The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3294 by Angharad Copyright© 2021 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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Danielle was up in her room listening to music, while texting someone and holding a book open with the other hand - and who said multitasking is dead? "Hi, Mummy," she said adding another to the list.

I sat myself down on the bedroom chair, which is normally buried under clothes but today wasn't. I began to wonder if I'd inadvertently wandered into a parallel universe, except the programme on BBC2 I'd watched some years ago suggested if they did exist they would probably be very small. I checked, no, Danielle was normal sized.

"What's happening with Reading?" I asked deciding not to beat about the bush.

"You tell me," she replied still texting.

"Would you mind putting that down while we discuss it," I indicated her phone.

She shrugged at me, "Reading want me to train at least once a week with them and to stop playing school soccer, in case I get injured. Sister Marie, says she's proud I'm signed up to a top women's club but is reluctant to let me off early to go and train unless I play for the school as well."

"Can't you train down here?"

"Not really, if we're doing set pieces, they need to be rehearsed, so we all know what we have to do."

"Oh, so what do you want to do about it?"

"I dunno, do I?" she shrugged again still looking at her phone.

"Would you mind giving this your full attention and put your phone down, or is that more important than your football career?" I said a little sharply.

She blushed like a tomato and dropped the phone on her bed. "Okay?" she almost snapped at me.

"How do you manage when you're playing or training?" I asked nodding at the phone.

"All right, you've made your point," she said sighing and blushing at the same time.

"We obviously can't move to Reading because that would affect everyone else negatively." I was thinking out loud.

"Can't you take over the university there?" she asked playfully.

"It's bigger than Portsmouth and they do some interesting stuff there but, so do we. We punch above our weight in lots of ways, from dormice to dinosaurs."

"Dormice dinosaur - is that you or gramps?" she teased.

"Probably me. However, I do have a solution, though you may not like it."

"Like what?"

"I've spoken to the manager of your team and they would be willing to pay for you to board at a girl's school on the outskirts of Reading."

"What?" she almost screamed at me. "Go to a girl's boarding school?"

"That's what I said, it's called St Margaret's College and now is a good time to swap schools because you could do your A-levels there instead of St Claire's."

She looked at me silently and tears began to trickle down her cheeks. I hoped she didn't think I was trying to get rid of her.

"In two years, you could well be going off to university somewhere anyway, this way you get to learn some self-sufficiency beforehand." I was trying to sugarcoat the pill. This was the problem with precocious talent, it often outstripped the emotional support systems which were much more immature. If Danni was a problem, goodness knows what could happen with Trish as she's cognitively university level now, but still only twelve fast-moving to thirteen in a few weeks.

"You never wanted me, did you, especially when I was a boy. Me an' Billy were tolerated 'cause you couldn't get rid of us without your halo slipping." She stood up, grabbed her phone and stormed out of the door. I was left goldfish-like with mouth agape. I rushed off after her but she'd got too big a start and she eluded me and it seemed everyone else.

"Anyone seen Danni?" I asked.

"No, why?" asked Trish.

"She got a little upset," I admitted.

"If she's crying, just follow the trail of mascara drips," retorted Trish unhelpfully at which Hanna and Livvie snorted.

"I'll help you look," offered Meems. We both rushed off calling her, Meems running down the drive to see if she was in sight and me to check if her bike was missing. It wasn't but the moped was.

At sixteen, you can qualify for a provisional license for a moped provided it's below such and engine size, 50 cc, I think. I hadn't heard it start up so she must have run down the drive pushing it.

I phoned her mobile but she didn't answer and her voice mail was switched off. I was going to get the run-around until she was tired of playing games or I conceded defeat. The latter is not in my nature normally, but teenagers are far better at emotional blackmail games than we older women. I then called Cindy's mother and asked her to let me know if Danni turned up there and to try and keep her there until I arrived - I know shades of false imprisonment and all that. Bloody teenagers.

Meems drew a blank as well and we walked back into the house. Cate and Lizzie were chatting with Trish and the older girls when in walked Stella with her two. "Wossappning?" asked Pudding.

"Danni's gone walkabout," answered Meems.

"Why?" asked Stella.

" I was discussing the problem with the football club and tried to sound her out about possibly going to school in Reading."

"That's a bit of a commute, isn't it?" said Stella.

"It's a boarder," I replied glumly.

"Ah, the old abandonment issue rears its ugly head," she said quietly and I nodded. "Tea?" she asked and we decamped to the kitchen where she filled the kettle. Thankfully David hadn't arrived yet. When he did we were deep in discussion.

"Was that Danielle I saw out near Asda?" he asked, "It looked like her scooter thing?"

"When?" I gasped reaching for my bag.

"Fifteen minutes ago, something like that - what did I say?" he said to my back as I ran to the door.

Ten minutes later I spotted the scooter or one very like it. I checked the number plate. It was our one, the one I'd originally bought for Julie and subsequently used by Phoebe and now Danielle. If I parked the car anywhere near, she'd see it and stay away, if I didn't and she went off again, I'd lose time crossing the car park. I opted to park near the bike alongside a transit van that nearly hid my Jaguar.

I sat and waited, hoping my bladder wouldn't process the tea I'd almost finished drinking before I could talk to Danni. I mulled over the most recent issue to arise, that of acceptance and abandonment issues with adopted children made ever more complicated by the gender ones. I assumed that Danni of all the girls was the most secure being able to cast an almost adult view of her situation within the family, it looked like I was wrong, or maybe something else was worrying her and between things overwhelmed her self-control.

Thinking about our earlier discussion, possibly I could have handled it a bit more sensitively or gently but I was offering what I considered was the easiest solution, not that it was easy and I didn't really want her to board. I like having my children near me until they're ready to flee the nest, which for most kids is about university time. But then they choose to go looking forward to adventures and freedoms they didn't have at home. That wasn't what happened earlier and I had some hard work to do in patching up our relationship, one which I really enjoyed, or had done until an hour ago.

I heard laughing floating across the car park and Danni was walking arm in arm with a boy. Both were carrying crash helmets and I noticed a motorbike parked next to her scooter. It bore no L-plates, if they chose to escape on that, I'd lose them in the traffic despite the Jaguar's speed and power. I'd have had more chance on a road bike.

I jumped out of the car and walked quickly towards them. "Danielle, a moment please."

She gave me a filthy look. "What d'you want?" she almost spat at me.

"Please," I asked feeling my face growing both warmer and redder.

"Who's she?" asked the young man who with a chin of scruffy beard growth, looked older than her.

"My bloody mother," sighed Danielle.

"You better talk then, hadn't you?" He released her arm and walked off to his motorbike. I closed in on my daughter.

"Look, this morning, I was just floating an idea, I'm sorry if I didn't do it very well or gave the wrong impression."

"Ha," she snapped, "bull's-eye on both," she mocked.

"I'm sorry. Look, we need to resolve this situation with the football club before we end up with legal problems for breach of contract and other unpleasantness. If you want to keep your international career, we need to sort this quickly or it could affect your reputation as a player."

"Yeah, I know but I'm not going to a bloody boarding school, okay?"

"Okay," I conceded. Then a moment later, "Who's the boy?"

"That's Aaron."

"How do you know him?"

"He's doing a degree and works at the sports shop on weekends."

"Isn't he a bit old for you?"

"Girls mature younger, you're always telling me or doesn't that apply to trans-girls?"

"Does he know?"

"What?" she looked at me in astonishment.

"Just be careful and no booze or anything else, you know..."

"Mummy, I'm an international athlete, traces of anything in my blood or urine tests could wreck my career."

"Just hold to that when temptation arises, I'll see you later and I hope you realise that I do love you and am not abandoning you."

"Yeah, okay," she smiled and nodded and I hoped I'd been forgiven.

I did some shopping at the supermarket after seeing them both riding away, her little put-put following his much larger and more powerful machine and felt a sort of funny pain in my tummy. She was growing up and one day she would fly the nest, I hoped we'd both cope.

I returned home and Meems rushed out to ask what had happened, she helped me carry in the bags of food and put it away. David was busy cooking and the aromas that assailed my olfactory senses were making me drool. "Is that for lunch?" I asked him trying to identify different components of the scents.

"Nah, I'm just boiling my old hankies," he joked.

"Are you making lunch or do I have to do it?"

"Omelettes okay?"

"Fine, can you do a Spanish one for me?"

He rolled his eyes sighed and nodded. It seemed everyone needed some sort of careful handling today.

"Canni've one too?" squealed Meems, "I love spuddy omelettes."

David laughed and asked her to ask if that would be okay for everyone, she suggested it would. I asked where Stella was and he told me she'd gone out with her two to do some shopping. My main hobby is birdwatching, Stella's is shopping and she is very good at it.

"Did ye sign this letter?, asked Tom waving the Guardian at me.

"Oh the one about the dangers of withdrawing protection from endangered species?"

"Aye," was his short reply.

"Yes, how can they reduce protection for pine martens and other endangered species, and for what, so bloody developers can tear up even more of the countryside. The NHS and the countryside are safe in their hands - ha, bloody Tories have no souls nor sense of decency and the general public are so bloody stupid not to see it." I railed at the threat many scientists and conservationists saw as possible with the government's review of the Countryside and Wildlife Act.

"Aye, weel ye'll jest hae to explain it tae them in simple terms, won't ye?"

"Who the government or the people?"

"Mebbee both," he smirked before saying so quietly only the cat would hear him, "I'm prood o' ye f' standin' up tae them."