My Aunt Isobel died suddenly, but before she died she made out her will and left me her shop. We had lived together for only two years, no one suspected that we were related until after the will was read. I am sure a few of the people in the area suspected though that we had been living as a unit. At one time my Aunt Isobel was a sour faced woman, but the last two years she changed, into a happy smiling woman.
The shop was a General Store, come Post Office and was the only shop servicing this dominantly rural farming area. The turn over wasn't the greatest, but ample to live on, also the opening times were the basic 9 to 6 with a closure of one hour for lunch and half day Saturday. There was no call to open out of these hours for that was all the local people demanded.
The small village where it was located was well off any visitors route and there was nothing of historical significance to even draw visitors here. Some would think it a very boring place for a young man to want to settle down in. This was very deceptive, for there was more activity going on here than in any big city, but it was all out of sight. There were rumours and gossip as one hears in any community, but being the only shop everyone came in for their mail and urgently needed small items, so I got to hear almost everything that went on. There was hardly a person who entered the shop who didn't stay and talk about something or other.
Oh yes, I had taken to working this shop like a duck takes to water, when I left the Army and came to live with Aunt Isobel. I suppose since I was the only one in her entire family who got on with her, they knew that she would leave the shop to me. I could never thank her enough, I loved this shop.
For the first few weeks everyone who came to the shop talked about one subject only, they were sorry about Isobel's sudden death. She had a heart attack in the small church and died immediately, standing alongside of me. She was buried in the small cemetery attached to the church.
I was now getting attention from a good number of single females, aged from late twenties up and I mean up, into their sixties and one even older. I never realised how many there were in this spread out community, ladies living alone, pottering in their gardens or whatever ways they had to pass their time. Since the shop was also an agent for a bank, I had privilege to their bank accounts and some of the ladies were indeed financially well of and independent. So I could make sure if I chose a partner, I would choose one who wouldn't be a burden on my small capital. It may sound a callous way of thinking, but one must be practical about these things.
Also I found by living with Isobel, who was so much older than I, that there was no difference sexually between a woman of my age and a more mature lady. I also had no hang-ups with the age difference. This broadened my horizons dramatically. I also knew from speaking to some of the ladies that they had no intentions of changing their living arrangements. Everyone, needs a bit of company now and again, so how, or who is providing these ladies with their sexual relief. I was determined to find out, for I was beginning to feel in the need of relief myself.
*****
There was one mystery I had to settle though before I could proceed on anything. Every Wednesday Afternoon Isobel used to catch the bus at one o'clock and return at five thirty. She never missed a week, every Wednesday was the same whether it was raining or snowing.
A lady friend of hers by the name of Samantha took over the shop for that afternoon. If ever there was an old fashioned dresser then it was Samantha, anyway more of her later.
I went all through Aunt Isobel's personal papers and diaries, in the recent ones, when I say recent I mean the past five years there was nothing marked on the Wednesdays that would give me a clue, but in the diaries prior to that was just the initials MM. Also I found a receipt for a safety deposit box dating back ten years with the local bank in the nearby town. I wonder if there is still a safety deposit box in that bank I thought.
I phoned the bank and explained the circumstances of Aunt Isobel's sudden death and that I was the sole beneficiary, but they still wanted proof of this before they would even divulge if she had a box or not. So I notified my solicitor who told me to take her death certificate into the bank and they would speak to them.
So armed with this certificate, the information given me by my solicitor and asking Samantha to look after the shop I drove into the town.
Once I had shown proof of who I was and proof of Aunt Isobel's death I was allowed access to her box. Unfortunately I had no key, but that didn't seem to be as big of a problem as I had thought.
Inside were birth certificates both Isobel's and for a Margaret Mary, of the same surname, father and mother, but 10 years younger than Isobel. Also there were some papers with a local Mental Institutes heading. The main text was that Margaret Mary was a voluntary in-patient and had been for over 15 years.
Collected all the contents of the security box I drove straight up to the hospital. I explained again who I was, the reason I was here and ask if Aunt Isobel visited here on a Wednesday.
"She certainly did, regularly, only missing two weeks every year, I think that was the weeks she visited her brother and his family." The matron told me.
"Can I see my Aunt Margaret then?"
"She prefers Margaret-Mary, but yes you certainly can, we were wondering why she has had no visitors the past few weeks."
Aunt Margaret-Mary was a younger version of Isobel, almost a carbon copy in fact. She was wearing a faded blue half buttoned dress with a belt, so I knew she wasn't classified as suicidal, or she wouldn't have been allowed the belt, so right away I felt better about that. When we were introduced, she shook my hand warmly.
"Isobel, talked about you fondly, I knew she loved you even though she never said so, you being our nephew and everything, and I am sorry my sister is dead. I wish that I had been told."
"Just why are you in here, you seem alright to me?"
"I had a bad mental breakdown and I'm afraid I couldn't cope on the outside world. I suppose you could say I have become institutionalized."
"Why has no one in my family ever mentioned I had another aunt."
"They were all ashamed of me, and Isobel, but even your father disowned me. I have no family now."
"You're wrong there, you have me, come stay with me. There is plenty room in the house, you can work the shop with me. I know this is being thrust upon you, but what do you say?"
"You really mean it, you would take me in and let me share your house with you?"
"It's as much your house as mine. I am sure Isobel would approve. She was the only one who thought about you all these years, let me take care of you now, for Isobel's memory. I don't want my only aunt living in a hospital, when she can leave any time she wants."
"Let me speak to the doctors first, you are sure you really want me. Please don't change your mind, for I would never forgive you Duncan, ever."
"You talk to your doctors and I will telephone, when?"
"I'll see if I can talk to them to-day, so tomorrow."
I rose and she rose too, she was so small, just like Isobel. I bent down and kissed her cheek. "I am happy that I have found you and I really am glad you are to come and stay with me. I'm off home now to get a room ready for you, I hope it is to-morrow. We have so much to talk about."
