I collected Poppy from school today.
I do this most Tuesdays when Michael and Leanne are working. The school is not named in the archive, and neither is the route. I keep those details out of the public version.
Poppy came out carrying her book bag, a water bottle and a picture she had made with too much glue. Her cardigan was not with her.
‘Where is it?’
‘At school.’
‘I can see that.’
She considered this and said, ‘Then you know.’
We walked back to the car. I parked farther away than I used to because the nearest spaces were full. Poppy wanted to know why I walked slowly on one side. I told her my knees were worn.
‘Can you get new ones?’
‘People can.’
‘Are you?’
‘Not today.’
At the bungalow, she had fruit and a biscuit, then read her school book to me. She knew most of the words and guessed the rest with confidence. When I corrected one, she said the picture supported her version.
After reading, she asked what games I had on my tablet when I was five.
‘I did not have a tablet.’
‘A phone, then.’
‘We did not have a telephone in the house until I was older.’
She stopped drawing.
‘How did people tell you things?’
‘They came to the house, sent a letter or told Mum.’
She said that sounded difficult.
I showed her a photograph of the Portchester house and explained that television programmes appeared at a set time. She asked what happened if we missed one.
‘We missed it.’
She looked at me for several seconds.
Michael collected her later. She gave him the picture and told him I had grown up without pausing television. He said this explained a lot, though he did not say what.
After they left, Leanne messaged to say the missing cardigan was in Poppy’s classroom.
They will collect it tomorrow.