The Camden Tales

48 - The Wrong Man

-=₪ December 1929 ₪=-

The Mansion / Margate / 2.01pm

Alfie sat topless on the edge of his bed while Malka gently applied oil to the dry and painful patches on his skin. Doing so helped soothe the soreness but also loosen the tightness which worked well, not only for his poor skin, but also his damaged cheek. The more his cheek healed, the tighter the skin became, making smiling, talking and even drinking tricky.

Her fingertips dipped in oil travelled lightly around his hairline and temples and to the back of his ears. Along the crease between his nose and cheek and down and around his neck following his beard.

She glanced at him when his eyes became heavy, waned and eventually closed. Various times a week she applied his oil, sometimes multiple times a day, and it was always a peaceful time. He found the process pleasant and relaxing, as did Malka.

Finishing the skin on his face and neck, Malka moved to his torso. She poured a fair amount of oil into her palm, and allowed it to warm in her hand before rubbing the oil into the larger areas. Her application was light, taking particular care with patches that looked red raw and sore and always observing his reactions for wincing or other signs of pain or discomfort.

"How are your legs?" she asked, running her hands around his lower back and sides.

"It's mainly my feet and--" he looked down at his lap.

"Inner thighs?"

He nodded.

Alfie had been wearing baggy trousers for a number of years to allow his cotton underwear to hang loosely to prevent rubbing. It helped, but only so much for a man that often crossed his legs while sitting.

-●=»>◆<«=●-

Anna arrived home from her shift. She had found private work for an aging, wealthy lady who needed around the clock care.

The elderly Miss Joanna Rose had never been married or had children but instead spent her life with her younger sister, Edith. They had lived together, just the two of them, until Miss Edith Rose died some years back.

A few nurses that took shifts at the rustic cottage a few roads away from the Solomons, all of whom seemed quite certain that Miss Rose and Miss Rose hadn't been sisters at all, but had infact been lovers disguising themselves as sisters. It appeared to be a rumour the other nurses found salacious, gossiping about the two Roses while looking at photographs around the house of them together at holiday destinations, functions and parties. Often the nurses would make comments about how sisters would never hug that way, or pose that way, or live lives together that way.

Anna found their gossiping quite distasteful and did her best to remain out of it. To her, whatever Edith meant to Joanna, it had clearly been profound and loving and Miss Rose still grieved the loss. The crass tittering seemed entirely inappropriate.

Entering through the side servant entrance of the Solomons' house, Anna found the new maid washing dishes from lunch in the scullery when the main doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." said Anna, hoping to be of use.

"No-no. I'll go." huffed the maid, shaking her hands towards Anna dismissively and rushing out the scullery.

The maid, Sarah, once worked at the Jetty Restaurant where various members of the Solomons family would frequent. Anna was surprised when Malka brought Sarah home as she remembered the waitress being rude, however Malka disagreed. Malka saw something very different in Sarah, she saw disengaged, isolated and sad.