The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1148 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

Once we got home and discussed what had happened, it transpired that the girls knew nothing about the murder. They’d seen someone dealing drugs and had reported it to the landlady. She had gone to investigate and had been the stabbing victim.

Meanwhile, one of the drug dealers had seen them again and chased them. When they discovered they were being chased by more than one person they simply fled without any thought of where they were going. They hid in the derelict warehouse but couldn’t get a signal on the phone to say where they were. However, Julie had wished for me to find them and had kept seeing me coming towards her. So we had effectively picked up on each other’s thoughts. I don’t know how proven telepathy is, but it obviously works for some people.

The police almost considered charging us with assault until we showed them the gun and the knives the bad guys had, and as all handguns are banned in the UK, owning or possessing one is a serious criminal offence.

The one Simon had pole-axed because he kicked me was the most hurt. Seeing the bruises coming out on my side, I didn’t have too much sympathy for him, and thankfully neither did the police.

The issue of the kids going to that pub again never arose. What with the murder of the landlady and the fright they got, it’s unlikely they’d ever want to go near the place again. But until they got involved with the druggies, they had been enjoying themselves and liked the music.

Phoebe asked if she could stay over until Monday, and I told her not without my talking to her mother, which I said I would in the morning. Actually, it was already the morning, being nearly one before we got home. Jenny had fed the baby with a bottle and thank goodness, she slept through until seven. I was still exhausted and my side was very sore, but things could have been worse.

After breakfast, Trish, and a soak in the bath, helped ease the bruising although we took some photos and Jenny and Stella witnessed them. The rainbow colours all round me were very photogenic, contrasting with my white bra and pants.

I spoke with Iris Allen, Phoebe’s mum, who said she wanted her home on Sunday night, as she had school the next day–I said I would send her home after lunch, and that she was welcome to come again, but not by hitchhiking.

Her mother was very cross, having given her the bus fare, which she pocketed, as I’d done that myself when I was a kid, I could hardly complain. It was how I funded my first pair of heels, only my dad found them and chucked them out. Hiding my girl stuff when I lived at home was very difficult, as both Mum and Dad went looking for it. Except for the time when I did the Lady Macbeth, they did everything they could to stop me, and pretty well succeeded until I went to university and my opportunities were very limited until my final year: then I did have my own room and managed to collect a skirt and top, plus some shoes and undies and one or two bits of makeup.
However, the hours I spent locked in my room so I could wear them, meant I did do loads of work and perhaps explains why I got a good degree.

On the basis that Simon could have his wicked way with me if he took Phoebe home on the Sunday, he agreed–so any problem of her spending bus or train fares was negated. When she heard it was likely to be in the Jaguar, she handled her disappointment very well. So it does seem that expensive sports cars are girl pullers, not that they attract me–but then bikes do–okay, so I’m different–get over it.

After feeding the wain, I took a bus load of girls shopping with Stella. She’d managed to bribe Jenny to baby sit Puddin’, so was able to come with us. Of course, Julie was not impressed, as she had to work, but at least she had her little scooter thing to use to get there.

I bought Phoebe one of those long scarf things with tassels all over it. When she wrapped it round her neck, her head disappeared in a mass of cloth. However, it was what she wanted and cost me less than a tenner, so I felt quite happy with it. I got a similar one for Julie.

The rest of my brood cost me a fortune–Simon got off lightly, he went to watch Danny play football–they lost even though he scored a goal. Danny seemed to understand that I couldn’t go and asked me get him some new football socks–he was quite content with those, but I got him a new pair of shorts as well.

Billie wanted a new coat, and Livvie some shoes. Trish had some new boots, those ugly things, but she’d certainly worn the old ones with her skinny jeans and even with skirts and tights. I hadn’t heard anymore about the football team, and when Phoebe said she used to play for one, Trish seemed slightly less put off by it. I expected comments when we got Danny’s kit, but she didn’t say anything at all.

I asked Phoebe would she rather have gone to watch Danny, and she waved her scarf about and said no, very decidedly. For most teen girls, I think shopping is their main form of sport, and if some of them applied the same degree of dedication to sport as they did to poking round shops, we’d have a few more champions.

By lunch, my side felt much better and Trish had a silly grin on her face. I had wondered why she wanted to hold onto my arm all the time. I’d been too preoccupied with everyone to take too much notice, and her energy is very gentle. I tried on a top, or pretended to, so I could use the changing room mirror and the Technicolor was fading quite rapidly.

Tom and Simon took over the baby-sitting, Simon getting to feed tiny wee, while Jenny supervised and he also managed to change her. Much to his disgust, he actually enjoyed it, or so he confided later on–but by then, I’d got him so turned on he’d have pleaded guilty to assassinating Abe Lincoln if he could taste a little of my milk. I made him wait until after the baby had been fed and changed–he changed her, and did it really well–then I let him have his wicked way, which I quite enjoyed too.

On Sunday, I went to check the dormice, accompanied by a posse of children, all but one of which seemed to be mine. When they all come out with me, even the Mondeo struggles to accommodate them all–perhaps we need a minibus, not a car?

Spike was still with us and took some dried fruit from each of the kids–she was well above her hibernation weight, as were most of the others, and the breeding season had been good, all our breeding females had produced four young, and of the twenty born, only two hadn’t made it to hibernation time.

We were introducing a chipping system, whereby we inserted a silicon chip under the scruff of the neck of each dormouse which could be read like a bar code by a special reader device. It’s very similar to those used in dogs and cats to prove ownership. The idea was the chips would demonstrate each individual, so the data would be more accurate. In tests elsewhere, the chips seemed not to affect the dormice too much. Part of the reason for doing all our campus bred ones was to enable some of the students to learn the technique so they could do so on the woodland sites. I would do the odd one to keep my hand in, but my role was increasingly supervisory. I felt a touch of regret, but I didn’t have the time at present for all the field work, however, I did have time to collate records and do some of the supervision–not bad with half a dozen kids–maybe I should chip them.