Do you remember when I used to read aloud
to you and Sue, in the evenings ?
Sue would lean on me
sucking her thumb
clutching her Teddy
and you would fall fast asleep
surfacing only when I stopped.
I steadily declaimed my way, from, 'The Famous Five'
through to 'Jane Eyre', 'Wuthering Heights'
'Brideshead Revisited', too.
What puzzles me is
I can't remember when it all stopped.
Sue didn't suddenly make a statement one night
and say,
"Would you refrain from reading aloud, now, Mum,
because I've grown up" !
And you never said a word
neither did Teddy.
He just looks at me
when I'm dusting Sue's empty room
as if to say,
"Well, I enjoyed 'Brideshead Revisited', anyway".
(He used to pretend that he was 'Aloysius'
Sebastian's Teddy) !!!
by
Shirley Frances Winskill 1993
