Don’t Open the Door

An old woman comes back to consciousness on the sofa in her living room. Leaning over her is a stranger. She can’t quite remember what happened. Did she fall down the stairs, or was she pushed? He says she let him in. He says, I’ve called an ambulance. But I don’t need one, she says and persuades him to phone the emergency services back and tell them not to come. He is about to leave. Stay, she says, just for a while. Two people thrown together share intimate secrets ranging from rebellion against the colonial administration in Malaya, apartheid South Africa and how to walk down the street in Tottenham.