Full Moon in Five

"In Five" are the keywords here. With Mercury and the Sun sextile the Sun, Mercury conjunct the Moon in the evening and the Sun conjunct the Moon in the early hours of Wednesday, with the full Moon trining the Sun, I was expecting some kind of news about my attempted refinance, this being only slightly unrealistic as I was yet to fax the requested documentation.

What did happen was that I had a lot more contact with children than I usually do. Of course there's Star Child every day, but on Tuesday when we took the bus to Harvard Square to begin the trek to swimming one of her schoolmates with his babysitter boarded two stops after we did. I, of course, didn't notice, being far too pre-occupied with making sure all gloves, mittens, hats and scarves stayed within our vicinity and telling her not to put her feet on the seat, and neither did his babysitter, but SC was the one to point out who had just walked past us and plonked themselves on the back seat.

When we got off at last stop Harvard Square SC wanted to know if L was going swimming too, but no, he was off to woodworking, and his babysitter was overjoyed to see us as she'd gone out without her wallet. Evidently the bus driver had children of his own and had cheerfully waved her on to the bus, but getting into the T station would have been a bit more difficult. Understanding her predicament only too well (I had once ordered two ice cream cones in Lizzy's before realizing Star Child had emptied my bag onto the bed before we left the house and not put everything back), I was happy to shell over some moolah, and was given the rare (for me) Fifth House opportunity of being noble and generous by being able to offer $5 instead of the requested $2.

The four of us piled on to the inbound Red Line and gave other passengers a graphic illustration of the difference between UK and US attitudes towards children; SC sat on my lap and L sat on the seat next to us while his BS stood. Thinking they were also getting off at Park, I let down my usual Stranger In A Strange Land station-counting guard and lost myself in doling out an ur-Cambridge snack of carrots and radishes to both kids, getting SC to blow her nose in a tissue every two minutes and making sure I put my Charlie Card back where I'd be able to find it for the return trip, only to discover they were NOT getting off at the same stop, leading to a hasty radish-scattering exit by me and SC just as the doors were about to close.

We got to swimming on time, SC managed four strokes unaided for the first time, and on the reverse journey I ended up (with SC on my lap) sitting next to one of the almost-five-year-old twins in her class, with the other one sitting opposite and their BS, with their younger sister and a stroller (thank you god thank you jesus for having only one child to take care of), in the next car. Although we've smiled and waved and nodded for the past two weeks, I have never entered into conversation with these children, but thanks perhaps to Gemini-ruled Mercury sitting on my Moon we had an animated conversation, the beginning of which follows, until they got off at Copley.

TWIN SITTING NEXT TO ME (HOLDING A SMALL SELF-INKING STAMP): Would you like a stamp?
ME (HOLDING OUT THE BACK OF MY HAND): Yes, please.
TWIN SITTING OPPOSITE: Stamps aren't for adults.
(TSNTM STAMPS THE BACK OF MY HAND)
ME (PEERING AT THE SHAPELESS GREEN BLOB ON THE BACK OF MY HAND):
What is it?
TSNTM: A dinosaur.
ME: Of course.
TWIN SITTING OPPOSITE: Would you like to come to my birthday party?
ME: Thank you, but I haven't been invited.
TSNTM: Would she like a stamp?
TSO: I'll send you a card.
ME, TO SC: Would you like a stamp?
SC: Yes.
ME: Please.
SC: Yes please.
(TSNTM STAMPS THE BACK OF SC'S HAND)
SC: What is it?
ME: A dinosaur.
TSO: You can bring me a present.
TSNTM: Would you like a stamp on your other hand?

And so on.
My relationship with the twins now well-established, I shall soon be writing to Peggy Post in The Times asking exactly how many times I should meet L's babysitter at school pick-up before asking for my $5 back.