‘…armadillo, crocodile, badger, giraffe.’
‘And stop.’ The doctor clicked the stopwatch.
‘Did I pass?’ Olive was pretty impressed with her efforts to name as many animals as she was able to in one minute.
‘You do. With flying colours. So what’s made you think you might be having memory problems?’
The barrage of questions hadn’t exactly been testing. Olive should have been pleased. ‘There’s just been a few odd occurrences that have made me worry and think something was going on.’
‘I can refer you to the TIA clinic if you think you’ve had another episode.’
‘You see, that’s the thing. I don’t think I have, but I don’t know how else to explain it.’
‘You’re due your annual check with the clinic in a couple of months. I’ll ask them to bring it forward. At least that way it will hopefully put your mind at ease.’ The doctor tapped at her computer and clicked her mouse and whatever she needed to do was done. ‘And don’t forget to look into that mobility scooter. At some point you need to consider slowing down your pace.’
The doctor had Olive all wrong. ‘The only reason I’ll agree to getting one is if it helps speed me up.’
When it was done, Olive was glad she’d gone to the doctor. It gave her a sense of accomplishment rather than worrying over something that might be nothing. She wasn’t entirely keen on the mobility-scooter suggestion, but somehow, the idea being delivered to her by the doctor made the need for it more real. It wasn’t as easy to brush off and in some ways it made sense if it would save her time and energy. Pressing ‘buy now’ on her new purchase hadn’t been an easy decision, not least because how would she know if she could manage to drive the bloody thing? But it was never too late to learn a new trick or two and Olive was determined to do just that if it would make things easier.
The second thing she’d managed to do was meet with Esme and get officially organised over the Christmas weekend. The plan was, Esme would deal with the majority of it… the bookings, the hotel sleeping arrangements, the catering, the agenda. She was going to hire in temporary chambermaids and a chef so she wasn’t having to do everything. It meant Olive was left with the easy task of planning the cocktail masterclasses, incorporating the Christmas recipes.
They both wanted to make sure it was fun. They wanted everyone to have a good time so it was something they would consider doing again in the future. Olive reckoned it would be a nice boost to the Salters’ income and, if that was the case, it would be well worth doing more frequently. All in all, the Gingle Bells retreat weekend sounded like it would be wonderful.
Olive was excited about the whole thing. It was the project she’d needed to put the spring back in her step. Knowing her health wasn’t in the awful state she’d thought it might be, somehow she was able to look forward to the event and Christmas much more.
Hopefully, tonight the rest of her uncertainties would vanish. The following Monday evening had come round all too quickly what with medical appointments getting in the way. She was meeting Tony by the Sunken Gardens once the Oakley West evening entertainment had begun.
Monday evening entertainment was a guy playing the piano. He came every week and was a delight to listen to, but Olive wished he would learn some new pieces. It was only possible to listen to the same piece of Beethoven so many times and remain happy about it. So, without the slightest bit of guilt, she slipped out of the musical muchness of a muchness to go off on her mission.
It felt weird to not be doing this with Veronica and Randy. She was so used to them being her sidekicks and they’d probably tell her off for doing it without her. But she’d agreed to do this with Tony, and if for some reason Richard and Skylar were heading down there for their dates (she really hoped not, unless it was an innocent explanation), she didn’t want anyone else knowing about the blossoming romance. If Richard hadn’t felt comfortable enough for his own mother to know about them dating, then it was too early to let the gossip wagon continue any further, even if it was the best bit of news she was holding on to.
Plus, Olive didn’t want the duo of their trio to know about her new purchase. If they knew she’d given in to advice they’d all want a go. Doing as the instruction manual had told her to, she switched the machine on and mounted it in the correct way, ready for the off. There were plenty of places to store her new machine at Oakley West, but she wasn’t going to leave it hanging about for other residents to come and tinker with. They would think it was Oakley West property and all want a go.
There were certain technicalities to get her head round. It was so entirely different to driving a car it was going to take some getting used to, but she hoped she would be able to fathom it enough to at least make her way to where she was meeting Tony.
It said on the information sheet that it was suitable for most terrains, so it should be able to handle the plush carpets and grass she might cross. Fortunately, most places were flat, other than the slopes down to the promenade, and she could always get Tony to do that bit if she was too worried. She asked him to meet her at the top of the slope just in case, and then they needed to decide where they were going to hide for their vigil.
Like all the best covert operations Olive had undertaken, this one required a rucksack with supplies. She packed extra layers in case it got cold, a thermos, snacks, and, as ventures with Randy and Veronica had taught her, it didn’t hurt to include a Stanley knife because there might be an unexpected need for one. Having prepared as much as possible, she was ready for the off, if she could work out how to go.
It was nowhere near as easy as putting one foot in front of the other. The controls would take some getting used to. She practised while it was still off, hoping that, somehow, a dummy run of sorts would help her out.
When she felt she was all set to go, she revved up the engine, although there wasn’t much of a rev involved, more of a purr, and she shot off at such a speed she almost overbalanced herself.
Stop. Slow down. Don’t go crashing.
They were pretty good mantras to go with. Getting used to a new way of getting around wasn’t going to be easy. She wasn’t used to hand controls and it was easy to feel like she might topple over. Not feeling entirely comfortable with heading out of the building, she decided to practise going along the wide hallway on her floor. She hoped none of the other residents spotted her, as they’d all be wanting a go, but she didn’t feel confident enough to rush out. It was a bit stop-start as she got used to the controls, but after several tries, she seemed to be getting a good rhythm.
Corners were the tricky bit, making sure she turned in the correct way so she ended up heading in the right direction and not into a wall, and stopping at the right time was also an art form. All in all, it was far trickier than the YouTube videos she’d studied led you to believe, but then the only ones she’d seen had young whippersnappers driving and they had no need for one at all, other than laziness. They should have had someone like her on there, giving a real-life demo and tutorial.
Sensing she was beginning to adjust and get used to her new toy, Olive braved heading to the lift. Once she’d managed to stop in the right place to press the call button, then manoeuvred herself into the lift, she knew the trickiest part was over and she’d manage getting down to meet Tony without a problem.
Heads turned as she whizzed through the lobby out into the open air, and she would have waved if she hadn’t been concentrating on keeping hold of the controls and not crashing. It was kind of imperative she didn’t crash so early on.
Outside it was a bit too dark for Olive’s liking and she’d not thought to read through all the instructions to find out if there was a light to switch on. Fortunately the street lighting was enough to light her way far enough to reach Tony.
The flat pavements were fine to negotiate, but crossing the road was another matter. She made sure there was no traffic at all before crossing, the kind of gap needed if a troupe of toddlers were about to cross the road, then she lined herself up so she was going up verges rather than crashing into a solid kerb. It had been some time since she drove. When her last car had given up the fight for life she was in her seventies and she’d decided not to get another. Not because she hadn’t felt able to drive, but she was using the car so little by that point, there seemed no reason to keep paying out for the upkeep. She’d forgotten how much concentration was required when in charge of a vehicle. She was more alert than she had been for ages. But already she knew she’d made the right decision. The expanse of path that would have taken her the best part of ten minutes and left her breathless, she was able to cut through with ease. Once she was more confident – and her confidence was already growing – life would be a lot easier.
‘Oh, Olive. Only you.’ Tony greeted her with a laughing smile.
The response was what Olive had been hoping for. Feeling brave, she circled Tony a couple of times to show off her new toy. ‘What do you think?’
Tony shook his head in what Olive had to hope was disbelief. ‘I think you’re destined to spend your life as a trendsetter. Aren’t you supposed to wear a helmet with one of those things?’
Olive parked herself so she didn’t make them both dizzy. ‘I guess they were all wearing one on the YouTube videos. I’ll have to get one, although it might entirely ruin my street cred.’
‘You’re the only eighty-four-year-old I know with street cred. And you’re definitely the only person I know who owns a Segway.’
‘Want a go?’ Olive offered, dismounting.
‘Of course.’
Olive gave Tony a quick tutorial on how to operate her new granny mobile. It was easy enough for Tony to get it pretty much straightaway with a few practice runs along the path to the promenade.
Tony came to a halt by Olive. ‘You’ll definitely have to get a helmet and you should really get knee pads and elbow pads as well. Richard would have a hernia if he saw you shooting along without any protection.’
‘Consider it on order. Now, would you mind driving it down the slope? I don’t feel confident enough to tackle that just yet. We’ll just have to walk it down if you don’t feel brave enough either.’
‘My pleasure,’ Tony said before moving in the right direction. He was obviously a natural. ‘Just don’t tell Esme. I don’t think she’d class any of this as recuperation.’
Olive reached the top of the slope ready to follow on. At least going downhill wasn’t one of the things making her breathless.
‘Here we go,’ Tony said, starting his descent.
And with a great big wwwwhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee all the way down the slope, Tony acted like one of his teenage boys going for the ride of his life.
And as fortune would have it, there was no crash landing. Only every youth frequenting the beach, who shouldn’t have been there at that time of night, stopping their chatter to gawp at a middle-aged man and old lady laughing more in ten minutes than they had in their entire lifetimes.