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Loose ends

"Loose ends" is a story by Scottish writer Russell Cavanagh about an uncle he never met but who was a highly talented and acclaimed artist.

John grew up in a small town with his four sisters and two stepsisters. Perhaps unsurprisingly he was considered the black sheep of the family.

    During his early years John showed a keen interest in art. By his teens he was skilled at drawing, painting and sculpture. The introverted boy flourished as his artistic talents developed and got noticed.

    Once he was able John flew the nest and made for the big city. Soon he was exhibiting his work and making a name for himself as a highly talented artist.

    After studying at a prestigious art college John received an offer to work there as a lecturer. This brought him into a higher sphere of society and to a circle of people that included his soon-to-be wife.

    For years the sisters back home heard little from John, just snippets of his new life via short letters he sent sporadically, many of which he'd decorated with pencil sketches and doodles.

    By now they had less and less in common between them and certainly little to talk about that the sisters would grasp or which John would be interested in. John was by now far above the parochial environment from which his life had started.

    Then one day, having by then reached his fifties, John wrote to the sisters saying he'd like to come back to visit the small town where they still lived so that he could see them again and catch up with their lives properly. Naturally the women were thrilled at the prospect of such a reunion.

    Everything was arranged and a few weeks later tearful and joyful hugs took place at the sisters' homes. Some of them later went to visit John and meet his wife at their city home. This time proved to be a golden era of reconciliation for all concerned - and the sisters made a meal out of talking about it for months afterwards.

    Then one day, about seven or eight months after the unexpected reunion, news came that John had died of stomach cancer. He had passed away in a private room in the big city's hospital. At his strict request, only his wife was to be by his bedside when he gave up the ghost.

    Naturally shocked, none of the sisters had even suspected. There had been no obvious signs or symptoms.

    So John's reunion tour earlier that year had in fact been his way of tidying up loose ends before making a final, quiet journey out of this world.

 

 

 

CC BY-ND 4.0 Russell Cavanagh 

 

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