With any luck, she might have the chance to talk to him over supper. Her speculations about abandoning the event had left a feeling of remorse for the effect it would have on her stomach. Then, while listening to the fifth verse of his poem, she’d enjoyed another flashback to her time travelling culinary adventures with Murray.

After a few seconds of clapping, Daniel was ready to introduce his second and final offering.

“As I indicated, this one’s also a philosophical piece about life, but with a strong focus on childhood nostalgia. I’ve titled it ‘Reflections in Rainwater’,” said Daniel

Trudi had a feeling that this one was going to be significantly better than ‘What is this Thing called Homework?’ and she was not disappointed, as Daniel read it to the audience:

“(1)      One cloudy afternoon, when all the sky was overcast,

            Consistent falling rain reminded me of decades past:

            School holidays with freedom, which would leave me overjoyed.

            Yet now there's something missing, and it's hard to fill the void.

(2)       Frameworks, built by teachers shaping life within my class,

            Gave way to modern lifestyles, as the years began to pass.

            Those who put the magic into infant learning sessions

            Have long forgotten me, since they have made their own progressions.

(3)       Grandma, in her sixties, was not starting to decline,

            As those later years of hers became the greatest years of mine,

            With chocolate bars and walks in parks done for a special treat,

            Until the day I went to church and mourned her in my seat.

(4)       High school came with football boots and military training;

            And all those nasty names for those who'd rather be abstaining

            From death by reckless driving or a dangerous narcotic:-

            One's ticket out of prep school sold by someone too psychotic.

(5)       Thinking back, I can't ignore a sadness I find strange,

            Born of all the fears and losses known to come with change.

            To press life's great pause button back when life appeared so calm

            Would once have frozen time, before I learned how life could harm.

(6)       Streets of youth, where trees were once reflected in rainwater,

            Are now replaced by gardens all paved up with bricks and mortar.

            Progress moves me on much faster than my walking feet;

            But would it be so bad with an occasional retreat?

(7)       Perhaps I need to be grown up, and move into new cultures,

            But business worlds are overrun with corporate human vultures.

            The key to restoration, as I travel through the wild wood

            Is reinventing concepts lost in time back in my childhood.”

This time there were no laughs, but the applause was the longest and loudest she’d heard all night. She took note of where he sat down. She wasn’t going to let anyone else monopolise him for too long over supper.

While the last three poets for the evening subjected their victims in the audience to an even worse collection of tasteless drivel than the performances which had preceded Daniel’s, Trudi took refuge in a new realm of nostalgia, which had been seeded by Daniel’s performance of ‘Reflections in Rainwater’.