'A Favourite Aunt' - Colin's concept of affection.

So a new phase in their life began. Evenings sitting watching television. All two channels in black and white. Did they, like any normal young couple cosy up on the sofa? Of course not. The sofa was against a wall and they sat in armchairs like a long married old couple. She really would like to have some signs of affection from him. Especially when seeing some of their neighbours. Like the time the couple from across the road stood chatting to them, their arms about each other. You could have driven a motorbike between her and Colin.

'Disgusting,' was Colin's comment once they were indoors.

'What?'

'Disgusting. Their arms about each other out in public.'

Blimey, you'd have thought they'd been standing there making love! Sylvia did not say out loud. She was envious. All she ever got as he left for work in the morning was a peck on the cheek.

2015

By the time Robert and Mary finished laughing Christina was smiling. 'Yes, I know it is funny in retrospect but, honestly! If you were to put all of that into a fictional story you'd be accused of making it up. It really was all so ridiculous.'

'But not if you realise that he is probably gay,' Robert pointed out.

'I know. So-called Victorian upbringing.'

Robert hooted with laughter. 'They were worse than the Edwardians with all their shenanigans. It was amazing the amount and types of sexual activity that went on in those days.'

'We know that now, darling,' his wife said quietly, 'but not back in the nineteen sixties.'

'Colin's problems really began with his family. His Dad was a shouter and hitter. He died while Colin was still at school which meant his meek mother and big sister brought him up.'

'Spoiled?'

'Was he ever. The best example I can give you is the one that always makes me laugh. Every evening for supper he insisted on a cup of coffee and a slice of buttered toast. The bread had to be doorstop thick, toasted exactly right - no burnt bits - and the butter should reach the sides and corners.'

'Do what?'

'I haven't finished yet. He maintained that he wasn't spoiled as a child because they couldn't afford butter but....' She gave a dramatic pause and Robert gave her the beat, ' "at least my mother made sure the margarine went to all of the edges and corners".'

Following a stunned silence Mary eventually said, 'It beggars belief, doesn't it?'

Robert sighed. 'I still reckon he's gay. It seems he was always trying to assert his manliness.'


A FAVOURITE AUNT, by Christina is available on Kobo, Kindle and in paperback.