The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2909 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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Trish returned chatting to Hannah. “Were they closed?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“What took so long then?”

“Uh...”

“She made them open then closed them again,” giggled Hannah dropping her sister in it.

I shook my head in a mildly disapproving way. “They are shut properly now, I hope?”

“I’ll go an’ check again,” offered Trish.

“Uh, no you won’t, young lady and put the bleeper thing back where it’s kept.”

“Spoilsport,” she said before skipping off to do as I asked.

The rest of the week was taken up by trying to amuse my children, deal with emails or phone calls from Diane and run the household. Amanda had a couple of days off while I was home to go and see her mother. Simon agreed she could borrow the Mondeo, although technically Tom’s car, we tended to use it most so we paid the tax and insurance and fuel. He also rang the garage and I was to expect my car sometime on Wednesday. I could hardly wait. The people carrier thing was fine for the school run but otherwise my Jag was far better.

Not being in school we’d had no problem from any further attacks mind you, the way that happened and the sense of helplessness I felt, still has some ramifications. I’ve had flashbacks and nasty dreams. I hope the guys we thumped were the ones responsible and hopefully they’ll leave us in peace from now on. Hopefully, Ingrid was the instigator and as she is no longer with us, they’ll go and bother someone else.

I asked Danni and Trish to play some football type game and include Hannah in it. She was astonished how quickly Danni’s ankle seemed to mend, helped by Trish giving it a massage and my distance healing. It all comes from me, but they are seemingly able to plug into my system and direct it themselves, which apparently boosts it somewhat. So I suspect the blue energy system is training them for the longer term. I tried looking back to when I first realised it was happening and it was quite gradual until Mima nearly drowned. Then it seemed my insistence it save her seemed to escalate things a little. Now I try to use it sparingly.

“She’s got potential,” was Danni’s opinion of Hannah’s soccer skills, so I asked her to coach Hannah until she was improving—sort of bend it like Cameron. I also had those who wanted to ride, out on bikes. Trish was a disappointment so Hannah borrowed her bike and together with her big sister and soccer coach, Danni, we rode several times.

Danielle is a natural athlete with great balance and coordination, Hannah is a plodder, but one with attitude. Tell her she won’t do something and she’ll do her best to prove you wrong. Portsdown hill nearly killed her but she drove herself to get to the top long after she should have stopped. With little bodyweight and a better muscle to bodyweight ratio than I have, she got there. This kid was full of surprises and winning my respect by the day. As I hadn’t ridden much for a few weeks, I found it a struggle and I have the advantage of experience and knowledge. Riding a bike is almost as much about head stuff as physical strength. Okay, you have to have enough strength to turn the pedals and enough stamina to complete your journey, but you also have to have belief—if you don’t you won’t conquer your demons and the bigger hills. It can come in many forms, in Hannah’s case it was cast as determination, she wouldn’t give in so I helped talk her up the hill and that included Danielle too. She hadn’t ridden it for a long time and needed some distraction, which was my job.

Me, I talk myself up them, hills and some people’s noses, on my own I distract myself by trying to think of something like how am I going to do a certain task, or give a particular lecture. What can I do to involve my audience/students? I also try to remember it wasn’t that long ago that I was a student myself and what did it feel like? What could I do to improve the bits I didn’t enjoy apart from use novelty and the unexpected? I learnt a bit of NLP and the techniques of making students remember things even though they weren’t aware they were doing it. I also use the same techniques for climbing my own mountains, building up the chunks until I can get over the whole thing. It still gives me a buzz.

When Tom asked me to act as a professor, just for a few months until they got a new dean, he knew he wouldn’t be returning to his chair and he also knew he wanted me to replace him but without experience, I’d have no chance. He guided me in the beginning and I suppose still does from time to time. I know he desperately wants me to win his chair and run his department until perhaps one of the choice positions has an opening, like Sussex or London or possibly Oxbridge, which would be the icing on the cake of any academic career. Would I want to go abroad? Not really, I’ve got Made in Britain stamped on every cell in my body, it’s probably part of the code of my DNA, so although California or Boston might be warmer in summer and the salaries probably better, I’ll stay here and watch the rain while trying to improve the place for our indigenous wildlife and in doing so also for future generations.

I hope Joni Mitchell’s They paved Paradise, doesn’t happen on my shift or those of the people I teach to replace me. I hope to continue making films, preferably with Alan as we work well together, but for now, I’ve got to get these two home on their bikes and then find something for all of us to do tomorrow—I know, we’ll go swimming at the hotel.

We did. It was good fun and they all enjoyed it. Then my Jaguar returned and it was like meeting an old friend. Unknown to me, Simon had instructed them to fit armoured glass, which is effectively bulletproof—it’s a bit like the sort the PM uses, only mine’s an estate car. Apparently now it can produce a very loud noise outside the car and the external handles become electrically charged to administer a shock to anyone trying to open them. In the car we’re safe, standing outside it, you’re earthed and thus shocked. There’s a button to press for this defence mechanism. It feels like something out of James Bond—I’d still like the DB10, Aston Martin built for the film, complete with machine guns and ballistic missile system.

Good Friday was a lovely day with sunshine all day and we spent all of it outdoors. We went for a picnic and walked around some of Langstone harbour, where I managed to see Brent geese and spoonbills before some twit frightened them all.

A tired group of youngsters tucked into the stew David had made and I admit, I was both tired and hungry, so I enjoyed it too. I keep waiting for Hannah to react to her mother’s death, but she doesn’t. Just anything to give her a chance to grieve a little but she doesn’t.

The funeral is set for after Easter, the crematorium is apparently very busy. I haven’t yet asked her if she wants to go to the funeral but sooner or later I will, I don’t have a choice. I have a duty to offer to take her and it’s something I hate to think about let alone do. Let’s get Easter over first and the storm that’s due to coincide with it. Wonderful.