Of human bondage
We are at the Enchanted Village book club. My friend Pelly, tonight's hostess, pulls me to one side.
'I've got something for you,' she says, scrabbling around in the kitchen while the other ladies in the living room prepare to talk about The Janissary Tree by local author Jason Goodwin.
The latest book club guest, Number One Grand Daughter, aged five, is holding court as Mrs Champagne-Charlie, Mrs Bancroft, a Rolling Stones' Aunt-Once-Removed and Mrs Mabel Lucie Attwell hear about the books she has brought.
Pelly huddles closer to me: 'I went for a walk up Bluebell Hill and was on the road by the tin hut.' She produces a plastic bag. 'I found this in a layby,' she says.
A sofa or two away, Number One Grand Daughter is telling the Book Club ladies why Mutant Ninja Turtles are so cool and why she quite likes the pictures, even though they are in black and white. She then turns to her Batman book and shows them her favourite illustration, a rather dramatic shot of the caped crusader smashing through a window.
Pelly whispers: 'Just look in the bag. I brought it all the way back so you could take a picture for your blog.'
Rather gingerly, I dip my hand inside. Will I pull out a plum? Or maybe a rabbit from a hat?
Nothing prepares me for the contents.
'Bugger me,' I say, almost choking on freshly-baked focaccia. 'Where did you say you found it?'
'Granny!' yells Number One Grand Daughter.
'I'm a bit tied up at the moment,' I say as I struggle to put the thing back in the plastic bag.
'See, I knew you wouldn't believe it,' Pelly says.
And neither does Mr Grigg when he comes home from his bar billiards session with the boys.
'I thought your book club was about books,' he says, with a king-sized leer.
That's about it.
Love Maddie x
'I've got something for you,' she says, scrabbling around in the kitchen while the other ladies in the living room prepare to talk about The Janissary Tree by local author Jason Goodwin.
The latest book club guest, Number One Grand Daughter, aged five, is holding court as Mrs Champagne-Charlie, Mrs Bancroft, a Rolling Stones' Aunt-Once-Removed and Mrs Mabel Lucie Attwell hear about the books she has brought.
Pelly huddles closer to me: 'I went for a walk up Bluebell Hill and was on the road by the tin hut.' She produces a plastic bag. 'I found this in a layby,' she says.
A sofa or two away, Number One Grand Daughter is telling the Book Club ladies why Mutant Ninja Turtles are so cool and why she quite likes the pictures, even though they are in black and white. She then turns to her Batman book and shows them her favourite illustration, a rather dramatic shot of the caped crusader smashing through a window.
Pelly whispers: 'Just look in the bag. I brought it all the way back so you could take a picture for your blog.'
Rather gingerly, I dip my hand inside. Will I pull out a plum? Or maybe a rabbit from a hat?
Nothing prepares me for the contents.
'Bugger me,' I say, almost choking on freshly-baked focaccia. 'Where did you say you found it?'
'Granny!' yells Number One Grand Daughter.
'I'm a bit tied up at the moment,' I say as I struggle to put the thing back in the plastic bag.
'See, I knew you wouldn't believe it,' Pelly says.
And neither does Mr Grigg when he comes home from his bar billiards session with the boys.
'I thought your book club was about books,' he says, with a king-sized leer.
That's about it.
Love Maddie x
Well, now I'm really looking forward to that skype meeting. Will you all be in black..........latex?
ReplyDeleteMarvellous! Yesterday I saw an abandoned child seat in a country lane. In such perfectly good condition that I wondered if someone was coming back for it after a walk or something. Except that it had been raining for hours and was soaking wet. I always want to know the stories behind these things...
ReplyDeleteWonders will never cease!
ReplyDeleteHugs!