The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3416 by Angharad Copyright© 2023 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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I had left a twenty pound note for her to find by the phone along with our home number, I wasn't sure if I'd ever hear from her again, not that it mattered and she did have a sick mother to look after.

The next night I received a phone call and it was from Emily. She told me her mum was on anti-virals and antibiotics and looking much better, they expected to have her for a day or two longer but now they could afford to heat the house a little, enough to keep the lounge warm and also to air the cold damp rooms. She once again thanked me for making their Christmas the best for years. I told her to think about working for me as I couldn't cope and work at the university and it wasn't fair to expect David to do much more, or Sarah, although occasionally the others chipped in and helped (sometimes because I blackmailed them, morally or otherwise) We managed but Simon kept telling me to get help. I told him I'd met a young woman who may be interested and he told me to hire her.

I rang Emily from my office, amazingly her mother's name was still in the phone book. I asked how her mother was and she told me she was just off out to catch the bus to see her. I told her to give her my regards and asked again if she was interested in working for me, I suggested we could make it as much or as little as she wanted. She told me she would ring me back.

I knew she was worried about compromising her benefits, which were already small. The Tories seemed to think paying people who were out of work or long-term sick, as a disincentive to find work. I can't fathom their logic. People need to feel well to work, they also need full stomachs and if they're cold or hungry or living in damp or fungal-damaged properties they are not going to be at their best.

I eventually managed to persuade Emily to come and visit and we'd discuss terms, I was hoping to get her on board when she saw the house and the sort of thing she'd be doing. We set a date and our footballing daughter agreed to go and collect her. Apparently, she was impressed by the house asking if we really lived there. Danni of course was in a nonchalant mood and said she was one of ten children although three or four had left to get their own places including Julie and Phoebe, Sammi, who was only there occasionally, Jacquie who was completing her course and living in Salisbury, and the rest were still in school or local university.

The visit turned into a meal invitation and she was overwhelmed by the fact that we had our own cook, I left her talking to David while I dealt with a sudden emergency that required me to go to the study and take a phone call. It was Diane reminding me she wouldn't be in tomorrow as she was Christmas shopping. I wished her luck, the traffic and crowds made me feel anything but Christmassy; do goodwill and homicide go together? Why crowds of mindless morons have to clog every shop and road with their bodies or their cars at this time of year still confuses me as they don't seem to do it other times of the year and we can't blame it on excessive heat or cold, occasionally too much festive cheer or just being awkward. I think it may be the latter, and who in their right mind takes the dog with them? Oh, I know, so the dog can choose their own present, right?

Emily was very polite and well-mannered, so much so that I desperately wanted her to work for me. I explained her duties and was prepared to employ her for up to 30 hours a week and I saw her calculating how much that was. It was £450 which was much more than she was getting for benefits. The only fly in the ointment was her mum, she didn't want to leave her. In the end, I offered to let her bring her mother with her while she was at my house, where she would be warm and visible and could bring a book to read and the extra incentive of a David-cooked lunch if he was working that day, if not she could help herself to something from the cupboard or fridge.

As I couldn't offer the crown jewels as well she took my offer. We agreed that I needed help before Christmas and I promised one of us would come and collect her and mum and take them back afterwards. Her mum was being discharged tomorrow so she would start the next day unless mum was still too ill. I counted on the older lady's curiosity to see inside our house to make her well enough for a quick snoop.

She soon got herself ensconced in a comfy armchair in the lounge while she watched her daughter and her employer plus various other young women who happen to be on holiday from school or university getting the house ready for Christmas. They all spent too much time talking to her to be very effective but I had expected that and knew that the exposure to strangers would help the old lady get better sooner and deal with her loneliness. By lunchtime Danni and Trish and the younger girls were all calling her 'gran' and she was loving it, while Emily and I organised a plan to give everything a once-over before Santa was due to visit, and deal with things like laundry. She was a good and thorough worker and I hoped she would stay for a long time.

She would go on the payroll organised by Sammi so we paid taxes and pension and all the rest. It would officially start after the holidays and I would pay her cash in hand for her help before. They both loved the lunch David made for us all and I insisted they come to dine with us on Christmas Day, Boxing Day they'd stay at home to both have a rest. I sent Danni out to get them presents as everyone who comes has one.

Emily mentioned she hadn't got a computer when she saw Trish using mine in the study, so after I spoke with Sammi she found one in good working order that we could pass on. The old lady we could get treats to eat as most enjoy that the most.

I still had the problem of finding suitable gifts for the family as we had agreed to stop doing expensive presents a few years ago. Daddy was easy, a bottle of single malt (vintage of course), The girls gave us lists, which if we bought all of it, would be very expensive but it gave me ideas for things they wanted. Julie and Phoebe, I paid their building and contents insurance and they were very happy with that. Sammi I bought her favourite eau de toilette, Simon I gave a Leatherman multi-tool. So some of it was in hand and I could go shopping knowing everything was under control and with all of the adults in the house, knew the younger girls were safe as well, so I could turn my attention to my shopping.

Shopping was a nightmare as it always is at this time of year - how can January sales start in December? Are retailers that desperate? I suppose they must be. Why is the general public so stupid? Okay, don't answer that because I know the cat has a better grasp of reality than most of them.

I got some of the presents requested on the lists, others I ignored and before I went home I got a trolley load of food and donated it to a food bank. The privilege of being rich - I don't know as I take no pleasure in seeing others suffer or know it's going on behind closed doors. How the government can sleep at night astonishes me, I just assume they fall asleep counting their money. I eventually sleep thinking that if there is a heaven or hell, the latter must be full of Tories and Republicans, or is that this world?

It was amazing to hear the reports of a teenager who was kidnapped by a mother and grandfather six or so years ago he managed to escape by walking over the Pyrenees for four days and was picked up by a delivery driver who took him to the police station. A happy story for Christmas perhaps, I can only say his mother must be mentally ill or delusional. Now he's back with his family, he has six or so years of school to catch up on, I wish him luck because without education he's going to be seriously disadvantaged.

Now back to my own teenagers and that dreadful C word perhaps I can persuade them to think they slept through it or that Santa Claus had an accident on the M27 and all his reindeer were injured. I shouldn't really pretend to be mean, I know how I suffered as a youngster by never having the Christmas I wished for or any other of my prayers answered, to wake up as a girl. The god who doesn't exist failed me; thankfully, a certain surgeon didn't and I did wake up one morning as a woman. That was magic. It wasn't the mysterious ways of a mythical being it was the kindness of a rather dishy surgeon who looks like George Clooney but with an Irish accent and his elfin assistant in the form of my sister-in-law, who is now pretty well back to normal although I know that PTSD can strike for several years after the initial trauma, but we love each other and help each other, I just don't accept lifts from her - life is too short, and with her likely to be shorter and white hairs don't really suit me at forty.

It seems that Henry and Monica may be with us at Christmas for lunch, I must warn David who is going to think he's working in a restaurant again and it won't be a turkey we'll need an ostrich and to use the dining table. At least there may be one or two good films on over the holiday, they can't all be back issues of James Bond, can they?

Oh well a week to go and everyone is getting twitchy, better get some Valium.