Little Boy Lost...

The funniest thing Uncle Gordon ever did was put a large bouquet: triangular in shape and a foot and a half long, in the top pocket of his dress suit at my cousin's wedding.  He didn't make a speech but a statement.  He said, there is madness here.

I'd already noticed it.  It was hard not to.  He had a shock of dark, curly hair and a shy smile that gave a strong hint of the little boy he'd been.  He often looked awkward.  My mother implied that perhaps everything was not all there. I could testify to this: when you arrived at he and Aunt Joan's house he'd scurry into the kitchen and make tea all round and often there would be a cry of, "Gordon," from my aunt to propel him onto some other task: vegetable peeling, washing, windows, pots, toilet cleaning, drain clearing and so forth all of which he undertook without ever complaining.

Aunt Joan was busy knitting. Sometimes she had a dozen or more balls of wool in cups as she clacked away stopping only for a cigarette.  I worried about her inventions - it was me and my sister that would have to wear them to school.  It took a long time to recover from the-school-jumper-that-wasn't, for example.  Bottle green in the body and sleeves, all very regular, Aunt Joan had made a creative decision to knit the cuffs and waist band in a green many shades lighter.  Inexplicably, she'd also made both 10" long - as a shy, retiring sort it wasn't the statement I was after making.  It said, 'Pick on me!  Firstly, I have zero control over my wardrobe and secondly, relatives with no taste.'  Doubtless, any expression of the humiliation I felt about this and any other such lovingly made hideousnesses would have seen me hit from the back to the front door for my ungratefulness, so I kept my counsel.

But I digress. A man of very few words, Gordon used to communicate by tickling you behind the ear.  I never got used to this even though - to give him credit - he did it consistently for a full 20 years.  I'd like to say I'm making this up, but I'm not.  He also liked to tickle behind the knees which (try it) often makes you collapse in a heap which he seemed to think was hilarious.  It was marginally amusing when he targeted someone other than you but it wore thin.

You can read the rest here