Paul felt remarkably at ease. She had dreaded the thought of been seen by Dave, but now it didn’t seem such a big deal. She knew her disguise was perfect. ‘Hi Dave. Sorry Paul has some chores he needs to catch up on. If he has finished he might be able to come around this afternoon’ The lie came easily.
‘Oh… Okay’ Dave answered awkwardly
Naomi had returned. She must have heard “Mandy’s” reply. ‘You have your own chores David. Why don’t you do that hedge trimming for your father while you have the chance. You leave the little girls to play’
‘Sure Mom’ Dave departed.
‘Teenage boys. Who’d have them? Just as well they start out as cute little babies. At least David is keen to earn some extra money this week. I think he has found himself a girlfriend’
Paul chuckled as she expected the real Mandy might have done at Naomi’s attempted joke. Her giggle sounded exactly like her mother’s. ‘Paul now has a girlfriend as well. The boys are growing up. We probably should raise their allowances?’ Paul thought herself quite clever making that suggestion.
‘I won’t be doing that. If David needs more money he needs to start earning it himself. Des gave him a list of jobs that need to be done around the garden. We will pay him for what he achieves’
‘So what does he get for trimming the hedge?’
‘It depends how good a job he does. I’ll keep an eye on the hours he works. I think $20 and hour is fair enough’
Paul considered this. It was a good idea. She could do with a job that paid $20 per hour. That way she would have enough money to pay for a girlfriend. She would put that proposal to her Mother once they were back home. There were plenty of jobs she could think of that needed doing back home.
‘What sorts of jobs are you getting him to do?’ Paul wanted to explore this idea further.
‘Mostly gardening at first but I’m thinking of getting him to repaint the laundry. Des was planning to do that but he really doesn’t have much time. With all this basketball coaching he had taken on something has to suffer and at the moment it is house maintenance’ Naomi sighed as if she was disappointed
‘Do you resent Des coaching’
‘Not really. He loves doing it. It is just all the time involved. He’s now agreed to coach an under 13 girls’ team as well. So that’s another night of training and it means we will be at the stadium most of the night on game days’
‘He’s a good coach’ Mr Scott was the best coach Paul had ever had. Paul had never consider the sacrifices coaches made.
‘He’s dedicated and he loves seeing his players improve. He was overjoyed by the performance of your Paul last week. I think it’s that sort of breakthrough that keeps him enthused’
‘I’m not sure that Paul is capable of playing that well every week’ Paul didn't want people having high expectations of a repeat performance
‘Don’t let Des hear you say that. He is planning to give Paul the playmaker role tomorrow, or at least give him a try. It really was a coming of age game for your boy last week. He seemed so composed’
Paul didn’t know how to feel. He liked the vote of confidence in “Paul” but was worried he couldn’t live up to the standard set by her mother when she was “Paul” last week. It seemed his mother made a better teenage boy than she did.
‘So have you met this girlfriend of Paul’s? Dave hasn’t told me much about his own. I’m dying to meet her. I believe she is a girl at school. I don’t even know her name’
‘Tracy Mann. She’s a girl with short brown hair. She’s very smart but pretty shy. She’s the best friend of Paul’s girlfriend Melissa’
‘You know the family?’
Paul had gotten herself into a bind. She didn’t think her mother knew Tracy’s family. She had to think of an explanation. ‘I met Tracy at the school one time. Or at least I met a Tracy in the same class as David and Paul. I assume she is the same Tracy who is now David’s girlfriend’ Paul had picked up that Naomi called Dave “David”. Paul told me that yesterday’s trip to the shopping centre had been a double date’
‘It seems your Paul is a bit more forthcoming about relationships than my David is. It’s like squeezing blood out of a stone to get any information out of him. I thought he had just gone to meet Paul at the shopping centre. The only reason I found out about the girlfriend is that he had lipstick on his collar when he returned from the party. If he’s meeting girl’s at shopping centres it’s no wonder he’s trying to earn more money’ Once more Naomi sniggered at her own joke. Paul felt herself giving her mother’s giggle in reply.
Naomi poured out some 2 cups of tea. Paul noticed that she was using her good china, not the old mugs that Dave used. Naomi really was playing the lady. Paul was also playing the same game. If only her stomach felt better she might have enjoyed the game. Something she had eaten for breakfast must be disagreeing with her. She had cramps.