(aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2189 by Angharad Copyright © 2013 Angharad
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“I thought you were going to marry Kirsty?” I asked Siá¢n.
“That was before she got involved with that clown in a cassock.”
“D’you want me to go and see her?”
“What for? Can you magic away the baby?”
“No, and even if I could I wouldn’t do it, and neither would you–would you?”
“No–you’re right, it’s not the baby’s fault.”
“Perhaps it’s no one’s fault in terms of planning it. She might have had just a little too much of the communion wine and got carried away.”
“But you don’t understand–it wasn’t that she was unfaithful, it was she did it with a man–and she told me she was lesbian–that’s what hurts.” Siá¢n burst into tears and hid her face behind her hands.
“I’m sorry.” I said feeling my old friend’s pain, but there was nothing I could do to ease it. “Aren’t most of us open to approaches we wouldn’t think we’d accept if the situation is right–that no one is exclusively hetero or homo sexual.”
“I don’t know,” she sobbed.
“I mean, most men wouldn’t turn down the chance to sleep with a Thai ladyboy, would they, even though they’d technically be committing an act of homosexuality.”
“Oh shut up, Cathy. You can’t reason away the fact that she betrayed me with a man.”
“But she’s got you a baby.”
“No. No she hasn’t, she’s got herself pregnant, it’s his baby not mine.”
“Okay, I won’t mention it again–how long would you like to stay?”
“Till the weekend, if that’s okay?”
“That’s fine with me providing you can cope with the bedlam of a house full of kids, teenagers and me.”
There was a knock on the door and David poked his head round it, “Can I start the dinner?”
“Of course, David this is an old friend of mine, Siá¢n.” They waved to each other. “Want to adjourn to my study?”
She nodded and I made some fresh tea while she nipped into the cloakroom to make room for it.
“I think we’ve met before,” said David, “She came with some clergywoman, didn’t she?”
I nodded, “Keep that quiet will you?”
“Oh, like that is it?”
I nodded again and made the tea carrying it away as Siá¢n came out into the hallway and she followed me to my study.
“This is a lovely room.” She observed looking round at my books, photos and finally out of the window.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t have French windows here instead of these,” she said looking out onto the garden.
“At the time it didn’t occur to me, and I had the mock fire put there instead.” I handed her her tea then reached down the journal kept by Mr Whitehead. “The book I mentioned earlier, please don’t show it to the younger kids.”
“Okay.” She sat on the sofa by the window, “I’m not keeping you from anything am I?”
“If I could have an hour to do some lesson planning, that would be great.”
She flicked through the book, “Lovely handwriting, this’ll keep me busy for at least an hour.” So that’s what we did, I did some more boring stuff with the principles of ecology and she perused the journal making the odd remark to herself as she did. As I put down my pen, she looked up at me and said, “He sort of fell in love with you, didn’t he?”
“Only in a protective sense, like a distant uncle.”
“I don’t know, Cathy, he starts off bemused, then sorts out what you are with help from his wife and your Lady Macbeth period, and when she dies and he loses contact with you, he finds you again and then watches you like that bloke in Death in Venice, some might find it a bit creepy, especially when he was watching your kids as well.”
“I got to know him very briefly and I think his intentions were purely honourable.”
“That’s what some people probably thought about Jimmy Savile.”
“Don’t, Siá¢n, he gave his life protecting me from a thug with a knife.”
“And a house and this car as well?”
“Yeah, it’s in the garage–Simon loves to drive it occasionally.”
“What is it?”
“An old Jaguar.”
“Wow, some Christmas prezzie.”
“Uh no, that was a Porsche if you recall and it nearly killed me.”
“Oh god, that’s right, it happened on the drive home from us didn’t it?”
“Yes, some dopy deer ran out in-front of me and I swerved and lost it down an embankment and she ended up upside down in a stream.”
“Bloody hell, Cathy, that’s awful.”
“It was, it was a right gas guzzler.”
“You fool, I meant the accident, you could have been killed.”
“Nah, not me, indestructible, that’s me.”
“I dunno, girl, from what I’ve heard you’ve nearly come unstuck a few times, including a stabbing.”
“Don’t believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.”
“You can’t make light of attempted murder.”
“You can, it didn’t work so mock it all you like. It’s when it succeeds you have to reassess things.”
“Can’t you take anything seriously?”
“Yeah, my work, my children and my cycling.”
“You–serious about cycling? Since when?”
“Since Sussex. But if you recall I was messing with bikes before that.”
“Was it you who mended my gears?”
“You know another woman bike mechanic?”
“Not really.”
“So it probably was me, then.”
“Yeah, but playing with bikes is different to cycling them.”
“Ah, you have to remember I only tinkered with them through riding and the urge to outdo my father at fixing them. Once I started buying ball bearings and replacing them–he stopped watching me and asked me once or twice to fix his when he had problem.”
“So you outdid him in the end then?”
“Yep.”
“And you proved him wrong about beating the female out of you as well.”
“That took a bit longer but he finally came to at least appear to be reconciled that I wasn’t going to revert and that he did have a daughter not a son.”
“Game, set and match.”
“Had it been like that, I’d have felt sad about it.”
“But it was, wasn’t it–total wipe out.”
“I didn’t see it like that, he was my dad and despite all his short comings I still loved him.”
“I can see why abused women go back to their partners, some have no sense whatsoever and also no vision of anything different.”
“I had a choice, I could have ignored him, instead I accepted him on condition he accepted me as I really was. He agreed.”
“So he had a lot of choice, Cathy–you’re his only surviving relative, his child, his next of kin–he had a lot of choice, not.”
“So I negotiated from a position of strength.”
“You overran him, besides what chance did a sick man have against Wonder Dormouse?”
“Spike wasn’t there, just him and me.”
“And the bed pan.”
“Very funny.”
“Glad you think so, my patients would be horrified.”
“Of what?”
“My poor sense of humour.”
“Nothing wrong with it.”
“Could I have that in writing Dr Watts.
“Certainly, Dr Griffiths.”
“I’m glad we’re still friends, Cathy Watts.”
“So am I.”
Comments
Bike 2189
Wow, No cliff hanger this time. Thanks Angharad for still giving us the daily dose of Bike!
Richard
No cliff hanger? What? You
No cliff hanger? What? You see the little light on the other end of the tunnel? That's not daylight. I can see Siân suddenly coming on to Cathy in a heartbeat, if only to test the hypothesis of
.
Then again, that could be my overactive imagination at work. My guess is, that if Siân would do something like that, it would be an act of desperation, need for retribution, and some never entirely resolved attraction. And it would be embarrasing for the both of them. Totally? I don't know. It could evolve into a little shared harmless secret, where both know it could've-been, while it never has-been.
Do I seem a little rambling? Well, blame it on the pills.
Thank you for sharing Angharad.
Jo-Anne
I don't see them getting back together
I would feel absolutely betrayed if that ever happened to me.
I have what is apparently rare in that I have an absolute sense of fidelity.
There is good and bad in that as it is possible to get stuck in a relationship.
Kim
It was the subtle cliff Hanger
The one where we just can not wait for the next episode to see what it was that she did not tease us with.
The one Story that makes our Day Thanks Dear Ang
Goddess Bless you
Love Desiree
It certainly took
Cathys dad far too long to accept he had a daughter and not a son, Which you would have to say is such a shame, If only he could have seen that Charlie was a facade and underneath there was a daughter who if he had only opeened his heart too would have made him so much happier in his last few years, With that in mind Cathy should impress on her children the need to have no regrets and to live life to the full....
Kirri