Annie averted her gaze

Annie averted her gaze

She would rather not engage

Tom was always so keen to share his day

That once his mouth opened to begin

It rarely closed again

Not for an hour or even more

The morning soon gone

With nothing to show

For it other than an earache

And a full bladder from too much coffee

There was no harm in him

He was lonely

But then so was she and he barely paused

Enough, to ask how she was

What with the stoma and stage four

It wasn’t as if she was short of conversation

But he was too intent on spilling his beans

Than to spend time counting hers.

She wouldn’t know where to start

The ‘cancer’ or the broken heart

She had heard enough about his life

To write a book

But she didn’t have the time

For any literary pretensions

Although Tom was full of his prowess

As a wordsmith

God knows he could talk for England

But not today please,

She needed a little time to herself

Just to process the news

How to break it to her daughter

Whether to tell her or just to let it play out

All things considered

She would like to be in control of the end

Which wasn’t something you could discuss

With a man like Tom

Or a daughter for that matter.

Jules had children to consider

And that husband of hers was a handful

Too mean and petty for Annie’s liking,

Perhaps it was just safer to sit back and listen

Letting the brunt of it flow over

Without needing to break cover

A little banter might prove a diversion

For a while

So she tilted her head to look up at Tom

Who looked down with a smile

And began

“So, how did the appointment go Annie?’