A distant rumble of thunder!  The loud woman was still gabbling.  The day’s rain had cancelled her barbeque, the grand unveiling of her new Japanese influenced pine gazebo with matching Koi pool and red maple tree!

“Ruth darling!  Are you still doing that job with the Police?  Psychiatrist or something?”  Heads turned to see what a police shrink looked like!

“Forensic Psychologist actually.”  She was always correcting people who didn’t know, or care, that there was a difference.  “Sort of!…..Still doing it on a consultancy basis.”

“That’s nice,” came the reply, like it was something akin to having bought a new pink lipstick!

“I’m more involved in running a project for abused and homeless children.  Maybe you’ve heard of it?  The Mulberry Bush Project.  Seen the bit in the Belfast Telegraph or the interview I gave on U.T.V. News?”  Of course she hadn’t, but she made a kind of false grinning “Mmm,” in pretence. 

The woman was a bit of an airhead.  Hyacinth Bucket at age 28, not likely to have seen anything other than the latest style in conservatories, P.V.C. double glazing, or articles proclaiming that chintz was going to be ‘in’ this year because someone famous had it in their morning room in an article in Hello magazine.  She sure liked to chat, even when people showed absolutely no interest.  Motormouth!  All trivia and nonsense littered with patronising insincerities.  Ruth’s feelings of frustration made her a poor listener.  Her eyes glazed over in that distant expression she often got when listening to bores.  She nodded blankly, like a sixties car ornament, a nodding Spaniel with a spring in its neck.  She heard little, being preoccupied with the matter of the children.

She had no hope of talking to the kids today, of attempting to build up some sort of rapport with them, to slowly coax them into the warmth of the Mulberry Project and off the streets before winter truly kicked in.  The boy had realised she was watching.  He’d think she was a Social Worker or Police and would now be on the lookout for her.  He would avoid her, keep the girl away from her incase she would be easier befriended.  The silly snobby neighbour may have blown it for all of them.  She had set back months of work, of surveillance to make sure they were genuinely homeless and in need of her intervention!  Getting them to trust her would be difficult now that they knew she was onto them!