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Chapter 1- The life of Lilly Marshall

Lillian Marshall was alone, having watched her husband leave in an ambulance a few days prior due to a blood clot in his left leg she had not had any company. Going to see her husband was not an option, she was unable to walk further than her front garden because of severe arthritis and her voice was going slack due to age so phoning for a taxi was out of the question. She was 82, had not aged gracefully having been 11 when the clock struck at 12 for the year 2000 she had been a teenager in the wrong decade. She started smoking too early, drinking for nearly as long and had wanted to grow up and be an actress, which she had never been able to achieve. In this decade people never even blamed the parents, kids had started drinking earlier and running riot, all were fallen victims to their own mood swings. Lilly had met her husband, Dale, when she was 14, the two of them were only dating on and off when he proposed to her at the age of 17, he was 18. They made a handsome couple growing up however it took them until their thirties to calm down and look at life, by this time it was too late for Lilly. Dale had been a college student studying mechanics and technology, he found a job as a mechanic as soon as he left school, by which point he was an expert. Lilly finally realised that becoming an actress at the age of 34 was not plausible, she had wasted her time while she was young, jumped in the deep end before she could even use a microwave. Dale however did teach her a thing or two about technology; mainly computers, just for fun. By the age of 40 she was 'qualified' (thanks to some clever forging on a friends part) to take up a job working for a recycling computer company. Her job was to update and renovate old computers to a working and modern standard. For it was now 2029, many companies had gone bust unless they were in the recycling department, it was like the decades were going backwards, production lines now had work again, while companies that were once solely focused on the new age of technology had gone bust. Mechanics were widely sought after where those who were once rich and famous for their 'new ideas' were now begging at soup kitchens, or at the very least, middle class. The world was full of middle class now, because so many people had jobs in a similar line of work, they were all paid the same, and the United Kingdom had been slowly turning communist.
Lilly enjoyed renovating old computers, she felt as though she was doing something for the planet and something for the people who had grown so attached to their possessions of the years, they had become almost like friends. She strangely understood that. These people were dependant on what they had, so much in fact they would often send 'thank you' cards to the company who they had also paid to fix their friends. As much as she loved it then, she blames this for her lack of youth now; she claims it was all the early mornings that ruined her skin, not the constant smoking and drinking as a teenager. She blames her arthritis on all the walking she had to do to and from the office every day. Deep down though, she knew that only she was to blame for it all. She still built in her retirement years, her legs were nearly useless but her hands however were still working fine, only with a slight twinge of pain in the knuckles when she worked them too long. She's glad she retired as soon as she could at the age of 70; it had given her the last 12 years to be grateful for what she had, and what she had seen. Dale waited until the age of 75 to retire, and he claims that he could have gone on if it weren't for the fucking drama in the work place. He had been a supervisor before he retired, and took on a couple of new lads who were eager to pick up the business from where he left off, but Dale can't remember a day since they were hired that someone didn't come in with a threat or a domestic argument to harass them. Dale had always been on the front line to defend them, and then he had enough and just never returned to the workshop. He had got phone calls for months afterwards questioning why he had not returned, he always complained about an apparent pain in his left leg, this didn't exist then of course, however karma has a funny way of catching up to you like that. Lilly wondered if Dale realised this.
Lilly would sit and fiddle with random objects, on more than one occasion she would be watching TV while taking apart the remote without realising, she would then spend the next few minutes putting it back together. The tiny screws and tools she would have to use made her grateful that her eye sight had not suffered in the same way as the rest of her body. She had recently however moved on to circuit boards, she had her own soldering iron which she had taken from her old work place as a keep-sake, and would sit there amusing herself for hours on end, or until she got tired. When she did get tired she would sleep, when she woke up her mind felt anything other than relaxed, her head would be constantly buzzing with thoughts about her and Dale. They had not had kids, this was due to time and money as they were growing up, they had always said to each other though if it happens, it happens but why force something that was not meant to be. Planned Parenthood had always been something that confused Lilly. How can one prepare for such a life altering situation, she had not been a planned child, she had been an only child growing up, her parents spoilt her and loved her. Still she was a teenage wreck, married early, no life plan and no education. How hurtful would it be to plan a bundle of joy only to watch the same thing happen to them as it happened to you? Lilly wasn't one to watch others fail.
Lilly rose from her desk which had been scorched over the years by soldering accidents, a similar story told by her hands and arms, and walked over to the window. For a moment then she had a blast from the past, visualising the river and fields which used to be visible from her window. Stamford used to be a nice market town, a tourist attraction with cobbled streets and nice people. Now though all she saw were housing estates and factories. She could see four smoke chimneys from her window on station road, these chimneys used to be huge church spires, which had now been reduced to one small building just outside of Stamford, apparently in the economic crisis which now was, religion stood second place to production and renovation. She looked down towards the ground, the river which used to surround the small field was still there, but the state of it now was nothing to smile about. The water was green and murky and in the right time of year, all houses facing it needed to keep windows shut because there was an apparent risk of infection if the water turned too hot, and a foul smell would leak from the rotting debris. Luckily there had not been that letter through the post for some time, Lilly could only hope something had been done and was going to be done to renovate the river back to its clear living state. She was asking too much though.
She opened the window, being hit with the breeze of air had made her smile, her smile was still beautiful, despite some missing teeth, those that remained stained by time, and she looked naturally pretty. She opened her eyes and was once again in reality, she had spent her 20's as far away from earth as possible, that when she came back down, she was not surprised to see the state of it. She was however surprised to see the state of herself. Her dresser shelf which was probably older than she was had not changed a bit in detail, the design was typical for that of an oak dresser, a few fancy carvings here and there with a large oval mirror right in the centre. Unfortunately for Lilly, the reflection had changed a lot. Her hair was no longer brown but instead grey, she had still managed to keep it shoulder length, her lips were nearly as pale as her face and her eyes had sagged. She had stayed thin but certainly gotten pale over her years indoors, as she walked closer to the mirror she could see that her once green eyes had even gone grey, though she swore that in times where she was happy, her eyes displayed a tint of blue. She had not seen this blue however since the day her husband had left in the ambulance. The last time she was truly happy was the day her husband had been taken, hours before the ambulance had been called her and her husband were sat watching television. Dale then, for no apparent reason, threw a radio onto the floor. Lilly watched as the radio smashed into hundreds of pieces on the wooden floor in front of her, looking up at her husband, he was smiling.
"Lilly old girl, that there is no challenge for you now is it?" he then began looking at the mess in front of them. "Don't waste your talents away watching television love, fix that radio and be happy."
Lilly had grinned broadly at her husband; he always had a strange way of making a point. All through their youth Lilly had been seduced by strange complements such as this, Dale had always commented on her natural talent when it came to technology deep down he envied her as everything he had achieved in life he had had to work long and hard, Lilly on the other hand would see something done and copy it easily, like a robot. Programme her to do something and she can do it twice as fast as and better than she had been taught. Dale didn't want her to forget this.
They both shared a laugh before Lilly began picking up the pieces of the radio and laying them out on her desk. They were perhaps both going a little senile with age, but if they didn't care, then what was the problem?
Her husband had not touched a car since he left the work-shop and Lilly knew he never would again. She knew he didn't want the same thing to happen to her. She had in fact just finished putting the radio back together when it happened.
Dale was stumbling towards her, his arms spread wide to give her a hug. She was just getting up from her chair when at that moment Dale fell to the floor, he wasn't making an attempt to get up. Lilly lowered her arms which had been ready to embrace her husband and her smile faded, she stared in shock as she took the emergency alarm pendant from around her neck and pushed it long and hard.
The emergency team arrived within minutes, they had let themselves in and immediately two of them began putting Dale into a recovery position while the other sat Lilly down and was trying to question her on what had happened. Before they had finished questioning Lilly, Dale had been removed from the room and taken down to a waiting ambulance. The man questioning Lilly was then being shouted at down the walkie-talkie, Lilly couldn't make out what was said
"Are you going to be okay Mrs Marshall?" the man had seemed generally concerned, but didn't wait for a reply "Would you like to come with us to the hospital to wait?"
"No" chocked Lilly, "I will wait here dear" She forced a smile which then allowed the man dressed in green to leave the flat and commence downstairs to the ambulance.
As soon as he left, Lilly's eyes welled up with tears, she was thinking about the embrace her and her husband were about to share, surely that wouldn't have been their last.
She had received a call later that day informing her of the blood clot which was in her husband's left leg, they said they have got him on medication and are waiting for surgery to remove it but need to asses weather he is healthy enough for the operating table. Again she had been asked if she needed company or a career in her husband's absence, but she politely declined.
Happiness usually came easy to Lilly, she would make something and be proud of it, however now she would only half finish a job and call it habit, not talent. She only started these little projects like fixing a remote or making a speaker because it's what her husband had asked for and made clear the day he left.
She had looked towards the telephone, contemplating taking it apart and making it so it would call with only good news, even to Lilly Marshall this was impossible. The phone did ring however at that moment, Lilly jumped slightly at the irony of the situation before getting up from her dresser table and walking over to the phone.
"Hello?" this was the first time she had spoken today, the sound of her own voice came as a shock as she wasn't as hard to understand as she normally was
"Hello Mrs Marshall, how are you today? Are you well?" came the voice on the other end, a voice Lilly knew all too well as the hospital secretary who had been calling every day to inform her of her husband's condition.
"I m well dear, but Dale, how is he?" Lilly didn't want to mess around, she was tired of the small talk she had gotten every day since her husband left, now she was just wanting to hear what was going on and when her loving husband would be home so they could finally have that embrace she had been longing.
There was a long pause before the woman on the other end of the phone spoke again
"Your husband Mrs Marshall, he was assessed last night on his health, the surgeon said that he wasn't well enough to operate on" Lilly was picking up on the fact the woman was using past tense "This morning at 5:37, Dale passed away Mrs Marshall. Sorry to have to tell you like this."
Lilly was shocked, she didn't expect this news, though she knew it was silly not to. She didn't know what to say, everything in her right now wanted to throw the phone on the floor and scream at the top of her voice but she held herself back. She looked at the time; it was now 9:10. She had only just been thinking about the embrace that almost happened, that would have been their last and little did she know he had already been dead for at least three hours. Her eyes welled up with tears, then she heard the voice again down the phone
"I m sending someone over Mrs Marshall, they're going to speak with you and make sure you're okay."
Was there any point in turning down this opportunity? This woman had been persistent in having someone come over and it was going to happen eventually
"Thank you dear" Lilly then hung up the phone.
Lilly had now realised it was not a blood clot that sent her husband away that day, it was time. Time, of which, they had spent too little of it together. Time that had not allowed them to have kids, Dale would have made a fantastic father, he was so loving to Lilly and he had plenty of it to share. Sadly though, they had not let it happen.

Description
Chapter 1- The life of Lilly Marshall

Lillian Marshall was alone, having watched her husband leave in an ambulance a few days prior due to a blood clot in his left leg she had not had any company. Going to see her husband was not an option, she was unable to walk further than her front garden because of severe arthritis and her voice was going slack due to age so phoning for a taxi was out of the question. She was 82, had not aged gracefully having been 11 when the clock struck at 12 for the year 2000 she had been a teenager in the wrong decade. She started smoking too early, drinking for nearly as long and had wanted to grow up and be an actress, which she had never been able to achieve. In this decade people never even blamed the parents, kids had started drinking earlier and running riot, all were fallen victims to their own mood swings. Lilly had met her husband, Dale, when she was 14, the two of them were only dating on and off when he proposed to her at the age of 17, he was 18. They made a handsome couple growing up however it took them until their thirties to calm down and look at life, by this time it was too late for Lilly. Dale had been a college student studying mechanics and technology, he found a job as a mechanic as soon as he left school, by which point he was an expert. Lilly finally realised that becoming an actress at the age of 34 was not plausible, she had wasted her time while she was young, jumped in the deep end before she could even use a microwave. Dale however did teach her a thing or two about technology; mainly computers, just for fun. By the age of 40 she was 'qualified' (thanks to some clever forging on a friends part) to take up a job working for a recycling computer company. Her job was to update and renovate old computers to a working and modern standard. For it was now 2029, many companies had gone bust unless they were in the recycling department, it was like the decades were going backwards, production lines now had work again, while companies that were once solely focused on the new age of technology had gone bust. Mechanics were widely sought after where those who were once rich and famous for their 'new ideas' were now begging at soup kitchens, or at the very least, middle class. The world was full of middle class now, because so many people had jobs in a similar line of work, they were all paid the same, and the United Kingdom had been slowly turning communist.
Lilly enjoyed renovating old computers, she felt as though she was doing something for the planet and something for the people who had grown so attached to their possessions of the years, they had become almost like friends. She strangely understood that. These people were dependant on what they had, so much in fact they would often send 'thank you' cards to the company who they had also paid to fix their friends. As much as she loved it then, she blames this for her lack of youth now; she claims it was all the early mornings that ruined her skin, not the constant smoking and drinking as a teenager. She blames her arthritis on all the walking she had to do to and from the office every day. Deep down though, she knew that only she was to blame for it all. She still built in her retirement years, her legs were nearly useless but her hands however were still working fine, only with a slight twinge of pain in the knuckles when she worked them too long. She's glad she retired as soon as she could at the age of 70; it had given her the last 12 years to be grateful for what she had, and what she had seen. Dale waited until the age of 75 to retire, and he claims that he could have gone on if it weren't for the fucking drama in the work place. He had been a supervisor before he retired, and took on a couple of new lads who were eager to pick up the business from where he left off, but Dale can't remember a day since they were hired that someone didn't come in with a threat or a domestic argument to harass them. Dale had always been on the front line to defend them, and then he had enough and just never returned to the workshop. He had got phone calls for months afterwards questioning why he had not returned, he always complained about an apparent pain in his left leg, this didn't exist then of course, however karma has a funny way of catching up to you like that. Lilly wondered if Dale realised this.
Lilly would sit and fiddle with random objects, on more than one occasion she would be watching TV while taking apart the remote without realising, she would then spend the next few minutes putting it back together. The tiny screws and tools she would have to use made her grateful that her eye sight had not suffered in the same way as the rest of her body. She had recently however moved on to circuit boards, she had her own soldering iron which she had taken from her old work place as a keep-sake, and would sit there amusing herself for hours on end, or until she got tired. When she did get tired she would sleep, when she woke up her mind felt anything other than relaxed, her head would be constantly buzzing with thoughts about her and Dale. They had not had kids, this was due to time and money as they were growing up, they had always said to each other though if it happens, it happens but why force something that was not meant to be. Planned Parenthood had always been something that confused Lilly. How can one prepare for such a life altering situation, she had not been a planned child, she had been an only child growing up, her parents spoilt her and loved her. Still she was a teenage wreck, married early, no life plan and no education. How hurtful would it be to plan a bundle of joy only to watch the same thing happen to them as it happened to you? Lilly wasn't one to watch others fail.
Lilly rose from her desk which had been scorched over the years by soldering accidents, a similar story told by her hands and arms, and walked over to the window. For a moment then she had a blast from the past, visualising the river and fields which used to be visible from her window. Stamford used to be a nice market town, a tourist attraction with cobbled streets and nice people. Now though all she saw were housing estates and factories. She could see four smoke chimneys from her window on station road, these chimneys used to be huge church spires, which had now been reduced to one small building just outside of Stamford, apparently in the economic crisis which now was, religion stood second place to production and renovation. She looked down towards the ground, the river which used to surround the small field was still there, but the state of it now was nothing to smile about. The water was green and murky and in the right time of year, all houses facing it needed to keep windows shut because there was an apparent risk of infection if the water turned too hot, and a foul smell would leak from the rotting debris. Luckily there had not been that letter through the post for some time, Lilly could only hope something had been done and was going to be done to renovate the river back to its clear living state. She was asking too much though.
She opened the window, being hit with the breeze of air had made her smile, her smile was still beautiful, despite some missing teeth, those that remained stained by time, and she looked naturally pretty. She opened her eyes and was once again in reality, she had spent her 20's as far away from earth as possible, that when she came back down, she was not surprised to see the state of it. She was however surprised to see the state of herself. Her dresser shelf which was probably older than she was had not changed a bit in detail, the design was typical for that of an oak dresser, a few fancy carvings here and there with a large oval mirror right in the centre. Unfortunately for Lilly, the reflection had changed a lot. Her hair was no longer brown but instead grey, she had still managed to keep it shoulder length, her lips were nearly as pale as her face and her eyes had sagged. She had stayed thin but certainly gotten pale over her years indoors, as she walked closer to the mirror she could see that her once green eyes had even gone grey, though she swore that in times where she was happy, her eyes displayed a tint of blue. She had not seen this blue however since the day her husband had left in the ambulance. The last time she was truly happy was the day her husband had been taken, hours before the ambulance had been called her and her husband were sat watching television. Dale then, for no apparent reason, threw a radio onto the floor. Lilly watched as the radio smashed into hundreds of pieces on the wooden floor in front of her, looking up at her husband, he was smiling.
"Lilly old girl, that there is no challenge for you now is it?" he then began looking at the mess in front of them. "Don't waste your talents away watching television love, fix that radio and be happy."
Lilly had grinned broadly at her husband; he always had a strange way of making a point. All through their youth Lilly had been seduced by strange complements such as this, Dale had always commented on her natural talent when it came to technology deep down he envied her as everything he had achieved in life he had had to work long and hard, Lilly on the other hand would see something done and copy it easily, like a robot. Programme her to do something and she can do it twice as fast as and better than she had been taught. Dale didn't want her to forget this.
They both shared a laugh before Lilly began picking up the pieces of the radio and laying them out on her desk. They were perhaps both going a little senile with age, but if they didn't care, then what was the problem?
Her husband had not touched a car since he left the work-shop and Lilly knew he never would again. She knew he didn't want the same thing to happen to her. She had in fact just finished putting the radio back together when it happened.
Dale was stumbling towards her, his arms spread wide to give her a hug. She was just getting up from her chair when at that moment Dale fell to the floor, he wasn't making an attempt to get up. Lilly lowered her arms which had been ready to embrace her husband and her smile faded, she stared in shock as she took the emergency alarm pendant from around her neck and pushed it long and hard.
The emergency team arrived within minutes, they had let themselves in and immediately two of them began putting Dale into a recovery position while the other sat Lilly down and was trying to question her on what had happened. Before they had finished questioning Lilly, Dale had been removed from the room and taken down to a waiting ambulance. The man questioning Lilly was then being shouted at down the walkie-talkie, Lilly couldn't make out what was said
"Are you going to be okay Mrs Marshall?" the man had seemed generally concerned, but didn't wait for a reply "Would you like to come with us to the hospital to wait?"
"No" chocked Lilly, "I will wait here dear" She forced a smile which then allowed the man dressed in green to leave the flat and commence downstairs to the ambulance.
As soon as he left, Lilly's eyes welled up with tears, she was thinking about the embrace her and her husband were about to share, surely that wouldn't have been their last.
She had received a call later that day informing her of the blood clot which was in her husband's left leg, they said they have got him on medication and are waiting for surgery to remove it but need to asses weather he is healthy enough for the operating table. Again she had been asked if she needed company or a career in her husband's absence, but she politely declined.
Happiness usually came easy to Lilly, she would make something and be proud of it, however now she would only half finish a job and call it habit, not talent. She only started these little projects like fixing a remote or making a speaker because it's what her husband had asked for and made clear the day he left.
She had looked towards the telephone, contemplating taking it apart and making it so it would call with only good news, even to Lilly Marshall this was impossible. The phone did ring however at that moment, Lilly jumped slightly at the irony of the situation before getting up from her dresser table and walking over to the phone.
"Hello?" this was the first time she had spoken today, the sound of her own voice came as a shock as she wasn't as hard to understand as she normally was
"Hello Mrs Marshall, how are you today? Are you well?" came the voice on the other end, a voice Lilly knew all too well as the hospital secretary who had been calling every day to inform her of her husband's condition.
"I m well dear, but Dale, how is he?" Lilly didn't want to mess around, she was tired of the small talk she had gotten every day since her husband left, now she was just wanting to hear what was going on and when her loving husband would be home so they could finally have that embrace she had been longing.
There was a long pause before the woman on the other end of the phone spoke again
"Your husband Mrs Marshall, he was assessed last night on his health, the surgeon said that he wasn't well enough to operate on" Lilly was picking up on the fact the woman was using past tense "This morning at 5:37, Dale passed away Mrs Marshall. Sorry to have to tell you like this."
Lilly was shocked, she didn't expect this news, though she knew it was silly not to. She didn't know what to say, everything in her right now wanted to throw the phone on the floor and scream at the top of her voice but she held herself back. She looked at the time; it was now 9:10. She had only just been thinking about the embrace that almost happened, that would have been their last and little did she know he had already been dead for at least three hours. Her eyes welled up with tears, then she heard the voice again down the phone
"I m sending someone over Mrs Marshall, they're going to speak with you and make sure you're okay."
Was there any point in turning down this opportunity? This woman had been persistent in having someone come over and it was going to happen eventually
"Thank you dear" Lilly then hung up the phone.
Lilly had now realised it was not a blood clot that sent her husband away that day, it was time. Time, of which, they had spent too little of it together. Time that had not allowed them to have kids, Dale would have made a fantastic father, he was so loving to Lilly and he had plenty of it to share. Sadly though, they had not let it happen.