介绍:
until finally it was over, and she stood and straightened her face. ‘Dexter, I am so, so sorry . . .’
‘I’m actually much better now.’
‘I know you are, I’m sorry. I apologise.’ They began to walk again. ‘You must do it, Dexter, if that’s what you want.’ She squeezed his arm with her elbow, but Dexter felt sulky.
‘We’ve always told you that you can be anything you want to be, if you work hard enough.’
‘It was just a thought,’ he said, petulantly. ‘I’m weighing up my options, that’s all.’
‘Well I hope so, because teaching’s a fine profession, but this isn’t really your vocation, is it? Teaching Beatles songs to moony Nordic girls.’
‘It’s hard work, Mum. Besides it gives me something to fall back on.’
‘Yes, well, sometimes I wonder if you have a little too
much to fall back on.’ She was looking down as she spoke and the remark seemed to rebound off the flagstones. They walked a little further before he spoke.
‘And what does that mean?’
‘Oh, I just mean—’ She sighed, and rested her head
against his shoulder. ‘I just mean that at some point you’ll have to get serious about life, that’s all. You’re young and healthy and you look nice enough, I suppose, in a low light. People seem to like you, you’re smart, or smart enough, not academically maybe, but you know what’s what. And you’ve had luck, so much luck, Dexter, and you’ve been protected from things, responsibility, money. But you’re an adult now, and one day things might not be this . . .’ She looked around her, indicating the scenic little back street down which he had brought her. ‘ . . . this serene. It would be good if you were prepared for that. It would do you good to be better equipped.’
Dexter frowned. ‘What, a career you mean?’
‘Partly.’
‘You sound like Dad.’
‘Good God, in what way?’
‘A proper job, something to fall back on, something to get up for.’
‘Not just that, not just a job. A direction. A purpose. Some drive, some ambition. When I was your age I wanted to change the world.’
He sniffed ‘Hence the antiques shop,’ and she jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
‘That’s now, this was then. And don’t get smart with me.’
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