The wrong Betty

My mum was up at her golf club the other day, where she enjoys the honour of being the "mother of the club" being the oldest living member.

There unfolded a strange tale. She overheard one member informing another of the death of "Betty". Horrified, she immediately assumed it was her old friend, another esteemed life-long member. She went home and straight way phoned her best friend to tell her of Betty's demise. The friend, dumbstruck in her turn, lost time in sending a letter of condolence to the family.

And then the truth emerged: Betty had died, but was another Betty, a much younger and more recent member.

Hearing the chaos caused by this little misunderstanding, I took it upon myself to ring the friend myself and attempt to apologise on my mum's behalf. Obviously I had some very heavy weaponry; severe Alzheimer's being the most effective. Fortunately it was soon apparent that after a very nasty little interim, she had taken it in good heart, and accepted that the story, bizarre as it was, at least had a happy ending. Except for the other Betty of course.

She said at one point that she realised there was something fishy about my mum's account when she arrived at the golf club, "And the flag wasn't at half-mast. "They'd have done that for our Betty", she said proudly.