RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30811, 24 July 1965, Page 46

RANDOM REMINDER

PREDICAMENT

The sun can be very pleasant these wintry afternoons, especially in Redcliffs. And a Redcliffs woman whose baby awakes regularly at 2 p.m. finds that with the sun streaming in the windows, her bedroom is an ideal place to feed and change the baby, to sit and ponder and sometimes just to sit —until the reverie is interrupted by the joyful sounds of children home from school. The sun one recent afternoon was especially warming Phe night had been a disturbed one and the morning more hectic than ever. But now the baby was fed, changed and

happy to lie on the bed gazing with wonderment at its small fist. And her reverie was deeper, her eyelids heavier, her mind blanker than usual. She felt like a contented cat and almost purred. But a noise from the kitchen brought her back almost to wakefulness. She ignored the clock, which showed clearly it was not yet 3 p.m., and called down the hail in languishing dulcet tones. “Come up here my darling. I'm in the bedroom.” But instead of the pater of tiny feet, there was a heavy silence. Then she heard the kitchen door slam and the sound of feet

retreating hurriedly down the path. She ran to the kitchen. There stood a box of groceries, mute but eloquent testimony to the identity‘of the caHer. And from tile window she saw a red-faced grocer spring into his van and drive off at speed. She wonders now how she can pay for the groceries. She feels that posting a cheque will only postpone the inevitable confrontation. And she is not at all sure, if she goes to the shop and explains, whether his wife will be as amused as ber husband. And he, the wretch, refuses to go to the shop and pay up.