So What Do I Do? by G J Griffiths

Author:G J Griffiths
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: G J Griffiths

*

‘Hello, is that Mrs Shrimpton? I’m ringing on behalf of Mr Hodgson. I’m police constable Gilmore.’

Molly was very confused and scared. She suddenly felt as if she had slipped into a surreal nightmare when the person calling her referred to “Mr Hodgson”. She was making some notes during a science department meeting after school, when her mobile had rung. Her colleagues noticed the shaky wobble in her voice as she tried to make sense of the police constable’s message. In a daze she attempted to explain to them, while packing her things away, evidently leaving in the middle of Richard’s instructions to everyone.

‘Sorry, Richard, I’ve got to go and look after Jean… Her son Geoffrey’s been taken to hospital… It was the police. Geoffrey’s been attacked – in Marpley Bridge.’

‘Can we help, Molly?’ asked Carol.

‘It’s the child minder, I won’t be able to pick up my boys. My mum could look after them until I get home, but it’s collecting them… She doesn’t know where to go. I won’t be—’

‘Come on, Molly, give me the details. I’ll collect them and take them to your house. Sorry, Richard, we’ll read the notes later,’ said Carol, herding Molly into the corridor. She heard more of the incident as the two women raced across the campus to their cars.

When Geoffrey had come round he had dialled 999 and the police attending his call insisted he had an ambulance, in case of concussion. Geoffrey had given them Molly’s number as it was over an hour since the time Jean’s carers would have left her. It transpired that one carer had remained with Jean while the other attended their next appointment. She then reported events to their supervisor who explained to the police that they had no-one available to stay with Jean overnight. Social services were contacted who arranged for an emergency “sitter” from 10pm. Molly agreed to be with Jean until that time. No-one knew whether Geoffrey would be kept in hospital overnight but they could not risk that his mother would be left alone for many hours.

‘Thanks, Carol.’ Molly unlocked her car. ‘I’ll ring the child minder now and explain that you will be collecting Matty and Joshua. I expect Mum or Dad will be at my home by the time you get there.’

‘No problems, ducky. Don’t fret about the kids. Luckily they know me and I’ve still got a child seat on the back for Matty.’

‘Oh, God! I forgot about that, Carol. Can I dump the seat for Joshy in your car and leave you to sort it out?’

‘Yes, of course you can. Off you go and if neither of your parents are there, I’ll stay until they arrive.’

‘Thanks so much, Carol! I’ll ring Oliver when I get to Jean’s. He’s somewhere on the other side of Manchester.’

They hugged and then Molly left Carol struggling with a child’s car seat.

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.