I walked Mima back to my car and saw that the care worker with Patricia wasn’t parked too far away. She manhandled the older child into the car and then put the wheelchair into the car’s boot. Then it was simply a case of driving slowly enough for her to follow me back to Tom’s house. Here, she reversed the process and deposited Patricia into the chair and pushed her towards the house. Mima and I followed behind carrying the sizeable suitcase of Patricia’s clothes. As I carried it, it was heavy, I considered I’d been had. At the same time, I’d signed no forms nor had police checks done, so Dr Rose, who was presumably taking responsibility for all this, must have some confidence in me. He was taking something of a risk.

The care worker, whose name was Amanda, stopped to see the room and the lie of the house, and after pronouncing it fine, stopped for a cuppa and a chat with Stella and me, while the ‘girls’ entertained Simon.

“It’s a lovely house you have here,” said Amanda.

“It’s not mine, it belongs to my boss, Professor Agnew.”

“You work for a professor, what are you his cleaner or housekeeper?”

“No, I teach at the university; I’m a biologist.”

“I used to like biology at school. ‘cept we stopped just before they started cuttin’ up earthworms an’ thin’s. Didn’t fancy that, killin’ thin’s just so I could see their guts.”

“I don’t like that aspect either, and the older I get the less I like it. No, I teach people to count dormice and how to carry out population studies of various animals, so really I’m an ecologist or field biologist. I’m on secondment at the moment to Natural England to make a couple of wildlife films.”

“Hey, that sounds fun, more than wiping dirty noses an’ bums, an’ I bet it pays better.”

“I’ve been rather fortunate, although the second film will be more challenging, it’s about harvest mice.”

“Ooh, don’t fancy mice, makes me go all of a shudder,” just to prove the point Amanda twitched. “What’s the first one about?”

“Dormice.”

“Like in Alice in Wonderland.”

“Yeah, except we don’t dip them in teapots.”

“They don’t look so much like mice, do they?”

“No, they have blunter noses and furry tails.”

“Cute. I wish I’d gone to university.”

“It’s never too late and they run access courses at local colleges.”

“Nah, I’m too bloody old.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty seven.”

“I was teaching two people older than you on my course.”

“What, older than you are?”

“Yes, it happens in adult education. Some people don’t do a degree until they retire.”

“I don’t know, I’ll have to think about it.”

“Have a look in your local library, or go online and find out about access courses.”

“I’ll see.”

“Now, tell me about Patricia,” I said pouring more tea.

“Not a lot to tell, she’s been with us about two years, goes crazy if you call her a boy or by her real name, Patrick. Most of us get on fine with her, only it takes a bit of time to get used to the right name and pronoun. She lets you off once or twice, then gets very cross.

“She was sort of accepted by some of the girls, but not all of them. The boys found it harder, and one in particular, Ben Bowditch, a real tike of a boy, was quite unhelpful. He calls her all sorts of names, and knocks her about when ever he gets the chance–a real bully. A couple of months ago, we heard a scream and Trish was found at the foot of the stairs. Ben was seen running away from the top of the stairs, but no one saw him, so we can only surmise what happened. Trish was unconscious and has no memory of what happened.”

“Do you think Trish is really transgendered?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I’m not a psychiatrist. Why have they sent her to stay with you?”

“Presumably because Mima is here, and I helped to get her walking again.”

“She was in ‘ospital with Trish?”

“So Dr Rose said, they greeted each other like lost sisters.”

“Well, the little I’ve seen of them, they do get on well. Is there any chance you might ask to foster Trish?”

“That’s a very different matter, it’s not impossible, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

“She’s been out to several families, before her accident, they always brought her back, the manager has never told me why.”

“So no reason comes to mind?”

“Not really, she’s a likeable enough kid, as long as you treat her like a girl.”

“Presumably the would be fosterers would have known the position?”

“Yeah, I’d have thought so.”

“Oh well, if you get a call to collect her because she turns into a bat on a full moon, and hangs upside down in the wardrobe, I’ll be sure to tell you.”

“I hope you can get her walkin’ again, that would be really good.”

“If I can get her walking again, I’m gonna set myself up as witch-doctor.”

“Which doctor is that?” asked Stella, so I poked my tongue out at her as a sign of my maturity.

“If she causes you any bother, let us know, we’ll come and get her.”

“I’m sure we’ll cope, I mean how much trouble can a four year old cause?”

“You’d be surprised, and Trish is nearly five. We’ve had a bit of difficulty with the local school, they’re not sure about gender-benders.”

“Maybe that’s why she was returned. I find it ludicrous that a school couldn’t cope, especially if she is committed to her new role before attending there, no one would be any the wiser.”

“Unless they saw her with no clothes on,” suggested Amanda.

“Quite, or someone in the know, gossiped, which is much more likely.”

“Why should teachers be immune to gossip about something as unusual as transgender kids. I’d be more surprised if they didn’t.” Stella made her point.

“Dunno, Stella. Anyway, it’s not something that worries any of us, or Mima by the look of things. We’ll give her as good a time as we can.”

“I suspect our manager will phone to see how things are going, she might also call to see you and speak to Trish.”

“That’s fine, as long as we know so we’re in. If it’s a nice day we could be out.” I thought I’d throw that in to minimise misunderstandings.

“I’m sure she would tell you before, and yes she’d be glad you were giving Trish some fresh air.”

“Yeah, as a bona fide miracle worker and raiser of the dead, we’ll be taking her out for long walks to improve her muscle tone, but only twice a day.”

Amanda gave me a funny look, then smiled, “You are funny.”

“Yeah, you don’t know the half of it, it’s her that turns into a dormouse during a full moon and she climbs up the walls.” Stella began her calumny, Amanda sniggered and I sighed.

“Don’t tell everyone,” I hissed at my bulging nearly-sister in law.