[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The forest turned out to be very popular with weekend walkers and joggers.On the narrow path Hanna struggled to keep Biddy out of the way of other walkers.Her mother would suddenly stop and stare at the trees and the birds, earning her a few disapproving looks and comments.The colours of the leaves were fantastic at this time of the year, which was probably why the place was so busy.Biddy beamed with awe just the way she had always done.It was beautiful to see that her mother had kept her love of nature and could be so easily pleased.Hanna realised how lucky they were to have so many options to entertain her mother and make her days bearable.Many of her work colleagues complained that people in their care had no interests in anything.Then again her mother had always been an exceptionally positive and upbeat person who had been rarely knocked down by life and when she had, she very quickly got back up again.Biddy smiled at the people around her and approached several dogs to pet them.A group of mountain bikers shot past Biddy and gave her a big fright.She nearly fell and after that she held on to her daughter for dear life.“Are you alright, Biddy?” Hanna asked but she seemed shell shocked and didn’t reply.The two walked with linked arms for a little longer but Biddy had retreated into her shell and seemed not to notice anything but the ground ahead of her and Hanna’s arm.More stressed than she had been before the walk, Hanna arrived back at the car park and took her mother home.When they got to the Korhonen home Biddy fortunately snapped out of her withdrawn state and made a beeline for Henrik.“We are ordering take-out,” Henrik announced.“What can we get for you, Hanna?”“Vegetarian curry, if Indian or Thai food is an option.Ask them for the dish with the least fat in it,” Hanna answered.As she ran up the stairs she realised that the phone was still unplugged so she turned on her heels and took the phone out of Henrik’s hand before he could try and dial.“I will speak to them myself, what are you going to have?” she said and she managed to put the cable back into the plug without anyone noticing.She ordered the food and then discreetly unplugged the phone again.Hanna really wanted to check her voice mail to see if Patrick had called but she had heard terrible stories about the kind of messages journalists left to provoke people into talking to them and she did not have the nerve for it.The guy earlier had been comparatively harmless but he had scared her enough.She went upstairs, put in one of her relaxation CDs and exhausted, she fell asleep in her chair.While Hanna had her much needed rest Biddy had fallen asleep on the sofa, too, and father and son sat in the kitchen waiting for the food.Henrik suddenly jumped up from his seat and rushed to his car.When he came back he went into the living room where his mother was sleeping before joining his father in the kitchen.“What are you doing?” Walter demanded to know.Henrik plugged in a baby monitor.“Have you lost your senses?” Walter asked outraged.“Baby toys for your parents?”Henrik ignored him and went back into the living room.“It make perfect sense, Dad, and you know it!” the baby monitor blasted Henrik’s voice from the living room into the kitchen.Walter pulled an angry face and when Henrik joined him once more in the kitchen he switched on the radio to listen to the 1 o'clock news.“It will help you relax, Dad,” Henrik said encouragingly.“You can keep an eye on mother whenever you need to without having to be quiet in the same room.”“It will only work if she makes a noise when she gets up.It is for screaming children, not for adults with memory loss.”“If you fine tune it you will hear the door opening or her footsteps.Don’t be so negative!”“Let me listen to the news,” Walter said abruptly but Henrik knew for once he had got through to his father.One of the items on the news was about an eccentric billionaire who was threatening to sue Hanna’s airline for damages
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]