Rebecca has gone and guess what? I remembered the vase and forgot the flowers!
But it’s ok she is after all her mothers daughter, she picked some Gladioli out of the garden teamed it with some trails of Passion flower from around the front door and Bobs your uncle she made a home. She did this without any suggestion from me, she discovered the vase in one of her boxes and just did what came naturally to her, and this warms the cockles of a florist mother’s heart.
I am aware that talking about Passiflora around her front door paints an image of romance of idyllic charm of niceness; dismiss these images immediately this place is awful, post war semi in Acton complete with Asda shopping trolley on the front path and an Everest of black bin bags where the garden should be. Of course my lovely friends had warned me, don’t worry they said students don’t notice grime and un-pleasantness, they assured me that my worries would be un-founded, I was so glad we’d bought the mattress protector and the rubber gloves. Anyway we made the bed, hung an orange tented mosquito net over her bed (loads of mosquitoes in London don’t you know), piled cushions on it, draped bunting around the room to peg photos of us all, her nearest and dearest to, and then we briefly hugged and we, Olivia, Jason and I left. Then I cried all the way home.
Rebecca had left a beautiful card for Jason on his pillow, which just made me cry some more, I tossed, I turned, I fretted and then it was morning, she rang me because she knew I’d be worried, all was well, she was just waiting for her turn in the shower and then off for the first day at LAMDA.
Last night all my worries became a reality, she rang to say that they had been burgled, Lap tops, ipods, jewellery etc all gone, on the first day, this is a seriously harsh lesson, devastating in fact, but I some how feel better, I had this feeling of impending doom and now it’s happened, they are now no longer green, no longer innocent, now they will be so much more careful and no one was injured, they have an element of camaraderie within the house, they will be a far better team, stronger and more sensible not quite so trusting of everyone. Life’s lessons have to be learned and weirdly, though the house had been ransacked the vase of gladioli and passion flower was left un touched a beacon to the future, hopes dreams and expectations…
