Mother’s Dos and Don’ts

Don’t tappety tap dance on wooden flooring.
Don’t run across the house in your footy boots. Dimples are lovely on faces but not on my shiny walnut parquet.
Don’t walk on the floorboards with stilettos.
Don’t let the sunlight in. You’re bleaching the bloody timber.

So, I stopped dancing.
So, I sawed the spikes off my footy boots.
So, I started wearing Ballerines.
So, I learned to live in the dark.

But it wasn’t always about floorboards.

Don’t paint portraits.

There was one do.
Do let Tammy in. Move up, or down—scat.
So, I let Tammy in, and she purred.