Well that was fascinating!
Louish was as dramatic as ever.
First off, she greets me in a bright royal blue tunic
covered in glittery sequins. It was an incredible outfit. It was all sort of
rutched up with great pleats in the body of it and the sleeves as well. Mind you,
it really suited her. And her make-up! I mean, I’m wearing make-up all the time
now, but I try to do it so that it doesn’t show. But Louish! Long curly
eyelashes. Thick eye-liner. Bright blue eye shadow that matched her tunic. A
huge beauty spot. And lipstick so red it almost looked as if her lips were
bleeding.
Then there was all her prodding and poking – trying to get
things out of me. So much so that I ended up telling as much about Julien as I
dared.
“Well, my dear,” she said. “You’re looking well. Any sign of
any new romance?”
At that point, I blushed bright red.
“Ah, I see there is,” she said. “Well, do not fear anything
form me, my dear. If that foolish grandson of mine can’t appreciate what is
right in front of him, what’s offered o him on a plate, well then he’s even
more of a fool that I thought.”
She stroked my hair and then gave me a huge hug I don’t know
why exactly, but that set me off. I couldn’t hold back the tears. Was I still
sad about Kaleem? Was I pleased she accepted the idea of Julien?
Maybe she defined it herself in the end.
She sighed. “I’m sure he’s a fine young man, whoever he is,”
she said. “But he’ll take you away from our family I expect.”
The lunch was superb, of course. Louish is always so
cheerful and she tells such funny stories. But as we had coffee afterwards she
became deadly serious.
“I want to arrange a meeting,” she said. “A secret meeting.
Between you and Razjosh.”
I couldn’t begin to imagine what Razjosh might want with me.
“Oh?” I said.
“Yes, he wants to discuss the whole post switch-off thing with
you.
“Oh,” I replied. I couldn’t think that that was going to be
easy. He was so near to switch-off himself. “What does Elder Frazier think?”
“He’s all for it, my dear. In fact he’ll be at the meeting
too,” she replied. “You will agree to it won’t you?”
How could I not? Louish is such a well-meaning person. I
nodded my head.
“Great!” she said, and beamed.
The rest of the afternoon was lovely. We went for a walk
together. And as usual, she told me such funny stories about what she and the
other Elders’ attachments get up to. Despite this rather heavy task she’s
landed me with, it always does me good being with her. I really can’t believe
she’s a grandmother with an adult grandson.