“Oh?” I sucked my breath in and held it.

“Yeah. The way I see it, the main reason you’ve got your knickers in such a twist about all of this stuff is that, when it comes down to it, you just don’t trust your son.”

There’s really nothing quite like getting a serving of home truths on the side of a road in an out-of-the-way part of Scotland. I heartily recommend it. I’m joking. I don’t recommend it at all. It’s possibly the worst place to hear your home truths, because there is literally nowhere to run. You even have to sit there on a bench outside a post office trying to breathe your way through the most pain you’ve ever felt in your life and wait for a second helping.

“What...what do you mean? Of course I trust him. You don’t...” I knew it was me talking, but I didn’t feel like I had any control over the sounds that were coming out of my mouth and my throat felt like it was closing in. “He’s... Norman’s my son, I... I love him. I love him more than anything, I...” Whatcha got, Sadie? “Of course I do!”

I blinked a couple of times to focus and I could see the girl still crouched at my feet, hands loosely linked over her black tights, waiting for me to finish. I wondered if perhaps I should mention that all three of her heads seemed to be having trouble balancing on her shoulders.

“Well, yeah, of course you love him. I didn’t say that. I said you don’t trust him. Because if you truly trusted him, you wouldn’t be so afraid of all the bad things that could happen. Think about it. Why are you so scared of your kid trying to be a comedian like your dad? Maybe even better than what he was?”

I tried to blink the fuzz out of my brain. Jeez, hadn’t she been listening?

“Because you don’t believe he can do it, that’s why. You don’t believe it. Now, your boy, well, I’ll bet he’s scared shitless, too, but he’s decided he’s going to do it anyway. No matter what.”

A couple of stray minutes slithered by with their heads down as Goth girl’s words settled around me, sitting quietly, awaiting the finale. Because, somehow, it just felt like there was one coming.

“You know, Jeff Buckley once said...” Here it comes. “Wait, lady, are you okay?”

The girl leaned forward and put her hand on my knee and, just for a moment, I felt rock steady. I looked into her black-smudged eyes and nodded. “Sock it to me, Jeff.”

“Well, like, I don’t think he made it up or anything, but he said a bird sitting in a tree isn’t scared of the branch breaking because its trust isn’t in the branch, it’s in its own wings.”

Now there’s a home truth for you.

Here’s another. Which may or may not have been related. The excruciating pain in my stomach chose that very moment to reach critical mass. With a huge involuntary spasm, my entire body bent double, causing me to lose my balance and topple sideways onto the bench.