Nell: You look extremely tired.
Me: I am, to be honest. I’ve been watching over Harriet all night so I’ve hardly slept at all.
Nell: How is she this morning?
Me: She seems a lot better than yesterday evening.
Nell: That’s good to hear.
Me: In fact, she slept really well. Unlike me.
Nell: It was probably just indigestion.
Me: You’re right. After losing Poppy I seem to have lost my sense of perspective too.
Nell: It’s very hard to keep a sense of perspective in times of stress.
Me: Yes, I catastrophize everything nowadays.
Nell: It’s understandable. You’ve had a difficult year.
Me: Anyway, I’ve spoken to Herr Hoffmann and Harriet is on plain chicken and rice for the next few days.
Nell: No bacon?
Me: Definitely not.
Nell: She was only sick once.
Me: She was properly out of sorts yesterday evening.
Nell: If you ask me, it’s all this talk of moving house.
Me: It might be.
Nell: It would make anyone unsettled.
Me: Tell me about it.
Nell: Why would I do that when we just decided it’s very unsettling?
Me: It’s only an expression, Nell. But enough doom and gloom. Let’s do some blue sky thinking.
Nell: Good grief. If you say anything about turning a frown upside down I’m leaving.
Me: No, I want us to think outside the box.
Nell: What box? If you think any of us are going in a crate you can think again.
Me: No. We need some fresh new ideas to get ourselves motivated for the week ahead.
Nell: I don’t know about you, but I need a cup of Earl Grey and a shortbread biscuit.
Me: Sounds good.
Nell: And you need to go back to bed. David and I will watch over Harriet.
Me: Yes. Sorry.
