CHAPTER 22
I watched the new arrival, and her gaze went straight to Anita, who shrugged in the most obvious of ways before pointing at me.

“Debbie’s house, Eleanor. Her call”

I turned to Kim, smiling as gently as I could manage.

“Upstairs here makes sense. Eleanor?”

Her reaction was delayed, so I asked myself how long she had used that name, at least openly.

“Yeah?”

“Kim and I sleep in this house. I’ve got next door as well, so if you want…”

“Is it safe? Next door, I mean?”

It took me a second before I grasped what she meant, so I smiled again.

“It’s all connected, love. There’s an internal door between the two houses, so you don’t have to go outside. I think, though, that it would probably be best if you sleep on this side for now. Save you getting lost on your own, and it means you’ll have Kim near you if you need anything. Which reminds me: oy, slave!”

Kim caught on immediately, which showed how well she was recovering from the shock we had all been given.

“Yes, O Mistress?”

“Want to take our new friend and put some fresh linen on the spare bed? You can show here where the bathroom and that are. Give us a shout when you’re nearly done, and I’ll make some hoy chocolate. You drink that, Eleanor?”

“Yes please. Um, could you call me Nell, like, er, Kim here did? I like that”

“OK, Nell, Kim will show you the room and that. If you want to stay, take your bag up with you, and you can get your stuff put away properly”

Kim rose, taking her tray and paper debris into the kitchen before returning and offering a hand to pull Nell to her feet, then off upstairs. Anita sat quietly until we heard the footsteps on the first floor, then sighed.

“You sure about another guest so soon, Debbie?”

“I think so, butt. Did you see how Kim reacted? I think it’s what she needs, especially after, you know”

Nita nodded, mouth tight.

“Looking at your face, woman, I can see how shitty it must have been. How bad?”

“The eye? I popped in and saw my GP, and she had a look over it. Nothing too serious, but she wants me to pop over to the hospital for an X-ray, just in case there’s a fracture. I thought I’d been hit by a bloody brick. Hurt like hell, it did”

“Yeah. Lots of rubbish about punches like that, to the face, in bloody films and stuff. Possible damage is enormous. This will sound stupid, but you were lucky. Enough on that, cause there are some things I really don’t need to know. Background on the new arrival?”

“Please”

“Heidi’s lot teed her up for us—er, I hope you don’t mind, and I know it’s you that’s doing all this, but I sort of feel it’s an ‘us’ thing. Anyway, she’s fifteen, sixteen in a couple of months. Came out to one of her teachers, who only went and told her bloody parents. Dad kicked her out, or as he put it, she ran away. Found sitting in a Maccy D’s; staff called the police after she was still there after four hours. SS found a short-term foster placement, and as she is officially a lad, well, you know the process. Lot of bullying, couple of slaps by other boys—you know what I mean---for being a fairy. Heidi overheard someone in her old office talking about it, so she called me, and here we are. She’s from Cwm Parc. I don’t think Daddy will be a problem”

“No other issues with her?”

“None that I know of. Good results at school, so Heidi is looking into a school placement of some kind, let her get her GCSEs done, at least. And I think we might look at doing something similar for that kid who isn’t staying here. I saw the books on the table, Debbie”

For the first time in ages, I was able to speak of Mam with a smile, as I explained where the books had come from, and how we had covered my own educational needs. Nita just sat and listened, before nodding.

“Aye. I saw how determined she was when we met, love. She did so well for you… Change the subject, Harris. Heidi has started the grant process for Eleanor—Nell. You should have some cash coming in. Mind if she calls round to get the paperwork rolling?”

“Cash?”

“Of course. You are operating as a fosterer, in a way, and Social Services pay a support grant for that. And shut up, before you say anything stupid. Who bought Kim’s clothes?”

“Well, she gets her wages from Ruth, so she gets her own”

“I am not going to go anywhere near the law on underage working, Debbie, but who kitted her out before she got her own money? Yeah? You’ll take the money Heidi sorts you, and it’ll help sorting out the other house, food, whatever. Now, I’ve got one last thing, before we hit the kettle for the chocolate: liaison. I have a good idea as to how you got that eye, and another about how it was sorted. I’d like any further ‘sorting’ to be done properly”

“I can look after myself”

“I don’t doubt it, love. I’m not talking about a bodyguard, woman. Just an officer assigned to pick up any worries, like cars coming round too often, people hanging around, so on. One officer only, what we call a SPOC, single point of contact, and no, they won’t have pointy ears. Feet on the stairs, love. Yes or no?”

“I get to meet them first?”

“Of course. Hiya, you two. What do you think, Nell? Suits you, by the way”

I turned in my chair to see the two girls, and of course Kim had given Nell one of her dresses to wear. I felt oddly proud. Nell was smiling a lot more easily, although her head still dropped every so often.

“Kim said I could borrow it until I could get some clothes of my own. Can I do that?”

I nodded at her, mentally sizing her dress and feet.

“Course. We can have a wander around some of the shops tomorrow”

“Yeah, but my hair…”

More memories rose, Mam and Dad passing my haircut off as post-cancer treatment, Rosie and Sam (stab of pain) crowing as it grew out, Rosie advising me to tuck it inside my leather to avoid tangles when I rode.

“I have a trick for that, Nell. I’ll tell you tomorrow. You up for some shopping, Kim?”

“Have to be in the evening; Ruth needs me tomorrow during the day. I know the right places we can go!”

She suddenly grinned.

“And oy, slave yourself! Where’s our hot choccy?”

“I hear and obey, O Mistress!”

As I went into the kitchen to set the kettle going, I could hear Nita begin the process of sorting some basic ground rules with Nell, and found myself smiling once more, despite the odd twinge of pain from the bruising. Kim had clearly found a focus to take her mind away from her bastard of a father, and while I was well past the appropriate age for teenage shopping sprees, I was actually looking forward to it. I had some scarves we could use to cover Mell’s hair, and she could borrow some of Kim’s jeans, as her trainers wouldn’t work with a dress, and, and, and.

Life was looking up once more.

I brought the steaming mugs back into the living room, and after a few moments of pleasant sipping, Nita held her hand up.

“Oh, and one other thing, Debbie. Sarah Powell. Heard of her?”

“Fuck, yeah! Sorry, girls. She’s a trans woman, over in Swansea, got beaten up by a boyfriend, and then…”

I stared at Nita for a moment, before continuing.

“I was going to call them ‘your lot’, Nita, but I don’t really think that would be fair. Anyway, she got more abuse, and then a pay-out. A friend showed me the press reports. What’s with her?”

“Ah, it’s not her, exactly. It’s just that there aren’t a lot of doctors round here with any experience in transgender stuff, but I took a punt and looked up the one she used. He is NHS, so if you girls are happy, I could see if I can get him on side. Call it a duty of care, but it’s also a safety net. One of these days, Heidi’s management will do some sort of audit, and they’ll want to know about cases like this. They’ll want justification. Get an official diagnosis of whatever they call it”

Nell’s voice was almost a whisper.

“Gender identity disorder. I read some stuff in a magazine about it”

Nita was nodding again.

“Thanks, love. Gives me a name for it when I talk to the quack. I can’t guarantee he’ll be able to take you on, but he might know someone else who can. Any questions, Nell?”

Once more, the near-whisper.

“You sure I can stay here? I won’t have to move on again?”

I reached across for her hand, which was damp and trembling.

“You stay as long as you need or want, love. You done, Nita?”

“I believe so. Heidi says she’s free tomorrow morning. That suit?”

“It’ll be fine”

“Great. Expect her about ten, and we’ll get all our balls rolling together. I’ll let you know about the other thing, Deb, but I have someone in mind. See you!”

Once she was gone, I made sure all the locks were in place on the back door before returning to my armchair.

“Right, girls! We need to sort out some odds and sods. I don’t really bother with the telly; that’s Kim’s territory. The music is all mine, because Kim never buys anything”

“Why should I when you already have all the good stuff?”

“Point taken, love! Now, Nell: what do you like? Rock? Blues? Folk? Prog?”

“Um…”

I put on a mock frown.

“If you say ‘disco’, ‘new romantic’ or any bloody boy band, we will fall out!”

“Um… Mahler, Bruckner, Sibelius. That sort of thing. I like orchestral music”

I made a mental note that one thing we needed to buy the next day would be a set of headphones for her.