Wuthering Dormice (aka Bike) Part 649 by Angharad

“Will she find out about me too, Mummy,” Trish asked as I drove away from the school.

“I’m not going to tell her, if that’s what you’re worried about?”

“No, Mummy, I know you won’t tell anyone.”

“I can’t be that generalised, I’m afraid, but I can say that no one without a need to know, will be told.”

Trish looked at me as she processed what I’d said. “I don’t understand, Mummy.”

“I won’t tell anyone about either of us, who doesn’t need to know–usually we’re talking doctors or people in the legal system–at least about you. As far as I’m concerned it’s been on the telly, so Peaches’ mother will find out fairly soon. If she doesn’t work things out first then it will all come out when the film is shown. I wish I’d never made it.”

“I’m sure it’s a lovely film, Mummy.”

“Thank you for your loyalty, sweetheart.” I put my arm around her and hugged her quickly.

“I love you, Mummy, more than anyone.”

“I think several people in our family might be disappointed to hear that, Trish.”

“Well it was you who said I could be a girl.”

“No, you said you thought you were a girl, I just allowed you to express it. The others all agreed with me.

“Why could you do that and not my original mummy? Why did she hate me?”

“We don’t know she did, Trish. I’ve told you before that you can say what you like about her, but as I’ve never met her, I won’t say anything in judgement upon her. I don’t know what her circumstances were, so it would be wrong of me to say anything.”

“I think she was horrible and she beat me. You’ve been nice to me, like a proper mummy.”

“My circumstances are different, Trish, don’t judge her on my standards, she’s different.”

“Why not? She’s horrible?”

“Right we’re home, in you go and change before you play.”

“Yes, Mummy.”

“You were a long time,” said Stella.

“Yeah, sorry about that, one of the mums was late collecting her offspring, so we waited with her.”

“It’s no problem but we were worried you’d had an accident.”

“Thanks for caring,” I felt quite good that someone was thinking about me.

“I don’t, but I’d have had to feed Mima.”

“Yes, well, thanks for your honesty–bitch!” She waltzed off sniggering.

I was getting dinner ready when Simon came into the kitchen. “Hi, Babes, how’s it going?”

“What? Dinner? Life? World peace?”

“Shall we start with dinner and work up to a new deal for Palestine?”

“Sounds good to me,” I said, almost purring as he put his arms around me and kissed me on the back of the neck. “That’s nice.” I dropped my knife in the sink and turned around to kiss him.

“Put him down, you don’t know where he’s been,” said Stella, coming in to warm Puddin’s bottle.” I gave her the finger, well my mouth was occupied, but she embarrassed Simon enough for him to pull away.

“One of these days, Cameron, I’m going to hit you with a saucepan,” I snapped at her.

“Violence in women, someone was appalled by it recently, if I recall correctly,” she gloated.

“Doesn’t apply to me, I can claim it was a behaviour imprinted upon me in a former life.”

“Objection,” she said sharply.

“On what grounds?” I asked.

“Hearsay evidence.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“We only have your word that you had a previous life, reincarnation is not generally accepted as a legal proposition.”

“Reincarnation? You silly bugger.”

“Go and play with your Barbie doll and leave the grown ups alone,” said Simon, beginning to lose patience with her disrupting his amorous moment, something she had done many times.

“Get you, Casanova, I don’t think–more like Hangover.”

“Push off, Stella, or words to that effect.”

“He always gets ratty when it comes to verbal sparring, mainly because he’s rubbish at it.”

“I freely confess that my tongue can’t work as fast as yours, but then mine isn’t fuelled by malice.”

“Isn’t that what Christopher Robin went down with?” she fired back at him. He really was outgunned and should know better.

“Go away, Stella, or I’ll get Puddin’ adopted,” said Simon, who had now lost the contest conclusively.

“That was malicious,” I said quietly.

“She brings out the worst in me.”

“Don’t let her get to you,” I said hugging him.

“So how was your day?” he said changing the subject.

“Okay, I had a spat with a woman in a 4x4, and waited with someone’s kid for them to come and get her. Turns out she works for the BBC, and has heard rumours that the dormouse film was narrated by a ’gender bender’.”

“That’s funny. I heard it was written and narrated by a woman, a very sexy one.” He hugged and kissed me again.

“As this is going to impact upon all of us, I wish now, I’d never made it.”

“Why? It’s going to save loads of dormeeces and you’ll be a new sex symbol.”

“I don’t want to be a sex symbol.”

“Tough kiddo, you shouldn’t look and sound so sexy.”

“I don’t,” I put my head on his shoulder.

“That’s a matter of opinion.”

“Oh shut up, Simon, you’d wolf whistle a bloke in a kilt.”

“Not since I was eleven and got threatened by my cousin who was wearing the kilt at the time,” he blushed.

“I’ll bet you’re sexy in one, though,” I said in a throaty voice.

“If you find kilts sexy, maybe you should marry a Scotsman,” he riposted..

“I am, stupid.”

“Oh yeah, so you are.”