The Other Family

by Linda A. Hardy

  “who said I did not know where he was, I never said that did I?”

  Have you ever felt like punching someone on the nose or in the balls, if he had been standing right in front of me I might of done just that, Lindsay stay calm I told myself.

  “ok Mr Reid can you kindly tell me where Mr Caxton is then?”

  “you didn’t say please”, ah god I swear I might lose it in a minute, I was getting angry

  “please Mr Reid can you kindly tell me where Mr Caxton is? Thank you”

  “I don’t know where he is, but last I heard he was in a nursing home over Caversham way, but I don’t know which one”, finally, an answer, hallelujah!

  “well thank you Mr Reid that is most helpful” I hope I did not sound sarcastic when I said that, and quickly said goodbye and hung up, now I needed a coffee, a strong one, I think I need chocolate too after that phone call, god what a idiot, no wonder she left him, I was thinking to myself.

  I needed to find out how many nursing homes there are in Caversham, surely not too many I hoped, but when I checked the telephone directory out online, I found there were at least thirty, I thought the only way I am going to know where Tom is, is to ring every one of them, which is exactly what I started to do.

  “hello St Paul’s Nursing Home, how can I help you” the kindly lady said as she answered the phone.

  “my name is Lindsay Harrison, I am a Genealogist, I am trying to assist my client in the search for her brother, I know he is in a nursing home in Caversham but not sure which one, would you happen to have a gentleman there by the name of Thomas Caxton?”

  “Oh I am sorry we are not allowed to give out patients information”

  “I see, but are you able to tell me if Thomas lives in your nursing home?”

  “sorry we are not allowed to give that information over the phone, you can however write a letter addressed to our Manager, but you must have a family members permission otherwise we won’t be able to assist you”

  “yes but if the family member knew which nursing home Tom was in then I would not be ringing to find out if he lived in your nursing home” I was feeling somewhat frustrated.

  “yes I realise that but we have policy and procedures to adhere too and that is our policy”

  “well ok then, thank you for your help”

  I phoned two more nursing homes, and got the same result, they would not give me any information, I would have to write to the Manager first and would have to obtain written permission from a member of their family to contact the patient, now I was well and truly stumped, I did not see any purpose in ringing any more nursing homes, thinking they would probably all be the same.

  Now what do I do? I know that Tom is in a nursing home in Caversham, providing that is Mr Reid was telling me the truth, I only have his word on that, maybe I could try ringing him back saying I had contacted all the nursing homes without any success, I might get some other clue on what I can do next, but I really truly did not feel like ringing him, but what else could I do.

  Well I had already made the coffee, a strong one, even had some chocolate sitting next to it, along with my notepad and pen and I started dialling Clifton Reid’s phone number, fingers crossed he was in a better mood, I hoped.

  “Mr Reid, this is Lindsay Harrison calling”

  “I can’t help you”

  “yes I know, but…”

  “well which part of I can’t help you don’t you understand then?”

  “Mr Reid” deep breath Lindsay, come on girl you can do it “Mr Reid I have phoned all the nursing homes in Caversham and Mr Caxton is not living at any of them”

  “well the old fool is probably dead then isn’t he”

  “well no he is not dead Mr Reid, that I do know for certain, now I was just wondering did Philippa remarry at all, would you know?”

  “oh yeah I know that”

  “and do you know who she remarried too?, what his name is?”

  “no I don’t know”

  “but you just said you knew she had remarried?”

  “well yes I do know she remarried but I don’t know who too, I know she got married in Spain apparently, so I heard on the grapevine, but can’t tell you who”

  “so it was not to your best mate then?”

  “what no, she ditched him a few months after leaving me, heard later that she met some other bloke and went to Spain and got married, heard she had a kid, but that is all I know”

  “well thank you for your help Mr Reid, if you can think of anything else that might assist me in my search for Thomas Caxton then do give me a call”

  I said goodbye and hoped he never phoned me, the pratt could of told me the first time I called him that Philippa Caxton had remarried. Now I was back to square one, nursing homes would not help me, Philippa had remarried abroad and for all I knew she could be living abroad as well, I felt so close to finding Tom yet felt a million miles away from finding him, frustrating. It was whilst sitting eating my tea that night that I had a brainwave.

  Chapter 23

  I sent a text to Kevin asking him if he was at home and could I pop up and see him, he replied back straight away and said sure come on up. I dashed upstairs and knocked on his door.

  “Hi Linds come on in”

  Not sure what I was expecting when I entered his flat, which by the way I had never been inside his flat before, but his place was immaculate, I think I was partly expecting a real bachelor pad, you know with stuff everywhere, dishes piled up in the sink, clothing discarded here, there and everywhere, dust growing on everything, men are not particularly good at housekeeping at times, but instead I found everything neat and tidy, and no dust, as far as I could tell.

  “you don’t have to look surprised Lindsay, I like to live cleanly, most of the time anyway”

  “well it was not what I was expecting, looks real nice”

  “well actually I picked up everything that was on the floor and threw it all in the cupboards” he said with a laugh.

  “hey I am not here to judge, I am not exactly an expert housekeeper myself and anyway you should see the junk that is in my cupboards” I said with a laugh

  “so I noticed especially the cabinet in the bathroom….just kidding” which we both laughed about.

  I told Kevin how I was having problems trying to locate Thomas Caxton and that I had the brainwave tonight of going to Reading to go and have a chat with the owners of the current bicycle stores in the town and seeing if they remembered anything of Tom’s business, I know they may have been in competition with one another business wise but they still might of known one another.

  “well that sounds like a good idea, when you going?”

  “um I’m not sure, actually I was going to ask if you’d like to come with me, if you want to that is, you don’t have too, just that I thought….”

  “yeah that would be nice, I know the town really well, what if we go on Saturday morning?”

  “yeah that sounds good, I will treat you to lunch as well”

  “we could have a pub lunch, have a lager or two, or you can treat me to something else” he said with a wink and a smile

  “no we are not going to the pub, looked what happened last time” I said with a smile.

  Kevin and I were seated on his sofa and he leaned towards me and put his arm around my shoulder and said, “and what exactly happened Miss Lindsay Harrison last time, um” he then winked at me.

  My mind was racing with what could of happened, and to be honest I think I actually wanted something to happen, but my brain was telling me this is not right, I am too old for him, I need to be sensible.

  “anyway we can head off about 9ish on Saturday morning then, I will meet you outside downstairs alright?” I said feeling somewhat nervous

  “sure, sounds good” said Kevin as he withdrew his arm from my shoulder, somewhat rather coldly or maybe that is just my imagination getting the better of me.

  I was awake early Saturday morning, worrying about what to w
ear, of all things, felt like I was in a dither all because I wanted to impress Kevin, this is ridiculous I thought, ok so I fancy him, there you go, I have admitted it, I fancy Kevin, I was hoping he might fancy me back but who am I kidding, really?, he is twenty five, I am in my fifties, if he was my own age I might throw myself at him, but he is not, maybe I am going through a mid-life crisis, that is what it is, lusting after my youth, in the end I just put on something casual and confortable, like I always do.

  “morning Kev, ready to go then?”

  “yeah, have brought my camera along as well incase I see something worth taking a photograph of”

  The journey by train was uneventful, we talked about what I would ask when we reached the bicycle stores, amongst talking about the weather, football, and that we both loved scary movies and watching motor racing. When we arrived in Reading, we stopped for a coffee and then I got out my maps that I had drawn with the addresses of the only two bicycle stores that remained in Reading, maybe bicycles were not big business any longer. The first bicycle store we went to was called Claridge Bikes, we walked in and I asked the young boy behind the counter if the Manager or the owner was available.

  “Do you wish to make a complaint?”

  “no, I only wish to speak to the Manager or the owner, that is all, it is not about a complaint”

  “he is out the back, I will just go get him” said the young boy who looked no older than fifteen.

  A man of about sixty approached me and I realised then that the boy must be his son, he introduced himself as Brian Claridge, the owner of the store, and after introducing myself I set about to ask him:

  “From the mid 1950’s until about the mid 1980’s there used to be a bicycle store here in Reading called Caxton’s, have you heard of it?”

  “oh yes I remember Caxton’s, I had a part time job there when I was a boy when I left school at fifteen”

  “oh so you would of know Thomas Caxton, Tom?”

  “yes I knew him, nice man, would do anything for anyone, nothing was too much trouble”

  “do you know why he closed down his business?”

  “I heard his wife died and after that he closed down the business, not sure why”

  “you wouldn’t happen to know what became of Tom would you, just that his elderly sister has lost touch with him and she has asked me to help to try and find him”

  “no sorry I don’t know”

  “he had a daughter Philippa, did you know her?”

  “um just come over here a minute”

  “sure, no problem”

  We walked over towards the back of the store, out of earshot of the boy and Mr Claridge continued, “Philippa and I were a bit friendly years ago, if you know what I mean, we were just teenagers ourselves you know, it was not anything serious but we had a bit of fun as teenagers do, but like I say nothing came of it”

  “so would you happen to know where she might be now?”

  “no we did not keep in touch, heard she married but don’t know anything other than that”

  I thanked Mr Claridge and Kevin and I left the store to take the short walk to the next one, there we were met with a different story, the owner had no idea who Thomas Caxton was and had never heard of his business, back to square one again, so much for my brainwave, but at least I had tried.

  “why don’t we go get ourselves some lunch Kev, I feel like I am on a wild goose chase”

  “I have a better idea, follow me”

  “where are we going?”

  “you will see”

  We actually got on a bus and about twenty minutes later we hopped off in some suburban area and I did not have a clue where we were and there was certainly no cafes or pubs around to get a bite for lunch.

  “Kev where are we? Where are we going?”

  “follow me, nearly there now”

  A few minutes later we stopped outside a semi-detached house and Kevin announced we had arrived.

  “this is where my folks live, I phoned them last night and said I would pop in and bring a friend with me”

  “what, why didn’t you tell me, look at me, I could of put something better on than these old things”

  “Linds your fine, stop worrying, come on”

  Kevin knocked on the door and was warmly greeted by his mother, well I assumed she was his mother, she looked about my age, I said a polite hello and we were ushered into the living room where Kevin’s dad was sitting reading the newspaper.

  “mum and dad this is my flatmate Lindsay”

  “hello nice to meet you, well we are not exactly flatmates, I live in the bottom flat, Kevin is in the top flat”

  Kevin told me his mum’s name is Sheila and his dad’s name is Ken, he also has a younger sister Jessica who was not at home at the time.

  “well nice to meet you Lindsay, Kevin told me you have your own business” said Sheila.

  “yes that is right, I am a Genealogist, that is I trace people’s family history, you know their family tree’s or helping people find long lost relatives, it is very interesting”

  “maybe you could do our family tree” piped up Ken.

  “I could do that for you Ken and Sheila, happy to, I love doing research”

  Sheila got up to make us a cup of tea and said she had made us all some lunch and I offered to go and help her in the kitchen whilst Kevin and Ken got talking. I said to Sheila in the kitchen “you have a very nice son Sheila, he is a very helpful and polite young man, not many like that these days”

  “yes we tried to raise him with some manners, then she asked me “how long you been dating my son?”

  “dating, oh no, we are not dating, we are just friends”

  “really well Kevin does not seem to think so, last night when I was talking to him on the phone he gave me a entirely different picture, I assumed the two of you were more than just friends, my son he can be quite an impressionable boy you know, likes to see the good in everyone, I think he misses being at home, you know home cooking and having his laundry done for him, that sort of thing, men never grow up do they?”

  “he seems a very independent young man to me”

  “he is my boy Lindsay, not your play thing, just remember that will you, I cannot say I am happy about the situation, a woman of your age, well really you are old enough to be his mother and should know better, he should be with a girl his own age, but what can I do?, anyway it is nothing personal against you but I am his mother you know, I am entitled to my opinion”

  “yes of course” I said, I did not know what else to say and I also thought, what exactly did Kevin tell her last night. Sheila and I returned to the living room with the tea and sandwiches.

  “Kevin tells me that your looking for someone who lived in Reading” said Ken

  “yes, my client is looking for her older brother, he is in his nineties now and believed to be in a nursing home in Caversham, trouble is we just do not know which one and I have tried ringing a few but they will not give me any information unless I have permission from a family member, so I am a bit stuck at the moment”

  “you could always write a letter to the editor of our local newspaper luv asking for any information, I see a few of them in the paper sometimes” said Ken

  “what a marvellous idea Ken, you are a gem”

  “oh I know, not just a pretty face hey” he said laughing.

  Ken told me he worked as a bus driver, been driving buses more or less since he left school, Sheila worked part time as a Teacher’s Aide at a nearby primary school, their daughter Jessica was out at work today so was not home. By mid afternoon Kevin suggested we should start making our way home, I would of suggested that the minute Sheila and I had that conversation in the kitchen but did not want to appear rude, I was glad to be going.

  Ken gave me the address of the local newspaper so I could send them a letter and we all embraced with the promise of seeing each other again real soon, but just before we left Kevin said “hey let’s take a photo”, I really did
not want to do that.

  We all stood in the living room and I had my photograph taken with Sheila and Ken, then another shot of Kevin with his mum and dad, and then Kevin asked for a picture of the two of us together, we stood their together with our arms around each other, and smiled at the camera, it was just one of those spontaneous moments where we stood and had an embrace and the camera went click and Kevin and I were smiling and staring into each other’s eyes, I felt a light brush of a kiss on my cheek and in that split second moment I just wanted that feeling to not end, god knows what Sheila was thinking, she looked like she was throwing daggers at me. Back on the bus and then the train, we sat arm in arm, and I felt relieved to be heading towards home.

  “Kevin I have had such a great day, your mum and dad are so nice”, what else could I say, I certainly was not going to mention what Sheila had said.

  “glad you liked them, they like you too, next time I will make sure my sister Jess is home, she would love you too”

  Chapter 24

  On Monday morning I phoned Dorothy to let her know of my progress, or should I say lack of progress.

  “hello is that Dorothy”

  “yes dear”

  “this is Lindsay Harrison, just thought I would give you a call and let you know how things are progressing”

  “oh that is good, have you found Tom?”

  “no not yet Dorothy, your Tom is being very elusive, but I have just been back to Reading and talked to a few more people, I have found out that Tom is in a nursing home in nearby Caversham, but I do not know which home he is living in yet”

  “a nursing home, maybe he is not well?”

  “I am sure they are looking after him, I have tried calling a few of the nursing homes in the area but they are not allowed to divulge any information about their patients”

  “oh that is not good, so what happens now?”

  “I have also tried to find Philippa, his daughter, she was married but she separated from her husband, I found her ex-husband and he thinks she remarried again a few years later in Spain, so I do not know if she is living here in England or in Spain”

  “I see, she could be anywhere then, couldn’t she dear?”