I've known June for 25 years now, ever since we moved into this house, she lives four doors down the lane.
She is a spinster aged 84 and is very upright and proper with a touch of eccentricity about her.
She was engaged once, to a handsome young man she said, but he died tragically young and she never bothered with suitors after that.
Instead she dedicated herself to looking after her elderly mother who suffered from alzheimers for a very long time before she died about ten years ago aged 96.
Since then June has lived alone generally keeeping herself to herself.
I have only ever been inside her house twice, the first time was when she came and called for assistance to help lift her bed-ridden mother off the floor and back into bed as she had fallen out and the second time was to return a radio to her that she had asked t'old man to repair(she didn't know that t'old man is useless with gadgets and electrical items).
She is still very sprightly for her age and we often pass in the street and stop for a chat, her mental state though is deteriorating fast it seems. A couple of years ago she seemed to be suffering from mild paranoia and is easily confused, she was convinced that someone had bugged her phone and was spying on her, she laments the state of society today and wonders if life is worthwhile.
On Sunday June answered a knock at the door, it was two men, they asked if she remembered them as they claimed to have done some repair work on her roof some eighteen months ago.
Her memory wasn't very clear but they said she still owed them £40 for doing the job so she gave them the benefit of the doubt and gave them the money from her purse.
One of the men then asked her if the work that they claimed to have done was standing the test of time.
She didn't know, so when they suggested that she go down to the bottom of the garden and look up at the roof she trustingly obliged.
The men were at the kitchen door, the purse with £160 cash was on the kitchen table...you guessed it...when she came back up from the bottom of the garden both purse and men were gone.
I know that this kind of thing happens possibly every minute of every day and I know that June has been warned many times about people calling at her door but she is becoming more and more confused, she remembers the times when you automatically trusted everyone and she can't comprehend that people can be so devious.
She walked past our gate today and she was walking as briskly as ever but there seemed to be a far away look on her face, a look that said she didn't want to be here today.
