Gladys

Family games...

When I sit on Dad’s Knee

and he’s finished doing

“This is the way the old men ride…”

we sometimes do

“Say ‘Gladys’.”

I pinch his nose and say

“Say ‘Gladys’,”

Dad and John, 1960

and he does -

but it comes out like

‘Glodys’

or ‘Nglaris’.

or I pinch his lips together so he can’t open them

and say

“Say ‘Gladys’,” –

‘Grydyf’

or I squeeze the sides of his mouth together

and say

“Say ‘Gladys’,”

“Glollyth."

Best of all is when

I pinch his nose

and squash my hand across his mouth

and say

“Say ‘Gladys’”

and his eyes start to get very wide

and his cheeks start to puff out

and he starts to wriggle about

until I nearly fall off his knee

and then there’s a funny sort of

splurgy sound from inside his

mouth

“Brrdadzziff”

and then there’s usually too much spit around

to do it any more

and he looks a bit red

so we stop.

Grandma’s name is

Gladys

but that’s not why.