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‘Can you put me through to Roger Locke’s secretary?’ said Angela to the switchboard at CantChem. There’s no answer on his personal line.
‘One moment, please.’
‘Hello, Joyce speaking. How may I help?’
‘Er, it’s Roger’s wife, Angela. Is he around?’
‘Not at the moment, can I take a message?’
‘Oh, well, can you just tell him I’m having to go to the school, I mean his daughter’s school. I need to speak to him about something that’s happened.’
‘OK, are you at home?’
‘Well, yes, I mean no I won’t be. Sorry, I’m not making much sense. I need to go out immediately so please give him the message and tell him I’ll try to phone him later.’
‘OK, Mrs Locke, I’ll give him the message. Bye.’
Angela hung up and grabbed her bag and keys. She could hardly believe the news from the school, and she was dreading the time when Roger found out about what had been happening. He would be incandescent and what effect would that have on his heart? What on earth had got into Patsy? There must be some mistake, and she intended to get to the bottom of it when she arrived at the school.
**
‘I’m sorry, Mrs Locke, I have no choice but to suspend Patsy, pending an investigation. Clearly, it’s the last day of term tomorrow, but I have to emphasise there is no guarantee she will be allowed back after the summer holiday,’ said Mrs Stott, sternly.
‘I understand,’ replied Angela. ‘I am so sorry about this.’ She was having trouble holding in her emotions. Firstly, there had been the shock of the phone call, and now the full details of Patsy’s behaviour had been revealed she felt like bursting into tears. She’d had her suspicions that her daughter had been suffering from some bullying and she cursed herself that she’d not pressed for more information. Had she investigated further and stood up to Roger, then all this might have been avoided.
‘I think it is best if we all take some time to calm down. I’ve explained the situation to you and I’ll be in touch. I’ll be speaking to Eugenia’s parents, and we will have to see what they say.’
‘Yes, we’ll go now. Come along Patsy.’ She grabbed her daughter by the arm and marched out of the headmistresses office, covered in shame and still in shock.
‘Ow, you’re hurting,’ cried Patsy.
‘Be quiet and hurry up. I want to get out of here as quickly as possible.’
Angela almost slipped down the polished staircase in her haste to escape the confines of the school. As soon as they had left the school building and were at a distance from any prying eyes, Angela rounded on her daughter and gave her a severe dressing down. Patsy had never seen her mother so enraged and thought at one moment that she would also resort to violence as her father had.
‘Patsy! I cannot believe what we’ve just heard from the headmistress! It is utterly appalling. What has got into you?’
‘I was tired of being bullied. Eugenia deserves a taste of her own medicine. She’s untouchable. None of the teachers will do anything about her as her father pays for so much at the school.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me properly what had been happening.’
‘I tried to but you just ignored me!’
‘I didn’t ignore you, but you played it down, you didn’t tell me all the details!’
‘What was the point? You just do what Dad tells you.’
‘I do not!’ Angela paced around, furious at her daughter, her husband, everyone. Her mind was in turmoil, and she was having trouble expressing herself. It was obvious there were two sides to this story, and hopefully, further investigation would get to the truth of the matter.
‘If you didn’t trust me to take you seriously why didn’t you tell the teachers?’ shouted her mother.
‘I told Miss Pugh that Eugenia almost pushed me off the chair, but you could see that she was going to side with Eugenia. Also, before that, I told Miss Dent about Eugenia ripping pages out of my exercise book, but she just sided with Eugenia.’
‘But you physically assaulted her! She’s had to go to the hospital to get checked out!’
‘I had no choice. She was just going to carry on doing the same.’
‘But you stabbed her! That’s assault!’
‘I didn’t kill her, she’ll live!’
‘But the police have been informed, what if the family press charges? You will have a criminal record and the school will be dragged through the mud.’
‘I’m fourteen, they can’t charge me or send me to prison.’
‘I feel like shaking you. I’m so angry. My daughter suspended from the school where she won a scholarship. It’s totally unbelievable that you have thrown it all away.’
‘My life has been hell. I’m glad to be away from this place. I’ve been picked on for ages.’
‘But why didn’t you tell us? I know I’ve just asked you that, but I can’t think straight.’
‘You would have made out it was my fault, you always do. Well, Dad would have, and as I’ve already said, you never stand up to him.’
‘Look, I can’t be bothered to talk to you any longer. This isn’t doing any good. We are going home. Goodness knows how we are going to tell your father about this. He’s not well, and he’s going to have all this extra stress.’
Her mother took out her handkerchief and blew her nose. She looked dreadful, her face tear-stained and marred with worry lines, even her permed hair seemed awry as if it was consumed with all the nervous energy coursing through her mother. Angela’s hands were trembling as she fumbled in her bag for her purse for the bus fare. Mother and daughter passed the rest of the journey in silence. Patsy stared out of the window and bid a silent farewell to the school which had caused her so much pain over the last year. She would miss her friend Susan, but there would still be opportunities to see her at weekends and in the holidays. However bad the new school was it wouldn’t contain The Pinkies gang.
The silence continued as they walked the last half a mile or so back to Princes Avenue.
‘Your father’s not home, yet,’ said Angela. ‘You will go to your room, and I will speak to him in private. God knows how I’m going to tell him.’
As they walked up the driveway, the front door opened causing Angela to scream, fearing they had stumbled upon a burglary of their own home.
‘Oh, God,’ she exclaimed as her brain recognised the man before her. ‘You gave me a fright! It’s Graham, isn’t it?’ she asked. She recognised her husband’s manager from the annual Christmas party. ‘What’s happened? Why are you here?’ The questions tumbled in quick succession from Angela’s lips. Patsy remained silent as a mere onlooker. Something very odd was afoot, that much she realised.
‘Angela, Mrs Locke, I need to have a word with you, about Roger.’
‘Roger! Is he ill? Oh God, he’s not dead, is he? Has he had a heart attack?’ The questions were again being fired at Graham as Angela held on to the door frame. Her world was falling apart around her, and she felt her knees buckle.
‘No, no, he’s not dead. Look, come in. I’ll explain,’ said Graham, getting hold of Angela’s arm and helping her into her own house.
For a moment, Patsy’s heart had missed a beat as she thought that her father had met his demise, but he was clearly still breathing. But why had Graham and not her father answered the door?
‘I’ve put the kettle on, I hope you don’t mind,’ said Graham, reboiling it and making a pot of tea.
‘Where’s Roger?’
‘He’s in bed asleep,’ he whispered.
‘Asleep? In the afternoon? Oh, God, is it the new tablets? I’ll go and see him!’
‘I think it’s best to just leave him for the moment. Please, sit down, and I’ll tell you about it.’
‘Graham, I don’t normally do this, but I need a drop of brandy. I’ve had the most awful shock this afternoon. Patsy, go to your room. I want to speak to Mr Stevens in private.’
‘Can I go into the garden?’
‘Yes, OK. Close the door behind you.’
Angela sipped her brandy, followed by the cup of tea made by Graham. It was strange sitting in her own kitchen being waited upon by her husband’s manager, but after the day she’d had, she was past caring about the normal protocols of life.
‘Angela,’ said Graham taking a seat opposite her. ‘Roger behaved rather oddly this afternoon, so I brought him home. We also got the doctor to call around to check him over.’
‘Why, what happened? He’s on some new pills for heart arrhythmia, oh, what are they called?’
‘Quinidine, according to the doctor.’
‘So, is it a side-effect?’
‘Well, not according to the doctor. He’s not aware of them affecting anyone like that before, but he couldn’t be sure.’
‘Like what?’
Graham relayed the incident at work and Angela could hardly believe her ears. Was this really her husband he was describing? The whole situation was completely unreal, and she had yet to tell Roger about Patsy. Suddenly, she could hold in her emotion no longer and a loud cry burst forth causing her whole body to shake with racking sobs.
‘I’m sorry,’ she struggled to say.
Graham was embarrassed. Should he try to comfort her? It wasn’t as if they knew each other very well. The whole situation was extremely awkward. He too poured himself a small dose of brandy, not very much as he was driving, but he simply had to have something to take the edge of the situation.
‘The doctor gave your husband a mild sedative, and he wants you to let him know how he is in the morning. He’s signed him off sick for a week until he’s got used to his tablets.’
‘Oh, I see. Well, thank you so much for bringing him home. I’m sorry I’m in such a state, but you see Patsy has had a few problems at school as well and she’s....’ her voice trailed off as she realised she didn’t want anyone to know about what had happened.
‘I’ll leave you now but here’s my direct number and my home one. Don’t hesitate to phone if you need any help.’ He patted her hand then took his cup and glass to the sink. ‘I’ll see myself out.’
Angela continued to cry and poured herself another brandy. She wandered outside to inform Patsy about her father’s strange turn but left out many of the details, deciding to focus on his heart problems. Her mundane world had just suffered a catastrophic perturbation of its equilibrium, and she had no idea whether it would ever be the same again.
