Hello dear

This week's picture at Magpie Tales is open to all sorts of interpretations. This is mine.

She hardly missed a day. A minute or so before I opened my restaurant door I would hear the familiar tap-tap of her umbrella on the window pane.

‘Hello dear’ she would say as she walked past me to the hook upon the wall. There she would hang up her straw hat, shopping bag and brolly, rain or shine, summer or winter 

She always did that.

She liked the table by the fireplace. She would study the menu for ages before calling me over. ‘Dish of the day and a nice cup of tea dear’ she would say.

She always said that!

The other regular customers always looked over and waved to her. ‘Hello dear’ she would say. 

Every time.

One day, last February it was, I walked over to her with her meal. It was steak pie that day. She seemed to be asleep which was very unusual.

She never woke up.

To this day her straw hat, shopping bag and brolly still hang on the hook upon the  wall. It’s not even my restaurant any more, but still it remains there. I like that. 

She probably would too.

Picture : Still Life, 1907 by John Frederick Peto 

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