Fifty-live years of her life squeezed into the six allowed boxes. The house clearance men disposed of the rest. Dressed in best coat and hat, ‘Ma’ awaits the taxi to take her to her new home. This is a move she’s fought against with decreasing energy for the last two months since Harold died. She’s resigned to institutionalized life in the Twilight Years Nursing Home. There’s no more fight left in her as she sits looking at her empty surroundings.

The taxi arrives and the cheerful driver ushers her in. Strangely unmoved she looks behind at her home of fifty-five years.

As the taxi pulls into Twilight Years driveway the matron and Sue from Social Services step out to greet Ada. She is bewildered.

Later in her peach room, which Ada finds she shares with Margery, she cries quietly and wonders what Harold would have thought. Margery still thinks she’s due for the morning shift at the Cotton Mill. Ada doesn’t want to be any trouble and secretly wishes to join Harold soon.

The matron comes to get Margery and Ada for lunch. Ada swallows three mouthfuls of macaroni cheese aware of the reproachful eye of the dinner lady, who’s encouraging her to eat up. She wistfully remembers the fresh vegetables that Harold grew for them in his allotment. Conversation is impossible as words stick in her throat. She wonders not for the first time if they’ve sent her to the right place.

As the afternoon Bingo session starts she attempts to withdraw discreetly to her room but the matron won’t allow it. Ada shuffles uncomfortably to her seat. Feelings of helplessness, panic and entrapment engulf her. She can’t focus and her head begins to swim. What is she doing here? She is just another person playing out the final act of their days. She looks with alarm around the room at the other vacant expressions. She feels abandoned and alone in this sea of faces.