Mr Orms came to see me last Friday evening. A surprize visit totally unexpected. It turned out he had taken choir practice that night, his successor as an organist having given up his post and no replacement found so far. It\u2019s all makeshift, now, odd people like the headmaster of Green Hamlet School, the organist of a neighbouring village and somebody else taking turns in performing the musical duties in Green Hamlet Church. The Vicar had prevailed on Mr Orms to have a go, too. \u201cHe talked me into it,\u201d Mr Orms said who might not have accepted the offer of his own accord. However, he had loved it. Transport had been arranged. A lady from the choir had collected him and would take him back. On their way home they called at our house, because Mr Orms wanted to deliver a bag of\u2026plums to me. Straight out of his neighbour\u2019s garden. Beautifully ripe and blue. They would make a delicious plum pie. Mr Orms knew that I liked plums. \u201cI went to ask my neighbour for some,\u201d he said, \u201cI told him who I wanted them for, I don\u2019t know whether he knows you, and he couldn\u2019t very well refuse.\u201d He looked pleased. Something he had done for me at last. I was delighted.<\/p>\n
The lady from the choir whom I hadn\u2019t seen for a long time came in with him. Just for a few minutes. They had never been in our house, and the lady took everything in with a keen eye. She is a well-known figure in Church circles and informed about most things. They sat down and Mr Orms, after having greeted our dog, inquired how I was. The lady looked interested. I said I had nothing to complain about, except it was evening, the end of the week as well, and I was feeling a bit tired. But that was perfectly natural, wasn\u2019t it. Of course, he asked me, because I had given up shopping for them on the grounds that I felt a bit run down. Which I did at the time. Pointless telling them that I wanted to spend my time in a more interesting way.
\nMr Orms was pleased to hear I was better. This didn\u2019t satisfy the lady, though. She bent forward with a compassionate expression on her face and said I did look a bit drawn, a bit pale etc. She made me feel uncomfortable. Perhaps there was something wrong with me. However, I managed to shake it off, saying that probably one can do too much and I might have been overdoing it somewhat. She didn\u2019t seem to worry much after all. According to her we all go through different stages from time to time. I don\u2019t know what they talked about in the car when she took him home shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n
Mrs Orms certainly gave me a concerned and scrutinizing look when I visited them the following week. \u201cHow are you?\u201d she asked and told me that her husband thought I was looking poorly last time he saw me. I have no idea what he could have seen much with his poor eyesight in not very strong lamplight. I assured her I was alright. \u201cHas the Vicar been to see you?\u201d she asked next. I had a mild shock. Why should the Vicar want to see me? Well, she said, she had mentioned it to him. Couldn\u2019t he pay me just a friendly visit, see how I was, etc. Wasn\u2019t that what vicars were there for? Getting me plums, arranging for the Vicar to see me \u2013 I was overcome. Didn\u2019t I want to see him, she asked. I said I wouldn\u2019t know what to say to him, not having anything to do with the Church. I didn\u2019t mind a kind of working relationship, but apart from that\u2026She seemed to think she\u2019d done the wrong thing and I hope she\u2019ll let the Vicar know. His wife is fully informed about my state of health, so it appears anyway.<\/p>\n
Mrs Rivers telephoned in the evening when I was busy washing a lot of iodine out of a skirt \u2013 I had emptied a small bottle onto it and was delighted to see the stuff yield to soap and brush. I wasn\u2019t prepared to interrupt this activity for the sake of the telephone. My daughter answered it. She came back laughing. Mrs Rivers who had seen me only the day before was wondering how I was. The Vicar\u2019s wife had told her I was\u2026poorly! I expect I shall get a few more calls in this matter\u2026<\/p>\n
Mr Orms was fine, on the other hand. In different spirits altogether. Preparing breakfast, his wife told me, and making himself useful in house and garden. \u201cHe is feeling wanted again, you know,\u201d she said. \u201cThey want him to play the organ more frequently. He played at a wedding last Saturday – mind you, the congregation, about a hundred of them, wouldn\u2019t sing, the Vicar had to tell them half way through that hymns were for singing \u2013 and again on Sunday. He won\u2019t be playing this coming Sunday, because the headmaster\u2019s wife wants her husband to do it, so that he\u2019s out of the house!\u201d Mr Orms called this quite an eye-opener. \u201cThese women! Up to all sorts of things!\u201d and he laughed a little, trying to see the funny side of things\u2026He still doesn\u2019t know what it was when he was so sick two weeks ago, Mrs Orms told me. Apparently he had even said he was \u201cready to go\u201d. However, this has passed. \u201cGetting better steadily,\u201d he said to me and seemed reasonably happy with life.<\/p>\n
Mrs Orms is in the middle of knitting her husband a short sleeved shirt. He wanted it dearly and in order to please him she gave up knitting the jersey for Mrs Rivers\u2019 grandson and started his. The colour is a bit controversial, but it was his special choice. Absolutely bright red. It was this colour or none, as far as he was concerned. Mrs Orms is apologetic about it to everybody who sees it. Mr Orms is undeterred. Won\u2019t it look nice with his grey trousers? What an excellent combination \u2013 red and grey. And one of the prettiest parrots, the African Grey, what colours is he, if you please?! Mr Orms can\u2019t wait to see his shirt finished and Mrs Orms is hurrying up.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re on the telephone, now. The Vicar had managed to talk them into it. Things the Vicar can do! Of course, he\u2019s an authority. If he wasn\u2019t, who would be? He made Mr Orms play the organ again and it was a huge success. \u201cNobody plays it like him,\u201d the Vicar\u2019s wife said to me. Having him stand in when necessary must be quite a bit cheaper than employing a full-time organist. And it boosts his spirits at the same time. Why did he ever give it up?<\/p>\n
Mr Orms telephoned me for the first time to tell me, Mrs Rivers\u2019 sweater was done and finished, ready to be handed over. My daughter collected it \u2013 a superb thing to wear in icy Swiss mountains, I\u2019m sure \u2013 and took it round to Mrs Rivers. I went to see her next day about payment. She was delighted and thought one couldn\u2019t grumble at the charge made. I told her it was a price between friends and she wondered was it enough. She also had more wool, she said, in case Mrs Orms was prepared to do any more knitting. I said Mrs Orms was feeling tired at the moment. Poor dear, Mrs Rivers said, and could I give her her thanks.<\/p>\n
Another lady from the Choir came to see me. Somebody had told her I was poorly, she said. I reassured her it had only been an excuse for giving up shopping for the Orms. She would be willing to do the shopping, the lady said, except that she had a poor back and can\u2019t lift very much\u2026I hastened to inform her that an elderly couple had been found; not in excellent health, but still, they thought they could manage. \u201cOh good,\u201d the lady said and invited me to come and see her for a chat next Monday. I accepted the invitation wondering who else would be there, but she didn\u2019t say.<\/p>\n
I did hear from the Vicar in the end. He got his wife to sound out how poorly exactly I was and whether it was really necessary to visit me. She rang up as I was busy making pancakes, causing one of them to be badly burnt \u2013 fit to be thrown away. \u201cHow are you, my dear,\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019ve heard you\u2019re poorly.\u201d We are on remarkably friendly terms really, considering\u2026 I told her I was very well and gave her the usual story. She approved of my good deeds so far, she appreciated I wanted to give them up, she agreed altogether that somebody else might as well take a turn. I couldn\u2019t think of anything else to say, but had the distinct impression that she would have agreed anyway. To finish that part of the conversation, she extended her thanks to me, she said, for all the good I\u2019d done to the Orms. I didn\u2019t see why she should thank me for that and said so. She replied: \u201cWell, you see people like to be thanked. It doesn\u2019t take much to say \u2018thank you\u2019; yet so few people ever do it.\u201d The Orms certainly thanked me profusely every time I saw them. I couldn\u2019t very well accept the Vicar\u2019s wife\u2019s compliments without returning them. So I hastened to thank her for all the good she\u2019d done to the Orms. \u201cOh well,\u201d she said, \u201cI have to do it. Seems to be my job.\u201d \u201cYou do it professionally,\u201d I said. She laughed and said she\u2019d done so much, she didn\u2019t know how she had managed it all with that bad back of hers. How was she then, I asked. Nothing special, she answered, just waiting to see the specialist and eventually there would be most likely an operation. She felt bad for not being able to stand about much, thus forcing her husband to do a lot of chores in the house on top of all his other work. She would have to cut down, too, on her activities. People would have to cope without her. Her doctor, though, was an excellent young man. The same who looks after the Orms. So kind, so caring. Reluctant to go on holiday, because she was in all this pain. She had told him he had done what he could. In fact, she exclaimed, he had done more than he could! What a lovely person! I congratulated myself quietly on being enrolled with the same doctor. He had come to church last Sunday, she continued, and had heard Mr Orms play. He was delighted and much impressed by Mr Orms\u2019 spirits. \u201cAnd do you know what happened in church?\u201d she giggled, \u201cwe had a bat! It was flying around and causing a stir. People were shrieking and trying to avoid it. I\u2019m not afraid of bats. They\u2019re lovely animals. Very gentle and soft. Sharp teeth, though.\u201d I told her that the German name for it related them to mice who are rodents; maybe, they belonged to the rodent family. Then the idea flashed across my mind that bats were flying most of the time with probably not much chance for gnawing, and I added hastily: \u201cOr partly, anyway!\u201d She would have accepted anything from me and agreed regardless. Then she continued: \u201cThe bat even flew round my husband\u2019s head as he was standing in the pulpit! Wasn\u2019t that fun! Everybody was laughing. And he greeted it with \u201chello, dear\u201d!\u201d She seemed most amused at the thought and I wondered would it be worth trying to introduce a pigeon into the church some time. A white one preferably. But then, of course, one can\u2019t be sure that the animal will behave the way it is expected to. She said bye-bye eventually, urging me to look after myself, and I said the same to her.<\/p>\n
Then I dashed into the kitchen to save the pancake, but I came too late. The children who had heard me speak to her asked why I had said \u201chow dreadful\u201d so often. I couldn\u2019t remember for the life of me why I should have said that and was therefore unable to give them a juicy piece of news.<\/p>\n
I went to see my lady friend from the Choir who had also asked one of our neighbours, a lady I knew vaguely, because our dog is friendly with hers. She took an interest in me, her husband\u2019s ex-wife having been my nationality. This compatriot of mine had also re-married, a lawyer this time, I was informed, in order to indicate the social status, I suppose, and has two daughters from her first marriage who my informant is on very good terms with. The two families, I gathered, were getting on excellently, hence this lady\u2019s desire to learn my language. They have a huge alsatian, she looks huge at the side of our dog, anyway. However, the lady who keeps her in order to deter burglars \u2013 she\u2019s a lot on her own \u2013 is a little worried. Her twelve-year-old son apparently doesn\u2019t like the dog and teases her. The dog doesn\u2019t like him and leaves the room whenever he comes in. \u201cYou know what sort of a reputation alsatians have,\u201d she said. \u201cFalse. You can\u2019t tell what they\u2019re going to do.\u201d And she is worried there might be an accident one day. I could only share her concern. Our little meeting was friendly, uneventful, non-committal and totally insignificant. I suppose it\u2019s useful to keep in touch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mr Orms came to see me last Friday evening. A surprize visit totally unexpected. It turned out he had taken choir practice that night, his successor as an organist having given up his post and no replacement found so far. It\u2019s all makeshift, now, odd people like the headmaster of Green Hamlet School, the organist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading-aloud"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}