Today I delivered the book I bought for Maya’s fifth birthday. A funny book bound in purple velvet. Hardly a book for kids, to be sure. The Shoe, a picture-book about high fashion by a certain Tamsin Blanchard, the Style Editor (yes, there is such a thing) of The Observer.[1] I left it in front of Lauren’s apartment in London. I wrapped it nicely, too. On the inside back cover I pasted my story, written last February, about Maya’s Moroccan slippers. She will appreciate the connection one day. But when she called this evening to thank me for the gift, she had nothing to say. When I prodded her a bit, she grew quiet. “Daddy,” she eventually said, “I am sorry but I have to go to the toilet.” And that was that. For the time being, at least.

Footnote

1. London: Carlton Books, 2000.