The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3356 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 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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It seemed that the lecture from her elder sister was enough for Trish to realise how lucky she had been. We searched high and low for him and so did the police who think he was somebody else - there's a surprise. They had reasonable belief that he was actually Tony Webber, a known sex offender, with a penchant for little girls, Trish was on the end of his spectrum, we didn't tell her but we all felt lucky that we intercepted his attempt.

Andy Bond told me that the room he'd been renting was empty of all his stuff and he appeared to have wiped all surfaces that he may have handled to remove any fingerprints or DNA, which was hardly the action of an innocent man seeking friendship. The university from now on was not allowed to start someone without references being confirmed, this being the second time they had employed someone without them being checked because we were so short-staffed. If you remember Daddy employed someone who I actually thumped because he insulted me for being transsexual, well I slapped him and it unseated him. It was in Daddy's regular restaurant and it upset him until I could prove that the man didn't have the credentials he claimed, and they weren't on their way from Edinburgh University because he had never been there.

We read stories of people claiming to be surgeons and carrying out ops until the personnel department or HR carries out fresh investigations and the fraud is discovered. It's a serious offence to pretend you are something you're not, in the case of a surgeon, it could have tragic consequences as it could have with a paedo in this case. We were unable to discover if he was acting alone or part of a network. James only discovered what the police did and the man literally disappeared, which with the electronic trails we leave, or ordinary people do, seems impossible today, but then if you're up to no good, perhaps you just avoid leaving them. We did have hopes of finding something with his mobile but it turned out to be a burner and he obviously dumped it when he left.

It was interesting when I thought about presenting as something you're not which lots of people would think applies to me or some of my girls as we started out as male in the eyes of the law. And we did but by accepted by the system, we were able to legitimately reassign ourselves as female, which meant I, Sammi, Danni and Trish were able to claim legal status as female as was our adopted student Sarah and my staff member, Debbie who all went through the system and achieved the same. In fact, I think the law allows you to cross-dress in public as long as you are not pretending to impersonate anyone for the purposes of deception, which is a pretty big field. So the odd cross-dresser going out for a thrill to the shops and who probably thinks no one notices, is fine as long as they don't do it for criminal purposes, mind you seeing some of the things they buy, they should be arrested for lack of taste, but that's a different story.

I did mention about one member of staff whose husband was cross-dressed when I went to them for dinner one night, it surprised me but didn't upset me as I try to be broadminded, living as I do in a glass house, so to speak, and they came to our house for a reciprocal dinner and no one said anything. It seems that 'the scene' is sometimes more mainline than we realise and increasingly people are tolerant. Having said that, the number of hate crimes against transgendered people is increasing, especially since the Covid lockdown, but I think that applies to anti-social behaviour in general. It seems that a certain percentage of people are that way inclined, antisocial, and being constrained for a long period has made them nastier than they were before, it apparently happened to xenophobic people after Brexit and they became increasingly racist much to the annoyance of the majority.

Once more, I continue with the feeling that if I want acceptance or tolerance I need to display that to other minorities, which I believe is broadly practised across the developed world except for certain fundamentalists who have a burning desire to take us out for a stake. That this intolerance seems to be growing across parts of America, is a worry.

The university is in full swing and Trish and Danielle seem to be settling in. Both are a bit young for the activities of fresher's week and although I suspect they resent my insistence that they avoid it, they at least comply. They can join certain clubs and societies but I think most of them hold no interest for my two, except possibly for football. In about three days Danielle was recognised as having played for England and they tried to talk her into playing. She tried to include Trish in the invite and they were less certain that a thirteen-year-old should be playing with the big girls as she could be hurt. Danni reminded them that officially she was still a minor but had played for the senior England team and had several caps at home, so she was literally able to call herself a 'Lioness'. Although she no longer wanted to be considered as available because they had twice messed her about even though she was one of the most talented young women players in the country, if not the world. Being transgender, even one who didn't have a male puberty, she became an object of interest to the tabloids and the FA chickened with all this anti-trans movement in sport nowadays. She no longer wanted to be in the press and I understood but felt she could have fought more, as I would have supported her all the way. But it's their loss and that all there is to it.

She did come and see me while I was working in my study at home the day she was invited. "What do you want to do?" I asked her.

"I don't know, part of me feels I should play for them as I'm going to be there for three or so years and another part feels like it will be playing with large kids, there are still Bournemouth ladies to consider as well."

"I think they are better players than that but most are still amateurs. Now we negotiated about training with Bournemouth, they may be hostile to you playing for the uni in case you get injured, but I suspect they might be amenable to you playing as long as they have first call on you, they are paying you."

"Yeah, I'll have to talk to them but I suppose I could do some extra training with them and give them some tips. I wonder if Trish wants to come along."

"I doubt it, as they get hot and sweaty, not quite her thing, whereas the astronomy club is."

"Yeah, that sounds up her street or orbit," she giggled as she said that and I chuckled as well. Danni had quite a good sense of humour. She sloped off to do the reading she had been told to do, Trish was already doing so, and Sarah was too, although her recent encounters with a biology exam meant she was already up to speed and could probably take it easy for while but I wouldn't tell her that as I didn't want her to lose the impetus of studying, it is quite easy.

Of course, I was faced with a childcare problem, Cate was now in the convent school and Lizzie was at their nursery so they were looked after most of the day, as were Livvie and Hannah and Meems, who were all doing quite well. Livvie was next most academic to Trish but Meems was a revelation, her abilities in English literature were off the scale. Once she lost her speech impediment she developed a confidence she'd never had before and her grasp of Shakespeare and John Donne were better than mine. She always seemed to have her nose in a book and she was always asking the school library for books they didn't have. Simon ended up granting them something for their book fund which pleased her no end.

Hannah, seemed to mature as well as bodily in her mind and she began to see the advantage of a good education and as far as it went, the convent was quite a good school. She had quietened down after her mother died, if you remember she wanted to stay with me for that reason alone however she went off the rails a bit as a reaction to the loss of her birth mother. We had tantrums and rebellions as well as a general bitchiness for a while. I was so proud of the way that everyone seemed to understand what she was going through and tried not to react to it. Then suddenly it stopped. She came to see me in my study one night and told me that Sister Marie had read her the riot act over a scrap she had with another girl which Livvie had broken up. However, a teacher saw it and reported it to the Headmistress who told her off in no uncertain terms.

I had had a chat by phone with Sister Marie, so I knew what was happening. I had not spoken to Hannah because I had a pressing piece of work to do myself so I'd had dinner and gone straight back to it. I'd noticed that nearly all the girl were a little subdued during dinner as if there was something going on between them but was too absorbed in my own world to worry about it. They knew they could always speak to me, well except that evening.

I was so intent on what I was doing that I didn't hear the first knock on my door, so a second harder one shocked me out of my concentration."Come in," I said automatically hoping it wasn't David wanting some specialised oven or something, in came a rather circumspect Hannah.

"Can I speak to you?"

"Oh, not now dear, I have to get this paper finished, it's important."

She just slunk out saying, "I'm not important, am I? I'm the prostitute's kid."

I picked up my pen again, I was doing some tricky calculations when I reran what she had said as she left. It was like a shell burst and jumped up and dashed off after her. She was nearly at the stairs when I caught up with her.

"Hannah, a moment please."

"I thought you were busy, you always are these days."

"No, I'm never too busy for my children."

"But I'm not am I, I'm the whore's daughter, like mother like daughter," the way she casually said this almost broke my heart.

"Look, come with me and we can talk this out."

"What about your important paper? I'm sure it's more important than me?"

"Nothing is more important than my children and you are one of them."

"But I'm not am I? I'm like that girl in school said, I'm the whore's kid."

"What girl?"

"Do you care?"

"Yes, very much." I wrapped her in a huge hug and she burst into tears. Danni came to see what was happening but went back to the dining room when she saw what was happening.

"What girl said that to you?" I asked her.

"Linda Cavendish."

"That's the girl you had the spat with?"

"Yes, but only cause she said that."

"Did you tell Sister Maria?"

"She didn't give me a chance to, according to Cavendish I just attacked her 'cause she looked at me funny."

"So what did Sister Maria say to you?"

"If I had to go and see her once more she'd suspend me."

"Not after I've spoken to her she won't and the Cavendishes had better take their daughter in hand or I'll get your dad to withdraw their overdraft."

"Right now let's get something straight, you're my daughter just as much as any of the others and no one is going to insult you like that while I'm still breathing." We had a nice hug and cuddled for quite a while before she went off to bed with the others. It was too late to ring the headmistress but I would insist on seeing her tomorrow and she'd better speak with the Cavendish parents very soon or she'd find a number of grants would be withdrawn. I was steaming and I decided against finishing my paper and went and had a cuppa instead ringing Simon and telling him why I hadn't finished it. I was in tears and he was upset and angry. "Sod, the paper and the meeting, if she ever says anything like that again I'll call in their mortgage."

It was nice to talk to him but I went to bed feeling exhausted yet I couldn't sleep. Tomorrow I was going to sort out that bloody school or die in the attempt.