Alice, But Older

 

'Oh!' Said the Gentleman, 'I didn’t know'…..

He spoke in surprise

‘Sorry to alarm you’, responded the stranger, stopping in her tracks

‘I did ask if I may wander thru’

‘No, I just thought the dog might bark at you’

‘He wouldn’t do that’, she said, ‘Dogs like me’

‘And beside, we have already met, he and I’,

The little dog ambled to her wagging his tail and asked her to tickle his chin again, as she had earlier, stretching up his neck, inviting her fingers

‘So I see’ the gentleman remarked

Are you Graham’s wife?

‘No’ the intruder replied ‘I am Stephen’s wife’

‘Stephen’s…….. Oh!’

‘Where is Graham then’?

‘He was by the truck when I left to walk around your garden’

She smiled and strode briskly toward the gentleman holding out her hand

‘I’m Daphne…..I just came to keep Stephen happy on the three hour drive here’

‘I expect Graham is in the garden somewhere asleep on one of the garden chairs’ he wondered aloud

She followed the gentleman and the little white neckerchiefed dog back up the path feeling like Alice having been discovered by the White Rabbit

‘It’s a bit messy at this time of year’ he said

‘I found it all quite marvellous’ she concluded.

 Alice; but older.

 

 

 

Caught trespassing in a fantastic garden in the Cotswolds