Learning Time – Daniel 63

 

[For a quick guide go here: Quick guide.]

[Old back story is here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and read more recent Daniel episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

[If you're enjoying this you can now buy me coffee here!]

“Berkhamsted?” said Chrissy, “Why on earth were you invited to Berkhamsted?”

“A work connection,” said Daniel. “She - a colleague of mine - was going to go there for an event and wondered if I wanted to tag along. Someone I’ve been working with, on and off.”

“Who is this she?”

“None of your business, actually,” Daniel said, a little more firmly than perhaps he should.

“Well, if it’s only on and off I’m guessing it sounds like it might be none of your business as well.”

“That’s not very nice,” said Daniel.

“People going around shooting each other isn’t exactly nice either,” said Chrissy. “Not a great invitation, hey?”

“Could have happened anywhere from what I can gather,” said Daniel. “Police reckon it was just an accident. Someone was carrying a sport's firearm or something and it just went off.”

“'Just went off' - do you believe that?”

“What do I know? Like I said, an accident - could have happened anywhere. Just unfortunate for Berkhamsted. And the old bloke, whoever he was.”

“Is,” said Chrissy. “Still alive. Just. I had heard something about ‘life changing injuries.”

“What are they?” asked Daisy, having listened in on the whole conversation.

Chrissy and Daniel were currently trying to do the same thing. They were both trying to make breakfast for Daisy and get her off to school. The enterprise was laudable although Daniel had the local advantage. Nevertheless, Chrissy was determined to be useful.

“Where are the Krispies then?” she asked.

“Bottom cupboard on the left but I can…”

“No, no it’s fine. It’s just a strange place to keep them.”

“Yeah, a cupboard, very strange,” said Daniel.

Daisy was dressed and sat at the end of the kitchen table, flicking through the TV schedule on her tablet.

“Why is there just football?” she asked. “Football’s weird, innit.”

“Football isn’t weird,” said Daniel. “It’s a game. A good game too.”

“Only because no one can run as fast as the ball,” said Daisy.

Chrissy found the Krispies, flicked through several cupboards to find a bowl and at last brought everything together for Daisy’s cereal. Daisy looked at it and demanded sugar. Chrissy was more than a bit worried about this.

“You shouldn’t just have sugar, it’s bad for your teeth,”

“She’s fine with it,” said Daniel. “Means she eats it. And we brush our teeth afterwards, right, Chuckles?”

Daisy chuckled.

“How do you manage that?” said Chrissy, a little astounded. “She can’t brush her teeth for at least half an hour after she’d eaten and that would make her late for…”

“We manage it.”

Chrissy sighed. “Look,” she said, “I don’t mean to be critical here and I’m all for a discussion. But. Look, you remember the first thing the relationship counsellor said?”

“She said I charge £100 pounds per session but if you book four you get ten per cent off,” said Daniel. “Oh and it usually takes eight sessions.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” said Chrissy. “We need to be more understanding and giving to each other. Communicate first and analyse later. Otherwise we’ll never shift any ground and it’ll always be the same.”

Daniel didn’t say anything. He was too busy checking the emails on his phone and trying to work out how much work he really needed to do today. He might just manage a coffee with Sandra if he was clever, or at the least they could FaceTime each other and discuss the whole Berkhamsted thing. It might seem comical fodder for some, but Sandra appear a bit rattled by it. Unless there was something else going on.

“You know,” said Chrissy. “Even though we were in the same room - on the same Zoom - as Davina I get this feeling we both had different ideas about what she said and how we need to act as a result to make this work.”

“I don’t doubt it,” said Daniel. “She said don’t go to sleep on an argument. You appear to think that means we need to talk until dawn but I think it means whatever you do don’t close your eyes cos your other half will sneak in with a baseball bat if they hear you snoring.”

Chrissy just looked at him. This was clearly not the right time to have this particular conversation, she thought. 

Daisy was now on the sofa, struggling to put on a shoe. Chrissy went over and concentrated on this task instead, leaving Daniel to his phone. 

“Where’s the other one?” She asked.

“Under the sofa, innit?” Said Daisy.

“Please don’t say - how long has Daisy been saying ‘innit’ for?”  She asked the room.

“They’re all saying it at school,” said Daniel. “More acceptable than French swear words, innit?”

Chrissy found the other shoe. And threw it at Daniel.