The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2106 by Angharad Copyright © 2013 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

“Is there something wrong, Mummy?” asked Phoebe.

“Uh–no, I’m fine thanks.”

“Would you like a fresh cuppa, that one looks cold?”

“Oh, I forgot it was there, a fresh one would be lovely. I must sort out little Lizzie.”

“All done, Auntie Stella fed her and we sort of changed her between us, though Danielle did most of it.”

“Danny did most of it?” I gasped, he usually nips off a bit sharpish when I ask for volunteers.

“Yeah, she volunteered and Cindy helped her a bit.”

“Tell me, Pheebs, are you happy with Danny expressing his girly side like this?”

“Yeah, why not?” She looked at me intently, “Is that what’s upsetting you?”

“Shut the door a minute.” She complied with my request. “There’s so much going round in my head. First, I’m not sure Danny is transgendered and just being led by Peter and Cindy and you other girls.”

“She seems to be enjoying herself alright.”

“Just being the centre of attention might produce that effect, he does sometimes get left out with the girl stuff.”

“Yeah I can see that.”

“If social services found out another of my sons was in skirts, they’d get very suspicious.”

“Why?”

“Because I have three transgendered daughters already–they might add two and two together and make ninety five.”

“Trish, Julie–who else?”

“Sammi.”

“Oh yeah, I keep forgetting her.”

“You see my potential problem there. Then if Peter decides to go all girly and it gets out we helped, social services will be all over us.”

“Why?”

“Because they think I have this agenda to transform any boy who enters the house.”

“Surely not–I mean, it’s like taken Danny long enough.”

“They’d see that as taking time to overcome his resistance.”

“But he’d tell them he did it himself.”

“Which is what abused children frequently say.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought a that.”

“They will, I can assure you.”

“We’ll have to make sure they don’t find out, won’t we?”

“I don’t know if it’s that easy.” I sighed, “Then there’s the fact that I quite like having a son and watching him cope with all us girls while he still manages to play football and cricket.”

“You’ve taken him cycling too, haven’t you?”

“I try to do something with him I don’t do with the rest of you just to give him some attention and we both like riding.”

“Yeah, that’s good, and I know we all appreciate some time with you.”

“I haven’t had much to share with you lately,” I said guiltily.

“That’s okay, Mummy, I know you’re kinda busy at the moment and with what you just told me, it’s worrying you. You want me to say something to them?”

“To Cindy and Danny?”

“Not Cindy, I don’t know how aware she is of the others’ status.”

“Okay, you want me to discourage them from him dressing up?”

“No, I’ll speak with him later after she’s gone. Where are they?”

“They went out for a walk.”

My tummy flipped, “What’s he wearing?”

“The skirt from yesterday and another tee shirt, and I kept his makeup light.”

“What are the others doing?”

“Jacquie’s got the girls helping her make some bread and cleaning up the kitchen, David’s just come in to start lunch. Stella’s got the little ones playing up in her room.”

“Cate, you mean?”

“An’ Mima, she’s looking after them, an’ Lizzie is fast asleep.”

“Okay, I’ll have that tea now, if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, course.”

“Phoebe, why aren’t you down the salon today?”

“They’re quite quiet today, so Julie and the other girl can cope between them.”

“Is she losing much custom in the changeover?”

“A bit, mainly old fogies who’ve been going there for centuries and who only stuck with the place because they liked the previous owner. Julie’s doing alright because she’s a good cutter.”

“And you?”

“I’m brilliant, but I’ve got to wait for my exam results, then I’m gonna do some extras like electrolysis and laser hair removal.”

“At the college?”

“The electrolysis yeah, the laser, is a bit more difficult–have to find the nearest course and try an’ get on it when I’m ready.”

“You could do my legs then, save waxing or shaving them.”

“Can’t, Mummy, your hair is too blonde, won’t carry the heat to the root.”

“Oh, that’s not fair is it?”

“That’s life–be satisfied they don’t show if you forget to do them one week.”

One week? I do ’em when I remember.

She went off to make my tea and I did some work on the survey and then remembered I had to re-jig some stuff for the conference–bugger, that’s in two weeks. Oh poo it’s going to clash with the holiday, why didn’t I see that earlier?

I went to find Tom but he’d gone to the university to check the dormice. I called his mobile but he had it switched off–the silly bugger forgets to switch it on–or does he? Maybe I’m the silly one being at everyone’s beck and call.

It was tempting to go and speak to him at the university but he could have finished before I got there and might come home or go to his usual lunch venue. I’d just have to wait and see him when he came home. There’s me lecturing Simon on patience when I don’t have any myself–isn’t that good ol’ fashioned hypocrisy?

I went off in search of the kids and did something with them out in the garden. We were playing cricket until Trish whapped the ball into the greenhouse, the ordinary one not the harvest mouse one.

That’s extraordinary, Alan has set up a system he can remotely access, so it opens the windows if it gets too hot, sprinkles water if it’s raining outside, plus keeps the earth moist in the tubs of grain. There are cameras and microphones which are activated by movement or sound, so it picks up both of those, including my kids running past the windows and shouting at each other.

So far he’s got loads of footage but he says it’s like cheating because he isn’t behind the lens. I told him he was but from a distance. He said it wouldn’t stop him taking the money, about which I reported the extra grant the bank had offered, and he was cock a hoop, because we had a bit of shortfall over the cost of the equipment–this remote stuff is hellish expensive.

Back to the ordinary greenhouse, I knew we had some spare panes of glass in the shed, so I spent the next half an hour replacing the broken one and getting myself covered in putty, hoping that Tom wouldn’t notice. The ball missed all the plants, mainly tomatoes and cucumbers, as far as I could tell, so what his eye doesn’t see, his heart won’t grieve over–besides, I had enough to keep him occupied for a while.

David called us for lunch, he’d made pasties which were delicious but there was no sign of Danny and Cindy. I called his mobile, he was at her house and had only gone and got his ears pierced. I began to wonder what would happen next.