LIZZIE'S WORLD: Is it time for a blind date?

“Listen, let me tell you how it’s going to work from now on,” Louise spits at me. We are standing outside her house. She is wearing her night dress even though it’s halfway through the day, and her hair looks a right mess. I figure it must be that new-mum dilemma of not being able to leave the house for long enough to visit a salon. Anyway, what concerns me right now is how angry she looks – and I am not sure why. All I did was pay her a visit to bring her some lunch and see if it’s ok. And so I prepare myself for the biggest tongue-lashing I have received in the near past.

“I know how you and your friends operate,” Louise is waving a finger in my face. “You people spend all your time stabbing each other in the back and saying nasty things about each other-,”

“What? But I-,” I start to protest.

“Wait! I’m still talking!” Louise waves both her hands in the air now. “I know you’re here to spy on me. You’re going to go back and report everything to that friend of yours now. It’s ok! Go! Go! Just don’t ever come back!” She shoos me away, but I don’t move; it’s like my feet are rooted to the spot. There must be something wrong with Louise; I have never, ever seen her this angry.

“Look, I just…” I reach out to her. Suddenly Louise crumples on the porch step and starts weeping. Now I am really confused. What did I say or do? I drop my handbag on the ground and drop down next to her. Then I wrap my arms around her and draw her towards me. I expect resistance but she gives in and lays her head on my shoulder, crying the pained cry of a woman who has had enough.

It takes a few long minutes for the weeping to subside and I can even start to feel the wetness of her tears soaking through the shoulder pads of my jacket. When she finally stops crying, I ask her: “Louise you’ve been an emotional wreck today. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she sniffs.

“No, it’s not nothing,” I insist. “You’ve shouted at me, kicked me out of your house, broken into tears… It’s not ‘nothing’. You’re going through something. Do you want to tell me what it is?”

Louise shakes her head. “I need to go back into the house and make sure Nia hasn’t woken up from her nap,” she says. Then she rises and goes up the two or three steps into her house without ever looking me in the eye.

After she’s gone and the door and shut behind her, I continue to sit, chewing on my lip and contemplating the events of the day. I can’t figure it out. Then I happen to catch a look at my watch; it’s quarter past two. I have to rush back to the office.

I pick up my handbag and make my way to work, thinking the entire time about what’s going on there. Might it be post-natal depression? If so, I am really worried about Louise and her baby; I have to figure out a way to make sure she’s ok.

The first thing I do when I get to the office is call Jo to ask her if she felt anything similar just after she gave birth to baby Fatma.

“Well, I mean, it was hard,” she says. “Some days I felt overwhelmed. But Johann has been such a lovely husband-,”

“-except for the time when you accused him of having an affair and it turns out he was just planning a surprise for you,” I point out. Jo laughs.

“Yes, I was definitely going a little bit crazy there. But I had a lot of support, so if I suffered post-natal depression, it probably wasn’t so bad. Why are you asking all of this?”

“Oh, it’s for a friend,” I say.

“Is that friend you?” she giggles. “Are you pregnant? Congratulations!”

I laugh. “No, it’s not me.”

“Well, it’s about time it was you. I’m getting tired of looking for people to go on play dates with. Have one of your own so you can keep me company while the children play. In fact, I think I’ll set you up on a date with one of Johann’s friends. I know this really nice, single guy who’s looking.”

“Whoa, Jo, let’s not rush into things.”

“Who says I’m rushing? It’s just a date, not marriage. Let me set it up.” And then she hangs up leaving me wondering what sort of mischief she will get up to when she sets me up.