God Save Our Queen
“I got a present for you, Luv. It was from your Nan. She meant to give it to you before…you know. She couldn’t wait for today.”
Nan passed away last week. Nothing dramatic. She was old and died in her sleep. She was looking forward to the Jubilee. She loved the Queen.
I took the gift from Auntie. It was wrapped delicately in white paper with a corgi motif. The dog smiled and wagged its tail obediently. I carefully unwrapped the present one corgi at a time. Inside was a small wooden horse. A rocking horse.
“She said it was hers when she be growing up.”
I turned the horse around in my hands. A fiery red saddle sat astride the white mare. Painted blue jewels bedecked the saddle. A golden mane flowed from the head. Her eyes were dark. The last sparkle of life had left long ago.
“She’d be so happy today. She was really looking forward to it. The bunting. The cake. She really loved cake AND the Queen.”
I nodded.
Above me, the bunting swayed in the breeze. Union Jacks fluttering with promises of a land united. The decorations led to a DJ stand with posters of the Queen splashed all over. Her gummed smile aching from overuse. A fat man in a cheery loyalist costume spoke heavily into the mic. He introduced himself as Stanley from number 46. His Union Jack top hat…
