The Sunday Telegraph - 01.09.2019

58 STELLA|1SEPTEMBER 2019

THEREIWAS,sitting inthevet’s waiting

room withsick Catty whining in her top-of-

the-rangepet carrier (the kind ofthing that

ParisHilton probably uses to transporther

pooches),whenitoccurredtomethattheoth-

er patients around uswere not dissimilar to

theoneswho alwaysseem tobe waiting for

their appointments atmy doct or’s sur gery.

By which Idon’t meanthey have four legs

or need to be muzzle dwhil etheywait, just

that they have all reachedthatstageoflife

(I’m not quitethereyet,fingers crossed)

when visits tothesurgery areaweekly, if

not daily, occurrence.Catty andIhave a

similar approach to our health–wedo

ever ythingwe cantoavoidanykindofmed-

ical attention.

Whentheycalle

(whichis actuallyN

not getinto that her

tionistremarkedin

ingway that it is thre

years since herlast

defence, sheis doin

for13(91 in catyear

from theodd pre

forflea/tic/worm

tion, sheremains

healthy and content

rial killer of anyrod

youcaretoname.

Meanwhile theoth

creatureswaiting tob

seen (most ofthem

similar agetoCatt

aresuchfreque nt vis

torsthat assoon as

comethroughthe do

receptionist greets

by their name (eg

Oscar/Buddy/Daisy,

arewetoday?’)

Thispersonal

mentremindsmeo

waymost oftheo

human patients at

doctor’s surgery

greetedbyname on

(thankfully)raretim

go there(about ev

threeyears). Of co

by thetimeIamCat

ageIwill probably

comearegular bu

ratherhopeIwill be

fit and active as she

when Iam91. C

Naomiis on acour

biotics (for aminor

bookedintohave si

in September(alth

told heryet).Other

vetput it, sheis ‘won

her age’.

AS S OONASMum mentionsthecat, Iknow.

Iknowthat she willnot come toFrance. It’s a

feelingIhave in my bones, inmy waters,in

myeverything.Call it daughter’s intui tion, if

youwill.

‘Mum’s not comingto France,’Itell Harry.

‘Ohno,’hes ays. ‘What’s happened?’

‘The cat’s not well,’ Isnap.

‘Ohdear,what’swrong withit?’

‘Ithas to have some t eeth out.’

‘That sounds...perfectly fine to me. Why

can’tyour mum comebecausethe cat’s gotto

have some t eeth out?Why wouldyou cancel

aperfect ly g ood holi daywhen insteadyou

couldjust postpone thedentalwork?’

‘Shehasn’t actually cancelled,’Iex-

plain,‘oreventoldmeshe’s not

coming.Ican justtellshe’s gearing

up to tell me.’

Harrylooks at me as ifIam

demented. Andperhaps Iam. But

IknowMum. Forsomereason,

she is constitutionallyincapable

of going on holiday.She can’t

sit still, or stayquiet. Last

year,she was supposedto

come toFrance with

us, but cancelled

twodaysbefore

we were due to

leave dueto‘cir-

cumstances be-

yond my control’.

Something to do with

aseptic tank.Iwas sad,

but thelureofthe holi-

daymade upfor it .Now

Iwonderwhat is wrong

withme–whyshe always

says sheis going to come

then doesn’t.

‘Shehasn’t actually

toldyoushe isn’tcom-

ing,’ points outHarry. ‘At

themoment,this crisis

is one that is onlygoing

on inyour ownhead.’

‘I know,but trust me,

she won’tcome. She

hatesme.’Ialmost burst

into tears.

‘She doesn’thate you.

Youare soundingcomplete-

ly mad.’

‘Iam mad.’

‘That’s true, ’henods.

But he’s right.PerhapsIam

being slightly overdramatic in

predictingthis out come. It’s just

some teeth, Itellmyself .She won’t

cancel. Andthen Iget on withmy

life, tellingmyself Iambeing silly.

Twodayslater, thephone

call comes.

BryonyGordon

39

Marriedto avery

patienthusband

Harry,and mother

to Edie, six

Jane Gordon

‘Circa 60’

Mother,

grandmother

and24/7

childminder

Whywould

youcancel a

perfectly good

holidaywhen

youcouldjust

postpone the

work?

Catt yisb ooked

in to have six

teeth removed

–although I

haven’ttold

her yet

Photo: Sophia Spring.

Hair and make-up:

Rose

Angus

at SManagement

Mum&Me

oavoidanykindofmed

edCatty’sname

Naomi,butlet’s

re)therecep-

adisapprov-

eeandahalf

visit.Inmy

ngverywell

s)andapart

escription

medica-

avery

edse-

dent

her

be

ma

ty)

si-

sthey

oorthe

them

‘Hello

,how

treat-

ofthe

other

tmy

are

nthe

mesI

very

urse

tty’s

ybe-

utI

eas

eis

Catty/

seofanti-

infection)andis

ixteethremoved

houghIhaven’t

rwise,asthe

nderfulfor

p p

dentalw

Atrip to thevet’s leadsto apotentialfamily

fall-out...OrisBryonyjumping the gun?

Document: 1058CC-STMMA-1-010919-A058C-XX.pdf;Format:(205.00

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