Senior MOMENT

What was going on? Had someone made a silly mistake?

- Alison Carter

Have you got your ticket?’ asked the elderly lady on the door.

‘I didn’t think I’d need one,’ Sarah said. ‘I’m…’

‘Don’t worry,’ the lady interrupted in a conspiratorial tone. ‘I won't tell if you don’t. A lot of us would forget our heads if they weren’t screwed on.’ She ushered Sarah into the hall.

Sarah looked around her. Somewhere, the organiser would be waiting for her arrival. The email had given a name —a Mrs Heston, or Halton, something like that.

Sarah hovered behind the rows of chairs, looking for someone official-looking. They were all older people. Sarah, at 58, felt herself to be the odd one out.

‘I wouldn't sit way back here,’ said a white-haired woman, waving Sarah forward. ‘You won't be able to see the speaker.’

‘Could you point out the person in charge?’ Sarah asked.

‘No time for that, dear,’ the woman said. ‘Olive likes to kick off promptly.’

That was the name in the emails, Sarah thought. Olive Halston.