300. A big deal okay?

From the verandah, Paul’s mother watched the time immemorial struggle play out in her own flesh and blood. Eileen conjectured, as she rocked the chair to a steady thinking beat, that there are few times in a lifetime where one could be this carefree. It is a big thing to give that up, she mused. A wry smile crossed her face, as she realised that she was in the other carefree category. And yet, she was worrying and they were being lizards!

But Eileen has always been that way inclined: both worrier, and minder of other people’s business. She called it ‘ploughing the field’; others, less gracious, call it running interference. Where they lived, and worked and when they started a family were big decisions to make. And they had consequences, they crimped your lifestyle.

She called them in for lunch, but they did not move. They were sound asleep.