Wednesday, April 7, 2010

97. The fruits of your labours


Laura knew not to read too much into the body language, the cold shoulder, the absent-mindedness, the clipped responses. These were the stresses speaking. Given time, Clive would emerge from this trial the generous, loving human being that she believed him to be. Laura knew her own mother harrumphed at her steady faith, but mothers can be so black-and-white.

Clive came from a tight-knit family which had always been immersed in business, in noise and dust and engineering. He joined the factory on Botany Road at eighteen more to please his parents, than any personal commitment.

At the age of 48, he met Laura and life changed for him, overnight. She enabled him to see beyond the obvious, helped him to clarify and to respond. With her empathy, he started to hear other life songs. That is when he discovered the viola.

Then, in his fiftieth year, Alicia was born.

1 comment:

Joan Elizabeth said...

Imagine becoming a parent at 50! He sure has some life songs ahead of him.

I've particularly enjoyed the human touch in the last three pieces.