Barney
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
I very rarely
go to the theatre as I am a movie buff myself but
years ago I went to Brighton's delightful
Victorian Theatre Royal to see the matinee
performance of Miss Saigon.
I nodded to
the old boy seated next to me in the stalls. Well,
I was being friendly. After all we had
something in common. We were both there to enjoy
the music and the show. What else was there to do
on a rainy grey Thursday afternoon in Brighton in
the winter?
In the
interval people normally rush out to get a beer
or an ice cream. Not me nor my neighbour. I
turned to him and asked politely if he was
enjoying the show. He was obviously a pensioner
like myself so I asked him what he did all day.
Did he have a hobby, a passion? His eyes
misted over. A conventional normal question so I
thought but no, I had accidentally hit a
nerve.
He confessed
that the love of his life, more important than
his wife, had been his beloved dog Barney. A
German Shepherd and his best friend in life. But
Barney had died several years ago and he had not
replaced his long lost companion. He told me how
they went on long walks together three times a
day. In fact it was clear that he spent more time
with Barney than his wife. Barney had a soul and
totally understood him whereas his wife did not!
How he longed to get out of the house but he did
not want to walk alone! Now he was lost and had
no direction. No reason to go out. He confessed
that he almost had agoraphobia and it was
extremely rare for him to venture out to the
theatre at all. I advised him to get another
German Shepherd and name it Barney. He looked at
me in amazement!
I then told
him the story of my mother's dear friend Miriam
Dover in Liverpool. She always had her Collie
Prince. When her husband Harold died, Prince
became her life especially after her children had
left home. Then her beloved Prince died. What did
she do? The clever woman got another Collie, same
colour, same breeder and called him Prince. I
knew Miriam throughout my childhood and teens and
when the second Prince died she, in her wisdom
and old age, got a third Prince. In fact in the
end the third Prince outlived her.
The
intermission had ended and the old man remained
silent obviously digesting my words. After the
show, we got up and dusted ourselves down
mingling with the crowd waiting to exit. It had
been a full house. The old man had sparkling eyes
and was smiling for the first time.
"Thank
you." he said, "I am going to find
another Barney."
Written
in Monistiraki, Athens in the rain in September
2015.
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