Down Memory Lane

Why was I going to all this trouble for an old print and a sister who was still not speaking to me?

- BARBARA DYNES

Mum always promised me that Hay Wain picture. Lucy says you must have taken it with you after you sorted Mum's stuff. It's not that big, so please send it on to me. I will pay carriage costs. Emma.

I stare at the computer screen. I'm about to wind up for the day after working from home when this email arrives from my sister.

Cold and to the point, you might say. Well, what else to expect? We fell out a few years ago, Emma and I, and acted like polite strangers at Mum's funeral a few months back. When it came to clearing Mum's house, Emma was working abroad and left the job to me and our older sister, Lucy.

Alfie, our black-and-white cat, purrs around my legs, wanting his tea. I ruffle his fur, thinking hard. Emma, who lives just a couple of hours from me, must have got my email address from Lucy, who's miles away in Scotland.

"You could make up now, you two, surely?" Lucy remarked at the house clearing. "Now you've got Paul..."

I sigh. There's too much water under the bridge. When your sister grabs your boyfriend from under your nose, you don't forget in a hurry. All that hurt and anger over Greg!

Lucy has a point, I suppose; now married to Paul, I couldn't be happier. It never would have worked out with Greg. Ironic that he and Emma also split eventually. But "stubborn to the core, that's our Jane", Mum used to say.

And Emma obviously wants things to stay as they are.

After being fed, Alfie follows me up to the spare room which is piled high with Mum's stuff. Sorting it is such a heartwrenching job that I keep putting it off. Perhaps when Paul - a long-distance lorry driver - is back after this trip, we'll get down to it.

I begin to search a few crates. I do vaguely remember Emma once giving Mum The Hay Wain for her birthday. Secretly, I always thought that picture a hay cart surrounded by river and trees - is a bit on the gloomy side. But then who am I to say!