Mater

Anna caught me out - at least almost. I’d waded through the manuscript that had languished for so long in the bedside cabinet - just to re-familiarise myself with the content, you understand - and hadn’t really given any thought to keeping it in order. Well, I was preparing myself - I can’t be expected to think about everything, can I?

[More:]

When she finally made the decision to pull out the whole lot, notes and all, from that bedside drawer, she found two and a half copies of her manuscript, all in a muddle. The first chapter was missing all together, much to her surprise, but she didn’t realise that until she had put all the pages in order and sorted out what belonged to which copy. Using a different font for the different copies was a stroke of genius! (And that’s a first!)

It took her half a day to put it all in order, all the same. That’s what she’ll tell you, anyway. It would have been done in under an hour if she hadn’t starting reading it as she sorted. I tried to get her to do one thing at a time, to stop her getting as muddled as her manuscript pages were, but when did she ever listen to me?

But there it was, all in order at last. Except for the missing first chapter. Now, where did I put that? Oh, what now? Anna pushed her chair back, got up and left the room. It’s a wonder she didn’t hear me shouting after her. I was desperate for her to put pen to paper.

My relief when she returned to the desk was probably palpable. Phew! She was only in need of some refreshment. There was me thinking I’d been abandoned again.

Anna is having problems. Apparently my story isn’t exactly straight forward, and learned men have pondered on my story before. Much more so than she had anticipated. That’ll teach her looking things up on the internet!

Don’t worry, Anna! Not that she is listening - or would take any notice of me, anyway - in her agitated state. How can I make her understand that a journey of the imagination doesn’t have to be infused with scientific know-how or theological treatise, or any number of philosophers’ input? Once I locate that missing chapter, I’ll show her what her initial intent was. It’s all there. If for no other reason than to stop her being waylaid by unnecessary research.

Having said that, I see she’s found some information ‘they’ dug out some years ago. Now, that looks interesting. No, no! Don’t scroll down the page yet. I’m still reading.

Oh well, perhaps I’ll let her use that little bit… hang on, there’s more! This could be fun!