Saturday, October 09, 2004

Mythical baby

I just came back from the supermarket. While I was pushing my bicycle out onto the road, an ancient woman shaped like a question mark was shuffling slowly towards me. When our eyes met her face lit up, and she stopped and gripped my arm. She smelt strongly of mothballs.

"Onee-chan!" she quavered, looking overjoyed to see me. "Did you have your baby?"

I started to mumble denials of any baby, but she wasn't listening. "Oh yes," she said, answering her own question. "And you are looking terribly tired," she added, peering into my face anxiously and gripping my arm tighter. "Take care of yourself!"

Then she let me go and shuffled off, as I stammered idiot thanks and looked around to see whether I'd dropped a baby accidentally without noticing. She had been very convincing. Then I started to worry about how tired I was looking, and came home to have a nap.

2 comments:

Audie said...

LOL! I can just see her (almost smell her) with your description.

You really should get some rest dear. Having a mythical baby is tiring work I hear. :)

Badaunt said...

At least now I know why I've been so tired recently. I'd thought it was work. I didn't know I'd had a mythical baby.

(In a science fiction universe I would have come home and found a baby waiting for me.)