The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1871 by Angharad Copyright © 2012 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

It was bliss, total nirvana just the hot water and me. I suspect I might have emptied the hot water tank as I simply stood under the healing H2O and washed away my pains, my worries and my embarrassment.

They’d all had a good laugh at my impersonation of a freshly ploughed field and Simon had captured the moment for all the world to see on his Blackberry. I was so wrapped in my own misery that I didn’t really notice until later. I suppose I could wait until tonight to kill him.

I was just finishing in the shower when Trish banged on the door of the bathroom, “It’s Julie, she wants to talk to you.”

“I’m just getting out of the shower tell her.”

“She said it was important.”

I reluctantly swathed my hair in towel and wrapped another around me and went to the door, muttering to myself, ‘This had better be important’. Then of course I remembered they were in Salisbury and had they had an accident?

“Julie, what’s happened?”

“It’s Phoebe, she’s disappeared.”

“What d’you mean disappeared?”

“She wandered off just as we got here and she hasn’t come back.”

She used to live in Salisbury, “Let me get dressed, where are you?”

She told me and I quickly dried my hair, pulled it into a ponytail, threw on some clothes and grabbed my bag and jacket. Trish was waiting by the door with her coat and little back pack.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked as I walked past her.

“I thought you might need some help.”

“Oh did you now?”

“If you’re going to try and blue light her, you might need some help.”

I looked at her, this changeling was supposed to be eight years old, not twenty eight. “You’ll probably miss dinner.”

“I’ve got enough to buy a sandwich,” she said, sounding more like my sister than my daughter.

I told David we had to go out and could he save us two dinners for later.”

“Won’t Julie and Phoebe want one as well?”

“Sorry yes, save us four, will you.”

He nodded and we dashed out of the door. My stomach was rumbling as we jumped in the car and sped off towards Salisbury. It was twelve o’clock, no wonder it was playing up. I should have been sipping tea or diving into my dinner, not dashing north in a car.

“Slow down,” urged Trish.

“What?”

“Slow down, there’s a speed trap up ahead.”

I did more out of bemusement by her apparent skills than anything else, and sure enough, parked by the side of the road was one of the radar vans who catch unwitting motorists as they speed about the place.

“How did you know that was there?” I asked her once we’d passed the offending vehicle.

“I just did.” She giggled to herself.

“Okay, little miss smarty pants, how did you know that was there?”

“I got the app,” she giggled and flashed her phone at me.

I shook my head, I’m sure it’s illegal, so instead of arguing I got as far away from the area as possible. The traffic in Salisbury is awful at the best of times. At the worst it’s diabolical. We trundled round the ring road until I spotted the signs for London and A30. Some place on the left hand side of the road was where Julie and her friends were.

Twenty minutes later we’d got through the traffic and were parking outside the large salon which was hosting the event. I stuck the Jag alongside Tom’s Mondeo and Julie trotted out from the salon.

“How could you lose her in a place this size?” I nodded at the salon.

“It’s a lot bigger than it looks, it’s like the Tardis, you know–Dr Who’s...”

“I know what a Tardis is.”

“The place was full of people and we had a coffee when we got here and when we went to start the course, I couldn’t see her anywhere. I waited in case she was in the loo, then a bit later I checked them out, but she wasn’t to be seen anywhere–she must have walked off somewhere.”

“She used to live here, perhaps she spotted an old friend?”

“That was two hours ago, Mummy.”

“Have you tried calling her?”

“Course, tried texting her, too.”

“Okay, what time does this end?”

“Four.”

“Okay, well you stay here in case she comes back, besides you have to get your friends home. If she comes back, let me know immediately, if not you take your friends home and I’ll deal with it.”

“Where could she be?” Julie looked really worried.

“If I knew that, we wouldn’t have a problem, would we?”

“No, I s’pose not.”

I left Julie at her course and Trish and I went back to a petrol station we’d seen a mile or so back and I bought us each a sandwich and bottle of water. I think better on a full stomach.

I knew Phoebe had lived in Salisbury for most of her life and up until her mother died. Neal had sold the house so perhaps she’d gone to visit it, to deal with her grief. I called Simon and asked him to check my address book, five minutes later, hunger sated, we pulled up outside the house I’d only visited once before. I knew she wasn’t there, but we checked all the same.

Trish understood my reasoning and sighed, “Where else could she be?”

“I don’t know.”

“Her mum’s dead, isn’t she?”

“Yes, so she could hardly come to see her could she?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew they were wrong. I drove us back towards the salon, we passed a sign on the way which told me where I thought she was.

“Where are we going, Mummy?” asked Trish as we headed out of Salisbury on the A30. However, this time I slowed down indicating I was turning left. Trish was about to ask again but thought better of it.

“I’m testing a hunch I have, if I’m wrong, we’ll have to try something else.”

She smiled widely at that, the little minx.

A little further on I turned into the car park of the crematorium and Trish looked mystified. “Are you coming or staying in the car?” I asked pointlessly, because I knew she wouldn’t stay on her own and it’s illegal to leave youngsters in a car on their own.

“What are we doing here, Mummy?”

“Hush, just humour me, okay?”

The actual crematorium was closed, but one or two people milled about, some with flowers others perhaps just out for a walk on a nice sunny, Sunday afternoon.

It took the best part of half an hour to find her. She was kneeling down in a corner of the garden of remembrance talking to herself. There were tears on her face and her makeup was all smeared. I made Trish wait a little distance away as I walked towards Phoebe.

“I call Cathy, Mummy, Mum; I hope you don’t mind, but sometimes I need someone to hold me, like you used to when I’m scared, and she’s so nice. I couldn’t have stayed with Neal, I’d fight with him and Gloria, so Cathy came to my rescue and all her children are so nice to me, especially Julie and Sammi, who are like real sisters.

“I don’t know when I can come again, Mum, but I’ll try and bring you some flowers.” She looked up and saw me and I handed her the bunch of flowers I’d brought with me. “Thank you,” she said and burst into tears.

I hugged her and she cried on my shoulder for a few minutes. “How did you know where to find me?”

“It wasn’t difficult when I realised we were only down the road from the crematorium.”

“You brought flowers too?”

“We stopped at the garage down the road to get a sandwich and they had flowers. If you hadn’t been here, I’d have left them for your mum anyway, but it’s better that you do it. We’ll wait for you along the path.”

“Thank you, Mummy,” she said and went off to find a vase thing in which to put her flowers. I sent Julie a text to say we’d found her and would see her back at home. Half an hour later we were on our way back and I felt great relief that everyone was safe.