Autumn Leaves Pt 07

Chapter 7: Board before Bed

When the mini-bus got to the hotel, the manager was waiting outside the grand marble and brass entrance to greet them and he particularly beckoned to the driver to join him, in order to talk to him privately inside the hotel.

Monty turns to Sofija, "Would you mind asking George to give you a hand with the tail lift, while I go and talk to the manager?"

"Of course," Sofija replies to Monty, "George does go on all ze care home trips, because ve open zhem up to ze private residents in order to make ze trips more viable und, on on zhose trips, he often gives a hand getting passengers on und off." She turns to look down the mini-bus gangway and sees that George is already looking up, and appears to have heard at least the gist of the conversation and what was required of him, and he nods his acquiescence in response to her.

Monty opens the passenger door, using the controls in the driver's cab, then he climbed down through the driver's door, stretched his arms up and over his head to straighten out the stiffness in his back caused by the uncomfortable seating and then he walks around the front end of the bus and up half a dozen steps aided by shiny brass handrails up to the reception area in the front part of the hotel.

George releases his own seat belt with a click, causing Sally to sit upright, realising he was going to rise out of his seat. He got up, saying to Sally, "I'm going to help Sofija while Monty's dealing with the Hotel management, formally booking us all in, no doubt."

"All right George," she replies.

As George meets Sofija by the three steps down to the pavement, George says, "There's no ramp for the wheelchairs at the front of the hotel, do you know if there is an alternative disabled entrance, Sofija?"

"No, sorry, George, I don't know. Claire spoke to ze organisers on ze telephone last week. It is ze St Mary's church charity zat is paying for ze bulk of ze trip, so I assume zat she has informed zem of ze ages of our visitors und zat ve do need veelchair access for some of our residents on zis trip. Also, Oscar needs to borrow a veelchair vile ve are here und I vos told zat zere ver several hotel veelchairs available for us to use."

"Well, Sofija," George says, "let's get everyone off the bus and get the walking wounded among us comfortable inside, because I expect most of them need a toilet break by now. Then we'll get Boris' scooter and Elsie's F1 wheelchair down. Hopefully by then the manager will be back with the staff to get the luggage off the bus and up to the rooms. There must be a goods lift somewhere, probably round the back."

George waved Sofija down the steps first and he followed. Immediately behind him descended Sally, followed by Rosemary.

Doreen called down to Sofija from the gangway, "Is there a wheelchair for Oscar? I think he feels that he needs to get inside to use the facilities as soon as possible."

"George?" Sofija asks, "Could you go into ze reception area und find out about ze veelchairs? I vill get ze rear door open und get Boris' scooter down ready. Elsie can vait in ze mini-bus a little longer as she has no particular pressing need, because I vill have to give her a nappy change before dinner anyvay."

"Yes, of course," George turns and walks to the steps and up to and through the revolving door into the front of the hotel. There were a couple of folded-up wheelchairs to one side of the foyer, next to where the various leaflets for tourist attractions in Weston-Super-Mare and other North Somerset gardens, National Trust properties and museums etc were on display in a wooden rack. Looking around, he couldn't see either the manager, who he had only got a fleeting glance at, a rather short, bald overweight man in shirtsleeves and knotted tie who waved at Monty the driver as the mini-bus pulled up. There was an attractive young lady sitting behind the Reception desk, who was smiling at him.

"Do you have a wheelchair-friendly entrance to the hotel?" George asks her.

"Yes, there is an alleyway two doors up, to the right of the hotel as you face it. The alleyway leads to a gate at the far end. I can open it electronically from here as there is a camera focused on the approaches to the gate, it is marked 'Seaview Hotel Staff Entrance'. There is also a buzzer which can be used to let me or the night porter know you want to be let in. When I open the gate you can go through to the back door of the hotel and there is a lift there which takes you to the hallway just behind Reception here. You then need to come to Reception first, through that internal door over there, so that we can issue you with your keys and then you can go from here to your rooms. The passenger lifts to the other floors are through that door to your right, the other side of the bar area."

"All right, thank you," George replies, "There will be three wheelchairs, two have brought their own and there is one passenger who will use this one. Do you have a toilet here as several of the passengers will probably need them before long, if not immediately?"

"Yes, of course," she smiles back, "Through the doorway on your right, which leads to the sun room, at the far end is the bar and if you turn left at the bar it will lead to the Ladies and Gents and the disabled toilets, there's plenty of room to cope with half-a dozen desperate people at a time. The lift at the back of the hotel is also the goods lift and the porters will use that to get the cases from your coach up to your rooms. As for a wheelchair to borrow, we put two over there as it was a little unclear whenthe one or two was required."

"Thank you," George says, "I think the confusion is because eating the last moment a gentleman got the use of a disabled scooter instead. Is anyone available now to collect the luggage from the mini-bus?"

"Yes, the manager has that in hand, Fred and Joe should be wheeling the luggage trolleys through around about now. In fact I can see them on the monitor now, they come in and out of the same gate as the disabled access. I can see them coming through and down the alleyway. They have a list of all the guests and their room numbers, so, as long as the supplied tags have been affixed to the bags and cases, they will be taken up to the rooms while we sort out the registrations. Tea should be arriving in the Sun Room any minute now and it is probably best for everyone to assemble in comfort in there."

"Thank you, you've been very helpful." George smiles at her, then turns and wheels the unfolded wheelchair through the revolving door and outside to the steps. Outside he noticed that the breeze coming off the sea was pretty stiff and ladened with ozone.

"Very invigorating, eh Molly?" he asks his late wife out loud.

'Bruhh, George, you know how I feel the cold when it's cold,' Molly replies in his head, sounding very much as though she was shivering.

'Oh, can you feel that breeze, then Molly?' he quietly thought in his head as he carried the wheelchair down the steps to the pavement.

'No, not exactly,' she replies, 'I can't actually feel it, but I feel as though I am shivering at the very thought of being exposed to that bitterly cold wind.'

'It's not cold, sweetheart, just bracing,' George retorts in thought only as the coach is now only a few feet away.

'It's October, dear, it's a crazy time of the year for a holiday, any holiday, in these islands,' Molly says in George's head, 'Whose silly idea was this and why oh why did we agree to go?'

'As you know, my dear, because you continually urge me every single time, to sign up for every Care Home and Residential Action Committee trip that's going, I've done almost as much mileage in this blessed mini-bus as the tyres have, and they are still the original set fitted in this old bus 16 years ago, although I believe this is the longest trip that this bus has ever taken.'

'Well, that shouldn't phase you. George, you travelled much further in the Army than I did when you abandoned me for all those years.'

'I did not abandon you, Mole, I had to do National Service, it was compulsory, remember.'

'You didn't have to tack on another four years, though,' she sniffs, 'I really missed you.'

'But it was the first step towards starting our business and you enjoyed having our own business.'

'I suppose so,' Molly grudgingly agrees.

xXx

The light was fading in the clubhouse at the Songlebridge Golf Club, play had stopped for the day and the lights were on. Claire, the Care Home manager, Mabel, the wife of the local MP, and Evelyn, the magistrate who has persuaded Monty to drive the mini-bus as part of his community service, are sitting in the club bar room and sharing a bottle of wine between them.

"Well, Evie," Claire smiles at the magistrate, "you had quite a tough match today, it went down to the final hole. Do you still feel confident about retaining your title in tomorrow's final?"

Evelyn smiles back, "I'm sure it'll be a close contest in the final, Claire, my dear, but we shall see, we shall see. Have you decided what we are having to eat tonight?"

"All this talk of the 'sea', Ladies, and my husband's part in it, puts me in mind of having the crab," smiles Mabel.

"Ha!" Evelyn laughs, "I wonder how your dumb hubby's doing down at the seaside?"

"Oh, I expect he struggled keeping the bus below 40 on the A and B roads and found it extremely frustrating getting the bus to go above 50 on the motorways. But if we don't get him compromised as planned on the way down, we'll get him tonight or have him pulled over with too much alcohol in his blood on Sunday. It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel and he'll be toast."

"There will either be a by-election if he resigns his seat in shame, or if he clings on until the next General Election in the Spring or Summer of 2024," Claire says with a chuckle, "he'll be dropped like a stone by the local party and Mabel can step into his shoes. She is so well known in the area, with many of her delectable fingers in hot sweet pies in the constituency, that her victory in securing the party ticket would be in the bag."

"And, after getting caught with his trousers down," Mabel says, "Monty's ego will force him to save face by divorcing me, that is if he resists Sofija's charms and is not recorded doing the dirty cheating on his loving spouse by the cameras that we've installed in his hotel bedroom, he will divorce me on grounds of irreconcilable differences or I will divorce him on grounds of his adultery. That way I can circumvent the penalties of our pre-nuptials agreement, so that he will leave the marriage with nothing and I will leave the marriage with everything coming to me."

"And will Sofija play along with this plan of yours?" Evelyn the Magistrate asks.

"She will have to," Claire says with a smile, "otherwise we'll get her deported as the illegal immigrant that she is and they will send her back to Belarus. She will definitely not want that, so we have her in our pockets."

"Let's drink to our imminent success then, shall we ladies?" Mabel raises her wine glass.

"To success!" Both Evelyn and Claire reply with "Cheers!" and all three chink their glasses together.

xXx

Back at the Seaview Hotel, with George's help Doreen had managed to get her father Oscar into the hotel wheelchair that George had carried down the steps for her, unfolded and locked the wheels into place as fully open and safe to use. It was a pretty spartan model, George thought, but Doreen was happy with it, it was quite light and manoeuvrable.

"You help the others get up the stairs, Doreen," suggested George, "and I'll wheel Oscar around to the disabled entrance and up the goods lift at the back. We're all meeting in the Sun Room to the right of the Reception, where they'll be serving tea and coffees while they get us all booked in and our room keys distributed."

"Thank you, George," Doreen smiles back, "I'll see you later."

All the other passengers were out of the mini-bus and George asks Sofija to get them all inside quickly and out of the rather cool late afternoon sea breeze, while he helps to get Boris onto his electric scooter.

Meanwhile, the hotel porters, Fred and Joe, have arrived out front and start loading the overnight bags from the back of the mini-bus onto their luggage trolley. Joe sees that Boris still had his overnight bag strapped to his scooter and offers to add it to the trolley but Boris refuses to let it out of his sight. Joe was an old hand at this job, accustomed to guests, particularly the older ones, being unusually possessive about their property. He did not press the point, he backed off and, as there were only a few bags and they were not particularly bulky, they were loaded up in a matter of minutes and were soon on their way wheeling the trolley towards the staff entrance.

Once he was sure that both Elsie and Boris were ready to follow him, George set off pushing Oscar's borrowed wheelchair. Elsie immediately got going under her own steam and followed George while he pushed Oscar along the pavement towards the alleyway leading to the disabled entrance. Boris followed on in the rear.

Sofija closed up the back door of the mini-bus and immediately got the other passengers moving towards the hotel entrance and helps some of them get up the steps to the revolving door.

As Sofija started the remainder of the party up the steps, Monty and the hotel manager emerged from the entrance.

"Welcome, welcome, one and all," beams the hotel manager in a well-spoken accent, "The Seaview Hotel, Weston-Super-Mare, is absolutely delighted that you are staying with us this weekend. Please come on through to the Reception Area, where our receptionist Angela will ensure that you are all booked in and will issue you with your room keys, address any issues you might have, and order your Sunday papers, etc. We will gather in the Sun Room where we have a few announcements to make to you about the hotel arrangements. We hope that you enjoy your brief stay with us and enjoy visiting our town."

Monty helps Dot get her bulky body up the stone steps and the hotel manager held open the wider door next to the revolving door to get everyone through quicker, especially as the temperatures were definitely dropping as twilight loomed.

George pushed Oscar in the wheelchair up to the alleyway in the wake of Fred and Joe's lightly-laden luggage trolley, checking behind him that Elsie and Boris were also on their way and following on behind him.

The ever-smiling Elsie was almost on George's heels. She was highly skilled in the operation of her electric wheelchair. This well-appointed vehicle had been supplied by the Royal British Legion, her husband once being a professional soldier, ending up as a half-colonel in the Green Jackets. Elsie had been posted with him to many military stations around the world in his busy thirty-year Army career, followed by another almost twenty years spent in public service as part of the diplomatic corps as a military and security advisor. Although she was now 94 and virtually immobile, the use of her legs having failed her a dozen or so years earlier, her mind was still as sharp as a tack. The ravages of dementia, that seemed to inflict so many of the inmates of the care home, had fortunately left her unaffected and she was enjoying every single moment of this and all the other trips that she volunteered herself to partake in. Although she had very little physical strength, her hearing in both ears needed battery-fuelled aids, and the Parkinson's disease which was affecting her movement so much, she still had a high degree of perception of her surroundings. Elsie was a very keen observer of the people around her and their relationships.

Boris brought up the rear of the convoy. Compared to Elsie, Boris was rather unskilled in the operation of the three-wheeled scooter that he was strapped into. Theoretically, the scooter was speedier than Elsie's wheelchair and the steering was a much simpler directly mechanical handlebar rather than her electric joystick, but Boris had only started using it on Friday not long after he had volunteered to take the recently lamented Gladys' place on the trip and, due to his mobility issues, has been allowed by the Care Home manager Claire to use Gladys' scooter, especially as it was believed that she had no family that had any prior claim on the device. But once Boris got the scooter under way, he found he was easily able to follow George and Elsie not too far behind.

George reached the alleyway, past what once must have been a second entrance to the hotel, with another set of steps going up from the pavement, although there were now a continuation of the railings at the top of the steps in front of a set of windows that clearly replaced the former doors of the old entrance.

It occurred to George that the building must once have been two different hotels that had now been amalgamated into the Seaview Hotel. George and Elsie, who had arrived at the alleyway entrance immediately behind him, waited for a moment for Boris to catch them up and then he pushed Oscar down the alleyway to where the baggage handler Joe was holding the back entrance gate open for them.

Joe was clearly the Porter in charge, he was a slightly-built older man, close to retiring age, George guessed, with grey, close-cropped hair and a grey moustache. Fred was very much younger, in his late twenties or early thirties, George guessed, was somewhat overweight and had overlong dark and greasy hair, with a straggly full beard that was in serious need of grooming. They both wore red jackets to signify that they were staff of the hotel, and wore name tags on their left lapels.

George was grateful that at the gate they had waited for George and the other wheelchairs to catch up and he smiled and nodded his thanks to Joe as he pushed Oscar through into the small yard at the back of the hotel.

Inside he noted a few empty beer barrels stacked on one side next to a pile of orange coloured bakers' bread crates, a car parked beyond a set of double gates presumably leading to the roadway behind the hotel curtilege, which the alleyway they had come down also led to. George could see that there was room for another couple of cars inside the back yard. Standing by the open door into the rear of the hotel, Fred stood holding the door open, the luggage trolley nowhere to be seen and George assumed it was already inside.

Checking behind him, he knew before even looking that, from the near silent running of Elsie's wheelchair, she was still hot on his heels but he wanted to reassure himself that Boris had also joined them. George was swiftly assured that he had and that Joe had now closed the narrow gate they had just come through and was following on behind Boris.

Once inside the hotel, Fred opened up the wide cantilevered door to the goods lift and shoved the luggage trolley in first, before inviting George to push Oscar in too. Elsie didn't hesitate, she followed and neatly turned her wheelchair around in the narrow space available so she was facing everyone rather than face the back wall. Her smile clearly indicated that she had enormously enjoyed this little venture In manoeuvring.

Boris followed Elsie somewhat less smoothly, lightly touching the accelerator in short bursts to ensure he didn't run anyone over, although in reality he was more attuned in not wishing to juggle the contents of his bag and risk possible pre-release of any of the sealed-in contents which he thought might well bring a premature end to his vital mission, the one thing that he had lived so long to achieve. To fail in his mission would mean the end to his dream of immortality, the end to his wish for the posthumous award of the Order of Lenin that would ensure that Boris would always be remembered by his Mother Country as a Hero of Communism, perhaps even the Ultimate Hero of Mother Russia. Any wrong move, he thought, would ruin his life's work and render him a Zero instead of a Hero, something he had once heard and stuck in his memory.