A Spot Of Bother

99

George had naïvely assumed that when Katie and Ray said they would arrange everything themselves this meant he would not have to do anything.

Jean did not understand that if he drove into town to get flowers he might keep going until he reached Aberdeen. She did not understand that he needed to sit somewhere quietly doing very little.

Then the toilet upstairs overflowed and everything got very hectic indeed, so he went to lie down in the bedroom. But Jean came into the bedroom to get sheets and towels for Ronnie and Eileen and she was quite rude to him. So he shut himself in the bathroom, until Jean turfed him out because people needed to use the toilet. At which point it became rapidly clear to George that these complications were only going to multiply over the coming day, and that he would very soon not be able to cope.

He had been wildly unrealistic. There was no way he could do small talk with all these people, let alone stand up in front of them and give a speech.

He did not want to embarrass Katie.

It was obvious that he could not go to her wedding.