Mary was getting dressed on a wet October morning.The cycling  shorts she had never worn alone  made a warm extra layer under her green cotton trousers.On top she wore a red tunic and also  some green plastic earrings.

She saw Annie who had just rung the  door bell

My goodness,Mary,you look different.Where on earth did you get those earrings? she said enviously

I made them, myself out of the  littlrr tops of those plastic milk containers from the supermarket.

I say,you’re not that poor are you?Anne asked her  kindly

It’s not what is real,it’s how you feel,Mary replied poetically as she sometimes enjoyed a bit of fun and teasing  a friend gently.

No,said Annie it’s It’s not what you feel,it’s what is real.

And how do we know what is real?Mary asked her with deep curiosity her eyes glowing in a deep shade of teal blue.

Well,I know you had a reasonably  good job so you must have more than just  your state pension.You may be giving more than a tithe to Charity.Is that wise?

No,Mary cried,but I want to…I like to do it.

Oh,dear,Annie said.By the way you will need a coat,it’s much colder.I hope you’ve not given all your coats to Oxfam like Stan once did with his shoes.

Thanks,Mary smiled with her voice.I still have twenty two  coats of all colours,A bit like Joseph in the Bible.

At the bus stop Mary met  Tom who lived round the corner in a semi detached villa with a an extension,conservatory  and downstairs shower room.He had fallen over again and bruised his face but still looked quite  handsome with his dark hair and Irish eyes.

Maybe you need to pick up your feet more,Mary whispered to him .What a strange expression that is,.I wonder who invented it.It’s amazing how wise our ancestors were.They invented writing and cooking and philosophy.We are going backwards.

Thus Mary passed her day,talking to friends and musing on the meaning of words and sentences. and making  herself jewellery from mundane objects she noticed on her walks.Not to mention cleaning the loo and  putting all her old Xmas cards into bags for recycling.

Since from the natural numbers 1,2,3,4,…… we can get to  the strange transcendental  numbers pi and e and the fact that there are different orders of infinity  does that prove God exists,she asked Tom  plaintively.Well,not prove,but suggest.

I don’t know what you are on about,honey,he responded.Nobody ever saw pi in a burning bush although I have seen pies burn in a halogen oven more than twice

That is a totally different order of reality,she  told him sweetly.

Wow,Mary, many men don’t like  extremely clever women you know.

Which men are those ? she asked wonderingly, as her peaches and cream complexion glowed with health.

I suppose  I don’t mind myself,he said,.it’s  possibly  because men need to feel superior otherwise they lose their confidence. and then they are in big troubleBut what about women’s confidence Tom reflected further.

Maybe women don’t need  confidence  so desperately much,Mary sighed.They looked at each other and smiled.The sun came out and the trees were glowing in red and gold as the bus came down the hill  looking like some  chariot from a myth as the sun hit the windows at an obtuse angle.