<strong>Lady Beatrice - For whom the tour tolls</strong><br/><br/>“Tisk tisk dear girl, we shall have a grand time of it I’m sure,” Lady Beatrice began as her son came around the corner.<br/><br/>“Grand time of what exactly?” Tsade remarked in that flat business tone he had worked so hard to cultivate.<br/><br/>Lady Beatrice brightened in the way a light bulb brightens just before the electricity goes completely off.  Her smile genuine as she noticed that Martial’s eyes went first to Lily and then to her.<br/><br/>“Oh Martial, you’re so good about things.  I was just telling Lily how you’d love nothing better than to have me spend the day with you,” And she batted her eyes innocently for effect.<br/><br/>He was glad he had not been taking a sip of tea and at the same time was seriously in need of something a little stronger, perhaps a bottle of Soap Suds and Vinegar with jalapeño bits floating in it.<br/><br/>Something that would blunt his photographic memory of Lady Beatrice visit during her visit. But that seemed unlikely, there would not be a fresh batch of the stuff ready until tomorrow at noon.<br/><br/>“It’s boring really,”  He said with the mild tones of a politician.<br/><br/>“Boring?” Lady Beatrice replied almost disappointed.<br/><br/>“Yes, just replying to mail and signing documents.”<br/><br/>“So I would be sitting on your couch in the office all day with Lily would I?” Lady Beatrice asked innocently.<br/><br/>“Sitting… with Lily?” His thought were crashing into each other for attention. “Well, Lily is in training…”<br/><br/>“Training? Oh yes she mentioned singing and dancing, we can’t interrupt that. Certainly not.” Lady Beatrice turn the heat up a little more. “Then it’s just the two of us doing boring things.”<br/><br/>“Yes… well..” He began.<br/><br/>“All that time bonding. Mother and son, together. I watching you work as I watched you play..” She sighed in that dreamy way.<br/><br/>“Bonding?  Well I suppose…”<br/><br/>There was no way out. He would be stuck in the office not conducting business for 8 hours with his mother beside him. It rang of fingers nails on the chalk board. He shuddered.<br/><br/>“Isn’t there something else you’d rather do?” He asked without a hint of desperation in his voice.<br/><br/>“Nothing!  I have so wanted to spend time with you,” She said then wavered. “Although I’d like a peek at some of the departments if that wouldn’t be too much trouble…”<br/><br/>“DONE!  Done… I mean certainly. A few departments. You could go with Lily to her two training classes. Dancing and  singing. Singing and dancing.” He replied while red flashing images raced past the collision of thoughts piled near his logic center.<br/><br/><br/>“Capital idea!”<br/><br/>The traffic jam was giving him a headache. “I’ll send someone round to collect you both, how’s that?”<br/><br/>“Splendid, are you sure it won’t be any trouble?" Lady Beatrice pounded the last nail in his coffin,  "I do hope not to put you out.”<br/><br/>“No trouble at all,” He said and made a business of looking at his watch. “Oh, my… look at the time. I’m beat.”<br/><br/>He bent kissing his mother’s cheek, “Night mother.”<br/><br/>“It’s 830P,” Lady Beatrice remarked without a hint of sarcasm.<br/><br/>“yes… A new program I started. Getting lots of sleep. We’ve just started it actually. Second day."<br/><br/>He grasp Lilly's hand as he leaned toward the hallway. “Come Lily. Time for bed.”<br/><br/>"Well night mother!"<br/>