We first met when I was 14. Glenda was in her 30s then.
At my age Glenda had fallen off her bike and hit her head on the kerb.
Crashing headaches followed, with extreme rages. They said a short stay in hospital would cure her.
1/
The hospital Glenda was sent to wasn’t a general one. It was a psychiatric hospital.
She was on a ward full of girls and women. Heavily sedated much of the time.
Glenda used to say it wasn’t all bad. Some of the staff showed her kindnesses.
But she kept on running away.
2/
Glenda used to run home to her family. She crept into the outhouse in the early hours, whispering to the dog: “don’t make a noise, it’s only me, Glenda”.
Then she curled up and slept for a while before being found and taken back to hospital.
I lost another ferrule off my hiking stick up on the hills today, but it was worth it!
The snow is still really thick and powdery and the sun was bright.