1087. Leaving home

Nadia was always cleaning up after her son, Ben; picking up shirts, putting shoes away, picking up towels. Once she had refused to do it, and it became almost impossible to move around. Nadia harped about it a little, but not too much.

Not long after he turned nineteen, Ben decided to leave home and make it on his own. Of course he shared an apartment with several others.

Nadia missed the mess. She half wished she had some shirts to pick up after him, because it would mean he was home. But when they have to fly the nest they have to fly the nest, said Nadia. Goodness knows how messy his apartment will be.

Nadia decided to visit, just to make sure “everything was alright and did he need anything?” It was Saturday.

The apartment was spotless; very neat and orderly. Did he want to pop home for lunch, enquired Nadia? He couldn’t afford the time, he said. It was his turn to do the vacuuming and the week’s laundry. And he thought he might clean all the windows as well.

530. Shared accommodation

Claudia and her three friends all shared accommodation in a rickety old house that they rented for a song. They were students. Claudia attended the Nanny School. It was a three year course. Her three friends studied various subjects at university.

Between them, they owned a rickety old car. Being young and party-prone, they easily ran out of money, but this time it was serious. They had hardly eaten for a week. Desperate times call for desperate measures. One night, they headed in the car for the hills to a sheep farm. They would capture a sheep in the dark of night and bring it home in the car. Claudia, being of farming stock, was appointed chief butcher.

They captured a sheep. But Claudia was a little loath to use the knife that night. They kept the sheep in the living room for early morning slaughter.

Claudia rose early. Overnight, the sheep had given birth to twin lambs.