Paternal

Joe explained to Vanessa
That he had come down on the train
On speck like, unexpected

Desiree is upstairs, asleep, at the moment Joe
You did say Joe, didn’t you.
I suppose you had better come in

Take a seat in the conservatory
I’ll make some tea
You must need something to eat, is cake ok

Already she was becoming a mother to Joe
Are you at college together
Vanessa shouted out of the kitchen

Sort of
No, no not really...

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Opportunity Knocks

Aunt Vanessa was in the kitchen
When she heard the doorbell chime
Who was this, in mid-afternoon, she pondered

With the security chain in place she opened
The door a little way, and there she saw Joe
Of whom she knew nothing

Back up country, in Toms study, the phone rang
It was the Dean
We’ve got a slot at the Baccalaureate conference

It’s in London Tom, it’s the big one
Do you think you could persuade Desiree to take it
He asked, with an air of excitement in his voice

What, was Tom’s uninspired reply
The Dean drew breath, then spoke slowly...

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Engagement

Julie was immersed in the story
She was alive, she laughed
She was compassionate
She explained to Joe what metaphor meant
And understood why Desiree
Had been so forceful so passionate

Joe loved it
Oh yes, he was so proud of that girl of his
He was bursting with enthusiasm
For what she had done
But still he gave Julie no details of just how
He had come across her manuscript

Before they both knew it
They were at their destination
Their table was scattered
With sandwich wrappers, crisp packets
Empty bottles of pop
Torn up bits of paper with little drawings

Joe and Julie...

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Travel

Tom had been reluctant to tell Joe
Of Desiree’s whereabouts
Instinctively Tom felt some distrust of Joe
He had some fear, but
And he knew it was to become a bigger but
He also knew that Joe

Had got the confidence of the Dean
Tom had no doubt
That if Joe felt that Tom was being obstructive
Then he would manipulate the situation
Tom dare not put his daughter Desiree
At such a risk.

The train pulled slowly out of the station
It was travelling north to south
Over the full length of the country
The travellers on the train...

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Learning

Well Tom, I want you to do a crash course
In sociology with psychology
I want you to get into the minds of the youth
I want you to build something new
Then the Dean paused:

It is no good letting our chaps do it
We will just come up with more of the same
It needs a new perspective
Untainted thoughts
Again the dean took a breath

But I’m sorry, I need to know
That you have the establishments words
That you have their theories in your tool bag
We must not let academia beat us
We must play them at their own game

But we must play to win
Wow, that’s the best yet said Tom...

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