The Raffle
episode 1 (of just a few)
Green Room
Wanto watched through the glass door as the white mortuary van carrying the corpse of Squid hovered to the top of the driveway and sat like a large refrigerator at the exit to the main road, its left blinker flickering. At a break in the traffic it rolled back before heaving forward, then disappeared noiselessly beyond the scarlet bottlebrush lining the nursing home grounds.
"Isn't it great?" said BigMog, the Director of Nursing, beaming from his office behind the reception counter. Wanto turned slowly to see the director's round, buzz-cut head cocked cheerfully above the edge of the counter. He was a jovial man in his mid-fifties, who at the turn of the century had started at Green Room Retirement Villages as a cleaner, after failing his HSC. "He had such a wonderful life," the director added, his eyes twinkling, then bent over his notes and resumed writing.
"Wha' feck you say pal?" said Wanto, but BigMog did not hear. Turning from the door, he gripped the combination-lock handle for support -- a depressing sight, the lock, to keep them all in -- and shuffled across the foyer to the counter, taking care to lift each foot, to keep his balance forward. A fall and an operation in hospital would be disastrous -- everyone knew what happened to Baldric, because of the anaesthetic, during his ligament replacement.
"I said, what you say?" said Wanto, now clutching the black vinyl-clad counter as he leaned toward the director's dome-like head. On the bench where BigMog was writing Wanto could see glistening packets of caramel chocolates, a gift from one of the resident's relatives.
BigMog looked up, puzzled. Wanto glared at him: "They tellya to say that, at nurse's school?" he demanded. He sucked his upper dentures down then released them, letting them slap the roof of his mouth with a loud Tock!
The director winced. "You'd rather he'd-a gone slowly?"
"Does it have to be one or the other?"
"Well, there is eternal life, Wanto . . . But we're still working on that one . . . And I doubt we'll get there, even in my time."
Wanto narrowed his eyes. "You got at least thirty years mate. You'll be living on the moon. Surfing the ether." He rolled his lips inward and gave a half-crazed smile. Tock! went his false teeth.
"Now look," said BigMog. "Squid did have a good life. Went out how he wanted."
"According to the terms of his contract."
"Well." The director's eyes shifted uncomfortably. "That's the pledge. You all take it. You haven't forgotten?"
Wanto shrugged. "Yeah all right. One less in the water."
"It's for everyone's benefit. Honestly, I dunno what you complain about. You know what the food's like at other homes? It's dog's vomit. This is a happy place."
"I'm dancing for joy," said Wanto. He looked down at his liver-spotted hands, then rotated his body cautiously, cringing at the shooting pains in his legs, the result of too many years spent turning a mal like a shortboard. He would sit on the verandah with the others for a couple of hours, before the next meal. Was that lunch or dinner? He sighed, slapped the counter with his fist and began shuffling away.
"Don't forget the raffle," BigMog called after him.
"Jaysus. What day is it?"
"I told you yesterday mate."
"Well I forgot."
"It's tomorrow. You're in the draw."
"Jaysus."
"Odds have improved without Squid."
"Jaysus."
"You might win."
"Fuck yeah."
"TV crew's here at eight am," the director called, as Wanto inched down the linoleum corridor toward the solarium. The left wall was lined with windows, and he observed a young magpie jabbing at a dead twig in the manicured garden. It must be Spring, then. On his right, the pink wall was plastered with crayon pictures of sunshine and barrelling surf, drawn by the residents under the eye of the Diversional Therapist. Wanto's Bali picture had won a star. He hoped his chair was vacant, and the verandah held no unpleasant surprises.
. . . to be continued
Next episode: http://forum.realsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3664
This story is fiction. All events and personal relationships depicted are fictional © Squidink 2005
* The Raffle episode 1
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* The Raffle episode 1
Last edited by Squidink on Thu May 19, 2005 9:42 am, edited 4 times in total.
"Stay Happy and you'll be Perfectly Fine" - Jack
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