The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1252 by Angharad Copyright © 2011 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

After my coffee and walk with Simon, I felt a bit more like returning to my duties with Daddy. I hoped things were going as they should, though quite what that means I’m not sure.

The first priority is to get him off the critical list, then back to normal health bearing in mind he is getting on a bit but not old by today’s standards. Once he’s up and running again, we can try and find out what happened and also how much he knows about current events–the death of his friend and the custody of his would be girlfriend.

It struck me as odd that she was arrested carrying the gemstone back to India–perhaps she was going to return it–let’s give her the benefit until we know otherwise. After all, she’s going to be stuck in an Indian prison, unless she can get bail, and I suspect that’s not a particularly nice place to be, even for a short time.

I left Simon to go back to the car and snooze using a borrowed blanket from the hospital which he promised to return when I was ready to go. I re-entered the ICU and the Australian nurse welcomed me back.

“What did ya think of the coffee?”

“Not bad, better than some I’ve tasted from vending machines.”

“Yeah, thought you’d like it. You gonna do some more of the blue light stuff?”

“Are you going to keep it a secret?”

“Me, I wouldn’t tell a soul, not even a friendly wombat.”

“Good, because I’ve heard they’re awful gossips.”

“Who are?”

“Wombats–and remember I’m a biologist, so I know about these things.”

“You Poms are crazy.”

“It has been said before, but they couldn’t prove anything.” I smiled and she sniggered.

“Can you come in every night, you certainly cheer things up?”

“Sorry, I’ve got a houseful of kids to look after.”

“What have ya got?”

“What children wise?” I asked to clarify and she nodded. “The eldest is a girl of seventeen,” her eyes widened at this, “ next is a boy of twelve, then girls of ten, six, six, five and five months.”

“Seventeen? How old were you when you had her–three or four?”

“She’s adopted, so are the others actually–I can’t have my own kids.”

“Jeez, so you adopted seven–what’s that one for each day of the week?”

“Something like that, when I was younger I used to bring home baby birds that had fallen out of the nest...”

“That’s a bit different to collecting children, jeez, I mean how can you afford to look after seven, I can’t afford one.”

“My husband has a good job.”

“He’d need one, what’s he do–banking?”

“He works for a bank, yes, now I need to get some healing into Daddy.”

“D’ya mind if I watch?”

“I can’t stop you, but please don’t come too close, it distracts me.”

“No, I won’t–it’s fascinating, will you get that light to shine again?”

“I don’t know, it tends to do its own thing, I’m just the conduit.”

“Who likes dormice?”

“Yeah, ‘specially on toast.” I winked and walked into the cubicle as she groaned at my horrible joke.

I sat down and took Tom’s hand again. “Hi, Daddy, it’s me, Cathy, I’m back–just went out for a coffee and a wee. Now then focus on the blue light and my voice and I’ll bring you back to health–just follow my instructions and let the healing light do its thing.”

I sat there and again the energy was very slow and gentle–or it was leaving me, but not inside me where it felt as if I would burst into flames at any moment. I felt I had to take a bit more control and instead of being so kind and gentle with him, I began to become more directive and challenging.

“Daddy, why are you blocking me, and don’t say you aren’t. This is me, Cathy, your daughter–let me help you get better, because I need you, the children need you, even Simon needs you but he won’t tell you of course–he’s a bloke, but then I suspect you knew that already.

“Let me tell you a story which I think might help you: Once upon a time there was this lonely young woman who was lost, there were things she needed to do yet she was scared to do them. Then fate intervened, in fact it came crashing into her life in the shape of a Scottish noblewoman who was every bit as crazy as Lady Macbeth albeit in a more likeable manner. Anyway she encouraged the young woman to take the only course of action that she really could. However, there were all sorts of hazards out there and she was very naive and green as grass–and she had some awful issues with her parents, one of whom died soon after.

“Someone who’d keep a wary eye out for her and who’d taken her under his wing, shall we call the Magus, because he was a very clever man with a very soft heart and a strong moral sense. He also had amazing insight because he’d once had a daughter with similar problems to this young woman’s, although sadly she, the daughter had tragically died some years ago in a car crash. Anyway, the Magus offered the young woman a job and gave her his full support, finally offering her a room at his own house, becoming a surrogate father.

“When her own father died, the Magus effectively became her adoptive father, and in fact gave her away at her wedding–probably because she wasn’t worth much on the open market–I’m only joking, Daddy. It was very special day for our young heroine made all the more so because her adopted father was there.

“Of course like all headstrong youngsters she rebelled from time to time and they had the odd falling out, yet he allowed her to populate his home with all the waifs and strays she could find, some of whom had problems like the ones she’d had when he first knew her. She knew that above all other things she could always count on his love and support like she could a real parent.

“Things went on for two or three years, and he tolerated most of her impulsiveness, sometimes keeping her in line, sometimes offering wise counsel and sometimes going off in a huff with a single malt. Then one day, it all went wrong. A woman the Magus knew from years before came into his life again and caused a rift between the Magus and his daughter. Because she strongly suspected her motives, the daughter tried to challenge the older woman in front of the whole family. The Magus was very angry, perhaps because he had feelings for this woman, or perhaps because she was a guest in his house and he considered his daughter’s behaviour unacceptable. There was a great row and the daughter and the children left the house that night to take some time to mull over what had happened. She realised that she could be seen as jealous of the older woman and the affection her daddy had for her; though that wasn’t the reason–she knew there was something the woman wasn’t telling her daddy–but she couldn’t convey that to him. Then he disappeared off the radar completely and she had to employ a private investigator to find him for her. When they did find him he was quite ill, in fact gravely ill and she was devastated.

“She rushed to be by his bedside just to tell him how much she loved him and needed him, and how much his grandchildren loved him and wanted him home to be with them as a family once again. In reality, they needed him for his wisdom and advice, for his love and protection and for dozens of other reasons which would take all night to detail–they did, however, deliberately not include his rendition of the ‘Muckin’ of Geordie’s Byre’ amongst them.” I felt his hand move when I said this as if he wanted to tell me he was laughing inside.

“Now, the daughter and heroine of our story, whom the Magus, because he was such a clever dick, knew to have special powers–I mean she couldn’t jump tall buildings at a single bound sort of powers, but she could help the sick, which he’d seen and experienced himself more than once. However, when she rushed to his bedside to help him, he rebuffed her, even though he’d been asking for her earlier.

“So like any good daughter, she asked her father for his permission to make him better–because like any good daughter or wife, she knows implicitly what’s best for him, even if he disagrees–so in short, she told him to lie back and think of Scotland and let her do her thing or they’d be there until he did.

“The problem is it’s an unfinished story–which the Magus has the power to end happily or with much sadness. It’s really all up to him, he can either make her the happiest woman alive or the saddest and in doing so break the hearts of seven children who hold him in enormous esteem as their adopted granddad.”

“It’s up to you, Daddy, please help me to do this.”