A Little Gem

Surely Donna's sweet new grandchild wouldn't be named anything too outlandish ...

IT was all her fault, Donna thought as she brushed her hair and checked her appearance in the mirror.

She had been the one who had started it, after all. Trying to distract her daughter, Lara, from morning sickness, it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Have you thought about names yet?" she'd asked her white-as-a-sheet daughter, who was bravely sitting at her dining table with a glass of water.

"Haven't had much time, Mum. I've been too busy throwing up!" "Yes, I know, morning sickness can be awful, but that will pass.

"You must have had a few ideas? What about family names? Your dad is the third William on his side..." "Definitely not William! There are too many nicknames that go with that name.

"Dad's been Billy all his life; no-one calls him William." "That's true. What does Phil say?" Donna slid a cream cracker across the table to her daughter and was pleased to see her nibble it.

Cream crackers had been the only thing that helped her own nausea when she was pregnant.

"Phil says it has to be a joint decision. He's already ruled out Pinot and Smile.'

Pinot? Like the wine, Pinot Grigio? Surely not? And Smile! Had they gone back to the hippy days of the '60s and '70s?

Good grief, what was her daughter thinking?

"Of course, it has to be a joint decision. After all, you have to live with the name you've chosen.

"Your dad and I did that with you and your brothers."

Donna thought back to when she and Billy were choosing names.

It had been a relatively painless job, although she had to admit that they hadn't really picked their youngest son's name.

That had been their eldest son's choice.

Joe, at the age of four, had simply told them that the baby's name was Gary.

They never did discover where he had heard the name or why he liked it so much, but it had grown on them.