Hearing the side gate opening, Mavis sighed. What’s happened now? Mitzi, Mavis’ poodle, raised her head and groaned, and disappeared behind the sofa. Puffing into sight was Eva, her daughter-in-law with the twins in their buggy. Thankfully they appeared to be asleep.
She stomped in: ”You’ll never believe what your waster of a son has done now!”
”Cup of tea love?” Mavis tried to fix her face, wishing she could disappear with Mitzi. Since having the twins, Eva had moaned about everything, mostly about Adam, Mavis’ son .The poor lad worked all the hours to provide for his family, but it was never enough. Setting the cups down, she waited for the tirade that must follow.
”You know I went out for lunch with the girls Saturday, fed the kids before I left so all he had to do was watch them. I got home about nine and that waster was fast asleep on the sofa. The safety gate was wide open, my lounge was chaos, sweet wrappers strewn around everywhere. My god the kitchen: every cupboard open. Charlotte must have worked out how to open the safety locks. She’s only six. Honestly what will she do next? The floor was covered in chocolates, dog biscuits, crisps; anything that was edible had been nibbled. Dallas and Mog whined at the patio doors. I noticed their whiskers were bright blue, there was a red stain around their mouths and several shades of pink and purple. I opening the doors and they shot out, looking at me like it was my fault. Adam didn’t know what hit him. I pushed him off the sofa and we had a right barney.”
Before Eva could draw breath, Mavis dived in.
”I offered to have the three of them here for the evening but you turned me down.”
Eva huffed, ”Adam has to do his share! They are his kids too. I don’t ask much. Hey, I haven’t told you the worst part. Upstairs the three of them fast asleep on my bed, covered in makeup ,nail varnish, and my expensive perfume, jewellery flung around. A right mess: I sat and cried. Took me ages to get the nail varnish off Denver and Austin. Thankfully they had their night nappies on. Charlotte tried to blame the dog! HONESTLY she is definitely her father’s child, a total whirlwind causing chaos.”
Mavis stood up. ”Eva, you know that Adam works hard to give you all a comfortable life. I know having two year-old twins and a six year-old is hard work, which is why I offer to have them. Please don’t rant about my son to me. I know how much he does for you all. Now the twins are waking up. Maybe you should take them home. ”
The silence echoed through the room. Eva turned, stalking out of the door. Mavis sat, and with head in her hands, cried silent tears. Mitzi crept out next to her and licked her tears.
