Time to Let Go (23 page)

“Darling, I have long given up on match making; it only works in fairy tales and cheap novels. You young people always do what you want to do,” Fariba said rather convincingly. “Just like I always did what I wanted. If I could manipulate you as easily as that my life would be very easy, but I know better than to even try. The reason I chose you is that your personality fits us so perfectly. You are a great listener but have a mind of your own. I don’t want a repressed book worm of a secretary who has great short hand and typing qualifications but has no idea of the life you and I have led. I want a foxy young woman with a sharp brain, and someone who is stubborn and honest enough to tell me when she thinks I am rambling on too much. You have guts but you are also warm and kind.”

“Your offer is a short term project and I would have to give up my long term job. You must realise I can’t do that,” Hanna pointed out.

“Yes, I can’t guarantee you life-long employment. That is true. I am helping you to find a way out of your current situation; I can tell that you have lived this flying life for far too long. You worry about your mother, you would like to be more grounded, but you are trapped in that glamorous and exciting life. You are stuck in something that was fun and fabulous when you were younger, and now you lack a worthwhile incentive to get out of that habit and look for happiness elsewhere. Am I right?”

“You are not entirely wrong,” Hanna admitted,
after a few moments’ thought, “but I am not as unhappy in my current life as you seem to think. As much as I appreciate your offer and your genuine concern, I wouldn’t give up flying under these circumstances. The whole business with your son and his interest in me, that could easily blow up in our face and then I would be left without any job.”

“Then you underestimate me!” Fariba s
aid. “We will draw up proper legal documents. You will get certain guarantees and job security. You are the kind of girl I want for my son. I am not pretending anything else but you are also the kind of woman I want for myself. If dating him is not going to keep you in my life, than maybe the job will. Your mother is not going to live forever, and you know that. Moving back here and working for me will give you a lot of time with her. I am a generous boss to work for. If there is anything the matter with her you can take time off easily, that is more than the airline can offer, I’m sure. You do not want to be in Singapore if she suddenly needed you. Shahnaz works from home so she has a certain degree of flexibility to help out when you are unavailable. There is no time pressure with my memoirs: they are just a hobby for me. We are not in a rush, quite the opposite. I would like to stretch the project out for as long as I can.”

“Why don’t you pay your daughter the money and get her to write the book for you?” Hanna asked.

“The money I have is not enough for that. She earns and needs much more than I could afford to pay. Besides, her husband is too proud to accept my money.”

“I will think about your offer,” Hanna said.

“You don’t know yet if you can trust me,” Fariba replied. “Of course you can’t trust anybody in this life. Let me make a final point. I have a little money aside that the children do not know about. All three have secure incomes and are well-off already. What I pay you as a salary is an investment. It frees Shahnaz to pursue her own career. So we are all winners.”

“
Ok Fariba, thank you for your offer, but I have to go now, I am late for a date,” Hanna announced.

“Oh, now it is a date!” Fariba said and chuckled. “And they say money can’t buy you love!”

As Hanna walked down the grand staircase Shahnaz came up to her and took her aside.

“I know my mother can be a bit overbearing and pushy but please know that the entire family is behind her proposal.”

“How so? You don’t even really know me,” Hanna pointed out. “And your husband has not met me at all.”

“We
have heard enough about you from Karim and my mother to have a good idea. More than we could tell from a 30 minute interview with a stranger applying for the job. We would love it if you could help her with her writing. Maybe even only on a part-time basis. It would give her life a completely new meaning. She desperately needs an outlet and has finally found something worthwhile and stimulating. With you, we all know what we would be letting ourselves in for. You have a mother in need of care yourself. You are a trained people’s person. We stand behind her choice. That is all I would like you to know before you make a decision.”

“Thank you Shahnaz. That is very sweet of you to say,” Hanna said getting a bit emotional.

“It is not sweet, it is desperate,” Shahnaz admitted. “I love my mother but I can only do so much. I don’t know how much you know about Jewish guilt but it is a crippling factor in my life. I could never have suggested for her to get someone in to help us out.”

“Well she just told me that it is you who would not let her hire help,” Hanna said surprised.

“Then you just learned the basis of our family dynamics. It’s a sick game we are playing but there are certain things we will never admit to each other. We will secretly suffer but not accept a remedy; it would be too hurtful to tell the other. That is why it is so fantastic that she has decided to offer you a job. It will make life easier for all of us without losing the pretence, but most importantly it will enrich her life because she is hiring a friend and companion, rather than just a service. If there was no personal touch and no friendship component we could never let her go ahead with it. That would be neglecting our own responsibilities.”

“I am not a nurse. I can only help a little in those areas. I would not be insured if something went wrong,” Hanna pointed out.

“Yes, well, and neither am I and yet I am doing just what I can. We wouldn’t expect you to do anything beyond your capacities. From what I am being told about you, I am certain that you will treat my mother with the respect and dignity that she deserves, and not like a stroke victim you are paid to look after. It is that human touch that we need most of all. It is the very least we owe her.”

“Her health is unstable. She could have another stroke and I would be on the street,” Hanna pointed out.

“We have connections,” Shahnaz said and put her hand on Hanna’s arm. “If this project falls through for whatever reasons we will help you find something else suitable. Have some faith!”

Karim saved Hanna by spot
ting the two women on the staircase.

“Are you ready Hanna?” he called, interrupting them as he moved towards the two of them.

“Oh yes,” Hanna called and ran down the stairs towards him. She quickly turned back and said a quick: “Thanks, Shahnaz.”

“What happened?” Karim asked her when they sat in the car.

Hanna told him about the offer his mother had made and about the force with which it had been endorsed by Fariba and Shahnaz.

“I am so sorry. If I had known this I would never have introduced you to my
mother,” he said. “She is capable of a lot of things but believe me I had no idea she would be this interfering. I did not see that coming. My mother is generous and warm but she has never taken to anybody in such a way. That must have been quite uncomfortable for you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Working with the public has made me more thick skinned than you might think,” Hanna said bravely.

“Well, I hope so. When mother really wants something she goes straight for the jugular,” Karim said with a familiar grin.

“Where would you like to go?” Hanna asked him while starting the engine.

“How about Thai food? I know a restaurant that offers all of its dishes with tofu substitutes, so you’d have a good vegetarian choice.”

“Sounds good to me:
I’m too hungry to argue.”

“In th
at case park somewhere near Town Square,” he told her. The roads were empty and they easily found a parking spot close to the restaurant.

“So what do you think about her offer? Would you consider it at all?” Karim asked once they sat down in the heavily ornamented restaurant.

They were seated by the window and had a great view down onto the road and the town.

“Obviously I’d have no job security, not in the way I have it at the airline,” Hanna said and opened her menu. The waiter, dressed in traditional baggy trousers and a white shirt brought some water to the table, bowed and left them to it.

“You can trust my mother on that part,” Karim reassured her.

“I am used to shift work and to many of the perks
. I have not had my feet on the ground for longer than a few days at a time for almost two decades. Many of my friends who quit flying have regretted it afterwards. I am worried I am giving up something good, even though it has not felt right for some time,” Hanna admitted.

“It must be so hard to be away from the ones you love for such long periods of time. I can appreciate that.”

“What goes around in my mind is that I did not know that poor woman from Adam and yet there I was; the last person in her life. If I keep flying some random stranger could be that person for my parents. I was not comfortable being that person for the woman on the plane, but to think that my mother would be relying on a random nurse, or paramedic, does not sit easily with me.”

“Well, even if you lived with your mother you wouldn’t be with her every second,” Karim pointed out.

“I know,” she said with deep sigh. “I know.”

The waiter arrived to take their order but Hanna had not even looked at the menu. Nothing seemed very exciting. That was life in small towns for you, Hanna thought, who was used to 24 hour room service and the countless dining options in London.

“I should have known,” she said. “When a restaurant has that many statues and pictures and fake plants the food must also be tacky.”

“You’ll be surprised at the standard of the food here then,” Karim promised.

“I have been to Thailand and the reputable restaurants there have simple designs, wood and bamboo, none of this fancy stuff.”

“Well, get ready to be impressed,
” Karim said and signalled the waiter to take their order.

“Tell me about your other brother,” Karim said when they had ordered. “The name Patrick keeps coming up in conversation but nobody says much about him.”

“Well observed,” Hanna said with a smile. “We mention the name but we all shy away from going into details.”

“Why is that?”

“To start with: Henrik and Patrick always had this obsessive competition with each other. I have no idea where it came from but Henrik had to trump everything that Patrick did. As children he needed to build bigger sand castles, taller snow men and do everything better than his younger brother. When Patrick ran a half marathon, all of a sudden Henrik trained for the full one. He was so worried about being outdone that he went overboard with everything.”

“Is Patrick as bad as his brother?” Karim asked. “Does he try and outshine Henrik?”

“No, he doesn’t want to and he doesn’t need to. He is naturally gifted. Everything just falls into his lap. If anything he adds insult to injury by not taking any notice of the competition. It drives Henrik nuts, who always had to work really hard for his achievements.”

“What does Patrick do?”

“Originally he studied psychology and did really well with it. He had a brilliant mind for statistics, which apparently is a huge part of psychological studies these days. He was head hunted at university by several pharmaceutical companies to help them with their research and analysis. He turned many rather prestigious job offers down and instead worked in idealistic and lowly paid counselling institutions.”

“Do you mean charities, or the NHS?” Karim asked.

“Both.”

“That must have been a boost for Henrik? Giving him the undisputed lead over his brother?”

“You would have thought so,” Hanna replied. “Unfortunately, it made things even worse for Henrik. He had worked so hard to get to the top of his profession, and made the best of what he was capable of; then his brother who could do even better but is not bothered enough to see it through. My father was always very proud of Henrik but he rarely acknowledged him. Instead my father was consumed with Patrick and what he could achieve, if he only saw the light. It must have been very painful for Henrik but there is more about Patrick. He also plays drums for the Midnight Shooters. Have you heard of them?”

“Really?
That’s your brother? Of course I have heard of them. Everyone has: ‘Eyes of the Owl?’ and ‘Blue Bolts?’ They are a really good band!” Karim said excitedly.

“You can imagine my father’s reaction when he hears that his clever son has become a musician.”

“I can’t see why your father would object to that. They are fairly successful. Has Patrick given up psychology completely?” Karim asked.

“Not entirely,” Hanna told him. “He thinks that everyone should have the right to have counselling without charge and so he takes clients on for free to help people who either can’t afford to pay, or who can’t wait until it is their turn on the NHS waiting lists.”

“Your father seems to me like a nice guy. I thought he would be proud of a Samaritan son,” Karim stated with surprise.

“It is not the charity aspect that annoys him.
Quite the opposite. He accuses Patrick of being selfish. Going into research and the higher end of science would benefit more people in the long term. My father regards all of Patrick’s current work as a short sighted waste of a brain capable of so much more.”