Useless women. None of them have any stamina. Leaving me to stay up on my own and no-one willing to entertain me.

He sulked around grouchily on a few forums, watched the late night news, and threw Tata off the sofa when she put her head on the keyboard.

Bump! she fell on the floor and glared at Leonard.

"Not my fault. Got to send a few emails and annoy the woman who asks me Nosy Personal Questions. Nothing else happening around here anyway," he sulked.

Front paws went out and head went moodily on top of them. Shan't forget that in a hurry, thought Tata, in a very bad mood. Just you wait Leonard. Ow, and my ribs hurt too.

.............................

Leonard had no idea what happened the next day. Leonora and Lara were in good spirits when he returned home for lunch, although neither of them seemed interested in speaking to him.

Dinner that evening was a quieter affair with just the four of them, and Leonora cleared off to bed early again.

Leonard was beginning to wonder if she was avoiding him, or maybe she was just more interested in chatting to Lara. Perhaps when Lara left things would return to normal. He smiled, wondering what he should tease Leonora about over the next few days.

................................

At breakfast the next day, Lara said: "Hey dad, any chance of a lift at lunchtime? Oh, and Leonora needs to get a lift to the station too."

Leonard nearly choked on his huge bowl of cereal.

"What?" he said.

"Well, I'm going back today and Leonora is going home too," she explained, somewhat surprised that Leonard had not understood this fairly simple piece of travel information.

Leonora had her face in fruit salad.

"Leonora?" he said, puzzled. "You aren't going back so soon are you?"

Leonora lifted her moody green eyes out of the fruit salad. "Yes. I came to see Lara, and so it seems sensible to leave when she does. A lift would be great if it is convenient, but if not I'll get a taxi."

And she studied her fruit salad again with great attention.

The trouble was that Leonard had to shoot off to work. He had no time to argue with anyone. "I'll see you both at lunchtime then," he said miserably.

When he came home to collect them, they were both ready with their bags packed. They had obviously sorted everything between them as it seemed he had to take Leonora to the station and then drop off Lara.

The two women hugged each other on the station platform, and then Leonora turned to Leonard. She gave him a little wave, and said "Bye."

Leonard was gobsmacked. He thought he deserved a bit more than that. They had started off so well too, and yet after that first short burst of rapport, he had hardly spoken to her.

He stood looking vacantly at her but Lara grabbed hold of him and said: "Come on dad, Leonora knows how to catch a train by now, let's get a move on."

Leonard looked back once more, but Leonora wasn't even looking their way. He walked sadly back to the car park with Lara.

A family evening

Leonora and Lara were ensconced in Leonora's room on the bed, with Tata lying between them, and the bottle of wine on the floor. They both (not Tata) had their noses stuck in the atlas and were happily anticipating the excitement of Lara's trip. First stop Beijing.

Mrs Leonard was in the kitchen as usual, happily preparing food for lots of people.

Leonard was sulking moodily in front of the computer feeling unloved and unwanted. Perhaps Rod would turn up soon and they could indulge in some Men's Talk.

Almost immediately after he thought that, the front door opened, and Rod walked in. Leonard brightened up.

"Hi dad," said Rod, and headed straight off for his customary free shower. Leonard hadn't even had chance to open his mouth.

Rod's girlfriend Jane followed in behind him. "Hi Leonard," she said. "How are you?" And she too disappeared without waiting for an answer, off to join Rod in the shower.

Right that's it. I'm going to bag a few caches.

He limped into the kitchen and said grouchily: "No-one seems to need me, I'm going out caching."

"Yes, Leonard," replied Mrs Leonard, chop chop chopping away at some vegetables.

Yes what? Yes no-one needs me, or yes it's ok to go out?

"And I hope we are having some meat or fish or something. Just because Leonora is vegetarian doesn't mean five other people have to eat vegetarian food to fit in with her."

"Yes Leonard," repeated Mrs Leonard ambiguously.

Leonard scowled. He couldn't see any meat or fish and Mrs Leonard was being decidedly unhelpful. Still, something smelled nice somewhere, so best not to start an argument. He limped out and went towards Leonora's room.

In fact he stormed in so quickly that Tata didn't have time to jump off the bed. She lay down as low as she could behind the two women and wondered if Leonard might not notice her. Not that it was very easy for a 43kg dog to hide on a bed.

"Come along Tata, we're going out. You can catch up with these two later," he ordered.

Leonora and Lara looked up briefly and went back to the atlas and their conversation.

Typical, he thought. Not even interested in where I'm going. He turned round and left the room, with Tata dutifully trotting along behind him.

Out on the road his spirits lifted a little. He was sick of fitting in around everyone and nobody being interested in him. It was time for a little Armada Groove or Basement Jaxx he thought, and pressed the CD player.

Tata groaned softly in the back of her Land Rover and tried to cover her ears with her paws. She really wished one day Leonard would discover some decent music.

There were no First To Finds, but the two of them had a couple of good walks anyway, and Leonard was in a much brighter mood when he got back.




Mrs Leonard was still in the kitchen, and everyone else was sitting together in the sitting room, chatting away about Lara's trip. Leonard was secretly jealous about her trip, and dearly wished he could chuck his job and go gadding around Asia.

He decided to join in the conversation, after all he was usually down with the kids, although Leonora did tend to cramp his style sometimes by pointing out how old and boring he was, which was a cheek when she was older than him, even if she neither dressed, acted, or looked as though she was.

"I really really wanted to do Burma," said Leonora. "Myanmar," she added to show she wasn't totally out of touch. "But it sounded so complicated, you could only get a visa for seven days, and the trip from Rangoon to Mandalay was really tight to fit in with that. So we gave it a miss. Seems a bit easier now."

Flippin' know-all Leonora, he thought.

"I really enjoyed Cambodia," said Leonard, showing off, knowing Leonora hadn't been there.

"Yes, but you went with work Leonard," said Leonora. "We're talking about independent travel. It's hardly the same thing.

"Lara's plans for travelling around with her friend are far more ambitious and adventurous than you getting some cushy number subsidised by work," she said dismissively.

"Although I know you have done a bit of camping and stuff in Europe on your own.

"And you have been to America, which I haven't, but there again you haven't been to Australia and New Zealand and I have."

Leonard glared at her. Everyone expectantly waited for his response. He considered pointing out that she hadn't been to the Middle East at all, but just couldn't be bothered with the argument.

"More wine Leonora?" and without waiting for the answer he limped off into the kitchen, wondering why on earth he had wanted the woman to come back.