Between Control Panels and Conveyancing

By Emma Hardy

Location: Alexandra Road South, Whalley Range

I’m putting out the rubbish. She is loitering by the communal bins, next to the two clapped-out fridges nobody has phoned the council to have collected.

‘I thought there was a back door,’ she tells me, ‘just there.’ She points at the old convent building, converted in a manner befitting the style of the original building and now offering professional tenants 21st-century comfort and convenience.

I smile, mouth ‘oh’ and raise my eyebrows.

‘How do you get in?’

‘Round the front,’ I tell her.

‘But there’s no sign?’

I haven’t got time for this. People always get confused. It says 28 on the front gate. There are three blocks with different names. We end up with each other’s post.

‘Where are the nuns?’

It’s the first time anyone’s asked me that.

‘I need to speak with them.’

I want to explain, to tell her they left long ago.

‘Where are the nuns?’ she asks me again.

A driver beeps a horn on the main road outside; her car is blocking the entrance gate.

***

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2 Responses to “Between Control Panels and Conveyancing”

  1. March 03, 2009 at 2:04 pm, Ann said:

    I went to Loreto Convent School. This story brings back memories. Well written story – like the way the image comes accross using just the right amount of words.

  2. March 03, 2009 at 3:09 pm, Andreas Loizou said:

    Great stuff, Emna, so many ideas in so few words.

 

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