Fat Larry

Last night Tall Girl and I had a long chat before bed. We were both tired and just lazed around chatting about nothing in particular. I love to hear her chatter. It is at the end of the day when she is most likely to 'let go', drop her guard, and issue forth on all sorts of topics. I have only just realised this fact. Perhaps when she is sleepy she feels more relaxed, or perhaps it's a going to bed delaying tactic?

I listened to her talk about school and friends, the fact that her e mail's wasn't working for a while and how a boy mailed her a few weeks ago. I asked her if she mailed him back. I have heard his name before. There was a girl too. She hadn't responded to either. We talked about making friends. How, sometimes, you just need to say 'Hi'. We talked about how it is nice to have friends that are boys as well as girls in your social circle.

In her hand was her soft toy that she still takes to bed with her, despite being 12 years old. It is a lamb, his name is Fat Larry, though he's not that fat anymore. She can't sleep unless he is with her. It's a funny thing.

All of a sudden Larry, after 12 years, found his voice! He has a funny sort of accent but, if you listen very carefully, you can get the gist of what he is saying.

As we talked about friendship, I mentioned that I have lots of contacts on line now that I consider to be friends. She looked at me straight in the eye and Larry said "Now, you really do need friends in the real world mummy, not just virtual ones!"

I consider myself told!