The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2908 by Angharad Copyright© 2016 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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We stood by the car while the women disembarked from the coach. Danielle seemed somewhat disconsolate and she was limping as she came towards us. She waved to one or two of the others and then got to us. Hannah took her bag and I held the door as Danielle climbed into the people carrier.

“What happened?” I asked after sitting in the car.

“I got targeted.”

“’Cos you’re the best player,” piped Hannah from behind.

“The third time I got taken down, my ankle twisted under me. She got sent off and I got substituted.”

“Did you score?” asked Hannah.

“Only twice today.”

“Twice?,” Shrieked Hannah doing further damage to my hearing.

“Yeah, the last one shoulda been number three.”

“How was that?” I asked reversing the car out of its parking space.

“I usually take the penalties, but I couldn’t stand.”

“The other two weren’t, like penalties, were they?”

“They all count,” Danni reminded Hannah.

“Yeah, but it’s not as difficult as dribbling past defenders is it?”

“You seem to know a lot about soccer,” I suggested.

“I used to play in my other school.”

“Why don’t you now?” I asked unaware of this.

“Nobody asked me an’ I’m not as good as Danni an’ Trish.”

“How d’you know?”

“I seen ’em play, Mummy.”

“Well I think you should try and see if you can get into the team eventually.”

“I dunno, Mummy, I’ll think about it.”

“How’s the ankle, kiddo?”

“Easing, thanks,” she smiled at me.

“Why do referees allow targeting to happen?” I asked as I drove homewards.

“It’s quite legit and if they have three on me, we have a two overlap.”

“How many did you score?”

“Two, I told you already.”

“No all together.”

“Oh six, I think.”

“Six?” shrieked Hannah even louder than before and probably waking dormice from their hibernation for twenty miles around.

“Yeah, I scored two and made two of the others, the last two were scored after I went off, one from the penalty I shoulda taken.”

“I glad to learn you didn’t retaliate to those who fouled you.”

“Too busy rollin’ about on the ground. It bloody ’urt.”

“Why do they have to play dirty? They’re supposed to be young ladies.”

Hannah and Danielle nearly fell of their seats laughing.

“Some of them would make Neanderthals looked civilised.”

“They were.”

“What?” said Danni.

“Yes, there’s evidence to suggest they were quite a bit more sophisticated than we gave credit, for instance, they buried their dead with funerary goods.”

“What are they?” Danni looked bemused.

“They buried their dead with bits of their possessions and with flowers. Sadly the technology was minimalist.”

I pulled into the drive and Danielle pipped the remote so the gates opened. So far Daddy hadn’t rammed them this time, but give him long enough and he’ll forget. We’d kept a conversation about primitive peoples with the two girls feeling it was legitimate to refer to some of their contemporaries as Neanderthals or cave men. They didn’t quite get to Cro-Magnon which would have surprised and delighted me. These were the forerunners of modern Europeans and if I remember correctly had pretty well the same DNA as we do.

It was a little concerning that Danni was being targeted by the bully girls but she is a phenomenal footballer and good players are often stopped only by fouls because their skills are so much greater than anyone else on the field. At least Danni seems able to deal with it and her ankle is far less swollen since getting in the car. We’ve kept the blue stuff a bit quieter until Hannah becomes more aware of it and the consequences of blabbing in the wrong quarter.

The weather had been reasonable for a couple of days and we’d even managed to line dry a couple of loads of washing but the forecast for Easter, was pretty awful, only Good Friday looking to be fine. So far we’ve had about ten or eleven storms this year and it’s only just week twelve. The weather is as bizarre as the times all of which is supporting the belief amongst the scientific community that climate change is happening and coming to a place near you. I mean that means a storm every bloody week, no wonder I can’t get out on my frigging bike.

I carried Danni’s bag into the house while she walked awkwardly rather than limped. Of course Trish spotted it and wanted to heal it. Danielle was more aware and said she could try and rub it better later, for now all she wanted was the roast lamb dinner David had saved her.

I sat and drank a cuppa while she tucked into her food and the rate it was going down, she appeared to be enjoying it. “That was great, Dave,” she called to him as he was about to leave to go back to his cottage.

“Glad you enjoyed it, kiddo,” he called then left.

“Did you close the gates?” I asked Danni.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Trish can you check please.”

“Yeah, okay.” She ambled out of the kitchen with Hannah walking alongside her.

I left Danni to finish her meal and went to the study where Simon came in behind me, hugged me and gave me a kiss. “Missed you, Babes,” he said.

“I’ve missed you too,” I replied, then added, “Hannah seems to think I killed her mother.”

“How d’you know?”

“She as good as told me.”

“Oh, so what do we do about that—tell her what happened?”

“I have in outline, that she was killed by another car as she went to get into her car. But, probably because I was there, she assumes I was involved.”

“You were trying to apprehend her, weren’t you?”

“Yes but not actually with her or trying to grab her or anything, I was probably twenty or thirty yards away.”

“There’ll be an inquest?”

“Yeah, I’ve given a statement but the police told me I may need to attend.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“Thanks, darling.”

“Hannah won’t need to attend?”

“God, I hope not—no, she wasn’t there so, no. Besides I’d hate for her to hear the details.”

“You haven’t exactly described them to me.”

“It was horrible. She stumbled and fell forwards between the door and the car and the car coming the other way came round the corner too quickly and hit the door.”

“While she was still...ugh, that is horrible, babes.”

“I know, I saw it.”

He hugged me.

“I’ll be okay, it was awful but—one of those things, I guess, but the bloke in the car that hit her was going too fast.”

“What was that about a bag of money that James was on about?”

“Oh she was carrying a flight bag with her and the car hit it ripping it open and the road was filled with twenty pound notes.”

“Will Hannah get those?”

“I hope so, though I suspect the Inland Revenue will want to see what tax she paid for the past year.”

“That could take years.”

“I just hope she made a will or we’ll have to fight for Hannah’s share of the estate.”

“If we have to, we will,” Simon declared supporting me.

“C’mon let’s see what they’re all up to.”