My pocket began to vibrate.

It was an incoming call on the mobile/cell phone.  The time of day told me who it was without checking the screen.

“Hi Elly!” I said putting the instrument to my ear.

“Where are you?” she asked before adding “I tried the land-line and got no answer”.

If you wait long enough in life the answers come….

Several months earlier Elly had suggested that it would be a good idea for me to have a mobile phone.  Her reasoning was that I travelled about alone in my car, and should I have a breakdown or puncture in the wilds of nowhere, a phone would allow me to call for help.  I went along with the idea while wondering if that was a cover or the real reason behind the suggestion.  Now I had my answer…

“I’m not at home at the moment” I said into the mouth piece, while mouthing the word Elly to my companion.  He smiled, nodded and remained silent.

“So where are you?” Elly persisted.

“Right now, I am in Room six hundred and twenty whatever of the Europa Hotel in Belfast” I replied casually.

“O-kay!  After a pause she asked again “What are you doing there?”  This time it was a timid question.

“Well since you asked” I began, “I am watching a man put his trousers on!”

There was silence from the other end of the phone.  The man looked up at me and smiled a wicked smile.

“Are you still there?” I asked.

“Yes!” she began timidly, “Who is he?”  I was enjoying this!

“He is a very nice gentleman and he would like to speak to you”, I said before adding “Hold on while I give him the phone!”

Taking the phone the gentleman said “Hello Elly!”  Suddenly rather shocked, he looked at the phone and then to me he said “She hung up!”

“Nah!” I said.  “She has gone into a tunnel, she will phone again in a couple of minutes”.

Elly was at that time working in Glasgow.  Her homeward journey was by train and being confined to a small space for thirty minutes, she used it to call me.  There were two tunnels on the journey so I was quite used to the interruptions.  We were both on the same network so our calls were free.  She would call me and talk for up to 50 minutes and if needed I called her back for another 50 minutes.

The phone began to buzz once more…

“Hello!” I said again.

“W-H-O was that? she asked again.

It was time to come clean, I had my fun….

“Did you not recognise him?”  I asked.

“No!” she said.

“It is your Uncle D!” I admitted.

My brother had arrived with a group of colleagues for a three day conference.  When the first days meetings finished early he phoned me so I drove into Belfast to see him.  He had a couple of hours clear before going to a pre planned dinner engagement for the group.  We met in the bar for a drink and when the time came to wash and change for the evening he invited me up to the room.  While he showered, I sat on the bed and had a coffee.  Come on, give me a break, I grew up in a house with four brothers and was quite used to seeing them half dressed.

My brother got some mileage out of the evening too.  I said we met in the bar of the hotel.  He was sitting with his colleagues when I arrived and I walked straight to him.  He stood and kissed me.  I saw his colleagues give that knowing smile.  He introduced me without saying I was family.  They seemed surprised that I knew so much about him.  When he invited me to the room the teasing really took off.  We played to the gallery and enjoyed it.  Later that evening he explained to them who I was.  I went to meet him again on the second evening and when I arrived I was greeted with a chorus of “Hello Sister”

That episode was a great learning curve for Elly.  It taught her that mammy might actually think of meeting a man for a drink or dinner.  Nowadays when I say something outrageous there is always a small chance that I might be telling the truth.

Well…. I have to have some fun!

He was sitting silently on the floor with his legs crossed, right outside the apartment door. He had been there for hours. I could see him through the peep-hole. The doorbell had stopped buzzing about 9pm. How did he get into the building? The front door from the street opened by a buzzer system or a tenant’s key. I had no phone buzz to ask admittance, somebody must have held the door open and allowed him through.

It was not the first time.

He was there a week previously and rang the bell at fifteen minute intervals before finally leaving at about midnight. Tonight he looked like he was there to stay. I hoped one of the other tenants would venture out into the hall on their way to or from the laundry room in the basement. Nobody stirred. The building was always very quiet it was one of the things that appealed to me about the apartment. I seldom saw my neighbours. We were all out at work every day. Our contracts did not allow for loud music and baths were forbidden after 10.30pm on a week night, in case the running and emptying water disturbed our neighbours on the other floors. There was no restriction about early morning bathing.

The building was four floors high with the owner having his office and living quarters in the pent house. The Janitor lived in the basement and we also had laundry and drying rooms down there. On each of the three floors between these two were four apartments. Mine was on the first floor up at the back of the building so there was no way of knowing if I was at home other than by pressing the buzzer. The large windows in my living room, bedroom and bathroom faced the back garden and there was no access from the street.

I was home early and it was still daylight when he arrived and rang the bell on my inner front door. The only other person to ring that internal bell was the Janitor. I didn’t have the radio switched on and there was no need for lights. I was writing letters to my family and friends back in Ireland so the place was silent. The carpet swallowed any sound from my stocking feet as I approached the door to look through the peep-hole. There was no way I would open that door!

When darkness fell I refrained from switching on any lights so as not to draw attention to the fact I was there. I had no telephone and we had no mobiles in the early seventies, so without going outside I had no way of calling for assistance. Once I stayed inside there was no danger. Staying calm I got into bed.

I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t sleep! I counted sheep. It didn’t work. I named my 657 thousand cousins and was still wide awake. I looked through the peep-hole and he was still there and not sleeping either.

I poured myself a stiff drink and planned what I would do in the morning. In the morning! What was I talking about? It was already dawn. The drink relaxed me and my head grew heavy, I must have dozed off.

I woke with a jump! It was the sound of the door to the stairwell closing that woke me. I went to look through the peep-hole once more and to my great relief the intruder had gone!

My problem was I knew who he was.

His wife worked with me, we got on well together and I really liked her. She had invited me to join them for dinner a month previously. At the time I had no car, there was no need for one since I was within walking distance of work. The wife drove me to her home straight from work and at the end of an enjoyable evening the husband offered to drop me back to my apartment. Accepting the lift, I thought nothing of it, I had lifts before from other friends and there was no problem. That night things were different. The husband once in the car and a safe distance away from his home, made advances that were way beyond the bounds of decency. I threatened to report him to the police and got out of the car as fast as I could. I ran all the way home and thankfully he didn’t follow me.

That was the longest and loneliest night of my life. I felt dirty and damaged. I broke the house rules and ran a bath. No amount of bathing would wash those memories from my brain. I didn’t go to the police. I was in a foreign country, a guest at this man’s home, a passenger in his car, we had drink taken and it was my word against his. He was a married man and back then women were not really believed in such situations.

So now I had decisions to make. I dressed for work and prepared what I would say. It was not easy telling my colleague what her husband was doing. She was not surprised or shocked, but aware that he was out the night before and on several other nights recently. It turns out they had problems in the past and they were surfacing once more. She called for medical help and he was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the local hospital. From then on, much as I tried to leave those dark events behind me, my job lost its lustre so I handed in my notice and made arrangements to return to Ireland.

Slowly and with time the memories faded and I was able to live a normal life. Good friends, love and laughter returned and life was worth living once more.