My contribution to a game of Consequences, part of the Social Science Imagination course. In memory of my Dad.
CW MILLS met NIGEL WINN on May 26th 2006 at home by his hospital bed, which was on loan.
CW MILLS SAID: I heard that you hated work, you never made any money, you laid bricks most of your life, you left school with no qualifications, you were constantly trying to reinvent yourself and now you are dying of cancer at 56. The world has failed you.
NIGEL WINN SAID: I married my childhood love. I wrote poetry and a book no-one ever saw. I had children and friends. I danced naked in the garden with my love on the summer Solstice. I had little money and didn’t need much either. I went to University aged 50, got a 1st in English and became a lecturer aged 54. The cancer will take me quick. I’ve said goodbye. I am having visions of my mother and Queen Victoria and the flowers outside look so beautiful. Tomorrow I will die with dignity among people I love and who love me.
NIGEL WINN died the next day after drowning himself with a glass of water. His wife and children watched until the last breath.
THE CONSEQUENCES WERE: NIGEL WINN’s sons dug his grave and buried him. People grieved. There was silence. Dignity. A prize in his name. Despite it all.