​

 

​

​

 

She saw her mother every day.  Of course, she did.  She was sixteen and still living at home.  So, Su saw her mother every evening.  Of course, she did.  She enjoyed the food her mother cooked.  Her mother was a good cook and Su relished the delights presented to her.  She loved her food and she loved her Mum.

 

During the day she also saw her mother but never ate the food that she cooked.  It was bland and unimaginative.  In reality Su did not even acknowledge her mother during the day.  Su was a high-flyer and a high achiever.  Top grades all round.  None of her contemporaries knew that the kind lady dishing out their school dinners was Su’s mother.  Su had made it abundantly clear that this was the understanding.  Her mother was disappointed.  Of course, she was but whatever Su wanted, she got.

 

As an only child Su was not used to sharing.  She was not prepared to share her mother, the dinner-lady.  The one that provided her meals.  During the school day they never shared a look.  Su took her packed lunches (which her mother had provided) and ate alone.  She just would not eat the food at school that her mother provided.

 

Nobody knew.

 

That was the way she wanted it to stay.

 

Su sat alone in the school canteen eating her packed lunch.  If you have no-one to talk to, you do not talk, you only listen.

 

Su listened.

 

And Su did not like what she heard.

 

Su was top of her year, top of the form, top of every competition, every examination.  Most people downplay their achievements but Su did not.

 

Maybe that was why she was unpopular.

 

Maybe that was the reason. 

 

Maybe there was another reason.

 

Whatever the reason Su looked down on the other pupils who were less intelligent than her.  In reality, this meant that Su looked down on everyone.

 

Maybe that was the reason that she was unpopular.

 

Whatever the reason she could cope.  Su could cope because she stood on an elevated platform.  She was on top of her year, top of the form, top of the tree.

 

From this position there was only one place to look at others, and this was downwards.

 

Su was a determined girl but did not strive to be popular.  It was not the agenda that she had set for her life.

 

Su did not strive to be popular.

 

Su did strive to be successful.

​

​

​

​

 

​