Babysitting

I'm nearly twenty-three years old which is too old to be payed to babysit, so I'm not overly impressed when my neighbour gives out my number to a friend of hers. The friend calls me up at work and begs me to help her out and because I feel guilty that I'm allowed out all the time and I know it's hard for parents to get the opportunity I sheepishly give in. On the day I'm feeling pretty low, lower than I've felt in a while and meeting strangers isn't top of my list of fun activities. I put on an old shapeless gun-metal blue jumper which screams I-don't-care-what-I-look-like-today and head out.When I arrive the couple are late so briefly introduce me to his eight-year-old daughter. I ask her if she'll show me where everything is so she will feel in charge which makes her smile. Her dad and his girlfriend leave. When they're gone I get let into their world. The girl tells me her father is working his way through the alphabet but thinks this one will last, which makes me laugh. If not it'll be 'O' next (he's already had three 'Ls'). We go into the living room and from my memory of babysitting I'm expecting the usual middle class CD collection (Terence D'arby, Tracy Chapman a bit of Radiohead to show they can be 'edgy') but what I actually find is far, far better. There's a cabinet with fossils from all over the world and not just your standard ammonite, there's a sloth's claw and armadillo skin, a suffocated crab and an entire fish. In another cabinet there are small boxes with drawers in them, each labelled with the names of countries and each with a camera symbol on the front. Sliding one open, I find (to much excitement on my part) slides inside. I haven't seen slides in years. I say to the girl, who is quite happy to give me a running commentary on my findings; 'do you know what these are?' 'no,' she replies. 'These are slides, look if I hold one up to the light you can see the picture on it.' So she takes one in her hand and asks me to hold it up to the light for her (I'm taller). And I think how wonderful it is to show old things to young people.

Oct 17th