Crime and Punishment

Many years back, in fact so far back that my middle daughter had great difficulty remembering it, an incident occurred in the local park. The park that backs on to Dragon’s house was also the local sports ground and had a cricket pavilion with tearoom. Not quite as posh as it sounds but definitely better that Greenford’s local park that boasts none of these wonders. Teenagers like to hang out. I can remember from when I was a young teenager that we would hang out in the local recreation ground. My daughter being no different and needing the company of her own ilk hung out at the park with Dragon’s daughter, as they were once great friends. The main focus of this behaviour being to hang out either inside or outside the tea room/café and get chatted up by the local boys.

The lady that ran the tearoom lived locally but not on the actual estate. She made the mistake of sensing that the girls had psychic potential and offered to help them develop this. Dragon was furious. She did not want anyone but herself to teach her daughter and she telephoned me in a great temper to suggest that we descended on the park and confront this usurper. This we dually did on the following Sunday. The tearoom was shut when we arrived and I heard no further on the subject.

Years past as they tend to when you are not watching them. (The years actually numbered twelve at this point but then one of Dragon’s favourite sayings is “Revenge is a dish best tasted cold”) The chat site had been running for just over a year when a new member joined. She was a lady from Lincolnshire way who claimed to be a medium. At first Dragon was happy to have her on board, so to speak but then, as she told us more about herself, this started to change. It seemed that she had moved from Southall to set up a cat sanctuary in Lincolnshire and yes you have guessed it she used to work in the local tearoom in the local park. It did not take long for Dragon to humiliate and belittle her and her abilities as a Medium. It did not take anytime at all to degrade her in front of other members and to drive her away. They say that punishment should fit the crime. I would hate to be Dragon.