Amuse bouche... Playdates
‘What are we going to do on the playdate?” Kitty asked Gillian. “We have to do something good when Chloe’s here. The last time I went to Chloe’s, we made a gingerbread house with her mommy.”
“Is Chloe a Yank?” Gillian asked Kitty. “What’s a Yank?” asked Kitty. “An American; I know she’s not,” said Gillian, who also knew that her own daughter was not a Yank, despite her saying ‘playdate’ and ‘mommy’.
Kitty had been to Chloe’s house three times before Gillian felt forced to return the invitation. It was so easy to agree when Kitty was invited to someone else’s house, but so much harder to have one of the five-year-old pals back to theirs.
Gillian reckoned it was the stay-at-home mums who drove the playdates, not to mention the pressure to ‘do’ stuff with the visiting kids. Who else had time? Gillian could subcontract Kitty’s playdates to the minder, but the working-mother guilt wouldn’t let her, so she had to schedule them for her one parental-leave day per week. And she rarely fancied dealing with other people’s children on the only day she got to collect her own child.
Gillian got a cupcake mix at the supermarket for the playdate with Chloe. It required only the addition of eggs and milk, so there’d be minimal mess, and there was just-addwater icing and some funny faces for decoration. Perfect.
While they were mixing the batter, Chloe told Gillian that her mommy was a lawyer, who also worked a four-day week. Chloe said that her mommy was terrible at baking and she hated when Chloe made a mess. Chloe said that her mommy said it was good for you to be bored sometimes. Chloe said that her mommy’s name was Trish and that she liked wine. Gillian said that she liked the cut of Trish’s jib. Chloe and Kitty thought that was a very funny way of talking. Then they went off to play, before the bun cases were even filled.
Trish came to collect Chloe and was delighted to hear she’d had dinner. “God, I don’t care what she had, so long as she’s fed,” Trish said, when Gillian started to tell her the menu.
“And you baked!” Trish exclaimed. “I have a load of gingerbread-house kits that I whip out for playdates — already baked. You just let them build away for the 10 minutes before they get bored and drift off. Then I superglue the bits they’ve messed up and everybody’s happy.” Gillian was dumbstruck. “Don’t you just hate having kids over?” Trish called back to Gillian as she whisked Chloe away. Yes, thought Gillian, but she’d have Trish over any time, without the kids.