Chapter 7: Something Must Be Exciting You

‘When I saw him into bed, grandad asked if I’d used some of the money that he’d given me to buy the things for the bathroom.’ ‘Yes.’ I admitted.’ ‘That was meant for you, not the house,’ he said. ‘But we’ll sort that out in the morning.’

‘Theres something serious we should discuss now. I’m deteriorating,’ he said. ‘It’s quite natural at my age, and I reckon I’m only still here because of you caring for me. ‘The thing is, although anyone can pop their clogs at any moment, I’m more likely to than most.’

‘So, we need to think about you. You are sixteen now and perfectly capable of looking after yourself. But you won’t be able to get a place of your own until you’re eighteen. You could also have social services worrying about you until then.’

‘Suppose I died tomorrow,’ he asked, ‘Would you want to stay on here?’ ‘It wouldn’t be the same without you,’ I told him, ‘But yes, I guess so.’ ‘Well, this house is rented,’ grandad said, ‘But I never see or hear from the landlord.’

‘The rent is paid from the bank, as are all the other bills. So, if you didn’t tell them, or any of the other household bills, that I’d died, no one would be any the wiser. I have nothing of any value except some savings in the bank.’

‘Tomorrow, we will go to the bank together and I’ll change my account to a joint account with you. That means if anything happens to me, you will have control of the account, and all the bills will still continue to be paid.’

‘There should be enough to keep you going until you’re eighteen, by which time you’d be working and could get a place of your own. The authorities should be none the wiser. We’ll work out all the details tomorrow.’

‘I won’t need a place of my own at eighteen, because you’ll still be here with me.’ I told him. He gave me a hug and said, ‘Of course I will,’ but I think we both realised that wasn’t very likely. I’d never given any thought about what would happen to me if grandad died before then.’

‘Over the next six months, a few strange things happened.’ Jim said. ‘The next morning, I stopped off school and grandad took me to the bank. We met a friendly lady in a side room, and I signed a form. ‘We’ll send you a card for the account.’ she said and that was that.’

‘Previously she had assured grandad that once it was a joint account, if either of us died, the account would continue with all the standing orders still being paid. So, we left the bank both feeling happy. I took grandad back home, then decided as I had an unexpected day off, I’d go shopping.’

‘I went to the supermarket and was wandering around with a trolley, when a lady’s voice said, ‘Hello Jim, my you’ve grown, I haven’t seen you for ages.’ It was a neighbour of my mum and dads from three doors down. She had always been nice to me.’

‘We stopped chatting, and I told her I’d moved in with my grandad to look after him. ‘I’m sorry about your mum.’ she said. I looked at her surprised. She noticed my surprised look, ‘You do know she died two months ago?’ she asked.’

‘No,’ I told her, ‘We didn’t get on, so I haven’t spoken to her or my dad since I moved out three years ago.’ ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘I did wonder why you weren’t at your dad’s funeral two years ago. I thought it better not to ask.’

Seeing another surprised look on my face, she asked, ‘You didn’t know he’d died either did you.’ ‘No,’ I told her, ‘When I refused to go to church anymore, they hardly spoke to me for two years. Then when I moved in with grandad, I never saw or heard from them again.’

‘That’s so sad,’ she said, ‘Yes, they hardly spoke to me because I wasn’t a churchgoer. Are you happy at your grandads?’ ‘Yes thank you, very,’ I told her smiling, ‘It’s a real home.’ We chatted a bit more then she wished me good luck, and we parted.’

‘On the way home, I tried to decide whether to tell grandad or not. In the end I decided he was unlikely to hear it from anyone else, so I said nothing.’ ‘How did you feel about your parents?’ Lewis asked. ‘It seems a terrible thing to say,’ Jim told him, ‘But I felt nothing. I wasn’t pleased, I wasn’t sad, I just accepted they’d gone and that was that.’