First Place Short Story: Living

By: Karen Ingold

Betty, as her name might suggest, was, to the unperceptive eye, an uninteresting pensioner. Someone's Granny perhaps. Betty, with her sensible, easy to maintain haircut, unremarkable trouser suit and flat, walking shoes. And yet, to the more discerning eye, there were the gold hoop earrings, the headscarf, cleverly tied and tucked into her floral blouse, the pink belt and matching pink shoelaces. The haircut - well, it had a name: a pixie cut!

There was more to Betty than met the eye. A woman not to be underestimated. At seventy-six, Betty was riding the rapids of time as best as her body would allow. Life wasn't getting easier, but that just meant that Betty made sure she had the strength to greet each day, trying to be better than yesterday. Betty was grateful for the small things.

Sometimes, Betty felt that her world had shifted again even after one sleep. So-called "advances" were coming quicker than ever and as always, Betty did her best to keep up. Her years had taught her that if life was to be worth living, it was because of the effort you put into it. There were days when her old bones established just what an effort it was.

Oh, there were the gadgets that were multiplying in her tiny apartment, all designed to make her life easier - and to help her son feel better!

The one thing that was slightly, hmm...what's the word? Annoying? No.

Difficult? Maybe? Frustrating? Definitely. Impossible? No.

The devices that everyone walked around with. Gripping them, as if their very life depended on them and as Betty knew from her son to some extent, that was becoming the truth. Those phones, oops, devices held so much information, heaven forbid it should get lost or worse, stolen! Betty had a device, but she used it as a phone. She had tried texting after lessons from her son, but her shaky, arthritic fingers always hit the wrong letter and then when spell check got going... Well, it just wasn't going to work for Betty.

And that was okay, nothing to get upset about.

The problem was that Betty wanted to go on a trip. Her son said she was nuts to even consider it. Well, perhaps she was. Betty and her late husband had traveled together, they or rather he, had planned one two-week trip abroad every year. It was perfect. Her husband, who could be a bit controlling, planned and she followed. As she had followed during their last trips together, she noticed that there were fewer and fewer people to help. Airports required that you scanned and put in codes, stuck your own luggage stickers on, printed out your boarding pass and your device was the critical component to all of this. A QR code? Seriously...

Betty was not one to give up easily. She wanted to go to Vienna, experience the Opera and she would. Betty just had to figure out how. What Betty did know was that "Time, as it grows old, teaches all things" (Aeschylus). And Betty was old, she knew that, but she was determined and yes, a little nuts!

When Betty retired from her library position a couple of years after her husband passed, she joined senior groups at her local library and at the Senior Center. Betty replaced her job with learning to paint, play pickleball, dance the salsa, and whatever else she fancied. Over the years pickleball was replaced by chair yoga and God bless water colour painting, the medium was so forgiving. And best of all, were her friends, including most recently, Geoffrey.

While her son scoffed at the friendship, Betty was grateful for it. It was invigorating to feel emotions that had been dormant. She knew that her husband would be happy for her, and she wasn't betraying him, she was just carrying on, being in life. It was going to be today when Betty would ask Geoffrey if he would come with her to Vienna. She felt that if they could go together, they would cope with the scanning, the lack of human help and besides, being together and sharing an experience had to be better than being alone. With any luck, Geoffrey would agree.

Over coffee, after a Tai Chi session, Betty propositioned (as she liked to think of it), Geoffrey. And to her joy, he was delighted. Less money to leave to his "blood sucking kids" as he jokingly said. Betty took this comment with a pinch of salt. She knew how much he loved his kids and how generous he was. Over more coffee than was good for them and some cookies to soak up the caffeine, the two friends discussed the details, which included agreeing on separate rooms.

Betty was feeling very reassured when Geoffrey showed how tech savvy he was by pulling out his phone/device and getting the holiday planning underway. Geoffrey even arranged for them to have help at the airport. A real human was going to escort them through security and get them on the plane and then the reverse coming home. Betty was impressed and relieved.

Before the departure day, Betty went shopping for clothes, she had her hair trimmed and just for fun added a pink streak, what would her son think of that? It was fun giving him things to fret about.

And then, she and Geoffrey were in Vienna!

Betty and Geoffrey, with their walkers stowed out of sight, him dressed in a suit, crisp white shirt and ridiculous polka dot bow tie which Betty loved.

Her in a deep blue long dress with a diamante neckline detail. They held hands during the performance and smiled and smiled.

Betty looked up at the ornate ceiling and felt grateful: for Geoffrey, for her caring son, for her husband who was smiling down at her and for her own bloody mindedness which had got her to this beautiful place.

Her life was still colourful, a little slower perhaps, but still moving.

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