Women unafraid are harder to kill. My mum started a new career in her sixties. Not just any career, but one most are warned off, restauranteur. We’re doing it together and it’s glorious. A sign of our success, three years in, the townspeople bring their babies to meet us. Not along at lunch in carriages, but in their arms, like presents, we’re introduced in the first days of life. This has happened several times. I think it’s something to do with my mum and a lesson she earned. Royalty, too, is in the eye of the beholder. Here’s a song that speaks to that, as my ears hear. From the lotus, Mary Gauthier.