The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2366 by Angharad Copyright© 2014 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

We went to lunch again, this time I felt a little better attired for the visit to Daddy’s usual restaurant, yesterday I was in jeans and trainers, today the suit I’d worn for the talk to the prospective students which was what I’d been doing before we came to eat.

“I do wonder what’s going to happen in the future,” I lamented.

“Aye.”

“I mean, are we going to have so many reality shows so that every teenager who wants to be a legend in their own lunchtime can be indulged or are people going to grow up and stop chasing money long enough to smell the roses?”

“They dinna seem tae hae much smell these days.”

“They’re mostly imports aren’t they, so they might well have been zapped with radiation or something similar. Si gave me a bunch of roses for our first valentine’s day and the buds never opened neither did they actually drop off like they would normally. I suspect they’d been treated with something.”

“Aye, quite likely.”

“You look very elegant today, Lady Cameron, are you ready to order?”

I blushed and thanked the manager for his compliment which suggested he didn’t approve of my jeans yesterday. I ordered the same as always and so did Tom. The meals arrived quite quickly which was just as well as Tom suddenly remembered he had a meeting at two. That reminded me I had a university management board meeting next week—oh well, a chance to catch up on some sleep.

“So what will happen to most of those who came this morning?”

“They’ll dae yer quiz and ony wi’ less than fifty percent, will be excluded.”

“What if that’s most of them?”

“We’ll drap oor numbers.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“A wee bitty mixed.”

“I’m not sure I follow you, Daddy.”

“Weel, if they don’t meet wir criterion, wir numbers will drap.”

“So we lose funding?”

“Aye, but we’d also lose some o’ thae aggro wir favourite teacher seems tae coalesce.” I wasn’t aware I’d coalesced anything, so it can’t have been me.

“Oh,” I was at my conversationalist best.

“Ye look like a startled deer.”

“Do I?”

“Ye didnae understand whit I said, did ye?”

“About a startled deer?”

“No ye dunderheid.”

“If you spoke English it would help,” I said for badness.

After a look that should have stopped an express train he smiled wrily then said, “If we reject more students then you as our most popular teacher would have less to do.”

“Ah, sounds good to me.”

“D’ye ken we hae tae stop Neal’s pay.”

“Why? He’s long term sick.”

“Aye, but we only pay six months on fu’ pay then six months on hef pay, then nothin’.”

“I don’t suppose he spends that much.”

“Whit aboot his mortgage?”

“That’s with High Street, I think they agreed to suspend repayments.”

“His council tax an’ heating and lighting, insurance an’ so on?”

“I think we arranged for all those to happen through his account on direct debits. I’ll ask Phoebe to check.”

“She’s a wee lassie, ye’re a grown woman, why is she daein’ it?”

“Because she wanted to. She is his sister.”

“Aye, I ken that.”

“She’s quite capable of doing it, Daddy. I said I’d check through it once a year with her. So far, she’s done really well, any surplus over a certain amount she puts in an ISA. It doesn’t make very much, but it all helps.”

“If ye’re sure.”

“I am, look in less than a year she’s going to be a partner in the salon that Julie and she bought, she already knows quite a bit about the running of it and the financial side of things as well as the hairdressing bits.” Of that, she shows some degree of flair already.

“Aye, I ken thae latter, she cut ma hair last time.”

“I thought Julie did it.”

“Nah, it wis Phoebe, I’m sure it wis.”

“It probably was then, are you ready to go back?”

He nodded his response swallowing down the last of his Guinness and we returned to my car. “What meeting have you got?”

“Och one wi’ thae dean.”

“Anything interesting?”

“Aye, ma retirement.”

“What?” I gasped feeling myself become all wet and watery.

“I’ve got tae go sometime.”

“I know that,” I said with more conviction than I felt. “Couldn’t you be an emeritus prof?”

“I will be.”

“Oh.”

“Cathy, I appreciate your concern, but is it necessary?”

That was telling me. However, I wasn’t listening. “Yes it is, you’re the leader of the survey team.”

“No, I’m no thae leader, I’m the patron ye’re thae leader an’ always hae been.”

That was news to me, except it wasn’t. I have been leading it since we started it but I tend to think of myself as the first mate rather than the captain. I was still shocked, I’d always thought of him as timeless or ageless, but I suppose he does tend to act like someone half his age.

“But you’ll still be there if I need you?”

“Aye, ye won’t escape me that easily.”

I found that somewhat reassuring.

“Will you be there until they find a replacement?”

“Aye, until next April.”

For a brief moment I considered going at the same time but who’ll save the dormouse if I go—or is that a trick question to make myself feel important. Besides, dormice were there before I was and hopefully will be after I’ve gone.

Author's note: Apologies for shorter episode tonight, too tired to write any more.