The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3303 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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The week after the hoax kidnap, the three girls were grumpy and itching for their electronic toys which I told them firmly they couldn't have. I intended to keep it up for at least a month if not longer, mind you Danni waggling her phone around didn't help keep the peace and she and Trish almost came to blows. I suspect Danielle would have won such an encounter but I wasn't sure and besides I didn't believe girls should by slinging punches at each other.

I intervened and spoke to each separately, including asking Danni not to stir things up, no matter how much she was enjoying what she doing to Trish, the other two were less so as they didn't have the history that Trish and Danielle shared, their time at the home and since. Meems was a good peacekeeper as well and she tended to help keep them apart while I was at work. Yes, work which I have to do when not on holiday and also at my pay grade, I tend to be on call, even sometimes when on holiday.

Being the Vice Chancellor, Daddy, tends not to interfere in my decision making, though will give advice if I request it. He took the three miscreants under his wing when he had a few days off and he had them helping him rebuild his greenhouse. For this, they were allowed to use pens and paper not computers, so instead of taking moments they had to measure everything by hand and use rulers and other drawing instruments to get angles correct and so on. Besides that he wanted to add a few other features like maximizing light but not enough to burn the plants, he had tolerances he thought applied to the plants he was going to grow.

The actual building was going to be done by one of Maureen's people, a carpenter who could also glaze it, although it would be made of aluminium, he had considered hardwood, but felt it was too environmentally unfriendly and Trish also agreed that was true. Each day, Daddy would slightly modify the specification and at times the girls had difficulty holding their tongues. He was deliberately winding them up with the intention that they might understand just a fraction of the worry and frustration they put me through with their stupid prank. I wasn't sure what I felt about it, they weren't allowed to discuss it with me because, he was supposed to be building it as a surprise for me so I wasn't supposed to know about it.

When they went back to school, after Maureen's carpenter had built it, well, he assembled it, a contractor actually made all the parts, and they were quite impressed with the plans and measurements which they did check on a computer. When it was built and I could feign my surprise, it was more genuine than I expected, it was very different and had different sections for growing different things, it was also larger than I anticipated. Trish and Livvie had worked really hard while Hannah did much of the measurements and also gave her opinion on what I would think, so effectively she added the aesthetic element to the design, which I'd have thought Livvie would have done, but I was wrong.

When we spoke afterwards, they had all three enjoyed the challenge and even though Gramps had kept messing them around with the dimensions, which had annoyed them, they still enjoyed the challenge once they had calmed down. They had also enjoyed working with him, so I hoped they had learnt something, but only time will show that. They had stopped asking for their toys and as they had the use of computers at school, I knew they could do their necessary homework, we just arranged to collect them an hour later and they did their homework in school, a bit like prep used to be in prep schools.

If they continued behaving, they'd have their toys returned after a month, they would also be allowed some other treats instead of being confined to the house or garden. On another occasion, I took Trish in with me because we had a problem with the computer system, which with Sammi's help, she managed to correct, the usual IT tech was on holiday, and those were all over the place thanks to Covid.

It was the next weekend when Simon came home with Danni, Reading had been playing Arsenal Ladies or some such team, and over dinner she challenged him to do something after he said how sad he felt for the refugees in Afghanistan.

"Like what?" he asked her.

"You've got a castle, why not let it out for refugees?" She was just winding him up but it obviously affected him. He went off to my study and an hour later called her. They both emerged after a quite a while smiling and he had his arm round her shoulder and she had hers around his waist, like fathers and daughters do.

They looked to each other to say something and he prompted her to speak. She blushed although she was only speaking to Stella, Daddy, David and me. "We - um - that is, Daddy and me, decided we would help provide accommodation for some refugees on the estate. We didn't want to upset any of the local people who work there so we arranged with the Estate Manager to renovate two cottages which were a bit beyond and they will be offered to the Scottish government to allocate to refugees, we only specified that we wanted those escaping from a war zone, but as there are several of those, we didn't specify which one."

We all applauded which brought the other girls out to see what was happening and they all agreed it was a good idea. Simon also said he might be able to offer some work on the estate to some of them if they could arrange permits.

It still meant we had a castle which was usually empty remaining so, but at least he had arranged to do something and given the antiques and art in the castle, it may be just as well that we didn't have strangers going in there and this applied to locals as well as refugees. They did allow it to be used for weddings and receptions, though they could also hire the estate kirk, but because of the pandemic, demand had been very slow and infrequent.

At one point Julie and Phoebe were talking about going up there for a few days but then decided they wouldn't bother and stayed home instead. As there was an upsurge in the Covid delta variant after a festival in Cornwall, they may well have been wise to postpone their visit, though Simon had said they could and I knew that the staff up there would have looked after them.

I was tempted to take a flight up to Scotland to check on my woodland, then thought better of it and instead did a Zoom interview with the person from the local university who was looking after it for us. They were doing projects on red deer and red squirrels.

We, as a university were still captive breeding dormice and doing things with them relating to their adaptation to being released in the wild. So far we had masses of data as the dormice were watched by webcams and radio tracked as well as having been pit-tagged and we had readers on the places we offered them food and also on some nest boxes in the nearby woodland. That is all expensive equipment and I was pleased we could get a grant for it. We had also got some grants for research at the woodland our visitor centre was in, so Dan was delighted he could do something with some of our students on woodland ecology.

One night when I got back a bit early from the office I decided I wanted a bike ride to unwind, Diane and I had been sweating our socks off trying to get a research grant for one of our palaeontologists to go to China and we had just about cracked it. Of course, once they saw me changing into cycling kit, they all wanted to come. It wasn't exactly what I'd wanted, but that's the fun of being a parent. After pumping up goodness knows how many tyres, which Danni helped with - she was there as well - I set off with what looked like a peloton from a junior women's road race.

We did about ten miles before we got back and then it was showers all round, change and come down for dinner, which David was just putting the finishing touches to, it smelt absolutely divine and after a shitty day and bit of exercise I was ready to indulge my body in something of a pleasurable nature - eating.

The meal was delicious roast pork with crackling, apple sauce, loads of vegetables and new potatoes with a couple of roast spuds each as well. David stayed to eat with us but Simon was up in town and grumbling he had to go to some bankers' dinner, so would have to wear a DJ and bow tie. He actually looks really good in one but he hates wearing it. After we'd finished clearing up, which was all hands to the pumps except Daddy who stole off to his study to take a wee nip o' single malt, I went off to my study to check my personal emails,

Settling down with my cuppa while the PC booted up and full of roast piggy-wig, I felt quite relaxed, which was a state that changed a few moments later when second on the list after a spam email asking if I wanted any pharmaceutical help with my erectile dysfunction - no thank you, I offered as I deleted it, when I saw an email from Janice on a Gmail address. Only one Janice came to mind and I felt a cold shudder down my back.I opened it with some trepidation.

'Dear Cathy,

I hope you don't mind the familiarity, but I've managed to find a moment to ask after Jemima and the rest of you, I know you have several children. I hope you are all well and surviving the pandemic, sadly Laurie succumbed to a bad bout but he's much better now since we got bail and shall we say, made good our escape.

I'd be so grateful if you could let me know how you all are and especially our shared daughter. She probably hates me for abandoning her, but I knew you'd be able to give her a life better than anything we could and I know she's genuinely fond of you. If you could also include a photo, that would be wonderful.

Give her my love,

Janice.'

It was only a short note but I knew it was going to upset Meems and I really didn't know what to do for the best. Honesty meant I had to tell her about it and possibly let her read it, I could always write back and say she didn't want to speak with her without telling Meems or I could just delete it and block any future contact from that email address.

It had been such a nice evening with the bike ride and that gorgeous meal that David had cooked us and then this. I suppose life is like that, seems to set us up for the sucker punch which floors us. It felt as if I was still lying on the floor shocked by it and my brain simply didn't want to think about a solution. Plus, who else should I involve with it, I can't talk to any of the girls until I've spoken with Mima, so I can only talk to Stella or Daddy because Simon is out at that dinner thing. I tried to think of him in his tuxedo looking suave and wondering what he'd say about it. Knowing him, typical bloke, he'd say, do what you think is best. In fact, I could almost hear him saying it. Stella might be a better bet but she said she was going to bed early as she had an early shift tomorrow. Oh poo, what shall I do?