Chapter 15: Anniversary Autumn Outing

Almost exactly a year later the newly remarried Monty Smythe and his bride Sofija Smythe, now a legal British passport holder, visit the Songlebridge Village Lakeside Retirement and Care Home to open a new extension built by SW Developments PLC, a relative newcomer to construction, the S and the W standing for Smythe and Wouters.

Shortly after Mabel Smythe had agreed to an amicable no-fault divorce by mutual consent, where legal opinion ruled that the pre-nup agreement was nullified by agreement between the two parties, all assets of the couple were commuted to cash and split 50/50 between them.

This meant that the Robertson Corporation lost access to Mabel’s shares which also had to be sold, before creditors discovered that the Robertson Corporation’s extensive development options on farming land in the Songlebridge district were based on handshakes and had no basis in contract law, so Mabel’s brother was forced to declare for bankruptcy and the farming land was safe from development, except for those areas next to the Care Home that Monty and Boris thought prudent to tie up with options that Monty had drafted and signed.

Fortunately for Mabel, her share of the defunct Robertson Corporation had already been cashed in during the divorce so she avoided the bankruptcy fallout and she and her ex-Magistrate lover moved to a villa in Portugal. At the time of writing they were still together.

The Robertson Corporation was bought out by an offshore based company, who had Monty Smythe listed as a ‘consultant’ to SW Developments PLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary listed on the London Stock Exchange whose shares sold out on the day it was launched, providing adequate funds for planned developments which were legally on the books.

Boris Wouters welcomes everyone with open arms on the Friday afternoon in time for the launching of the extension, as chairman of the board running the facility.

The previous manager, Claire, received a conviction of three years for stealing prescription drugs which had not yet attained approval for commercial use and had been selling them to illegal drug dealers who were cashing in on some of the side effects of the Dementia-Away medication.

Boris still lives in the home even though he is the chairman of the board, and he has new management running the place whose priority is care over profit. Having resigned from the FSB, he no longer received income from them, but then he didn’t need it anymore. Being a defector recognised by MI5 as a wealthy majority owner of a now well-respected care home, he was quickly granted UK citizenship. He had cleared out from his room all his Flemish books, which were turned into artificial logs for feeding into the care home’s biofuel heating system.

Boris may have feared reprisals from his former colleagues in the FSB but with the recent removal of office of the previous President of the Federation of Russia, and a gentleman’s agreement between the secret service organisations of both Great Britain and the new Russian Government, bygones were bygones and Boris was able to enjoy his retirement.

Elsie Newlove was 95 when she passed away at the end of the next spring. Everyone who knew her, and there were many, all said that she died with a smile on her face and at her wake no-one had a single bad word to say about her. She was buried with full military honours and her ashes sent to her family in Singapore to be scattered where her husband’s ashes were once scattered.

Oscar Petersen is still a resident, he is feeling a lot better even though he is approaching his 90th birthday, is much more mobile and has moved upstairs into the second bedroom of George’s old flat, paying George a very reasonable rent, which was a much lower drain on Oscar’s resources than the full-time care he once needed. Also he was handily placed for when he eventually might need full-time care in the future. For now he was cheerfully running a weekly class of jewellery making in the main room of the care home which was very popular both with students and for less able patients simply observing the fascinating process. Doreen sold her dingy flat above the shops and moved into the main bedroom at George’s flat, because her father Oscar was more than happy with the slightly smaller room.

Gladys, having missed out on the first trip after catching something contagious, she was told and had to be in isolation for almost a week, so she was the first person after Boris to put her name down. With the bigger bus, this time around there was room to accommodate anyone who wanted to go. Once she got her scooter back, she was happy that the scooter enabled Boris to go, but this year she wasn’t letting anyone near her scooter. Boris however, didn’t really need once this year, the Dementia-Away pills, which he still took, meant that he was perfectly able to get about under his own steam

Dot, Ada and Rosemary were unchanged, they still love to gossip and evaluate all the new male residents that arrive, although Ada is the only one who takes the evaluation seriously and whenever possibly, practically. All three signed up for the anniversary trip to Weston Super Mare immediately it was announced and the Royal Hotel had been sent a warning that they were all coming and the original dance band who played that night said they’d move heaven and earth to make sure they were available to play for them on that booked date at the end of the holiday season.