When Julian went to school in Lenah Valley, most mornings we would drive past an old woman walking her dog. She was such a feature of our drive that we began to make guesses on whether we’d see her that day, which coat she’d be wearing, and whether or not her dog would have a coat on too.
Julian’s older and moved on to a new school, however occasionally if I’m at Cornelian Bay in the middle of the day I see her! I saw her yesterday and again today! Today her dog, Peter, had gotten away from her so she asked me to catch his lead. When I came back to her with him, she told me I’d done my good deed for the day and could now be naughty.
I have sort of told her how we would see her most mornings, but of course she doesn’t realise what a big part of our drive she was. Apparently she no longer lives in Lenah Valley, but I find it exciting when I do cross paths with her. As we’d make up stories, she now seems to me to be a mythical creature – sometimes good, sometime evil, and always spurring us on to create stories.