'I think I'm turning into one of these people who can't eat salad. It just makes the next day hell on the toilet. I just can't seem to wipe myself clean at all, even with Andrex Washlets, it just goes on and on. And on. You won't know about these things yet dear, you're much too young. You've got it all in front of you! or should I say, behind!' Mrs T-G grinned, and her false teeth 'bridge' fell out, revealing a solitary brown tooth to which it had been attached with a piece of chewing gum. 'Oops. Do help yourself to a black sausage roll and here's some of my special squash.'
Mrs T-G poured some of the plopping, steaming green liquid into a cracked ceramic mug, with 'World's Best Dad' emblazoned on the side. The mug split open and the squash splashed onto the wooden floor, immediately burning a hole in it.
'Oh. Well, it was a charity shop mug so no great loss. I'll fetch you another.' Mrs T-G clomped towards the spiral staircase. She turned at the first step, and said,' Perhaps the squash is a bit on the strong side. Perhaps I should add some more fluids. Toad milk might help with the acidity. I think I have some in the pantry.'
Alexa returned swiftly to the telescope. 'Well?' she asked, silently, as the star appeared. 'Do I help Mrs T-G with her beastly Kantian paradigm, and drink her beastly toad milk, or do I do more cleaning for Val beastly Nark? Or should I just run away perhaps. I don't want to be a slave to money till I die. I don't think I even want to go to uni. There has to be a better way to live, that doesn't involve entering a nunnery or some ghastly sandals and wholegrain communal living type situation. I can't face a lifetime of wage slavery. I just can't.'
The star twinkled sympathetically.
'I think you're the only one I can talk to and you're not even a person. You're a star and you're so far away you might not even exist any more. You might only be a ray of light. Life is so lonely sometimes.'
Next time - Alexa's boyfriend Tuppence has too much to drink and declares that he was once in the SAS, but nobody believes him. And Alexa has some major decisions to make.
