Patsy had been staying at the Bedford for a week. When she arrived she appeared a bit batty, not only because she constantly talked to herself, but because she’d lugged an old-fashioned computer and monitor all the way to the hotel in her suitcase. When Laura suggested she should get a laptop so she could use the hotel Wi-Fi, she was reluctant at first because she’d never been on the internet in her life.







Patsy looked over at her antiquated computer and monitor before looking back to her new laptop on the dressing table. If she’d known such things existed before she came to the Bedford, of course she wouldn’t have lugged it all the way there. She’d learnt so much since she arrived seven days ago, and now that she had, she was liberated, albeit in a state of confusion.
 
     Deirdre, her father’s district nurse, had been her only friend up until the day she arrived at the Bedford. In fact, she was the one who suggested the holiday in the first place. While her father’s house was being cleared prior to its sale at the end of the month, it made perfect sense. Patsy had packed the few things she was taking to her new rented flat on the outskirts of Bristol, so she was happy for the rest of the contents to be auctioned off before the sale went through. There was nothing else she wanted from the isolated farmhouse she’d lived in all of her life. In fact, she couldn’t wait to get away from it, especially now.
 
     Patsy had always been lonely, but until she came to the Bedford, she didn’t actually know what the word ‘lonely’ meant. She just assumed it was something everyone suffered, a by-product of being alive. But that was before she’d spent a week being respected and helped by total strangers. Not only had she bought a laptop, the holiday had bought her a window into a world where people actually talked to her and showed her respect. The computer Deirdre gave her represented the way her life had been before. The laptop in front of her represented her future. A future that wasn’t steeped in loneliness and lack of information. A future that allowed her to interact with the outside world on a daily basis.
 
     The talking to herself issue concerned her though. Who else could she talk to? If she had a dog or a cat, then she supposed it would be quite acceptable to be caught talking to them, but Laura had told her that talking to yourself in public places didn’t give people a good impression. She’d spent the last couple of days trying to control it, not that it was hard. The amount of time she’d spent with Laura, sitting opposite her at the reception desk learning about the internet, had left her almost verbally exhausted by the time she went to bed every night. Patsy knew Laura was probably just being kind, as she seemed to be with all the guests, but in a sense she had changed her life. Patsy didn’t have to ask herself questions anymore, or forage through a pile of books. She could just go onto Google and get the answer there.
 
     She patted her old computer and monitor as though she was saying goodbye to an old friend. She hoped Deirdre wouldn’t be offended that she wasn’t taking it back with her. She’d been so kind to her after her father died, by organising the sale of the house and accompanying her to the horrible solicitor who scared Patsy to death. Deirdre helped her fill in all the forms that were required, and had even helped her open a bank account to replace the post office account her parents opened for her years before. With that thought in mind, Patsy pulled out the form Deirdre had asked her to sign when she dropped her off at the station. After she glanced at it, she told her she would sign it when she got back, before stuffing it into her handbag. The fact that Deirdre’s long-term partner’s name was on the form was the thing that stopped her signing it right away. She’d never even met the man, so she couldn’t understand what it had to do with him.
 
     With just fifteen minutes to go before her taxi arrived to take her to the station, Patsy turned on her laptop and opened up Google. She then typed in the words ‘third party mandate…’