Modern Loneliness

The Post Office

Neville

'Are you waiting to post an item or buy stamps?' The girl at the post office was young, although everyone looked young to Neville these days. He housed a sneaking suspicion that eighty-four was, in fact, old.

A couple of people shuffled on their feet, avoiding eye contact. Neville raised a hand. 'I am,' he said tentatively.

'I can do it for you!' she said, leading him away from the queue and toward the self-checkout tills.

'Oh, I don't mind—'

'I can show you how to use the self-checkout if you haven't done it before?'

'All right, thank you.'

He thought it would be rude to mention that he hadn't minded queuing up, as he hadn't spoken to anyone since the previous afternoon except the bus driver. She probably had queue-busting targets to meet.

Joe

'Are you waiting to post an item or buy stamps?' the girl at the post office was cute, although not in the sort of way Joe's friends would've thought.

'I am,' he said tentatively.

'I can do it for you, or show you how to do it,' she offered, gesturing to the self-checkout. Too late, Joe realised he was being queue-managed. Standing in line for five minutes hadn't bothered him as much as working at home was bothering him, but somehow his feet were already walking toward the checkout.

'I actually already know how to use them, thanks.'

'Okay, great.' She was already turning towards the next customer.

Joe couldn't figure out what was bothering him until he had walked home, when he realised she was the only person he'd spoken to all day.

Sunday Dinner

Neville

Neville liked his niece, Janet, but she had two difficult qualities: one, she was always in a rush to pick someone up from football practice or drop someone off at piano lessons. Two, she considered Neville her third child.

'How's the flat?' Janet asked over a Sunday roast. 'Anything interesting happening in your block?'

'The flat is fine,' Neville replied. 'The couple who just moved in next door seem to own four pet snakes, but otherwise not a lot's going on.'

'Four snakes?' Janet's youngest, Kayden, lit up. 'Which types?'

'Grass snakes, apparently. Nothing too exciting.'

'Could I come round and see them one day?'

'I'll ask—'

'Kayden, you do not need to bother Uncle Neville. Uncle Neville, are you sure it's a good idea for you to be in that flat alone? Since your hip operation, I mean. It might be good for you to have some company.'

'Well, I've no plans to get a pet snake—'

'I'll ask Tim to look into daytime carers for you. Just to be on the safe side.'

'I honestly don't think—'

'Well, I'm too busy to pop in and it's really too far for Beth and Darren to come round every week, so I think it's best.'

Neville wondered what she'd say if he ever mentioned he occasionally walked the length of the high street by himself.

Joe