Chapter 27 (Revised)   Simon Jones is Eve Jones. But she didn't know.

 
Previously:

Eve has made peace with the hospital but now wants to find out what is wrong.

Now the story continues.
 
 
 
Eve Chapter 27
 
 
 

Apparently mum and Dr Roberts had been talking whilst I was in the loo and neither was smiling.

"Sit down Eve."

No please or thank you then.

"I had hoped we'd get a better idea if there are any problems there," he pointed towards at my crotch, "but the scans are inconclusive. I'm going to have to organise an MRI but there's a waiting list of several weeks as you're an out-patient."

We left for the car. We'd been in there so long that the parking ticket had run out and we had a notice on the car charging us an extra fifty quid for thirty minutes excess parking. Mum looked about to blow a fuse. I took the notice and walked back to the out-patients reception. The lady from earlier this morning was back on the desk.

"Hello, oh it's you."

"Yes, we have a parking ticket thanks to the hospital."

"What do you expect me to do? Pay it?"

"No, you are to contact the Chief Exec's office and tell them to cancel it."

"You're kidding?"

"No, Brenda." Her ID card was hiding in her blouse, apparently she didn't want her name known. It had however chosen that moment to dislodge itself. She shoved it back quickly.

By now there was a queue behind me so I tried again.

"Be a dear Brenda and sort this out for me. I'll see you tomorrow, you can let me know then how you've done." My next appointment was Friday, but she wouldn't know.

I walked away with a smile on my face, I reached the car just before it started raining again. Thankfully the rain had cleared when we got to the supermarket.

Mum was slowly pushing a trolley down an aisle when her mobile rang.

"Yes, er, yes we were. You have, right. Two? Okay. Bye."

"That was Mr Dixon, he has received a bankers draft from the Chief Exec by courier and wants to see us later today."

We finished off the shopping and headed home for lunch. We'd picked up some hot chicken again, it was a regular favourite, and had that before we put most of the food away. There was also a selection of toiletries plus some new packs of knickers and tights for both of us.

At one thirty we drove into town and walked to the solicitor's office, Mr Dixon looked quite pleased.

"I don't know how you did it."

"Did what?" Mum was teasing him.

"Screwed the Trust for ten grand and settled my bill without worrying what it was. Even getting private treatment too."

"Practice, I had been negotiating contracts for ten years until they laid me off."

He continued, "then, this morning, the school sent over a cheque for £8250. Don't ask me how they came up with that figure. I'd suggest you accept it and draw a line under the issue."

"The money is fine, but what about the court case?"

"That depends on the magistrates. In any case the £18,250 is yours to use as you wish." He turned to me, "do you know which bank account to pay it into?"

I could see mum reaching into her bag searching for her purse, but as Mr Dixon had addressed me I quickly rattled off my new account number. I'd made a point of remembering the number on Monday when the card arrived.

Mr Dixon typed the number in as I said it and hit the enter key with some force.

"It's done, I've authorised overnight clearance so you'll get it tomorrow."

Mum finally finished fishing around in her bag. "I have that account number for you."

"Your daughter has already supplied me with an account."

"She did?"

"Yes, I transferred the funds a minute ago."

"I see." I saw her reluctantly put a card back in her purse.

"I'll keep in touch about the court, if that's all?"

So we were shown out the building and I was slightly richer than when I went into his office, but I couldn't spend it yet.

"Eve, why did you give him your account number?"

"Because he asked me for it. Is there a problem?"

"Err, no, but you can't tell anyone about the money, right?"

"Even Claire?"

"Not yet. I hope you're not making a shopping list?"

"Oh, new bike, laptop, go away at half term? That sort of thing."

"A few days away sounds like an idea."

"I want Claire there. "

"We'll see."

On the ride home I thought about what was happening. I'm going back to school, soon. I've settled with the school and the hospital and all three of my personal problems, Ms Holts and both David Stevens are out of the way already, or at least very soon?

That leaves me, I think mum has meant well but this has taken on a life off its own. I thought I'd accepted my fate but was I doing this simply to keep Claire? Am I thinking straight? The sudden stop outside the front door jolted me, my self-questioning ended for now. The rain was coming down hard, it looked like a storm had taken up residence over the town.

I headed upstairs and took my damp jeans off, intending to change into a skirt. I then felt where some of the hospital's gell was still on my belly and in my knickers, a shower was definitely needed. While washing I considered that no-one still knew for sure why these changes were happening to me, but, even allowing for mum's interference, I felt these changes were so natural. The question remained however, why?

Once clean I dressed very simply in some sweats, after all I wasn't planning on going out in that rain. I almost put on some sports socks but it wasn't cold indoors so left them off. Using the power of the internet I decided that some retail therapy was in order. Whilst I didn't yet have a PIN to use my new card in an ATM or a shop, I could at least use it online.

I looked first for a laptop, realising that they came in different colours now, was that more important than performance? The online prices weren't that much different from the major stores so I held back. Bikes were a different story, I found a snazzy all terrain bike in lurid pink for £200, half the price in the local bike specialist store, and ordered it before I could change my mind. Unfortunately the transaction failed, then I remembered that the money wouldn't be in my account until tomorrow. Damn.

I checked my emails, cousin Jenny had a little information and said that our mums were going to look for paint, wallpaper - it looked like someone was getting a room makeover. Claire had now replied, she was busy on Saturday so wouldn't be able to join us in town. I'd always previously avoided going shopping with Jenny so this would be a new experience. She had a slight dark edge to her fashion sense, maybe she was a part-time goth? Is that the right description?

I went downstairs, mum was in the lounge talking with her sister on the phone, she went very quiet the moment I appeared. I went into the kitchen, closed the door behind me and made certain that no cooking was already in progress. A quick check of the fridge revealed enough ingredients for a homemade chilli. Although it was only four, a good chilli takes longer than 20 minutes so I started straight away. By the time mum came off the phone there was a lovely smell in the kitchen.

"Eve, you've tempted me, could we have this now?"

"No, you can wait until after six. By the way, do we have a bottle of red?"

"Yes, why?"

"Remember when we were in France? That chef showed me how to use wine in cooking. I believe a Cabernet Shiraz would be good for this."

"But, opening a bottle of wine just for the cooking pot is wasteful."

"I think we can find a second use for the bottle? Especially as we have had a mostly productive day."

"Remember Miss, you're only sixteen."

"Virtually seventeen, and you let me drink when we were in France, also I just got given eighteen thousand quid because of everyone else's damn hassle with me so we can forget your holier than thou attitude for tonight." I don't know where that came from.

"Eve! How dare you!"

"Mum, first calm down. Second I've accepted most things you've said until now but I've grown alot stronger this past month. Third, yes it came out a bit strong so I'll apologise for the words but not the sentiment. As I said to you and the tutor this week, I'm not a little kid any more."

"Eve, I will not take that attitude from you! Also, you had no right to that money!"

"Attitude? You deliberately withheld information from me, including my real name. You lied to me about my father and then manipulated me to suit your needs. What did you expect to achieve? Who gave you those rights? Maybe I'm not the one who needs a shrink? As for the money, it was my character that's been destroyed, not yours!"

"You bitch! You bitch! You bitch!"

I think she was about to slap me but I turned and walked, in bare feet, straight out of the kitchen door and into the heavy rain, slamming the door behind me. There might have been a thud behind me, or was it a door closing somewhere?