Beyond Angel Avenue by Sarah Michelle Lynch

Author:Sarah Michelle Lynch [Lynch, Sarah Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sarah Michelle Lynch
Published: 2015-12-22T05:00:00+00:00

***

Monday morning. William Barker’s office.

Ronnie’s briefed the man and he knows I’m not really here to become a world-leading care worker, using all my training as a teacher to excel in this field. He knows the deal. However, from the way his white beard moves chewing that gum in his mouth, I don’t think he’s happy about this.

“You are Julian’s daughter?”

I stare at him, feeling like I’m in the headmaster’s office. I think it’s being back here, the wrong side of the water, which makes me feel ill at ease.

“You knew Julian?”

He sniffs. “Everyone did. Sometimes he was the life and soul of that pub he used to frequent, you know?”

I nod slowly. “I think you know why he was, eh? Full of it, wasn’t he?”

Pity me and my mum were the only ones who had to deal with him on his downers afterwards. Nobody ever saw that side of him but us.

My legs are crossed and my hands are folded on top of them, my nervous form dressed in smart trousers and a blouse, making me feel like I am back to square one. I want my woollen dresses and leggings back. Why did I travel thousands of miles around the world, for this? To end up right back here?

“Have you got any experience that will help you?” His dark eyes narrow on mine.

“Well, I have twin boys. They’ve tested me, let me tell you.” I mentally count all the poo explosions, and having had two boys, it’s always been double the fun. When one gets sick, the other does, and when one cries, so does the other.

He nods. “What about, otherwise?”

I look away from him, trying to think. “I–I, well, I don’t know.”

“I don’t have to put you in there. Ronald Fitzgerald doesn’t control me,” William Barker asserts, his eyes assessing my reaction carefully.

I sit up straighter and stare at him. “Well, if you tell me more about what’s expected of me…?”

“Can you clean? Can you keep good time? Will you remember to fill in your log books? Will you hold your tongue when they get mouthy?”

“Who will get mouthy?”

He chuckles slightly. “Probably all of them.”

I cough. “Well, I was Head of English at my old school. I know all about care in the community, spotting child negligence, supporting those with low self-esteem… and when I was saving up for university, I worked in a café where truckers used to try banter with me everyday and occasionally pinch my bum. Not to mention all the deadheads I had to deal with as a barmaid.” I smile sweetly. “Also, I survived a grotty childhood during which my mum died of an overdose and my father kept getting high while I walked to school in rags. That qualify me to deal with people and wipe their arses?”

William Barker stares, dumbstruck. He wasn’t expecting me. He chokes a little as he says, “Head?”

“Head, yes. Mopping up shit really isn’t that big a deal compared to some of the fucking bollocks I’ve had to shovel over the years.

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