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Composition
Elderly Rivalry


Lgnatius looked across at his rival. All the three nurses were around him. Something had to be done to make them look his way. With a deft 'accidental' movement he knocked the kidney dish. With a loud clatter, the utensil fell to the floor. They had to look his way now and did. He pointed with pretended helplessness at the floor. Angie rushed over with a broad smile and picked it up for him. Then they all came over. He looked acros at his rival. Their eyes met, Ignatius saw the daggers in George's eyes and smiled in triumph. He had won again! After they left, he smiled andd waved at George again. His heart glowed. Victory was sweet.


4.00PM was visiting time. He looked around at all the ancient warriors and their visitors. As usual, George and he were the only ones without visitors. He decided he would fix that. He struggled to his feet. Painfully, step by step he hobbled to the bed at the far end. Salim;s visitors would talk to him. Unlike everyone else, Salim always had visitors to spare. Not all of them could talk to Salim at the same time so some would talk to him. Of course they did. They asked about his health; his family; whether he had eaten and so on. He felt a glow of pride and looked acrossed at his rival. George could not walk; so he could not 'borrow' visitors from the other visitors from the other patients. Ignatius saw that he was pretending to read adn chuckled to himself. Obviously George was avoiding his eyes. Then he hobbled back to his bed, but not before passing George and giving him a trimohants, gloating smile. George turned away.


As usual Ignatius rose at dawn. It was a habit. Birds chirping always woke him up. He closed his eyes and prayed. He prayed that that day too he would triumph over his rival. But something was bothering him. It was something nagging; something uncomfortable; something demanding to be addressed. It was about the rivalry. He tired to push the thought away but it pushed its way back in. Suddenly, it dawned on him. All his victories were empty. The care of the staff was just drama. The enquiries by Salim's visitors was drama. They did not really care did they? Im fact no one cared about him or about George. It was all one big drama. Tears filled his eyes. He had sinned. He prayed to God for forgiveness. He decided he would put everything right later that morning; no, he would do it immediately. He looked across at George's bed. The curtains were drawn. Obviously he was sleeping. He had to wait till later after all.


He smiled at his own cleverness. He had a plan. As soon as it was bright enough, he would walk over to George's bed. He would be direct. He would smile at him. He would apologises for his hard-heartedness. George would understand and apologise in return. They would then laugh heartily over their rivalry. They would become friends. After that they would not have to worry about seeking attention from the staff or from other patient's visitors anymore. They would have each other. He wondered if George played chess. He decide he probably did. He knew George was an intellectual. Did he not read the whole day? Everything would be alright. He smiled to himself again.


Then he saw a covered cart coming stealthily into the ward. He wondered whom it was for. He saw it being pushed staight to George's bed. A feeling of emptiness gripped his heart as floods of tears streamed down his face.