“I may as well tell you now,” said The Mother as we sat down for a cuppa to welcome my sister back from her tropical honeymoon.

“Tell us what?” I asked suspiciously having been reasonably confident that my spell of being in sole care had been relatively lacking in drama.

“Tell you that I fell down in the bedroom last week!”

“What?” Said my sister glaring at me.

“How did you fall? And when did you fall. I’ve seen you virtually every day,” I spluttered.

“It was on Saturday,” she replied.

“ But we were with you all day on Saturday because we went to see the housemate’s granddaughter in a play,” I said.

“It was when we got back. It was a bit chilly so when I went to bed I decided to put my electric blanket on and as I was walking away from the bed I somehow caught my foot in the wire and went sprawling across the room.

“Fortunately I was able to roll back to the bed to get myself up,” she added.

“Why the heck didn’t you ring one of us?” I asked.

“What do you mean ‘one of us’?” asked my sister. “I was in the blinking Caribbean. What did you think I could do?”

“Did you hurt?” asked the housemate, bringing a touch of common sense to the proceedings.

“I did hurt my arm a bit,” replied The Mother, rubbing her shoulder. “It was my good one as well,” she added ruefully.

“I thought you’d notice that I was wincing a bit when I was up at your house for dinner on Mother’s Day,” she continued. “But you didn’t.”

“No I didn’t notice that…because I was too busy noticing the second bowl of bread and butter pudding you had,” I replied. “At least the pain in your arm didn’t stop you using a spoon!

“She was fine honestly,” I said to my sister who was looking at me as if I was an unfit daughter.

“I wasn’t going to say anything because I knew if I did you’d be straight on the phone to your sister and she’d want to come home,” said The Mother.

“I wouldn’t,” I replied indignantly

“In honesty I probably wouldn’t have come home…because I was in the sun on a tropical island on my honeymoon!” chipped in my sister.

“Do you think you should see someone about your fall?” asked my visiting cousin in concern.

“No. I’m fine. My arm is alright now…it’s just a bit bruised,” said The Mother in a tone that left us in no doubt she’d be complaining about it for weeks.

“But it could be a problem if you keep falling,” he added with genuine worry.

“Don’t worry…she’s always fallen all the time,” said my sister rolling her eyes. “Do you remember when we had a barbecue and she fell up the steps carrying all the plates…and the time she tripped walking into a petrol station and slid down the glass door…and the time when she tripped while walking the dogs and Dad fell over her!”

“Don’t forget time when I fell and thought I’d broken my wrist and spend two weeks in plaster only to find there was nothing wrong with me,” added The Mother with a grin.