Wendy French
Mrs Getbetter
We used to long for her to be ill
so we could invent knocking
on her door to ask her
if she thought she’d ever get better.
We giggled in the bushes exchanging parts.
Later we heard her husband had died.
He’ll not get better, we said and laughed.
Mum went with her to meet him at Gatwick.
Dad took an hour off surgery
for the funeral. He’d always warned him
about smoking and hearts.
We had to let ourselves in from school.
A few weeks later she came in crying:
Henry’s last letter’s lying on the mat.
It’s just arrived from Rhodesia.
Mum went to pick it up for her.
Out of respect we changed
our allegiance to Smellie.
Using a telephone we’d ask
Are you Smellie?
What are you going to do about it then?
Page(s) 47
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