(aka Bike) Part 836 by Angharad |
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“Ah, Lady Cameron, thank you for coming back.”
“Is there a problem I should know about?”
“Um–if you could wait a few minutes, Mr Henstridge should be able to see you and tell you himself.” I went and sat in the waiting room and read the handful of leaflets I’d grabbed on the way to the chair.
I didn’t actually learn anything from them but they whiled away a few minutes. I was asked to go back to his office. “Thanks for coming back–I called my contact in Social Services–they haven’t forgotten their last encounter with you.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“I’m not sure–they don’t like the idea of a child being encouraged to live in the wrong gender–they wonder if you could be encouraging Patrick to become a deviant.”
“I’ve done all I can to allow the child to express him/herself, it has been consistently as a girl. I haven’t put any pressure upon her to remain as female–in fact I’ve attempted to give opportunity for her to re-establish becoming a boy–which would have made Simon very happy.”
“Does he have a problem with her, then?”
“No, he loves all three to bits, but he’d have loved to have a son.”
“What about yourself–do you prefer a daughter to a son?”
“No, I would be happy to care for a healthy child regardless of its gender.”
“They will make a point of your own changeover.”
“Let them–having done it myself, I’m aware of the pitfalls involved and also that I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”
“If you think it’s such a handicap, should you perhaps be less encouraging of the child’s aberration ?”
“What aberration?”
“The um–gender thing.”
“The child happens to believe she’s female and is astonishingly good at acting like one. It isn’t aberrant behaviour other than it isn’t necessarily congruent with her assigned biological sex. You saw the video–did you see an aberrant boy there?”
He blushed, “Please, Lady Cameron, I’m on your side–I’m just trying to prepare us for what could be a very trying time.”
“As long as it’s me that’s on trial not a five year old girl–that’s just fine. Just make sure we have the best barrister money can buy, I want to win this game set and match and I don’t care how much it costs.”
“I will brief a barrister in case we need one.”
“Oh we’ll need one, they’ll make sure of that.”
“Are you sure, you beat them comprehensively last time.”
“This time we’ve got to go through the adoption protocols, they’ll try to disrupt us through those processes.”
“That won’t work, I’ll tie them up in knots if they try.”
“Good, I hope you do. By the way, I ran into Nora Cunningham, the manager of the home that Trish came from. She’s saying they’re looking to close the place down–it doesn’t meet some health and safety regulations and they can’t afford to upgrade it.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Mr Henstridge, I asked to be shown around the place with a view to launching an appeal to fix the place up.”
“Have you ever been there?”
“No, I don’t think I have.”
“It’s a dump.”
“So we raise some more and get it tidied up.”
“I think it needs knocking down more than tidying up.”
“Okay–if I was to suggest that, would you help?”
“I’ll make a donation.”
“I was hoping you’d be able to use your expertise to help me assemble a committee of the great and the good and if necessary, we make a bid to run the place.”
“What about the dormice?”
“No we just release them in woodland, sadly we can’t do that with children. Tarzan or Mowgli may have been brought up by wild animals, in my experience it doesn’t happen. They could be eaten by wild animals but not raised by them.”
“I meant about you being the chair of this committee.”
“ME?” I swallowed and blushed, “I couldn’t run a committee like that.”
“But it’s your baby.”
“I was told some years ago I couldn’t have babies, even metaphorical ones.” He threw me a grin which became a chuckle.
“You have a delightful sense of humour.”
“Do I?–I married an aristocrat–yeah maybe I do.”
“You would run this committee?”
“I don’t know if I could–I mean, apart from the skill level, there’s the time factor–I don’t have time.”
“Yet you expect me to?”
I blushed–“Um, well you’re an experienced procedure person.”
“Yes, as a lawyer, I need to be. But you’re a scientist–don’t you have protocols to follow on publishing papers, conducting experiments and so on?”
“Yeah okay, I’ll be on the bloody committee.”
“I think if you chair it, I’ll act as a secretary until we can find a couple of replacements.”
“Will we need to set up a charity?”
“If so, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. What time are you going to the home?”
“About seven–could you make it as well?”
“I suppose so–very well, Lady Cameron, you are very persuasive.”
“Mr Henstridge, you persuaded yourself because you love childen.”
“Yeah, I’ve got two teenagers I maybe could donate.” He kept an absolutely deadpan face.
“It isn’t a car boot, Mr Henstridge.”
“Pity–selling them would be even better. Why is it that perfectly loving and decent children have to grow up into teenagers? Answer me that and I’ll take your case for nothing.”
“I can tell you biologically why–but that might not convince you.”
“No I suspect it wouldn’t.”
Comments
Anoher great chapter
Hello Angharad
I don't comment a lot but being as it looks like I'll be the first to have a chance today. Congratulations on another wonderful chapter/installment, I have enjoyed this from the first and continue to look forward each day to your posting of this wonderful story.
((((((hugs))))))
Always
Patti
Having survived....
As always a great chapter!!
Lisa E
Fortunately
the teens eventually grow into adults and become reasonable, thinking beings again.
True
... But isn't like somebody saying if I go from the Rio Grande and cross the Arizona Desert you will finally get to drink again when you reach phoenix ? :)
Kim
Cameron Conversations
As if having random conversations which deviate off at wild tangents with Stella (and to a lesser extent, Simon) wasn't maddening enough, Cathy's now indoctrinated her solicitor in the practice!
And somehow recruited him into the potential future campaign to renovate or rebuild the Home...
--Ben
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
I wonder if
Rushton Henstridge (what a great name!)realises just what he is letting himself in for by agreeing to help Cathy, Something tells me now our girl has her teeth into the problem there will be more than a few sparks flying....Hope the wonderfully named Mr Henstridge is fully prepared....Because things might get a little messy!
Kirri
I love it!!!!
You hit so many points for me today! Lovely children turning into Teenagers! LOL (Luckily most of those turn into reasonable, if not wonderful adults). And the references to Burroughs best know character, as well as one of Kiplings. Wonderful!
At least Lady Muck's not going into this one alone! Hopefully they can find some good Suckers, I mean replacements - so they don't have to continue to run things.
Thanks,
Annette
The social services folk
should know that they'll never win against Cathy. Might as well give up before causing themselves much agravation and expense.
Wrong Question?
Mr Henstridge could try asking himself instead why perfectly lovely and normal teenagers have to mature into complaining, angry, sulky, demanding, misunderstanding parents !
OK, I have to admit that I did not go totally unscathed through the parent of teens phase, but now, seeing my children's children as they go through the fun time of being teens, and even emerge as adults (called adults, I am told, because they now have the right to commit adult-ary, like the rest of us!), I have to admit to seeing it differently again, more from the teens' point of view.
If you give them enough love they wont be so difficult when they are forced by the hormonal changes of later childhood to adapt to the new chemical signals they get from their bodies. And if parents would learn about all this before it happens, and take the time to explain it to their kids and signal understanding and sympathy with them, it goes a lot easier.
All us humans are just victims of the chemical soup that we are swimming in, inside.
Lovely chapter, Angharad. I think you are just amazing, to be able to maintain and sustain this epic for so long. I hope it NEVER ends!
Briar
Briar
Everyone Remembers When They Were Teens
Everyone remembers when they were teenagers. Some of us have good memories and others have bad memories. Those years for me were filled confusion and even fear of what kind of life I would have to look forward to. As everyone knows, being a teen is hard because you are caught between listening to your parents and asserting your independence. The hormones are adjusting so many things too. I am a firm believer that whatever headaches and gray hairs you gave your parents, will be visited on you when you become parents. One of my friends has a son that now has kids who are doing to him, what he did to his parents. You know what they say about paybacks?
I Can See That Cathy
Has won over another convert. Now to see what happens about the home.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Cathy
I suspect she is going to be good at this.
I've raised 3 teens. Loved them to pieces, but also had the urge to convert them to pieces.
I heard a theory once that rang true. Teens need to assert themselves. They trust you (as their parent) so they try things out on you that would get them killed in the wider world. So while you have the urge to kill rising, you never actually do it. The kids then judge from your reactions what works and doesn't, and so survive to adulthood. Hey, it's a theory.
Cathy personally knows the director of social services (don't know if I got the name right). So while he can not directly interfere his underlings had better go by the book. Those little conversations that Cathy recorded may get them not only taken of the case but working the more dangerous neighborhoods, where they are really needed.
A sea cruize is nice this time of year.
Deviant, aberrant behaviour yes that describes Lady Catherine. These people in the DSS need to disappear, for good !
I wonder if they would like to sleep with the fishes? The Mothers And Fathers Italian Assn, you know, the MAFIA
Cefin