As soon as Carol stepped into Mary’s flat, the heat enveloped her like an over-enthusiastic relative. She should be used to it by now. She’d learnt early on not to open a window to feel the light breeze cooling her scarlet cheeks; Mary had let it be known.
‘Only me,’ she called out.
November 2014's edition of Long Story, Short Journal is James Wall's beautiful tale 'Home Help', with a photo by Dino Jasarevic. 'Home Help' places readers in the hands of Carol, the caretaker of an elderly woman living in residential facility. Readers are asked to consider what constitutes family, who is responsible for the lonely, and to what extent we are existing 'alone together'. CLICK HERE TO READ 'HOME HELP'.