Reviews

Inever knew Jimmy when he was alive; I met him through the things he left behind. I became acquainted with him a few days after he had died as I was writing his discharge summary.

Jimmy had fallen on hard times. I pieced this much together from the notes, not that I sought it out, but I somehow dropped my guard. He had lost his job and he had lost his wife. The notes did not tell me which came first. He was actively looking for work. I knew this because his job seeker record, which had been in his pocket when he had been taken ill, was now stuffed in the back of his notes. A faltering painstaking scrawl recorded his daily round of disappointment. “Hayward's machine tools—still nothing will try again next week.” I learnt that the constant disappointment was getting him down, the admission …