A Neighbour

My former boss, the petite lady who lives down the street, moves her professorial self past the garden once in a while. My sibling reports that this time she asked about me, having heard about my career 'movement'.

I've always had respect for the acuity and perspicacity of that lady. She has always had that capacity to zero in on a specific target and ask the sharpest questions. This time, it was all good. She pointed out why I couldn't have done certain things I was said to have done, and what she thought of me. Then she added her good (and much-appreciated) wishes for my future prospects.

The lady I've come to call 'Aunty' over the years, and people like her — these have been my true neighbours in a trying time. It is this kind of thing that makes me want to stay in Atlantis, and not decamp to Lemuria or some such fantastic other place.