You have mail!

Abby sipped her coffee, letting the steam rise. She had yet to light her first cigarette of the day. She looked up and out of the kitchen window. The sky was a clear blue and glaring. An amazing light, clear and strong, picked out every single frond on the small mimosa tree outside and cast a pin-sharp shadow onto the wall of the potting shed. The potting shed glowed as the light bounced in and around the terracotta walls. Abby does not sniff despite being marginally sensitive to olive blossom.

It was unusual for her to be up and about first but something was bothering her since she had discovered the "identity", such as it was, of the other writer. She knew that Gilbert was getting upset at not having heard back from Finn and the Jill woman. He had even sent a message to Finn's wife yesterday asking if he was OK. The silence was eating at him and that was eating at her. She knew that now Kelly had gone back there would be nothing to distract him from the silence. Even the kiosk project that he was working on wouldn't be enough.

She had woken with the sun and the sound of sparrows courting on the bathroom window sill had foiled all her efforts to get back to sleep and so she had wandered down and checked out all of the plants on the way. Those that had needed it had now had water. Time for her coffee. And, on the off-chance she decided to check email and personal messages before she got stuck into planting out some more lavender - the cuttings that she had taken last autumn and nurtured into small, hardy, plants.

What a surprise she had when she spotted messages from both Finn and Mrs. Finn. The first that she checked was from Mrs. Finn and it was a pleasant, chatty missive:

Hi you talented writer!

About me: May being the busiest month in school life and me being a fool who has taken too many extra duties, my days are an endless row of diffrent tasks to do. I completed my Tikas-studies today so now I'm officially a Tikas-trainee's educator, did my four ECDL-tests also today, will start soundscape studies in Tampere on Saturday, will continue to work with Roland's workstation on Sunday, will travel to Estonia with my pupils for three days next week...

I've felt that I don't want to give just a quick glance to your blog, it deserves more! Therefore I've not read it for some days but instead I've been waiting for an evening when I can unwind and do something special, you know, like a special treat which you can enjoy after you've finished your ordinary duties. When the time comes your blog is my treat

Finn just arrived home. He's had some extra activities with his politics, don't know excatly what he's up to - we haven't had time to talk lately. I told him about your note and he was both so excited and a little bit embarrassed becaused he too has been focused only on his own blog and activities. He has to rethink what is really essential and focus also on things he enjoys! You'll hear from him.

May your May be merry and your lavender growing well!

Love

Mrs. Finn

So - she had passed on the reminder and things sounded promising. "What busy lives they both live", she thought to herself, "they make me feel positively indolent. They are so busy that they cannot even make time to read Gilbert's blog. No wonder he hasn't responded!" But when she read Finn's message her heart sank. He apologised profusely but, it seemed to her, held out little hope for a speedy response to the original. "Oh dear, Gilbert will not be happy" she mused and as she did he appeared: looking the very picture of health and smiling broadly. "Bad news I'm afraid", she said, "Sit yourself down and I'll tell all. Dick was back last night wasn't he?"


(to be continued ... )