bodies were in need of her help, and would call upon them to offer her charity to them. Obviously the old lady next door was one of these cases.
After the young woman had shut the door on her Aidy stood for a moment, surrounded by the swirling snow, wondering if her trudge around the back would be worth all the trouble. Sister might have come and gone by now. But her need to find the nun was desperate. She couldn’t leave any stone unturned.
When she went to open the back gate a few minutes later, it was apparent that someone had recently gone through it as it opened easily and a mound of snow was piled the other side against the wall. There was also a trail of footprints, albeit rapidly filling with snow, leading up to the back door. Aidy hoped Sister Teresa had made them and not the milkman.
There was a gap to one side of the net curtain that hung against the back window. Looking through it, Aidy saw an old lady lying in a makeshift bed in the recess at the back of the room. She appeared to be asleep. She also saw a long black garment draped across a dining chair by the ancient oak table. She was positive it was Sister Teresa’s cloak. Hopefully she had found her quarry at last.
Tapping lightly on the back door so as not to frighten the old lady from her sleep, she then let herself deftly inside, hurriedly shutting the door behind her and making her way into the back room. The old lady obviously had acute hearing as she was sitting up and looking suspiciously across at Aidy when she entered.
In an apologetic tone Aidy said to her, ‘I’m very sorry to come in without being asked, only I saw you were sleeping through the window and didn’t want to startle you by knocking.’ She thought she’d better introduce herself and added, ‘I’m Aidy Nelson, from the surgery.’
The look of suspicion vanished from the old lady’s prune-like face to be replaced by one of delight. In her aged voice she said, ‘Oh, then welcome in, deary. I am such a blessed woman today, having all these unexpected visitors. Would you like a cuppa? Only I’m sorry to say you’ll have ter mash it yerself … as yer can see, I’m indisposed at the moment. I am getting around a bit more now. In fact, I was out of me bed and hobbling round with the help of the walking sticks the hospital borrowed me for a good ten minutes earlier this morning. Carrie, me neighbour next door who comes in every morning to light me fire for me and regularly pops back to keep a check on it, helped me up and then back to bed afterwards, good old soul that she is. Only me little walk around tired me out and that’s why yer caught me napping.’
‘I appreciate your offer of tea but I’m looking for Sister Teresa. I need to speak to her urgently and I understand she could be here? That is her cloak on the back of your chair, isn’t it?’ Aidy wondered where Sister actually was as there was no apparent sign of her apart from her cloak.
The old lady looked disappointed for a moment that Aidy hadn’t come to visit her after all but then her face brightened. ‘Yes, dear, it is hers. And wasn’t that a lovely surprise for me? The good Sister calling in to see if I needed anything doing as she’d heard through a patient she attends a few streets away that I’d broke me hip a few weeks back and couldn’t do much for meself just now. I’m a widow, yer know, lost my Arthur a couple of years back from a heart attack.
‘To be honest, dear, he wasn’t that much of a loss to me. He were a good man when I married him, but over the years he grew more and more miserable, and by the time he retired he was no joy at all to be around. He’d sit in his chair all day, moaning and groaning about anything and everything he could have a grumble at, expecting me to run after him. We had three lovely daughters, though. They each come over to see me as much as they can, but they all live two bus rides away and have families of their own to see to so they can’t get in