Monkey’s Blood

Brenda works as a cleaning lady and often has to take her young daughter Helen with her, especially on a day like today when it is the school holidays and there is no one to look after her. Helen really doesn’t want to go – she’ll only have to sit in the dark room with that smelly old man again. Mr Morrison is ill, terminally ill, and his wife is doing her best to look after him at home. She doesn’t really need a cleaner, but she likes the chance to chat with Brenda and have a cup of tea, and the wee girl keeps him company for an hour or so. But today is different, it is so hot and Helen can’t resist taking Mr Morrison into the sunshine. They talk to each other for the first time, share an ice-cream, and for a moment as the child tells him story and he cools his feet on the newly mown grass Mr Morrison feels as though, perhaps, this an an angel showing him heaven on earth and it doesn’t feel bad at all.The child’s innocent view of the world gives the old man the absolution and peace he has sought for so long, and unwittingly, she gives him permission to die.