Evening With Mother

One evening several years ago I was home with my mother. Dad was working nights and my sister was staying over at friends. We were sat on the sofa watching late TV. I was in my PJs and she was in her dressing gown. My mother asked if I was alright as I was quiet. I said I was just a bit tense, I had a tough day at college. My mother got up and went to the kitchen and brought back bottle of wine and 2 glasses. We had a glass of wine and my mother said when I was little and restless she used to gently stroke the inside of my arm to soothe me.”Do yo want me to do it now” she said half joking. “Go on then” I said.

I had forgotten how nice it was as her fingers lightly brushed my arm moving slowly from the palm of my hand to the inside of my elbow and then just lightly tickling under my arm. By this time the bottle of wine was empty and she went for another. We had some more wine and my mother said that I could tickle her arm now. I pushed up the sleeve of her dressing gown and began stroking her arm gently, as she had done to me. “I can’t do this properly with your sleeve in the way” I said so she opened the dressing gown and pulled her arm out of the sleeve.