Cyril Childs

Pantry Shelf

Pottery shops were a weakness of yours. When we came upon one your eyes would lock on it. You'd glance at me with the words, sometimes unspoken: "Do we have time?–Yes, let's have a look." Usually, not looking for anything in particular–just the delight of seeing, touching and holding useful things crafted with care. When you just had to buy, we went for coffee mugs–you can never have too many! And so we had a shelf of them in our pantry–most were 'yours' and a few were 'mine.'

six weeks after–
her coffee mugs
at the back of the shelf