The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2210 by Angharad Copyright © 2013 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

I watched as the cat walked across the back wall, the one with the door in it, waiting in the middle as if to encourage me to follow. It would be just my luck to be half way across when someone came out of the house. But it would be the only way to beat the dog, only I’m not that good at heights and walking along a six foot wall which was about eight inches wide, in the dark, was not my idea of fun.

The cat miaowed at me as if to hurry and I had to trust its judgement–now I really am cracking up. Since when have cats been better at risk assessment than humans? Gingerly, I stepped onto the wall and made my way up onto the back wall, constantly aware that down below me was a large dog who was doing his best to will me to fall off, preferably on his side so he could attack me. Several times he jumped up at the wall which thankfully was too high for him to reach me.

To me walking across the thirty or forty feet of wall was equivalent to a tightrope walk. Hands held out I tried to concentrate on walking upright and focused on the far end. I was exhausted when I reached the other side and scrambled down into the garden of the house I wanted to investigate.

I checked the garden door and it was bolted. As a precaution, in the event of a hasty retreat, I unbolted the door and eased it open. The cat having fulfilled its part of the mission, withdrew to sit on the wall and watch me. Exactly what it was watching me for, I wasn’t sure as I was making this up as I went along.

I found a path and walked up to the house to try and see if I could find any evidence that my intuition had been correct. The house appeared to be in darkness with only a thin ribbon of light around the edge of a curtain. Could my babies and Jacquie be in there?

Stepping close to a door I listened. The only noise I could hear, apart from the beating of my heart, was distant traffic. I found a window of a basement or cellar and kneeling down tried to see into it. It was dark and all I could see was my own faint reflection.

What if I’d made a mistake? It would get very embarrassing rather quickly and Simon would be furious, not to mention Henry. I felt much less confident about the whole thing than I had even fifteen minutes ago.

I asked the energy that had guided me here to show me that I was in the right place, not really expecting anything to happen. I tried to see my watch but the moonlight wasn’t sufficient–how long had I been here? Goodness knows.

I was straining every sense as I waited for something to tell me I was at the right house when I heard it. Then again. I strained my already overworked ears. It was definitely a child’s voice–could it be Cate?

“I want my mummy.” That’s what it sounded like, but I wasn’t sure, it could have been pure wishful thinking. For all I knew I was hearing some kid talking to their granny or even their parent.

Then a woman’s voice said, “You, make her shut up and Jacquie’s voice replied to her. At least it sounded enough like Jacquie’s voice for me to send for the cavalry. I pressed send and my phone peeped that it had gone.

“What was that?” said the woman’s voice.

And I had to move quickly to avoid being seen when she let up a roller blind on the basement window. Through the gloom of the dirty window I couldn’t see very much except there was more than one person in that room. I needed an entry point.

A couple of minutes later I heard a door open and out bounded a dog–yeah, another bloody dog. It spotted me almost immediately and it ran up to me. I stood stock still and imagined healing light flowing into me, when it then came up and sniffed me I released a large burst of energy and the dog fell over backwards and started crying to go back in, pawing at the door.

I followed it and it began whining more loudly, I held onto the door handle and as the woman twisted it to open she received a jolt of juice which caused her to jump and let go. I pulled it open and stood in the doorway.

“Who are you?”

“You have three of my children, I’ve come to rescue them.”

“What? Get out of my house, Rover, get her.”

The dog stood behind her shaking with fright. I stepped into the house and shut the door. “I’ve called the police, they’ll be here any moment.”

“Liar.”

“So far I’m going to have you charged with unlawful detention of two children and an adult. Quite why you have them, I hope you’ll tell me, because at the moment my feelings towards you are entirely prejudicial–and for you, that is not a good place to be.”

“Who are you?”

“A very angry mother, who are you, besides a kidnapper and child abductor.”

“What children are those then?”

“The ones in the basement.”

“I ain’t got no children.”

“You have, three of mine. Release them immediately.”

“I ain’t, follow me, I’ll show ya.”

I was aware that she could be up to some sort of trick but recovery of my children was paramount especially as the little ones wouldn’t have eaten for several hours. I followed her through a relatively modern, if cheap kitchenette, down a corridor and a short flight of stairs to a heavy door which she unbolted and opened.

“Jacquie?” I shouted and heard a sort of muffled response.

I then made the mistake of stepping into the room whereupon she shoved me hard and slammed the door behind me. I heard a faint laugh and that was it. I pulled out my torch and saw the three of them. Jacquie was tied up and gagged hence the muffled sound, Cate was cuddling beside her and tied up by a foot to a chair. The baby was asleep in her pram.

I shone the torch around, there was a light but no switch, so it was obviously outside the room. With my penknife I released Jacquie and Cate who hugged me and cried. When they’d calmed down I decided the priority was to feed the two little ones. I told Cate, Lizzie had to be first because she was so small. I’m not sure my argument carried too much weight, certainly not in Cate’s eyes. However, I picked up Lizzie and pulled her to my breast. She suckled like she hadn’t been fed for weeks. Then I gave Cate a turn and I’m sure my nipples were an inch longer than before she sucked on them.

I drew the line at inviting Jacquie to follow suit.

“What happened?”

“We were in the park and this woman walking her dog came and sat by us. She spoke to us and especially Cate. She told us her dog had just had puppies and did we want to see them.”

“And you did?”

“It was getting a bit cold, so I agreed. Cate was very excited. Then she shut us in here and next thing I know she’s tied me up and a short time ago she gagged me. I knew you’d come and rescue us, Mummy.”

That was the plan, or to keep them safe while Simon made a full frontal assault with the long arm of the law. Except it’s now twenty odd minutes since I sent that text, maybe even half an hour–where are they?

I looked at my phone–I couldn’t get a signal–oh poo.