{"id":74,"date":"2014-08-11T10:08:38","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T13:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/?p=74"},"modified":"2014-10-03T17:51:51","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T20:51:51","slug":"molly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/archives\/74","title":{"rendered":"Molly"},"content":{"rendered":"

I thought of my mother today. She\u00a0died in hospital a few years ago, and I visited her at night not long\u00a0before she died. Our last conversation (she never lost her lucidity) was about her days as a trainee nurse and her fear of the Matron finding her without her cuffs on. Last year, as a writing exercise, I incorporated the memory\u00a0(with embellishment) in this short piece. \u00a0I found the photo in an old album of hers some time later, wearing [spotlessly clean] cuffs.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"FME-nurse\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Damian likes his new car, pokey little Japanese thing, white and chrome, faux leather. Pa had a proper car, dignified, Austin Westminster. Black like cars should be, shiny shabby leather seats, proper leather, dividing arm in the back with the ashtray where Doug and I used to …

\u201cYou finished you drink, now, Mrs Elliot?\u201d<\/span>

Me, Molly. In hospital. Born in one, gave birth in one, shall die in one, not today I hope, though I don\u2019t mind. I\u2019m ready. Met Phil in hospital too, at the Molyneux, he wanted to drive ambulances. Day war was declared. Drove me home. Shock for Pa and Mom. Morris Ten, was it? Green? Or was that the one he did up for me when he went to the States? Don\u2019t know any more. Small car, that one, double declutch, double declutch, Damian doesn\u2019t double declutch, no one does now \u2026<\/span>

Yes, dear, thanks, I\u2019ve had my Ovaltine. Was an Ovaltiney once, got the badge somewhere, Radio Luxembourg was it, or was it SNOL, don\u2019t know any more \u2026<\/span>

\u201cYou sleep well then, you hear. I\u2019se back in the morning\u201d<\/span>

Good night, Deirdre, sleep well too. Slip of a thing. Jamaican, is she, Trinidad? One of those islands. Family came for the buses probably. Windrush, was it? Not like my day at Molyneux. We worked hard then. In the sluices, all of a lather, cuffs at hand in case Sister or Matron came in. Mustn\u2019t be caught without cuffs. Worse, with dirty cuffs. Everything\u2019s changed. Used to be order, uniforms, coloured belts, knew who was who then. Don\u2019t know any more.<\/span>

Damian will be home now. Sleep well, Damian, Julie, the kids, the dog, what\u2019s her name.? We had a dog at Budock Vean, Nigger, can\u2019t say that now, no one does now. Everything\u2019s changed. The world\u2019s gone, and I\u2019m going too. \u00a0I\u2019m tired, that Ovaltine had something in it. Silly idea, Molly. Silly Billy, silly Molly. Used to be jolly Molly once. Just tired Molly now. Sleep well, Molly \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I thought of my mother today. She\u00a0died in hospital a few years ago, and I visited her at night not long\u00a0before she died. Our last conversation (she never lost her lucidity) was about her days as a trainee nurse and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings","tag-personal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4112,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions\/4112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}