Closed Everything Stays the Same

[Monty Pendleton]

If there was a change in the air of the Tuuri household, Monty was doing an excellent job of ignoring it. He took off his shoes by the door and followed Kata down the hall, making the usual polite conversation about the usual subjects: work, grandchildren, baking, etcetera. The routine of it all was oddly comforting. Then Kata went into the kitchen to make tea, and Monty went into the living room to find Arvo. Not very much in the room had moved since his last visit, including, it seemed, the man himself, who was sitting in the same spot Monty had found him the week before, and the week before that. "And this," Monty said, addressing an imaginary person yet to enter through the door, "is the living room. As you can see, the pictures really don't capture the lived-in charm of the place. I'm afraid the property does come with a squatter, but we are in the process of evicting - oh, hello."

 

[Arvo Tuuri]

Arvo would never admit how much he looked forward to his routine weekly visitor. Like clockwork. As it was, Kata never put the pot on until the man arrived, and these days Arvo found it difficult to stomach more than one tea in a day. His old bones rattled more than he would like and he was very often tired. But he didn’t mind, he still had his darling wife to speak to and every week, at exactly the same time, he would have a conversation about everything and nothing with a man he’d long considered his best friend. In many ways, outside of his family, Monty had been his longest and closest relationship. Brought a tear to the eye… almost. “If you’re going to go about showing my house with me still in it, the least you could do is slip me a tenner,” he said, holding his hand out for the galleons he was requesting as he eyed Monty with mock seriousness.​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

"Oh, no," Monty said quite seriously, patting his coat pockets. "I don't seem to have brought my wallet. How about a dance instead?"

 

[Arvo Tuuri]

Arvo frowned and blew the indignant air from his nose. Monty would be the type to conveniently forget his wallet when it most benefitted him to. Gone were the days when the man couldn't leave without triple checking every facet. Not that Arvo couldn't say he wasn't proud - he was prouder of Monty than he was of anyone, outside of his children, wife and grandchildren. "Hm, that sounds about right. Of course," he shook his head, coughing lightly, but not harshly and grinned. "Do you think my old bones could handle a boogie?"​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty broke. "Oh, no," he said. "Not that sort of dance. I was thinking more of a - you know what, it doesn't matter. Frankly, you wouldn't want to see it." He took off his coat and sat down on the opposite chair. "How are you? Can I get you anything? Kata's making tea."

 

[Arvo Tuuri]

Arvo laughed heartily, wincing at the feel of it rolling around in his chest. He needed to stop doing that, but he never wanted to stop laughing. "No, no, you know the rules, Monty my boy - now you simply have to tell me." the joy he got from his talks with his friend were unmatched in anything else. It was simply just good to see him. At any time. "I'm fine, please don't fuss, I've enough of that from Kata."​