Maureen was the church’s mother, and she enjoyed the title and the respect she was generously given. She was enjoying the community of Christ.
Emilia sent a message to Maria informing her that she planned a visit to England with her family in spring and had decided to stay in a hotel, close to her mum. That was a good idea because she could pop in the more quickly. The family were excited about the holiday. The two girls had grown up not knowing their grandmother, even though she was alive. They had been told that she was very ill and did not need people around. They have always been suspicious of their mother’s explanation and have pestered her to send them to see her, even if she was very ill.
Tim was a gentleman and did not speak a lot. He was content with the explanation his wife had given.
Years before, Tim had worked overtime till past midnight at the factory and had encountered a teenage girl loitering on an empty street. He startled at the sight of her and stopped to find out if she was in trouble and needed help. This despite the risk of stopping like that, because thieves sometime used young girls as bait. He just stopped out of instinct.
‘Hello, do you need a lift?’ he asked, leaning out the window.
‘Yes, please,’ the girl replied.
‘Where are you heading to?’ he asked.
‘To the town centre, if you don’t mind.’
‘All right, hop in,’ he said.
‘Oh, thank you,’ she said and climbed into the passenger seat on his left.
‘Why is a beautiful girl like you walking alone in this street? It’s dangerous. I don’t mind dropping you at home if you like,’ he offered.
‘I don’t have a home’ she replied indifferently.
‘What do you mean, you don’t have a home? Where are you from, and where are your parents?’ Tim asked, growing curious.
‘My parents did not want me, so they left me at the doorstep of the local doctor. I grew up in care, and the only relatives I have are my foster parents, but I haven’t kept in touch for a long time.’
‘I understand,’ he said listening and nodding.
‘Anyway, will this gorgeous man give me a bed tonight? I promise he will have a time he will never forget. I am hot, hot,’ she said giving Tim a flirtatious look.
‘What is your name? Hot, hot?’ he asked with a smile.
‘Emilia,’ she said.
‘That’s a nice name for a beautiful girl,’ Tim responded. ‘Why are you doing this job?’
‘It’s the easiest way to make a living. It’s not the best, but in my situation, it’s the best option for me at the moment.’
‘What is your situation?’ he continued, to keep the talk going.
‘Are you taking me home or not?’ Emilia asked, a little impatient.
‘I don’t know, unless you tell me what your situation is. Moreover, it’s not safe for a young girl like you,’ he cautioned.
‘Oh yeah, it is, but I don’t mind taking chances,’ she said.
‘Couldn’t you do something else?’
‘Like what? Tell me what. I have no qualifications, and I need to survive. Are you fuckin’ taking me home or not?’ she demanded.
The look on her face when she was angry made him smile, and he sensed how strongheaded she was. He decided to take his chance. It was love at first sight; his last relationship, three years before, had been a disaster. ‘Yes, I am taking you home.’
When Tim took Emilia home, she was nineteen. He offered her his bed and said he would sleep on the couch.
‘What do you take me for, Mister? I can do anything you fancy,’ she said, sticking her tongue out and posing.
‘I don’t fancy anything, I am very tired,’ he said.
‘Why am I hare then? don’t fuckin’ waste my time’ she said, looking frustrated. What is this one up to? It’s strange for a man to pick me up and not demand sex. She was humbled by the thought of it. Then she learnt that men are actually not the same as some people assume they are.
‘I like you,’ he said, turning to look at her reaction.
‘Really? What have I done so far to earn this?’ she said, touched, almost in tears. No man who took her showed any emotion, and they were sometimes violent to her.
‘You are beautiful, and you sound intelligent.’
Tim showed her the bathroom and made them omelettes before they both retired to bed, Emilia on the bed and Tim on the couch.
All night long he thought about the girl in the bedroom. She was beautiful and aggressively intelligent. He loved her, there were no two ways about it, but would she leave her job and become his lover? I will find out tomorrow.
In the morning, Tim gave her fifty pounds to get some clothes. ‘You can come back here if you want to stay,’ he said. ‘I will be home at five.’
He did not expect her to be there, but when he arrived home, she was waiting in the corridor for him. He smiled and opened the door for her. He had never turned his back on her since then. She remained loyal and loving to her new-found boyfriend.
Emilia was the one who led and implemented ideas. Emilia was extraordinarily brave and made bold decisions concerning both of them, so when Tim won a considerable amount from the lottery, Emilia decided they would move to Spain and start a new life. She had planned it all, suggesting that they get married and then start a business. Tim was thirty and she twenty, but he found the suggestion a good one. Tim resigned as loader from the factory and took his wife to live in Spain. He and his family had holidays but never considered coming to England until their daughters started pressing to find their grandmother. Tim was French and his parents lived in Paris; the two girls had visited Paris on several occasions but not England, so they were very excited.
That Saturday evening, the family had a good night’s sleep, and as planned with Maria, they would attend the church service at Woolwich. Pastor Emmanuel would welcome them and deliver his sermon as usual. The subject of the sermon was forgiveness. He said that in the Gospel according to Mark, one of Jesus’ disciples asked him how many times he must forgive his neighbour who had wronged him. Jesus said seventy times seven times and added that, if we fail to forgive one another, how then do we expect God to forgive us? It was an emotional sermon for Maureen and Emilia.
After the service, Pastor Emmanuel introduced the family to the church. Maureen turned to look at her daughter, whom she hadn’t seen for a long time. Emilia hugged her mother and said, ‘I am so, so sorry, Mum. There is no way to describe how sorry I am.’ And she meant it, as she was the only person left who knew the cause of her mother’s situation. Tyler had gone with the secret, and no one else would ever know. ‘I’ve got you now, and it’s all right. Let’s go home.’ The two girls hugged and kissed their grandmother and they followed her to her flat. ‘Oh Mum, how long have you stayed at this address?’ Emilia asked.
‘Ever since I was discharged from hospital, and that was about 25 years ago,’ Maureen replied calmly.
‘Some of the things here are very old and dangerous to use.’
‘The council send people round every year to test and do some work. Things may look old, but they are all right.’
In the hotel, before the church service, Tim had suggested that they should take Maureen back to Spain to live with them and the family. Emilia was not sure whether her mother would come with them She had to be careful how she asked her; maybe she would let the girls do it. In her mind, that would be a way to make up for what she had taken her through due to her actions. Emilia was filled with guilt and wished her mum would agree to come with them. She would give her a comfortable life for the rest of her days.
The following day, the family decided to go out shopping with Maureen. She was delighted to let the neighbours know that her daughter and grandchildren were with her. None of them thought she even had a family. The girls held her hands, stroked her hair, and commented how beautiful she was. That was one of her best moments in life.
Maureen immediately began her grandmother role, and while the girls were with her she told them the story of ‘The Shepherd and the Wolf’.
‘I have a story to tell you; would you like to hear it?’ she asked with a smile.
The two girls looked at each other in surprise. ‘Oh yes, tell us, Grandmother. We want to hear it,’ the elder said.
‘Once upon a time, there was a family that lived in a village called Scorhorn. They had a large herd of sheep, so their son took the sheep to the field for them to graze. He was a shepherd. The field nearby was getting bare because of overgrazing, so the shepherd boy decided to go farther into the forest. He had told his parents that he would go farther away for pasture. The parents thought it was a good idea but warned him that there were wolves in the forest, and they always attacked shepherds and kill the sheep. They advised him to raise an alarm by blowing a whistle, and the nearby village would come to his rescue.
‘The first day in the forest, he got bored and decided to play a trick by blowing the whistle. As soon as the villagers heard the whistle, they took their guns and ran to his rescue. When he saw them, he started laughing and said it was an April fool’s joke. The villagers got angry but warned him not to do that again. He must blow the whistle only when he was in danger. He laughed at them as they returned back to the village.’
‘That was really naughty, behaving like that,’ one of the girls said.
‘So what happened next?’ the other asked excitedly.
‘The shepherd boy enjoyed the deception and a week after the incident, he did it again. The villagers came running with their guns, but again there was no wolf. They got so angry that they asked the shepherd boy’s parents to instruct him that playing mischief on matters like that was serious. The parents were not happy with him and warned him seriously. He took the advice to heart and promised never to do that again.
‘One day, when he took the sheep out to graze, he saw something move in the woods. It looked like it was staring at him. He took out his whistle and blew it. The wolf fled but stopped and continued to stare. The shepherd boy desperately blew the whistle over and over, but no one came to his rescue. The wolf was a stubborn one. It grabbed one of the sheep by the neck and went into the forest. The shepherd was so shaken that he drove the sheep back to his village.’ Maureen ended her story with a sad face. ‘This time the villagers had ignored his alarm.’
The girls listened as the story came to an end. ‘Silly boy,’ said one of them. ‘That was a lucky escape for him! He could have lost his life!’
‘What lesson can we learn from this?’ Maureen asked the girls.
‘Not to take people for granted,’ said the elder.
‘Not to give false alarms. People may not take us seriously if we do it often,’ said the other.
‘You are both right. Never take people for granted,’ Grandmother Maureen advised. The girls enjoyed her company more.
They had dinner at the hotel in the evening. While at the table, the elder daughter asked, ‘Gran, we would like you to come and live with us in Spain. Will you, please?’
‘That’s a big question, Martha. I need to think about it. And besides, I don’t want to be a burden on you.’
‘No, you are not a burden. You can do things yourself. Rose and I would never trouble you. Please come with us.’
Tim explained that they lived well in Spain and that they had a spare room that she could have. He told her that the family had missed out long enough, and the only way to build bridges was for her to come and live with them so they could look after her.
Maureen decided to discuss the matter with her long-time friend Rev. Emmanuel. The pastor advised that the church loved her, but it was a better idea to go with her family. He advised that Maureen should never stop attending her services. She should remember Christ always; ‘The Lord,’ he said, ‘will keep and protect you, Sister Maureen.’
It was an emotional farewell for the church that she had grown to love so much. They had been her family all those years, and they knew her very well. The members regarded her as the mother of the church. On the morning before they left, the reverend announced to the church that their mother was leaving them and going to Spain to live with her family. They made a huge offering for her and prayed for her new life.
Maureen still had some questions unanswered; she wanted to know why Emilia had not come to look for her sooner and what had happened to her baby boy. The two questions were not easy to answer, so she would keep them on hold and for now enjoy the reunion. It was a nice feeling, and she did not intend to spoil the day asking questions like that.
She did wonder, though, how she could get her things over. Emilia helped her mother pack things that she cherished which included her medals. ‘Mum, we can’t take everything, but take those you cannot replace. We can get you new clothes when we get home.’
There was a group picture of a church event; Maureen picked that one because most of the church members were in it.
Emilia invited Maria for the farewell service, and she brought Ron and Tammy with her. The two families bonded quickly and seemed to have known each other for a long time. Tammy said she would go to Spain in the winter on a holiday, and she would like to stay with them. The two girls were excited to hear that and said they would look forward to welcoming her. They would buy tickets for a concert and go together. Maria was there, witnessing it all, and assured the family that they could visit at any time.
Meanwhile, the two husbands got on well and had their manly jokes and laughed throughout the event. The two families had a meal together at the hotel before they departed on their separate directions.