The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2746 by Angharad Copyright© 2015 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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At a few minutes before ten, I parked my car and entered the reception of the football club at Fratton Park. I explained who I was there to see and who I was. The woman behind the desk made a phone call and two minutes later escorted me down a corridor where she knocked on a door and let me in.

“Ah, Mrs Cameron—coffee?”

I nodded. “White please.”

He picked up the phone, two white coffees please, Sharon.”

We made small talk until she appeared with the tray of coffees. “I believe there’s someone sniffing around Danielle, claiming she’s a boy.”

“Not according to her birth certificate.”

“Look, I know her history because we discussed it when she got the England call up. We passed that on to the FA who swallowed hard and I suspect helped by your lawyer fellow, convinced them she was eligible to play as a female within the rules set up by the court for arbitration for sport. The FA are signatories of an equality and diversity protocol, as are we. She is a very talented young woman and I want her to continue training and playing for us and England, it would be a shame if she were to stop because some arsehole from a tabloid raised a storm.”

“If he does I’ll see he goes to prison for contempt of court. She’s a minor, he is not allowed to reveal her name or any other identifying feature. I have my lawyer seeking an injunction against the paper on the grounds of her being a child.”

“He’ll get no help from us, I’ve spoken to all the other girls and they think it’s a crying shame they can’t leave her alone to get on with her life.”

“We all think the same. Just because someone is different doesn’t give the press the right to hound them to death, like that teacher a few years ago—committed suicide thanks to a lout who works for the Daily Mail wrote about her and stirred up a brouhaha and involved the local bigots to hound her from her job.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know about that one—seems a bit pointless after this Caitlyn character in the States, no big news story any more is it?”

“I never understood its newsworthiness in the first place.”

“You’re too young, but years ago it was something of a novelty but nowadays, it’s hardly that is it? And with articles in the papers or on telly, it seems being ordinary is unusual nowadays.”

“Ah but is anyone ordinary? We all have our foibles and differences, it’s what makes us interesting.”

“True, so what makes you interesting apart from having a trans daughter?”

“I like studying wild animals and showing them to the general public so they can see and share the magic too.”

“You make films don’t you—of course, the dormouse lady.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you teach at the university as well?”

“At the present, I teach very little unfortunately, I’m trying to keep the mammal survey and the rest of the department going.”

“You run the department?”

“It’s usually what professors do.”

He actually blushed, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you were a professor—but it kind of makes sense, most of the people making programmes are—there’s that astronomer bloke, always on when they talk about Higgs bosun.”

“Brian Cox, is a particle physicist.”

“That’s him, like a rock star.”

“He used to play in a rock band—did keyboards, I believe.”

“So he did, then that bloke from Queen who wants to save badgers.”

“Brian May, he’s an astrophysicist.”

“And you’re a dormousologist?” He laughed at his own joke.

“I’m professor of biological sciences, which includes biology, microbiology, marine biology, ecology, zoology, botany, mycology and so on.”

“So is Danielle going to follow in her mother’s footsteps?”

“She’s mentioned she wants to teach but her first love is football.”

“You don’t play then?”

“No, too little coordination, I’ll stick to bicycles for my exercise.”

“You ride?”

“Not competitively these days, too busy to keep fit.”

“What about Mr Cameron, does he ride?”

“Simon, not very often, too busy, though he used to play rugby and cricket at university.”

“You’re married to Simon Cameron—the banker?”

“Yes—it’s no secret.”

“So you’re actually, Lady Cameron?”

“Yes, but I’m here as Danielle’s mother not in any other capacity, so doctor, professor or Lady are somewhat irrelevant.”

“Except you have some very powerful friends.”

“Yes.”

“Does this guy know what he’s messing with?”

My phone peeped and I glanced at it. “He does now, or his editor does—that was my barrister, he’s got an injunction. Now all I want to know is his source.”

“Oh, you didn’t strike me as a vindictive sort.”

“Somebody has tried to sell my daughter’s life for money—I intend to make them see the error of their ways by hitting the thing they most want—money.”

“Maybe they were stuck for it—money, I mean.”

“I don’t care, you don’t go threatening the happiness of a child to make money. It’s immoral and illegal. I shall make sure they understand.”

“You won’t get a reporter to reveal his sources.”

“In which case he can suffer instead—I don’t care, but if he ends up with more than his underwear, my people won’t have worked hard enough. As he’s a shit, I’m going to show my displeasure.”

“Boy, you can be vindictive.”

“No, it isn’t vindictiveness, it’s showing these bastards that they can’t go round doing what they like ruining other people’s lives because they can—if they do, I’ll show them there are others who have the same powers only in much greater supply.”

“You’re going to ruin these people?”

“I’m going to protect my own with whatever it takes. You said you wanted Danielle to keep playing football because she has such a talent she should share it. I’m trying to make sure she’s able to do just that now and in the future. If I don’t, the next time she score hat tricks for England or your team, the rats will emerge from their holes to try and profit by exposing her irrelevant history. If I do some pest control now, it might make the others think twice.”

“Aren’t you being as bad as them?”

“Oh much worse, they’re only trying to make money—I’m trying to teach the media a lesson.”

“What if they turn on you?”

“I’m big enough to take care of myself.”

“And you have powerful friends?”

“Quite.”

“I hope I shall be one of them, I’ve arranged a meeting with someone from the FA tomorrow to persuade them that they should continue to call up Danielle for her talent—she’s got so much.”

“If they’d played her in their world cup squad, they’d have won.”

“Possibly, they said she was too young to cope at that level—but next time...”

“Who knows where any of us will be in four years, including Danielle. Though I hope university will feature in her plans.”

“I’ll try and encourage her.”

“Thank you. I must go and see if the school has sent her some work via the internet. I’m keeping her home until this dies down.”

I left the football stadium thinking that he must have thought I was as bad as the creeps who threaten my children. I’m not, I’m far worse. They want money, I want them unable to do it to anyone else. I called James on the way home, I wanted some names and he was the man to get them.