A short story. Made up, like the others.

14 Alder Terrace. Kitchen, left-hand drawer. Contents for the executor (Mr T. Pryce), as found.

Sunita Rao, Rao & Daughter Clearances. Most of this is rubbish and I’ve marked it so. The keys I’ve listed one by one because you’ll want to know what they open before we skip anything.

  1. Brass key, label in biro: back door. Fits the back door. Keep.
  2. Small silver key, label: shed. The shed is open and has no lock. Padlock found hanging on the nail, no key to it. Bin both.
  3. Yale, label: Mrs Hanley next door, 2009. Mrs Hanley’s house is now a holiday let. Suggest posting it to the address, if you have one.
  4. Long iron key, label: church vestry. Not ours to dispose of. I rang the parish; they’d like it back, and said Gwen was the last one to lock up there.
  5. Tiny key, label: tea caddy. Fits the tin on the dresser. The tin holds tea.
  6. Two keys on a ring, label: Bethan’s old flat, don’t lose. Bethan’s flat was sold in 2014, per the sale papers in the bureau. Bin, unless there’s feeling about it. I’ve put them to one side in case there’s feeling.
  7. Padlock key, no label. Opens nothing in the house. I tried the shed padlock, the bike, the coal bunker. Bin.
  8. Chubb, label in the same biro, newer: front door spare. The front door has been bolted on the inside since we arrived, so we’ve gone in and out by the back, which the solicitor opened for us the first day. This is the key to it from outside. Keep.
  9. Chubb, shiny, cut recently (the brass is still bright). Label: Tomos, who always knocks three times. So he won’t have to.

I haven’t marked 9 keep, return or bin. It has your name on it, so I’ve put it in the envelope with the letters from the bank, and I’ll hand the envelope to you myself on Thursday rather than leave it with the rest of the paperwork.

On the first morning you came to the back door, which was standing open, and knocked three times, though you’d said the house was yours to go into. I thought that was manners. You asked me to be quick and not to be sentimental about it, and I haven’t been. Only, on 3 I’d say post it. And on 7, if you think of what it opens, ring me.

Total: 9 items (6 is a ring of two, so 10 keys). Keep: 2 (1, 8). Return: 2 (3, 4). Bin: 3 (2, 5, 7), and the padlock from its nail. Set aside: 1 (6). No recommendation: 1 (9).