Ages(For Lyn)

She asks me what it was like When dinosaurs were around and was I not scared. “Oh..! ” I say “I’m not that...old! ” “Oh..? ” she says. “How long ago are you then? ” I pause, & hesitate: as if I were trying to add up all the time I’ve been. “Oh...when I was your age the earth was flat & if your were to go to the edge of it you could fall off (& that was that) off into empty space & drift all the way to the moon! ” “Don’t be silly! ” she says. “Everyone knows the earth is a balloon. We did it in school with Miss Lyons.” And forgetting the question (of our respective ages) she makes another mudpie from the grungy ground & squashes it flat as if she were a God un-creating a Universe that hadn’t quite come out right. “Well, it’s time for tea! ” she tells me & takes my hand in hers. I follow her lead leaving a shattered mud universe behind.