BR076 Mimi and Amanda

I took my cup back down to the kitchen. It was still quiet in the house and I didn't think anyone but me and Ella were up. I always try to be extra careful at Don and Ella's to clean up after myself and not dump on the place. Now this feels especially worth doing, since they have been operating without an au pair since Mimi Lapan left six months ago.

When I stepped into the kitchen I noticed a similar odd sensation to the one that came over me in Hampsterhead tube station the afternoon before. Even though the room was quiet I was suddenly aware of every tiny noise as a seperate experience. I sat down by the kitchen table to concentrate. Was life always like this, full of tiny differentiations that we don't ususally bother to notice? Outside I heard steps and then a key in the lock and the kitchen door was opened. It was Mimi.

“Zhack! Are you all right? I heard you were unwell.”

“I'm fine, Mimi,” I tried to look cheerful.

“You look stiff,” She came over to me.

“I'm fine,” I said again.

“Let me rub your shoulders,” and Mimi stepped behind my chair and started massaging my neck.

“I really don't need this, Mimi,” I said, though it did feel good.

“Hush,” she said. I heard someone coming. The hall door opened and it wasn't Jilly. It was Amanda Rabbit. She must have stayed over at Ella's with Professor Hat.

“Mimi,” said Amanda. “Why are you massaging Jack's neck?”

“Zhack looked so stiff when I came in,” she said, letting go of my shoulders. “I wanted to help him.”

“If you really want to help him,” said Amanda, “You could give him your key to Ella's house. Jilly needs one and Ella said you have the only spare. You haven't worked here for a long time and you surely don't need to let yourself in without knocking anymore.”

“Jilly doesn't need a key here,” Amanda started saying. “I mean I live nearby.”

“Yes she does. This is how you can be helpful to Jack. Give me the key and I'll give it to Jilly.”

Amanda came towards Mimi and held out her hand. She stood quietly waiting for the key.

Mimi took it from a chain around her neck and gave it to her.

“Thanks,” said Amanda, and she smiled a tiny smile of victory.

BR094 Key For Jilly

BR091 Jorge Bottlefly In Jail

BR070 Ella Watering

I slipped out of bed leaving Jilly in dreamland. We hadn't shut the thick curtains in Ella's top room and the sky was showing pink with the dawn. I found some of my old slippers in the closet and pattered downstairs to the living room. All was quiet. Going down to the chilly kitchen I put the kettle on and made myself a pot of tea. I cleaned up all the signs of my activity and took my cup of tea back up to the living room. Through the glass doors into the conservatory I could see Noobie, the little Garden Monkey, sleeping on a branch of a potted tree. I opened the door quietly and took a seat looking out at Ella's beautiful wintry garden. I wanted to think.

What had I been going through emotionally? Or physically, for that matter. My odd, dreamy, overcooked and oversensitive state yesterday. Everything had just seemed normal and then it wasn't. Suddenly I heard something behind me and turned to see Ella Pussycat coming through the door. She picked up a watering can and filled it at a tap. She didn't say anything but she nodded to me and smiled. As she watered the plants along the long window she hummed to herself.

I went back into my reverie. It felt as if there was a new understanding hovering above me, tantalizingly close and ready to be grasped. But what was it? What was the meaning of my odd state, if it had any special meaning?

"I'm glad to see you listening to yourself," said Ella. "Sometimes, Jack, your head is so full of a number of things that you seem to forget where you are."

"I do feel a lot of responsibility on my shoulders," I admitted.

"There are moment," said Ella as she put down her watering can and came and stood close to me, "when you have to let go or your body lets go. Now that your body has let go a little it may be urgent for you to act immediately."

"But how? What should I do?"

"I recommend you go out to Woody Spit, out to the orphanage and hang around with the kids."

"But it isn't the weekend."

"That doesn't matter now, Jack. Cancel everything at the Jackster plant this morning and drive out today and just be with the kids. Climb trees and sail your boat. Play the piano. Milk the cows. Make a little space immediately and then you can listen and hear what it is you are trying to say to yourself. The important thing is not to lose this opportunity."

BR062 Jack's Tidal

BR083 Hat's Peace

BR047 Cat's Diet

BR080 Hat's Drive

BR068 Beautiful Mouse