Imagination...One day, when their mother was tired and feeling low, Orlando and Sophia, in a rare act of collaboration, invented an escape scene for her.
Orlando started: Mum, what’s the matter? You look tired. Look, sit down and put your feet up. Relax. Now, imagine you are on a beautiful tropical island, ok? With white sand and palms, and lovely water. Sophia: We are there too. – Yes, but we are swimming in a clear, blue lagoon. Very safe for children, ok? And you have had a swim, and a massage, and you are lying down reading. Your hat is shading your eyes. – And Dad is there relaxing. – He’s reading a book by the side of the lagoon, and he’s keeping an eye on us, so you can rest completely, ok? Oh, I know, he’s reading ‘1000 Ways to Please Your Wife’. |
–There is a long iced drink on a little table by your side. And chocolates. And flowers everywhere.
– There is opera playing.
– And you can smell beautiful food they’re getting ready for dinner.
– The sun sets, and you and Dad have a whisky.
– And there are stars, and you can hear the water lapping...
Giulia sighed, stretched, and slowly opened her eyes. She was almost surprised to see Orlando and Sophia still in their school uniforms, sitting side by side, and looking at her like two friendly owls, to see the big gum-tree and a Camden brindled sky through the window, and on the sofa beside her, the towering pile of clothes from the line waiting to be folded.
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– There is opera playing.
– And you can smell beautiful food they’re getting ready for dinner.
– The sun sets, and you and Dad have a whisky.
– And there are stars, and you can hear the water lapping...
Giulia sighed, stretched, and slowly opened her eyes. She was almost surprised to see Orlando and Sophia still in their school uniforms, sitting side by side, and looking at her like two friendly owls, to see the big gum-tree and a Camden brindled sky through the window, and on the sofa beside her, the towering pile of clothes from the line waiting to be folded.
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