The daisy chain

NINA placed her garden chair beside the French doors, which had been propped open, allowing her to hear the house phone.

Although her mobile was in her cardigan pocket, she wasn’t sure on which phone to expect the call.

Of course, they could be waiting a while for any news, such was the way of these things.

In the meantime, all she could do was continue to entertain her darling seven-year-old granddaughter Amy, who had slept over the night before.

In all fairness, Amy had been as good as gold.

The previous day they’d been to the park in the morning, and in the afternoon they’d baked chocolate chip cookies.

Amy had tucked into the cookies whilst watching one of her favourite films and had stuck to her usual bedtime, sleeping the whole night through.

It was another lovely, sunny day.

Stuck for something to do, Nina had just taught her little granddaughter how to make daisy chains.

There were daisies all over the lawn.

She and her husband, Gavin, had decided not to mow it so often for the sake of wildlife, the way many gardeners did these days.

Although Nina remembered spending countless hours making daisy chains as a child, she wasn’t convinced that children these days possessed the necessary attention span.

She needn’t have worried, since Amy became absorbed in the activity very quickly.

Dexterous for her age, she soon got the hang of splitting the daisy’s green stem with her thumbnail and threading the next stem through.

“Seven so far.”

Amy held up the column of flowers, dangling it in front of Nina where she sat.

“It’s as long as me, Gran!”

Nina understood what she meant. There was one daisy for each year Amy had been alive.

“That’s beautiful, dear,” she said.

“Does it matter if I pick all the daisies?” Amy frowned, studying the lawn. “You won’t have any left.”

The little girl was nothing if not ambitious.

There were hundreds if not thousands of the little flowers all staring up at the sky, their bright yellow eyes fringed with white petals like eyelashes.

“Even if you did, it wouldn’t matter,” Nina reassured her. “They will come back soon enough.”

Amy’s face lit up.

“I’ve got a good idea. Gran, how old are you?”

“Sixty-four,” Nina declared.

“Then I’ll make a chain of sixty-four d