...on passing, (apparently invisible), through the changing room after the swimming club...

EXX'Scuuuse me, 'scuuse me... come on! moove!... Hey! I'm in here... that's MY locker... Sophie! Sophie! get that one... hey Jackie, JACKIEEE! Over here!... I feel so sick... oh noooo!! where's my... let me through, let. me. through... Who's taken my towel?... quick! quick! Katy! I've got this one... shampoo, I neeeed... then we had to do a whole ten lengths... can use some of... Jessica!... WhaT?... borrow your hairbrush?... and of butterfly... and my mum says... JESSica!... so anyhow... be for normal hair... has anyone got a hairbrush?... and then he made us do seven... she is just soooo annoying... and I never use conditioner 'cos... So AFTer THAT... well I'm thinking... CATCH!!!... getting highlights.... OW!!!watch what... and then she... sorryyyy!!... we were supposed to do practice turns... EX. CUSE. ME. HAS. ANY. ONE. GOT. A. HAIR. BRUSH ??... look, can't you move along... sooo, anyway... Jessica!!!... my things are... look it's not MY fault... well can't... Oowwww now you've got that... yeah, well and then my mum... and it's all wet... anyway, I just said I didn't care, so...

Sophie???


Sophie!? What are you doing?

Sophie!!!

SOPHIE!!! AREN'T YOU CHANGED YET?

Untrammelled

There's a peace of mind in being free;

unpossessed and unpossessing:

In the joyous companionship of friends

unbound by expectation's shackles.

In obligationless concern

and kindness freely given.

Glorious independence!

Self sufficiency!

With the earth rolling beneath your feet

and the wind of space around you

be your own and no-one else's,

no-one's baggage!

School (second thoughts)

You hated school because you were always 'new'?

Well, that's partly true

but it's not the whole story.



You didn't know the culture

so you couldn't take part?

You're not stupid,

you could learn.

So couldn't ... was wouldn't,

sometimes.



You wouldn't spend hours

discussing The Osmonds.

You had no true interest

in ballet.

You disliked to take part

in school gossip,

or cliques.



You would have shared

the books you read.

You'd have liked to tell

of the trees you climbed.

You had something to say

on bike rides

and birds.



You just hadn't the courage

to be so out of line.

The Blue Door of Home

Home was the house with the blue door. The house with the blue door in the street with the trees and the park around the corner. That was all there was. That was the universe. And home was the house with the blue door.

She sat in the middle of the floor of a living room in a house. Her mother had called it home, but it had no blue door. No trees in the street. No park around the corner.

Her mother'd gone out. Her aunt was here, she was washing the dishes. That was all right. Dishes had to be washed - she'd told her not to take too long; to come back and play again, throwing balls.

She couldn't play on her own. She sat. It was silent. She looked round the room. The room in the house that had no blue door. That her mother had called home.

She cried without breaking the silence.

Her aunt came in, knelt beside her, pulled her onto her knees, held her tight. Her aunt was talking; '...back soon...Dad too...everyone...be alright...together, that's what matters, that's where home is...'

She sat, still silent.

She stood up from her aunt's knee.

'Throw balls.' she said.