Sample Writing

And The Nightingale Sang Again 

"The phone in my pocket started ringing again, but fortunately it was muted and the low vibration was not heard over the hum of the machines in the warehouse. Sadie certainly couldn't hear it, judging by the look on her face, as she was too excited to pay attention to anything other than what she was talking about.

"But he's supposed to be all right now. I will certainly visit him the day after tomorrow or at the end of the week: he likes to having me around. He'll be eighty-two in June, you know. But that's not the main reason I'm going. I mean, physically he's fine. But mentally... Sometimes he has strange ideas, lately he's been talking a lot about volunteering at an institute, and I can't get it out of his head. Can you imagine my father doing voluntary work at his age? I've read their brochure, but I'm not convinced. They're specifically looking for single volunteers over seventy, but the job description is too vague for me to understand exactly what it's about. I'm afraid they're trying to fool him and he won't notice, you know how old people tend to fool themselves...' She stopped suddenly, as if she realised she shouldn't have said that.

I let out a half smile.

"Not necessarily. Just some old people are prone to it. Not all." 

Sadie Beaumont touched my arm lightly and smiled apologetically.

"Oh, Limerick. I'm sorry. I didn't mean him when I said that. You know that."

"I know," I let her know.

The phone finally stopped ringing. I didn't even have to look at the screen to know who was trying to reach me. But I didn't want to deal with it in Sadie's presence. 

Sadie's mind seemed to be occupied with a new thought.

"How is he anyway?"

"I don’t know," I said. "He’s alright, I assume. It's been a long time since I've seen him. I just pay the bills for them to look after him so I don't have to."

Sadie studied my face for a moment, then brushed her hair out of her face with a small sigh. 

"The past always rewrites itself," she stated.

How many times I thought of that phrase over the next few days! I even heard it in my sleep. But in those moments, standing there in the warehouse with Sadie and me, with all the boxes lined up around us, her comment made me rather nervous."