The open gate

Source: an original fiction extract.

The gate between the gardens had been open for so long that ivy had begun to grow around its latch. For years, Mina had used it to take soup to her neighbour, Mr Cole, or borrow the ladder he kept beside his shed. This morning a new padlock shone beneath the leaves. She stood with a bowl wrapped in a tea towel and looked at it. Beyond the fence, his daughter was carrying boxes towards the house. Mina called her name. The woman waved but did not come over. After a moment, Mina went around by the pavement.

At the front door, Mr Cole's daughter thanked her for the soup and said her father was resting. Mina asked about the gate. The daughter, Claire, said they needed to keep the garden secure now that her father was less steady on his feet. Mina said she had always watched out for him. Claire replied that she knew. The words were polite, but the door remained only partly open. Mina handed over the bowl and walked home feeling that a small familiar country had suddenly introduced a border.

That afternoon she saw Mr Cole at his upstairs window. He lifted a hand. Mina pointed towards the gate, trying to make the question clear without shouting. He looked down, then shook his head slightly. She could not tell whether he was disagreeing, apologising or simply unable to see what she meant. At tea she told her son that Claire had shut everyone out. He asked whether she had actually spoken to Mr Cole about it. Mina said there had not been a chance. She disliked how much that weakened the story.

Two days later Claire knocked, carrying the washed bowl. She asked whether Mina could visit her father on Thursday while she attended an appointment. Mina almost said she was busy. Instead, she asked if he wanted company. Claire said he had specifically asked for her and the newspaper crossword. She looked tired enough for Mina to notice the effort of her smile. Mina said she would come. At the door, Claire explained that a nurse had advised them about the gate after her father had wandered into the lane at night. Mina had not known about the night in the lane.

On Thursday she rang the front bell. Mr Cole was sitting by the kitchen window with the crossword already folded to the right page. He complained about the hospital food and asked about her tomatoes. Mina asked whether the locked gate bothered him. He said that many things bothered him, including being asked the same question by everybody. Then he passed her a pencil. They argued over an answer for several minutes. When Mina left, the gate was still locked. She wished it were not, but she wrote down the number Claire had given her and put it beside her own telephone.

Consider the whole source. A reader said: “Mina’s hurt is understandable, but the writer shows how easily she mistakes a change in her neighbour’s needs for a personal rejection.” Evaluate how far you agree. Support your judgement with detailed references to the text and the writer’s methods.