Laura’s new build house was near completion.
Laura mentioned she was not sure about buying a house. She did not want to move in. She was happy to live at Mr Big I Am’s. What she said was a lie.
Laura told me the arrangement she had come to with Mr Big I Am when she cancelled the purchase of her new house. She gave him her savings and included her name on his mortgage. Each month she paid him a sum.
Laura applied for promotion. A move from the buzz of hospital life, away from varied staff, to a nursing home, more sedate, fewer people to mingle. She practiced interview techniques, and put on a show for me. She got the position, said she was relieved. Mr Big I Am wanted the promotion, he wanted the money.
One day she telephoned me, said she would visit after her shift, something to tell me. A problem to share.
With anxiety brewing I waited. I pushed a coffee in her hand, ‘So what’s wrong?’ She declined to answer, dismissed her earlier suggestion.
Often, Laura would seem troubled, something on her mind. I questioned her but I could not push through the barrier she had erected.
She was not ready to let me into her world.
She was not ready to leave Mr Big I Am.
addictchild 