Rain Read Free Page B

reaction. So there you go; half out of concern for you, half for me. Please forgive my cowardice: I hope you understand it.
    Tom, by this stage you will know all there is to know about looking after your mother and being the man of the house. I know you will have done a superb job, but I am just so sorry that a boy so young has had to grow up so quickly, too quickly. I know that you and your friends are impatient to grow up, but one day you will realize that it is a magical thing to stay young for as long as possible.
    So I will not lecture you about looking after Mummy; you will be doing that already and as I head towards death (gosh that is strange to write!) her safety is mercifully not on my list of worries (though thefuture of the English cricket team and your tree house surviving a storm are). You are a brave boy, Tom; I have always known that. Mummy may have told you that you were very ill when you were born; you actually very nearly died and the doctors and nurses had given up hope. One doctor told me, when you were at your worst, that you would not survive the night.
    The next morning that doctor came and saw you. Not only were you still there but you had somehow, from the night, drawn from some great invisible reserve of strength. The doctor was amazed; no baby had ever made such a recovery in that hospital, and all the nurses after that fawned over you, saying that you were their little hero.
    I wish I could have spent years and years writing this to you. I wish I could put down every single bit of advice I have ever heard myself, but I will limit myself to the following, in no particular order, but as they come into my head, apart from the last one, which is the most important advice I have ever been given. Some of it you will understand now, some you will understand later, some you will think is just rubbish!
The eleventh commandment. Never get caught. If you obey this one you don’t have to worry about any of the other boring ten. Apart from ‘Honour your father and mother.’ You must do that!
Always, always say please and thank you. It will amaze you how many grown-ups do not do this.
Never be rude to girls.
There is no such thing as a stupid question. If in doubt, just ask!
The ancient Greeks had a great saying, ‘Nothing in excess.’ I have no doubt that you’ll see what that means later on in life. Unfortunately, probably only because you will have done something to excess or gone too far. But learn from it!
You will do well to learn this quote from Walter Scott about the mess you will get into if you start telling lies: ‘O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!’ Never a truer word spoken.
Have a child. It is the best present in the world. But not for a few years at least!
I don’t know who said this, but like virtually every other good quotation it was probably Johnson, Wilde or Churchill. ‘The harder I work, the luckier I seem to get.’ Tom, I never worked very hard, and as you can see I haven’t been that lucky.
You were born into a family which, if not wildly wealthy, at least does not struggle. Remember to look after those who have not had the advantages of a loving family and a good education and relatively secure financial background that you have. This will become clear later in your life. You will come to understand what I mean.
    In terms of university, jobs, exams, etc. I have two things to say.
From me, your father. You must do very well and get a first at university. And then you must join the army, and after mastering that you must be in the cabinet, having made yourself (legally) into a multi-millionaire.
From me, Daddy. As long as you are happy, Tom, and add value even to just one other person’s happiness, do whatever you want to do. If you don’t want to go to university, don’t. If you don’t want to touch the army with a bargepole, don’t. If you don’t want to work, don’t. But always add value.
    Goodness me, Tom, I know I will wake up