The day began splendidly for the young man. That morning, his mother announced shed be spending the night at their little cottage in the Cotswolds to weed the flower beds and plant some new seedlings. Shed asked her son to join her, but he claimed he had urgent work: he was painting commissioned portraits, so he decided to stay at home. Truthfully, he had little love for gardening, and now saw the perfect opportunity to spend time with his friends. Lately, hed been overindulging in pints and, as a result, had missed out on several promising jobs, a constant source of arguments with his mother.
Once his mother finally left, the young man breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately began dialling his best mate’s number. Of course, he had no intention of working on any commissions just yet. He figured he could always deal with them later. He dressed, ready to go out, only to realise his keys were nowhere to be found. It turned out his mother had taken them by mistakeshed forgotten her own recently.
Stuck without his keys, and with the front door locked tight with the deadbolt, he mulled over his options. For a fleeting moment, he considered clambering over through the neighbours balcony, but quickly dismissed the idea; they lived on the tenth floor, after all. He could have forced the door, but didnt fancy wasting money on repairs. Having no better solution, he rang his friend back and cancelled their plans.
Disheartened and bored, he roamed around the empty flat and grudgingly set about finishing his portrait work.
When his mother returned two days later, she was quite taken aback: the flat was spotless, dinner was bubbling away on the stove, and her son was just putting the finishing touches to his third commission in the study. Well, she thought, perhaps my boy has finally turned over a new leafmaybe we really can get that new washing machine now. She never learned about the key mishap, so simply assumed hed come to his senses on his own.
Sometimes, life locks us in, forcing us to face ourselves. Only then do we find the resolve to do what we ought, not just what we fancy.
