The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2729 by Angharad Copyright© 2015 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 suppose in the end it all finished reasonably well, though I wondered if some of the trust I’d worked so hard to establish with the children had been lost. If that was the case I only had myself to blame.

A restless night ensued with me reflecting upon my stupidity. How could I have been so dumb? When I spoke to Simon about it, he shrugged and told me it was pretty dumb and not to do it again—then he drifted off to sleep.

I could say that I had all sorts of strange dreams, but I didn’t. I don’t think I slept at all, not a wink. I did go into the girls room a couple of times and told them quietly that I loved them. Not one of them stirred or seemed aware I was there. They all slept soundly. The next morning I was a total wreck. Stella saw me lurching about in the kitchen and sent me back to bed. I managed two hours before I got up, feeling slightly better and together with a power nap after lunch, managed to keep going.

The weather improved so it only rained for twenty three hours that day. Danni eventually went off to meet up with Cindy and was then going to football training where I or one of the others would collect her at half past seven. In the end, Julie went and got her.

Something I hadn’t mentioned before, is that Simon bought Julie a new car, an A class like I used to have. Her car then went to Phoebe. He also got a new one for Stella as a birthday present—she had the new XE Jaguar, and her Vauxhall Corsa went to Jacquie, who was delighted to have her own set of wheels. Sadly, we had to take away some of the grass to increase the parking area, which Maureen organised and she also had white stripes painted to mark out designated parking spaces.

That now meant all the adults living here had cars. As an environmentalist I was horrified—how could we justify half a dozen cars in one household? That wasn’t including the S type or Simon’s XK which were garaged; he was now using the F type, which is a beautiful car and which he washes every week if the weather permits. Mine is parked alongside and also gets washed most times and so do Tom’s Freelander and Mondeo. The latter is the general purpose car and gets used by most of us from time to time.

Stella had the Corsa after her car ended up in the dock, her old Fiesta which was never quite the same again and Simon managed to swap it for the Corsa. He holds an account for a car dealer—one who runs lease cars, and if he knows he has a good one available for sale, he gives Si the nod and if we want it, we get it at a sizeable discount. The dealer, Martin Creech, also got my Jaguar for me and Simon’s and Stella’s for them. Stella had hoped she’d be getting a new Range Rover, until Simon told her he could get her one but she could pay for it herself. Interestingly, she seemed overjoyed with her Jaguar after that.

There are times when I could happily murder Stella, as she seemingly saves her own money while happily spending Simon’s. One day I grumbled in Henry’s hearing and he took me to one side and told me that it was what she thought she was doing, but the bank watches what she spends and deducts it from an allowance she gets as a shareholder. She thinks it’s expenses and tax, but it’s actually what she thinks she’s duped from Simon.

I asked him why she couldn’t be made to spend her own money. “If only, Cathy. Ever since she was little, she’s been very jealous of her brother and she set out to get one over on him. She started by borrowing money which he earned and not paying it back.” As Henry saw what was happening he increased Si’s pay, he had to do things like washing his dad’s car and a few other chores, Stella was supposed to help her mother but never did.

She trained as a hairdresser which disappointed Henry as he considered she was capable of better. He set her up in a shop, which after a couple of years she sold and pocketed the money. After that he decided to deduct money from her dividends from the bank. He did, however, help to finance her through her nurse training especially after she looked after his mother when she died from cancer, the year Stella graduated.

When Henry and his first wife split up he felt guilty and he tried to compensate the children by giving them money. They didn’t know what the other had but assumed it was the same. The money was invested for them and Stella saved hers as she thought and tried to spend Simon’s: Si, however, discovered a flare for making money and doubled his in less than a year. Stella thought she was enjoying his profits but discovered her money had lost value as interest rates dropped. In fact Henry had deducted the money she thought she had got from Simon, who seemed unable to say no to her. It was several years later he discovered that his father was repaying him all the money she took from him. No wonder he isn’t at all exercised by her apparent profligacy.

It’s something I felt very angry about, especially his refusal to do anything about it—he didn’t need to. Henry is obviously not only smarter than I thought but also sneakier and more aware of his children than I realised. I hope I am with mine, but I wouldn’t actually bet on it—my incident with them and my ill judged joke proved that to all and sundry, but especially me. It seemed that not only did I not know them as well as I thought but I didn’t know myself either.

After dinner, Julie went to collect her sister from soccer training as I was busy with the younger children, playing board games, which may well have been driven by my feelings of guilt from the day before. However, they enjoyed themselves even though predictably, Trish won most of them—she is just cleverer and more competitive, a lethal combination. I also suspect they don’t mind who wins, they even let me win a game of Scrabble, which I was trying not to win but just playing to try and stop Trish conquering all before her. Of course I can beat her at that without much bother but give her a few more years and I won’t. For the moment though, there is one game at which I’m better—my spelling is better and my vocabulary larger, plus I’ve played Scrabble since I was a kid and have done crosswords as well for many years. Trish prefers mathematical logic to lateral thinking as per cryptic crosswords, so perhaps I’ll keep my edge for a while longer.