Stella's Story by Louise Allen

Author:Louise Allen [Allen, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Inspirational Memoir
ISBN: 9781912624898
Publisher: Mirror Books
Published: 2020-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The car journey home is very subdued. Stella doesn’t talk very much anyway, and it seems that the last thing she wants to do is speak about what has just happened. I don’t want to push her. I try really hard to just focus on keeping everything as normal as I possibly can. Though it’s not normal to dread seeing your own mother and then flee from that situation in distress for an unseen reason.

Lloyd is surprised that we are back so soon, but I shake my head. I can’t talk to him and go through what’s happened yet. Food. A snack. I offer the contents of my kitchen cupboard. Stella asks for a sandwich and a packet of crisps. This is good because it means that she is feeling better, safer. I suggest to Lily that after Stella has finished eating they both go and play or watch a film together. Lily can sense something is up and drags her heels because she wants to know what’s happened, too. I shoo them both out of the kitchen with a bag of popcorn and two bowls to share it out. That does the trick.

A bemused Lloyd gets the very abbreviated version of events. What I really need to do is to talk to Rita. He waits patiently while I make the call. She answers within three rings. My eyes swivel towards the door and Lloyd understands, moving swiftly to prevent the girls from hearing.

‘Hi Rita, can I put you on speaker phone? Do you mind? Lloyd needs to hear this conversation too.’

‘Sure, no problem.’

I can tell that she is at home: I can hear The One Show on in the background as she gives her account of the meeting. Again, there doesn’t seem to be much to say. Shannon was kind and gentle. She did not impose herself onto Stella in any way. ‘Frankly, Louise, I’m baffled by Stella’s reaction.’

I ask Rita to talk me through blow-by-blow exactly what happened. I am determined to get to the bottom of this.

‘Stella was sitting next to me on the sofa, and Shannon was on the opposite sofa.’

I interrupt to ask what she was wearing. Rita obliges with a description of Shannon’s pale grey hoodie, complete with pink letters on the front. Perhaps it’s the hoodie that has triggered a memory. ‘Was she wearing that last time?

Rita struggles to remember, and, in fairness, this is way beyond her remit.

‘Most of the parents who come into the centre are wearing hoodies and jeans; it’s practically a uniform.’

I laugh to lighten the mood. But what else does she remember?

‘She looked clean and tidy, but she did smell of cigarettes again.’

Is it as simple as that? I wonder if the smell from Shannon is the trigger to past trauma. Maybe both parents smoke?

We are both churning over every detail. Rita humours my forensic analysis; she knows how important this is. But she also volunteers the unwelcome information that after the meeting, Shannon said that she was terribly worried about Stella.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.