This must mean you have reached adult manhood br the way you have perfected the poker face, when you br announced Mom, I did bad at school; I saw a dead- br pan expression of despair in your eyes, mirroring br the lacklustre lines around your father’s mouth, my br spirits sagged – until you pressed the report into br my unwilling hands and I exclaimed This is not bad br at all, quite the contrary! guffaws of laughter rang br out, shining eyes of father and son eclipsing the sun; br you are a perfect Sphinx, my son, the mark of the br cool, detached, grown man – well done!br br Margaret Alicebr br