I had a little whine, I had a little cheese. I put on my hair shirt and I walked to the shops on crutches, not because I’m lame but because I was feeling lame. The shops had sold out of everything I wanted but I bought some essence of crab and some sour grape juice anyway for a little retail therapy. Spending money somehow makes me feel better about myself.

I hobbled round to a friend’s house on the way back and knocked on the door. I knew they weren’t expecting me as I’d seen them already this week but I saw the curtain twitch and could see they were in. They saw I saw and Eesaw, my friend, opened the door and let me in. I handed Eesaw the sour grape juice and Eesaw responded with a rictus show of teeth.

We sat in the kitchen drinking bitter herbs and Eesaw smiled a little and nodded at my comments about life, the universe and everything. Eesaw looked down from the loudly ticking clock and smiled a little more upon seeing me put salt instead of sugar into my hemlock-flavored brew. The kitchen was a little chilly so I had to rub my hair shirt to keep warm and this was not pleasant. Eesaw put a coat on and I took this as a sign that it might be time to go.

Two hours later, as I was leaving I noticed Eesaw had been doing some more sculpting in wax. Sure enough, there was a little figurine of myself which Eesaw had been using as a pincushion. I was touched by this and by the attention to detail, especially the hair which Eesaw had tweaked from me one strand at a time only yesterday. I was even more touched by Eesaw’s gift as I left the house. It’s not many friends will think to give you a plank to whack yourself about the head for the journey home!