The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1900 by Angharad Copyright © 2012 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

Back at home, I collected the groceries and the flowers from the boot of the car and told the three girls to take them down to Ingrid’s cottage. I stood and watched as they knocked on the door and then handed them in.

“You must be Cathy’s daughters?” I heard a voice say from inside the door.

“Yes, I’m Trish, this is Mima and that’s Livvie. We have to go now, bye.” They came trotting back to me and we went inside the house.

“Who are they, Mummy? She’s got tattoos and a black eye?”

“Some people who need our help, no more questions, okay?”

The three of them gave me funny looks but I ignored them. They then went in search of Stella or Jacquie for more information, but they’d get very little from either. I sent the girls off to change and to bring their dirty clothes down for washing. While they were doing that Danny arrived home. I gave him similar instructions. He grumbled and went up to his room.

While I was at Ingrid’s previous home, I didn’t see any sign of a computer. I bought a cheap laptop for them as a Christmas present, which would enable them to do all the usual, internet, play music or DVDs, even a web cam thing so they could skype people if they wanted to. Trish or Sammi would be only too pleased to show them how to do things and they could use our wi-fi connection for the net.

Once the children had supplied their dirty clothes, I stuck the machine on and asked David if he needed any help. He asked me to do some veg and I spent twenty minutes washing spuds.

After this, I went to change into a skirt for dinner, but Trish called me for something and I didn’t bother, just changing my top and leaving my jeans and trainers on. Whatever it was she wanted–oh a biscuit–which I denied her because we were about twenty minutes from dinner at six.

Just then, Tom arrived, and following him in were Si and Sammi; by the time they’d changed dinner would be ready. I mentioned we had two guests coming for dinner and they shrugged and went to change.

To make it less formal, I thought we’d eat in the kitchen, as I thought it would be cosier for Ingrid and Hannah. Fortunately my kitchen is huge and my table has a capacity to expand with a flap in the middle–hark at me, it’s Tom’s furniture–but I suppose as his daughter, I get to organise things.

David had done us proud, we had a salmon with watercress sauce, new potatoes, petite pois and baby carrots. There was no starter, and the pudding was ice cream and strawberry purée. Ingrid and her daughter couldn’t believe that we employed a chef, but having licked their lips during the meal, they could see why. We ate well and healthily.

“That was, pure magic, Cathy. David you’re a wizard,” said Ingrid as she sipped her coffee and Hannah was nodding in agreement.”

I excused myself to check on Catherine who’d been put to bed by Jacqui, but who’d been teething and therefore restless. Stella came with me to check on Fiona, who was also teething. While we were upstairs calamity struck.

I heard the doorbell but had my hands full with the baby, so I paid no attention to it until I heard raised voices and screams. I handed the baby to Stella and told her to stay with the three little ones and lock her door and not open it until I came back.

The voices were still raised as I crept down the stairs. A stranger was shouting and Simon was shouting back. There were screams and it had to be that thugs had broken into the house–possibly related to Cortez, or Ingrid’s previous partner or just robbers. I flew back up the stairs and after locking my bedroom door, I assembled my bow and with a quiver of arrows–still with target points–I set off in defence of my home.

I managed to sneak down the stairs unobserved. Some complete stranger was threatening to cut Ingrid’s throat if Simon didn’t tell him where I was. The girls were all hugging themselves and cowering under the table. The adults were still seated at the table except Sammi, who was cowering on the floor at the feet of another thug who was also holding a vicious looking knife.

To stop the man with the knife at Ingrid’s throat would require head shot and a Robin Hood or William Tell type character. The man was wearing a ski mask and he threatened again. Simon stood and screamed at him. The man pointed at him with the knife and my arrow caught him somewhere near the collar bone. Did he scream, but not as much as the one standing over Sammi, he took an arrow to the chest and the impact knocked him backwards.

“There’s one more, Cathy,” yelled Simon, “and he’s mine.” I saw the man edging towards the door and Simon clambered onto the table and threw himself at the man as he turned to flee. Fourteen stone (196 lbs for the colonials) landed on him and he fell to the ground with a splat and Simon hit him twice I think.”

Sirens sounded and the remaining member of the gang–the man I sorted out earlier was stopped in the drive by the police. Trish had managed to text the police while under the table–she’s an amazing child–talk about cool head. I found out later that the others sat in front of her so they couldn’t see she had her phone with her.

I got reprimanded–what’s new–it’s illegal to shoot people with a bow. The bow and a couple of arrows were confiscated by police. I’d already stashed most of them and the best bow back upstairs.

Eventually a Superintendent arrived. “Lady Cameron, you can’t just go round shooting people, firing arrows everywhere.”

“You shoot arrows, you fire guns,” I corrected him, not feeling at all contrite. The ambulance and paramedics had determined that neither of the wounded men had life threatening injuries, although the first had a smashed collar bone and the second fractures of the sternum–damn, I knew this bow pulled a little to the left. It should have been a heart shot.

“Anyway you can’t go round shooting people willy-nilly. What if they’d been neighbours wanting to borrow a cup of sugar?”

“Our nearest neighbours are a mile away, and I’ve never seen one yet threaten a guest with a knife to their throat.”

“You could have killed her, not the knife man,” the superintendent berated me, and when I thought about it, he was right. The bow pulling slightly to the left meant the bandit got it, not Ingrid, though I’d probably have hit him in the throat not her.

“I knew what I was doing.”

“What if one of them had had a gun?”

“I’d have used a head shot.”

“What? Deliberately shot to kill?”

“Your marksmen would have done.”

“They’re trained and assess the situation before giving fire.”

“Is that why they shoot the wrong one so often?”

“That’s not us, that’s the Met.”

“Oh, the plebs.”

He gave me a filthy look and a little twinkle shone in his eyes for a moment. “I will seriously consider charging you with assault with a deadly weapon or even attempted murder.”

“I’ll claim self-defence and defence of my family.”

“It might not be enough.”

“If I’d wanted to kill them, I’d have used two head shots.”

“With all due respect, Lady Cameron, I doubt you could do that in such circumstances.”

“If you’d like to have two of your officers, preferably ones you don’t like, stand where the two attackers stood, I’ll show you–oh you’ll have to give me back my bow and arrows.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“Are you calling me a liar?” I said equally loudly.

“No, I’m just voicing my opinion.”

“So am I, only mine is based upon experience. Yours on ignorance–now arrest me or let me put my children to bed.”