Forever Is Over (51 page)

“
Richie, don
’
t be so silly! Jemma and I are doing just fine at our place
and if everything continues like it is right now, we won
’
t be moving
anywhere. We
’
re paying the bills, we
’
re keeping the place spotless,
Nan
’
s delighted with us. She threatens to ship us over to the Wirral,
but she doesn
’
t want us there really, we
’
d get in the way of her trips to
play bowls and her coffee mornings. She just says it to make sure we
behave ourselves!

“
Don
’
t worry, Richie! I
’
m not going anywhere!
”

“
Phew!
”

As soon as he said,
‘
phew
’
, I flipped right back to not believing him.
It was just said without any conviction. I could not put my finger on
what it was, but there was certainly something the matter with Richie.
At that point, I had no idea, but soon enough I thought I had discovered
the root of the problem and when I did, the love that we had built up
came crashing down quicker than a Fred Dibnah chimney.

Margerita McGordon

Majorca is fantastic in the Spring. Wally and I are both in our
seventies now and although in our younger days, we loved the intense
heat of July and August, as we were both real sun worshippers, these
days warm is wonderful. We have had a villa in Costa D
’
En Blanes, for
seventeen years now and have headed out for a six week holiday there
from mid-April to the end of May, for the last nine years. Karen, one
of our daughters and her husband, Andrew, often head over for the last
week of May and then stay there for a fu
rther couple of weeks after we
head home. Our other daughter, Paula, rarely comes over, she has an
olive skinned complexion and since she was a child has avoided the sun
like a bat. Paula
’
s always there to pick us up from the airport though!

For those six weeks, we just love sitting on the balcony, smelling the
sea air and reading a good book, or at least I do, anyway! Wally tends to
find odd jobs to do around the villa whilst listening to the BBC World
Service on the radio. I don
’
t think I
’
ve ever seen Wally read a book,
he
’
ll read The Daily Bulletin or The Sun, but after the awful tragedy
at Hillsborough, which happened just the day before we went away,
he made a stance to never read The Sun again, so he read The Daily
Express this time.

I think he misses the half-naked, glamour pusses on Page Three, but
he was so disgusted with them after Hillsborough (the bosses at
“
The
Sun
”
, not the Page 3 girls), that he was willing to forsake Sam Fox and
the likes in the name of common decency. I admire him for that. He is
a good man, my Wally.

The six weeks away were perfect. We had two cloudy days and the
rest of the time, it was wall to wall sunshine, about as hot as British
summertime but with sun! Costa D
’
en Blanes is ideal for us, it
’
s very
quiet, but if we fancy a coffee in the day or a beer and sherry at night, we
are only a couple of miles away from Portals Nous and Palma Nova. We
tend to get a taxi now as Wally gets a little nervous about driving over
there as the Majorcans are mad drivers. We mainly go to Portals Nous
now, we
’
re getting too old for Palma Nova, it
’
s for the young ones.

Last Sunday, our six weeks were up, we had a Sunday afternoon
flight back from Palma to Manchester with Dan Air. It was a great
flight, just a little bumpy once we began our descent, as it was raining
in Manchester. Paula picked us up. Paula has been living on her own
for the last three years, since her and Gerry divorced and I
worry about her. She
’
s thirty eight now and I doubt very that she
’
ll
have children now, at that age. It
’
s very sad.

Wally had not wanted Paula coming all that way from Ormskirk, to
pick us up. He wanted us to leave the car at the airport, but once I told
him how much car parking would have cost for six weeks, he quickly
changed his mind! Paula is a safer driver than Wally now anyway, his
reactions are not what they were. She was there five o
’
clock, on the dot,
just like we asked. She
’
s marvellous, our Paula!

Paula did not break the news to us
until halfway home. The first
half of the journey was just filled with the normal chit-chat, how were
the cats, did we eat at Friar Tucks much and
how was Puerto Portals
getting along and were there bigger and better boats there this year?
Had we seen anyone famous? Just Nigel Kennedy, we told her. Only
when we were half way home did Paula break the sensational news
about next door.

“
You know what I completely forgot to tell you on the phone,
Mum?
”

“
What?
”

“
Your noisy neighbour
…”

“
Don
’
t tell me she
’
s been fighting again! We saw a police car there
the morning we left to go to Majorca and I said to Wally,
‘
I bet that
woman
’
s been up to her old tricks again!
’
Didn
’
t I, Wally?
”

Wally nodded.

“
She died, Mum!
”

“
She died! When?
”

“
It must have been that Saturday night, when you went to Majorca
on the Sunday. That will have been why the police car was there. It was
in the Ormskirk Advertiser. She fell down the stairs, probably drunk,
one of her daughters was woken up by the noise and when she went to
look, she found her. Dead.
”

When your next door neighbour dies, you should feel sadness,
shouldn
’
t you? I should have felt awful, but I had been praying to God
that she would move away and now, in a way, she had. I thought back.
The mother and the eldest daughter were always arguing, Wally and I
could often not hear Corrie because of the din through the walls. Often
we had to turn the volume up. We felt sorry for the youngest one, she was a sweet, beautiful young thing, but it must have been dreadful for
her, living in that house, with her mother and sister screaming at each
other the whole time.

“
We heard them rowing that night, didn
’
t we Wally? As per usual,
the mother stumbled in drunk and her and the oldest girl had a right
row again, didn
’
t they?
”

Paula did not believe me at first.

“
It couldn
’
t have been that night, Mum. It said in the Advertiser the
girls were asleep. They only woke up when she fell down the stairs.
”

             
Wally backed me up.

“
The local rag have got it wrong, Paula. They woke us up, about
one o
’
clock, didn
’
t they, Rita? Your mother was in a right state saying
they had ruined her holiday already, as they just had no consideration
and she went on and on about how she was going to be jetlagged for
the first few days of the holiday, because of next door. If your mother
had not been with me the whole time, Paula, I would not have been
surprised if she had gone round to next door and pushed that woman
down the stairs!
”

“
Wally!
”

“
It
’
s true though Rita, isn
’
t it? You were fuming, weren
’
t you?
”

Wally was right.

“
Well, Wal, she has made our life a misery every since they started
renting that place.
”

“
I know she has, dear.
”

This conversation seemed to concern Paula. I could not help but
notice that she was frowning. It was the same troubled frown she had
when she discovered that Gerry had been having an affair with Holly,
the Avon lady.

“
Mum, Dad, are you 100% sure about this? It was definitely that
Saturday night?
”

“
Paula,
”
I said,
“
we are old, but we aren
’
t senile! It was definitely
that Saturday night. The day before our holidays. We were already upset
because of what had happened to all those poor people at Hillsborough,
then the foghorn came in and that was it, pandemonium, as per
usual!
”

“
Could you make out what they were saying?
”

I am not good with details like that. Luckily, Wally is.

“
Can you remember what they were saying, Wally?
”

Wally scratched his head like he was trying to get to his brain, to
tap into his memory banks.

“
The two girls were arguing at first, in the bedroom. Remember,
Rita, we woke up when the older one shouted
“
GET OUT!
”
at the
younger one. Then the older girl and the mother were arguing for ages,
about a knife, I think. Remember Rita,
the older girl said something
like,

‘
Run, mother!
’
and then the mother said something like,
‘
No chance!
’
then there was an argument about backing off and not backing off and
then someone screamed, then there was a load of banging, then it went
quiet. Didn
’
t it, Rita?
”

Wally
’
s attention to detail is just first rate. When he was describing
it to Paula, I could just picture the two of us lying there, listening, as if
it was yesterday, not six weeks ago. I wish my mind was still as sharp
as that.
“
That was it, Paula. Exactly like that.
”

Wally continued.

“
After it went quiet, I got up, went for a wee, I am a slave to my
prostate these days, Paula, I really am. Went for a wee, then I went
downstairs, made your mother and I a drink of water, then we went to
sleep. The following morning, we were up at five and we headed off to
Majorca.
”

“
Did you not think of ringing the police?
”

Wally and I laughed a little, Wally explained.

“
The police! We tried that when she first moved in, but it didn
’
t stop
her. The police would have been around here pretty much every night
if we had reported that woman every time she rose her voice! Bloody
nightmare she is!
”

“
Bloody nightmare she was!
”
Paula corrected him.

“
Well, we
’
re going to have to contact the police now.
”
Paula stated.