Orange Juice and the Crossword

Here in the Professor’s family home, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice is a routine start to everyday. When I stagger out from my shower, still dozy from a sleep in, there it waits on the kitchen bench, early light streaming through the bright orange liquid, lighting the airy froth from below, appearing to me like a glorious apparition of morning.

Then my Buninyong morning ritual begins. A little foraging through the AGE will win me a clean, untouched Quick Crossword. Fold the page back on itself, fold again, a pen from next to the phone and ahhh… all is right with the world! The perfect moment; juice in hand and all the excitement of the crossword possibilities to follow.

I sip away on my orange juice, basking in its zesty vitality and absorbing it’s sweet light. I sit puzzling over the combinations in front of me until the clever little words reveal themselves to me in a rush of surprise and triumph. The day is launched on a bubble of blissful serenity and no matter what the following hours bring, Franky is on holidays!