Day 18 - Egg Hunter

"We haven't got the kids Easter eggs!" The realisation caused me to shoot up from my pillow.
     "Does it matter?" groaned John.
     "Of course it bloody matters! It's Good Friday and we don't have a single Easter egg in the house.  This is the sort of thing that could leave mental scars, John. There's no way that our kids are gonna have childhoods where they're deprived of basic things like Easter eggs."
     "Oh this isn't about that time when your father got you a set of encyclopedias for Christmas again, is it Daisy?  It's too early."
     "I'm not giving my kids any more hang ups than necessary, John. We're gonna have to get some by Sunday."
     "Oh no Daisy! Not the shops! Anything but the bloody shops!" John pulled a pillow over his head.

Text from Rosie:
As we can't catch up over Easter, I was thinking of sorting out a Zoom conference - my lot, your lot and Mum and Dad. You in?

Christ! That's a first! Perhaps she needs more money.

Text to Rosie:
Ok. When were you thinking?

Text From Rosie:
Sunday?  I'll set it up and tell you the time.

The veins in my head started pulsating at the very thought of it. I was no stranger to noise and chaos but Rosie and her family took it to a whole new level. Her four kids had become progressively wilder as she'd added to the brood.  The youngest two were practically feral.

"I'm gonna go out to get the eggs tonight.  My mother just texted to say she needs the cat food so I'll drop it off at the same time," John said.  "I'll leave it till this evening to go to the shops, to avoid the crowds!"
     "It's Good Friday. Are the shops open late?"
     "Trust me! I'll find Easter eggs, Daisy!  The kids won't grow up to be psychopaths on my watch!"
     "Ah, that's nice, John!"
 
A simple and straightforward enough plan.  Or so you'd think.  This is how it got messy:

• It took a while for John to source three Easter eggs.  In fact, he led me to believe that he travelled far and wide.
•  He then stopped off at his mother's house to deposit eight tins of Whiskas and a bottle of washing up liquid.
•  She kept him chatting in the garden/bushes for a bit, as having just had a bit of a squabble with John's Auntie Glenys on the phone, she'd needed to vent.
•  He needed the toilet.
•  She was self-isolating of course. No one had been into her house for several weeks.
•  John was in a pickle.

I was at home wondering what was taking him so damn long, when the phone went - the landline.  No one ever called our landline.  Weirdly, it was John.  "John?  Where the hell are you and why are you ringing the landline?"
     "Well, the thing is, Daisy ……. I'm in the police station.  I need you to come down and vouch for me."
     "What the hell are you doing there?"
     "A bit of a mix up, Dais.  It's a long story which I won't go into now, but …."
     "John!"
     "Ok.  Let's just say it's regarding public decency."
     "What? I thought we sorted that out the other day."
     "No, Daisy.  This is about a different incident."
     "Another incident?"
     " Look ….. just come down.  I'll explain later."
     "Oh my God, John!  I'll be there in ten minutes but you'd better have a damn good explanation!""