Enduring friendship

Being short, she perches on the edge of the comfy-chair, her legs – clad in no-nonsense brown leather sandals - crossed at the ankle. It’s a tough call to describe it as a severe demeanour, for when she smiles it creases into wrinkles of laughter; however, the body is wracked with nervous apprehension and gives the appearance of severity. A light rose pashmina, tossed casually around the shoulders, softens the eyes darting from behind the granny-glasses.

At the podium the intellect prods the most disarming of story-tellers into action. The scheduled thirty minutes of readings from “The Spare Room” extends to an hour while Garner reads, recites, reminisces and explains the story of narrator-Helen and the mortally-ill but firmly-in-denial, Nicola, as they dosado through the most intense and angry three weeks of their decades old friendship.

Tears glistening on her lashes, my daughter snaps her Jackie-O sunnies back in place as we exit the Customs House library into the lunchtime warmth: summer is upon us; the season of good-will draws nigh.