The New Neighbours (29 page)

“Yeah, very,” Cirelle said at once. “I like kids. There's lots in our family and I often help with them. What sort of thing d'you want me to do?”

“It would probably be Todd, mostly,” Shirley said. “Taking him into the Circle garden to play, coming over and giving a hand at bedtime, that sort of thing. Perhaps we can link up with the Hammond and Forrester children so that he has other children to play with. If they stay any length of time, I'll want to take him to the local toddler group. To be honest,” she went on ruefully, “I don't really know. We'd have to play it by ear. I haven't discussed it with Melanie yet, so I don't know what she'll think of the idea, but when you mentioned babysitting yesterday, she didn't seem to mind.” Shirley sighed. “The trouble is, you never quite know what's going to upset her just at the moment.”

“Yeah, well if you want me, like, just give me a call,” said Cirelle. “It's the sort of job I'd enjoy, and to be honest too, I need to find something, I need the cash.”

They finished the dishes chatting easily and then Cirelle went off to her tutorial, leaving Shirley to go back into the day room, feeling a little more optimistic.

The rest of the afternoon passed all too quickly and, before she knew it, Shirley's clients had gone and she and Mavis had cleared up and were ready to go home.

Mavis looked at her critically. “You look tired, Shirley,” she remarked. Shirley managed a smile. “Didn't sleep so well last night,” she admitted. “We've got Melanie and the children staying for a few days.”

“Oh Shirley, you should've said,” Mavis scolded. “I could have managed on my own this afternoon.”

“No you couldn't,” Shirley returned. “And anyway it did me good to get away for a couple of hours.”

Mavis smiled. “Well, thanks anyway. See you soon.”

As Shirley came into the Circle she heard the sound of children playing in the Circle garden, and looking over the fence she saw David pushing Todd on the swing, while Isabelle played with Tom and Sylvia in the sandpit. She went in and was greeted by David, still pushing the swing.

“Hello, love. Look Todd, here's Granny.”

“Hello, you look as if you're having fun.” Shirley spoke to Todd, but her eyes flicked to David, who said, “Yes, we thought we'd play out here until you got home again, didn't we, Todd?”

“Everything all right,” asked Shirley anxiously.

“Fine, but it was too nice a day to stay indoors.” David let the swing slow and then catching Todd in his arms, lifted him off. “There you go, young man, go and give Granny a kiss.”

Todd ran to Shirley and she bent to hug him. “Have you had a good time with Granddad?”

“Yes, I swinged very high!”

“I saw you,” Shirley agreed. “You were very high. Shall we go and find some tea now?” She took his hand and they all three walked back to the house. “Where's Melanie?” Shirley asked David.

“Indoors, reading,” he replied. “Suzie was awake for a while, and Melanie changed her, but I think she's put her back in her cot now. How was your afternoon?”

“Quite helpful actually,” Shirley said and told him briefly of her conversations with Fran and Cirelle. “So Fran will drop in later and we can ask Cirelle to help if we need her.”

Melanie looked up as they came up the stairs. “Hello, Mum.”

“Hello darling, nice afternoon?”

“Yeah, not bad.”

“Good. Will you put the kettle on while I just pop upstairs? I'll be down in a minute and we'll have some tea.”

While they were eating, the doorbell rang and hoping it was Fran, Shirley said, “Answer the door, Mel, will you?”

Melanie went to the entryphone. “It's Doctor Fran,” she reported.

“Fran? How nice, tell her to come on up.”

“Melanie,” Fran cried as she came up the stairs, “I heard on the grapevine that you were here and I thought you wouldn't mind if I popped in to see this new baby I've heard so much about.” She gave Melanie a hug. “Hello, everyone. Hello Todd, how are you? You are getting a big boy.”

“Fran, how lovely to see you,” cried Shirley. “Cup of tea?”

“Oh, yes please, just a quick one.” She turned to Melanie again. “So, where's Suzie? Can I see her?”

“She's asleep,” Melanie said.

“Well, I won't wake her, but could I have a peep?”

“OK,” Melanie shrugged and led the way upstairs to where her daughter was in her cot. Suzie wasn't asleep and waved her fists at Fran as she bent over the cot.

“May I pick her up?” asked Fran, and when Melanie shrugged again she reached into the cot and lifted the baby out, cradling her in her arms. Fran looked across at Melanie, smiling. “She's beautiful, Mel,” she said. “You must be very proud of her.”

Melanie managed a small smile. “Yes, I am.”

“You're looking tired, though,” Fran said gently. “Does she cry a lot? Is she getting you up much at night? I remember being terribly tired when I brought Carol home. Max needed me as he always had, but all I wanted to do was sleep!”

She held Suzie out to Melanie, but Mel shook her head. “Put her back in the cot, I'll see to her after tea.”

Fran did as she was asked, but immediately Suzie started to grizzle.She was tired of being in her cot and wanted to stay up in someone's arms.

Melanie looked at her for a moment, making no move to pick her up again, then all of a sudden her face crumpled and she began to cry. Fran at once gathered her into her arms and held her as she sobbed and sobbed.

When at last her sobs died away, Fran led her to the bed and sat her down, still holding firmly on to her hand. “Now, Mel, come on, tell me what's the matter? What's this all about?”

“I just can't cope with the children,” Melanie blurted out. “Todd's OK, except he's so demanding, but Suzie… it's all too much. I can't seem to make the effort. That's why I'm here now, with Mum and Dad, because things at home were just awful! Mum wants me to go on Prozac or something, but I don't want to. She made me go to the doctor at home, but he didn't say much, just I need counselling and more time. It's hopeless, I don't know what to do.”

“What about Peter?” asked Fran gently. “He does what he can, but he's away so much with his work. He says he has to go, and I know he does, but it doesn't make it any easier. Then Mum came up to fetch me, and when I knew she was coming I had a whisky to keep me going, but I had too much and now she thinks I've got a drink problem as well, I know she does!”

“And have you?”

“No! At least I don't think so, though I have had a few drinks lately when it's all got beyond me. But I don't go round looking for it all the time. The odd drink just helps me get through.” She looked earnestly at Fran. “What am I going to do, Fran? I don't know what to do.”

Fran squeezed her hand. “The first thing to do is to stop worrying. Oh, I know that's easier said than done,” she added as Melanie began to protest, “but all this can be sorted, you know, and you'll be back to your usual self. Now, what I suggest we do is take things a step at a time. Your doctor recommended counselling. Well, at my surgery we have a counsellor who can help you. You could see her while you're staying here. She's very nice, her name's Jackie Spencer. What do you think?”

Melanie shrugged. “I could try,” she conceded.

“That's my girl,” smiled Fran. “I'll make an appointment for you to see her as soon as possible and we'll take it from there. In the meantime, do as much as you can with both the children. Don't be afraid to accept help, but don't rely on other people entirely. They'll want to help, but gradually you'll find you can begin to cope without them. OK?” Fran fished in her pocket and produced a handful of tissues.

Mel nodded and taking the hankies blew her nose. “You don't think I need to go on to anything?” she asked, anxiously. “Pills, I mean?”

“No. Certainly not yet, anyway. I think that would be very much a last resort. Let's have a go with counselling and support first, eh?”

Melanie managed a smile and nodded.

“Good girl. Now, I think you need to change your daughter's nappy. From the whiffs I'm getting, I think she's been busy while we've been talking. Then we'll take her downstairs and you can tell Mum what you're going to do.”

When the baby was clean and comfortable, they went downstairs and joined the others at the tea table. Shirley was longing to know what had been said upstairs, but she managed not to ask and soon Melanie said casually, “Dr Fran's suggested I see the counsellor at her surgery, Mum. I think it's quite a good idea, don't you?”

“Yes, I do. It sounds an great idea, darling.” She beamed across at both of them. “Do you want me to give Suzie her bottle while you drink your tea?

“No, thanks,” Melanie said. “I'll do it.”

Oliver went with the swimming party that followed the barbecue, not because he wanted to swim particularly, but because he couldn't think of anything else to do and he didn't want to go home. Home! He wasn't going home any more. Home was with Dad and that bitch Annie now and everything in his life had changed. Mum had married that creep Oslo de Quinn, and at his say so they had been shunted off to Dad.

“Much the best for you, young man,” Oslo had said. “You'll be able to come and stay with your mother from time to time, but there really isn't room in our flat for you to be here all the time, and anyway you wouldn't want to live in London.”

Oslo and Lynne had moved into Oslo's London flat, getting rid of the house in Belcaster where he had been living when they had met, and Lynne had sold the house in Belston St Mary where she and her children had lived since the divorce.

“Are you really going to let him throw us out?” Oliver demanded angrily. “Don't you care about me and Em anymore?”

“Yes, of course I do,” Lynne had said in her most reasonable voice. “I care very much. That's why I think you should stay in the same area, where all your friends are. I've got to go to London to be with Oslo, but I don't want to uproot you two; and living with Dad for a while, you'll be able to get to know him better.”

“Like I don't know him already?” shouted Oliver. “Me and Em have been there enough as it is. Don't we get any say?”

“And I shall be very busy from now on,” Lynne carried on, ignoring his outburst. “Working with Oslo, entertaining business people. It really is for the best, darling. We shall see lots of you, at weekends and in the holidays. You'll be able to come up to London and we'll be able to go out to see the sights and go to shows…”

“You're talking to me as if I were about six!” Oliver shouted.

“Well, darling, you're rather behaving as if you were,” his mother replied wearily. “I know it will feel strange at first, but you'll soon get used to it. Emma seems quite happy.”

“It's all right for her,” Oliver fumed. “She's staying at Beechlands for at least another year, I've got to leave Chapmans and go to Crosshills bloody Comp. It's not fair. I could still go to Chapman's from Dad's, there's a school bus from town.”

But his Dad said he couldn't. He was sympathetic but firm. “I'm sorry, Oliver, I just can't afford it any longer. I'm afraid you'd have had to leave Chapmans anyway, wherever you lived. I simply can't afford the fees.”

“What about Em then?” Oliver growled resentfully. “Why's she still going to Beechlands?”

“She won't be, not after this year. She's doing her last year at Beechlands and then she'll be joining you at Crosshills.” He laid a hand on Oliver's arm and said, “It's not what I want for either of you, son, but there's no alternative with the business in the state it's in, so we'll have to make the best of it.”

“At least he'll be starting his GCSE course at the beginning and not swapping schools in the middle,” Oliver had heard Annie say, “and he'll soon make new friends in the area.”

It was comments like these that fuelled Oliver's rage and resentment. GCSEs he thought explosively. Who cares about those? They're just fucking exams. What about me? No one cares about me. No one cares how I feel about things, I'm never consulted. “You wouldn't want to live in London!” they say. “You wouldn't want to be uprooted!” How do they know? They've never even bothered to ask me.

He felt he had absolutely no control over his life and the anger boiled inside him. What was worse was that Emma didn't seem to care that they were being shunted round.

“I don't mind much,” she admitted when he taxed her with it. “I loathe Oslo, and I don't want to live with him in London, I'd much rather stay here with Dad.”

“And that bitch Annie?” Oliver's lip curled. “Imagine what it's going to be like living with her full-time!”

“She's not so bad,” Emma said. “She says I can redecorate my room if I like, choose the colours and have some new curtains. We're going into town later, to look for material.”

To Oliver this was the final treachery. Even Em wasn't on his side. She'd been bought… by new curtains.

The first day at Crosshills had been awful. The only plus about the place was that the pupils there didn't have to wear school uniform. There was a uniform and everyone was encouraged to wear it, but it wasn't obligatory and Oliver made the most of the fact. When he arrived the first morning, he was wearing jeans and a granddad shirt hanging loose over a T-shirt and his trainers. He joined the steady flow of children streaming in at the gate. He had refused point blank to let his father go with him.

“For Christ's sake, Dad, I'm not a two year old! I can perfectly well go by myself.”

“Well, on your first morning you have to go in by the front door and ask for the headmaster, Mr Curtis.”