Can I Let You Go? by Cathy Glass

Author:Cathy Glass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2016-04-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

A Sense of Occasion

It was pouring with rain the following morning, so Faye and I didn’t go to see the horses as we’d planned but stayed indoors. After breakfast and once she was dressed I took the opportunity to explain more to her about her developing baby and reinforce what I’d already told her. I used the children’s book I’d used before and also the internet, although much of the writing on the webpages required a level of reading far in advance of Faye’s. I’d tried to find a website especially for parents who had leaning difficulties, but there was nothing. Some websites made reference to the problems that adults with learning difficulties faced when trying to parent, but none actually addressed the issues. However, the diagrams and pictures on the general parenting websites were useful and some showed what the developing baby looked like in the womb. I read out that at thirty-one weeks gestation, which was the stage Faye was at, the baby weighed approximately 1.5kg and measured about 40cm from the top of its head to its toe. I showed her on my arm roughly how long this was – from my elbow to the tip of my finger. We could see from the pictures that the baby’s arms, legs and body had filled out and were now in proportion to its head, so it no longer looked like a foetus but a newborn baby. We learnt that it wouldn’t be moving around so much now, but that if Faye ever noticed it had stopped moving then she needed to tell me straight away so we could see the doctor for a check-up. Faye pulled a face when I read out that the baby was now passing small drops of urine, practising for when it was born.

The weather was still poor in the afternoon and Faye asked if we could go to the cinema. Adrian had mentioned at the weekend that he’d been to see the new James Bond film and Faye said she wanted to see it, as she liked James Bond films. She told me she had been to the cinema before, but not for a long time, because her gran and grandpa found the seats too uncomfortable and had difficulty getting in and out, and up and down the steps. She brought her purse with her, as she wanted to buy herself some popcorn, which she remembered doing before at the cinema. The little bright-red zip purse she clutched contained her pocket money, which her gran topped up as and when necessary from the state allowance she received.

I paid for us to go in and Faye bought her popcorn. I helped her count out the money from the coins she had in her purse; it took a while. The cashier was patient, appreciating that Faye was struggling, but it made me realize how difficult it would be for Faye if she ever had to cope alone. She had no experience of managing money beyond a bit of pocket money.

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