Lifetime Guarantee

"I'm taking these shoes back," Uncle Trevor looked disapprovingly where the sole flopped loose like a hungry mouth.

"How long have you had them?" my sister  KM was the first one who dared to ask.  I knew she was playing a well-defined role in the scene.

"20 years!" he said.

"That is quite a long time, Uncle Trev."

"It's not a lifetime, Mary."

My sister and I stared at him.

"They came with a lifetime guarantee, and as far as I know, I'm not dead yet."

This was true.  He was standing in our kitchen, his long-shaped DA looking somewhat the worse for wear and in need of a cut.  He was wearing a green jumper with a hole in the elbow, and a checked shirt, matched with his old, seen-better-days sports jacket. I'd seen him in this get-up for each of his last 12 visits, which was pretty much as long as I could remember.  We all laughed though.  This was Uncle Trev, a contradiction - the most generous of men, but also, personally, the tightest.  Every time  he came to our house, perhaps twice a year, he gave us each a tenner ("Well, I never see you do I?") which seemed a fortune.  He also came burdened with sweets, chocolates, ice-cream and pop.

There's little wonder that we loved him - the second he arrived we were so loaded with sugar we were giddy and giggly AND we were rich.  He was funny too, regaling us with one story after the other.

His wife, Elsie, chose a mini (Uncle Trev didn't drive, "What's the point, if someone else does?") and it was always a source of entertainment watching him fold himself (all 6'4" of him) into the front passenger seat.

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