The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2181 by Angharad Copyright © 2013 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

It was quite rough when we set off to Guildford with some quite heavy showers. The car was pretty full with Lizzie’s carrycot and Fiona’s buggy plus her car seat. I decided to drive thinking I had slightly more chance of survival than if Stella did.

I lost count of the number of deceased mustelidae we saw on the roadside, especially that of Meles meles, or the European badger to you lot. I don’t know why they needed to cull them when the average main road seems to massacre them in relatively large numbers, with bashed bunnies and dead deer also amongst the casualties we witnessed.

At mid morning, I pulled into the clinic car park and we went in search of someone who could advise us if we could see Neal. He’d not had a good day the day before so he was still in bed but the nurse would go and see if he’d agree to us going into his room. She came back ten minutes later and led us through, Neal was seated in an armchair in his rumpled pyjamas and a wool dressing gown, he was barefoot.

He sat there looking at us with the two children, me holding his daughter and Fiona with Stella. “Do I know you?” he asked seemingly oblivious to our identity.

“Hello, Neal, I’m Cathy, I work with you.”

“Do you? I’ve overslept haven’t I? Will they be cross with me?”

“No, Neal, they know you’ve not been well.”

“Do they? How’s that?”

“You were taken ill after Gloria died, do you remember?”

“No, who’s Gloria?”

“Your late wife.”

“Late? What is she coming here then?”

“No, I’m afraid she died.”

“Did she? When?”

“Earlier this year after giving birth to your daughter, Lizzie.”

“Daughter? What daughter is that then?”

“This little bundle of joy, this is Lizzie your daughter, here take her for a moment.”

He hesitantly took the child from me and cuddled her, although she looked a bit apprehensive and her bottom lip puckered. A moment later she started to cry and his reaction took me by surprise He stood up and was about to hurl her at the wall when Stella shouted at him. “No,” she shouted and for an instant he paused allowing me to snatch the now distressed infant from his grasp.

At this point he became agitated and the nurse arrived with his breakfast and two cups of coffee for us. She calmed him down and Stella took the two wains outside while I tried to heal him from a slight distance, once the nurse had gone.

He took some pills which I suspect were turning him into a zombie, but I could hardly tell him not to take them against medical opinion. Clearly his treatment wasn’t working as well as Stella’s had. I poured blue light into him but all he did was fall asleep. I tried a guided journey with him but he remained asleep. I left and collected Stella and the two little ones and we went off to Guildford city centre.

Stella was ready to shop till she dropped, I was feeling less like shopping than I had for many a year. I delayed things by feeding Lizzie and then changing her in the car and as neither of us had drunk the coffee at the clinic we went in search of one which became an early lunch.

Lizzie and I allowed Stella to drag us round the shops for two hours before we had afternoon tea and I drove us home. Stella had bought clothes for her two girls, I’d bought nothing for mine. In fact apart from some diesel and paying for lunch, I’d bought nothing. I really wasn’t in the mood.

“Why d’you allow these things to get to you?” she asked me as we departed Guildford.

“What things?”

“This business with Neal, it obviously upset you.”

“He nearly killed his own baby, of course I’m upset–I handed him the child. It was nearly my fault.”

“You thought you were acting in everyone’s best interests.”

“But if you hadn’t shouted he would have done it.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“I am.” I was sweating just thinking about it.

“But he didn’t, did he?”

“Because you shouted.”

“Perhaps, I like to think he’d have paused–any rate you grabbed the baby back so no harm was done.”

“I don’t know if we did him any good though, did we?”

“I don’t know, he looked pretty drugged up to me.”

“That’s what I thought. I think we need to get him moved somewhere else where he might get better treatment.”

“How’re you going to do that?”

“I’ll speak to his doctor ask for a second opinion.”

“Okay, then what?”

“If that fails I’ll talk with Simon and ask him to stop paying the clinic bills, they’ll soon transfer him somewhere else.”

“But will it be better?”

“How do I know? I do dormice, remember–you’re the medical person.”

“Okay, we can do some research but we’ll need a fresh diagnosis preferably from a doctor who can transfer him to a better or more suitable establishment. I’ll speak to his GP.”

“Thanks, Stella, I knew you’d come in handy one day.”

“The nerve of some people,” she said loudly and woke Lizzie, so I pulled over and fed her again though decided to wait until we got home to change her.

On arrival home, we were mobbed by a bunch of girls who were disgusted we hadn’t returned bearing gifts. I tried to remind them that they shouldn’t expect something every time I went shopping.

“What are we supposed to do, then?” said Trish angrily, “What’s the point of going shopping if you don’t buy nothing.”

“Don’t buy anything, Trish, that was a double negative.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes I do, it means you’re a self absorbed, greedy loud mouthed little girl who is heading for trouble if she continues as you are now.”

“You think more of that bloody baby than you do us–and she’s not even yours.”

The others shrank away from her as they felt my anger rising, not wishing to get caught in a cross fire. That might have been wise. I felt like slapping her hard because she was so ungrateful for all the things she has and how usually she got something when I did go to the shops, so today was the exception. I suppose, on reflection that may have caused her outburst but there was no way I could allow her to talk like that to me.

“This little baby is in need of all our love and support at the moment, as her daddy is very ill.”

“So? That’s not our problem.”

“Actually it is, so before we go any further you can apologise to me for your impudence and aggression, then you can go up to your room until I tell you to come down–and leave your computer and phone down here, please.”

“You can’t make me.”

“Can’t I?”

“Okay, how about this then? If you’re not upstairs in two minutes I shall confiscate your computer and iPod, and your mobile phone ad you won’t get them back before Christmas.”

“You can’t do that, they’re mine–that’s stealing.” I didn’t care what she called it I started picking up her stuff and putting it on the table.

“Still want to argue?” I asked her my hand on the growing pile of electronic technology.

“Snot fair,” she said and stamped up the stairs.