Mummy's Little Girl, JANE ELLIOTT [mini ebook reader TXT] 📗

/> Dani tried to carry on walking, to get away from the potential confrontation, but they were’nt having it. Tammy wolf-whistled at her, and Ashley stepped forward and grabbed hold of the hem of her skirt, pulling it up and down so that it billowed. From somewhere else, Dani heard the sound of other children laughing, and she felt blood rise to the skin of her face.

“What you doing, Sinclair? Going on the pull”? Ashley called.
Embarrassed. Dani looked down at the ground and carried on trying to walk away; but the girls kept following her.
“Don’t think there’s anyone fancies you much round here”. Tammy added.

“Shut up”, Dani retorted from behind clenched teeth. It wasn’t like her to answer back. The other girls knew it and they jeered. Ashley went for the skirt again. This time, Dani swung round and lashed out at the other girl. It was pitiful sight- Dani was no fighter, and the other two were good at it. Immediately they piled in, pushing Dani to the ground and pulling at hair. Dani wanted to fight back, but she was not good at this sort of thing, and she curled up into a little ball as a crowd gathered round to ment as the girls started puching her curled-up body. Dani was in no doubt who they all wanted to win the fight.

“Fucking cry-baby”, Ashley shouted gleefully when she noticed the hot tears that had suddenly started to stream slightly babyish but all the more aggressive for that: “fucking cry baby.....”

“All right, you three. That’s enough!” a man’s voice barked from nearby. Dani looked up to see Mr Wynn, his green eyes flashing angrily “i said THAT’S ENOUGH!”
The scratching and clawing stopped. Humiliated at being the only one still on the ground. Dani pushed herself up.
“That is now the first time i have seen you three fighting” Mr Wynn said severely. “I dont expect to see it happening again”.
Dani looked wide-eyed at him, smarting from the injustice of it.
“Don’t look at me like that miss Sinclair”, Mr Wynn snapped. “I won’t have fighting in the playground, while i am on duty. Is that understood?” Dani felt herself nodding “yes sir”, she said quietly. “Ashley? Tammy?”
“Yes sir”, the replied in unsion, their voices chanting almost sarcastically. “GOOD”. Mr Wynn nodded his head decisively, and then turned and walked to the other end of the playground. With his back to them, he did not see the spiteful little smile that Ashley and Tammy cast in Dani’s direction.


It was late on Friday evening, and there were three people in the meeting: Katie swinton, a tall, curly-haired social worker with thin face and kind eyes; Andy martin, also a social worker- a young man with a shaved head, to hide the fact he was balding; and Alice gray, a fair bit older than the other two, their line manager. It had been long afternoon, and thier meeting had overrun. All three of them were looking forward to getting out of the bland room in the coucil offices and goin home. But there was a final case to get throught before that could happen.
“Alright”, Alice said with sigh of relief, “Last one.” She looked at the agenda on the table and front of her. “One of yours, I think katie?” Katie Swinton nodded. “Dani Sinclair. Twelve years old. I’ve mentioned her to you once or twice before” Alice smiled “Sorry Katie,” she said “Heavy caseload. You’ll have to refresh my memory.”
Katie pulled a file out from a little pile by her side. “she’s only come my way in the last couple of years. Before that we had no reason to become involved. She was placed with a foster family at birth, a couple in south-west London. Two younger siblings, but neither them fostered.”
“Unusual”, Andy butted in.
“Mmm,” Katie replied, “I spoke to the mother about it, they tried to conceive naturally for a long time before they fostered, and she fell pregnant soon afterwards.”
“Sod’s Law.”
“Quite.”
“Come on,” their manager said briskly. “lets wrap this up. What’s the problem with the child?” “Difficult to say.” Katie told her. “On the suface of it, nothing- at least nothing that i can detect. She’s very quiet, and by all accounts finds it difficult to make friends. Young for her age, I’d say- not as streetwise as a lot of the kids we see nowdays. But that’s really nothing out of the ordinary- nothing that would require our intervention. It’s the mother who’s more of a worry. Her husband left the family home two years ago as result of an affair, and he hasnt been back since. Divorce is only just coming through now, but he’s not paying any maintenance, and the CSA being what it is....”
Alice rolled her eyes.
“Exactly,” Katie said, “anyways, unsually it was the mother who got in touch with us. Her husband leaving hit her pretty had, i think. She told me that it was getting more and more difficult to look after the three children, and she didnt think she could continue fostering Dani.”
Both Alice and Andy blinked. “How old did you say the girl was again?”
“Twelve.”
“And she lived with the foster mother all her life?”
Katie nodded.
Alice shook her head. “some people-” she muttered. “Are you tell me she wonts the girl to be reassigned?”
“I’m afriad so”
“has she given you any reason other than no being able to cope? Any real reason, I mean?”
“Yes she’s complaining that the child is showing signs of becoming violent.”
“VIOLENT?”
“Getting into fights at school and fighting with the other two children at home.”
“Have you spoke to the school about it?”
“Yes” Kate pulled a piece of paper out of her file and glanced at it. “I spoke to Gina Sawyer, her class teacher. She seemed very surprised by the suggestion that Dani was aggressive. My understanding is that Dani Sinclair does get into scrapes, but they’re not of her own making.”
“Bullying?”
Katie shrugged slightly. “Her teacher didnt use that word, but thats what it sounded like to me.”
Alice frowed “Poor little thing. What’s you take on it?” Katie took a deep breath. “well” she said “the mother’s approached us, so we have to follow it up. I dont think there’s any doubt that she’s finding things toughh. Money obviously tighter than it used to be, which doesnt help matters. But in my view, moving the child from the family home would be deeply traumatic, especially if she’s having difficulty at school. I think it should be avoided.”
“I am assuming you have no reason to believe the child is in danger. No signs of abuse?”
Katie shook her head. “As I say, she’s very retiring kind of girl. It’s difficult to get much out of her. I wouldnt say she’s the happiest child I’ve ever met, but no, I wouldnt say she’s demonstrating any of the warning signs.”
“Do you think a supervision order?” “I’d say its early days for that” “OK.” Alice looked at Katie and Andy. “Katie, you need to keep tabs on the family- keep an eye out for any deterioration. But are we agreed that it’s in the child best interest for her to stay where she is?” “Absolutely” the two social workers said in unison. “Good” Alice then smiled at them. “Well, i guess tht wraps everything up.” She scraped her chair back and stood up. “Have a good weekend, you two. I’ll see you both on monday.”

Dani Sinclair had dark brown hair, pale skin and clear brown eyes. She was small for her age, though close up you could tell that she was almost a teenager. When she cried, the tears would collect in her lower lips like water swelling against a dam; but the dam would eventually break, and the tears would suddenly wet her cheeks profusely. It happened a lot. Dani was a tearful little girl, not robust like some children, and she found it difficult to stop herself from crying when she started to feel the tears coming.
She felt them coming now as she sat at the meal table with two younger ones. It was fish fingers for tea. Dani didnt really like fish fingers- didnt like the way the fish oozed a kind of milky sap against the orange breadcrumbs when they were warm. But she never said so because the other two - James and Rebecca- loved them. Insted, she pushed little pieces around her plate, occasionaly summoning up the courage to eat a mouthful. She knew that they will just get worse when they get colder, but that didnt make it any easier to eat them up when they were hot.
At the other side of the small kitchen, their mum clatered around at the sink. Dani would be in trouble when her mum saw that she had barley eaten any food, and that thought spurred her on a bit. She stuck her fork into a piece of fish finger, put it in her mouth, chewed and swallowed. She shivered as the food went down.
“Finished!” Rebecca shouted loudly.
“Me too” James chimed in.
Their mum turned from the sink, suds dripping from the yellow washing-up gloves she was wearing. She walked to the table and picked up the two empty plates, before looking down at Dani’s.
Dani returned the look and steeled herself for what was to come,
“You’re a fussy little begger, Dani,” she snapped. “Why can’t you eat the food i give you? Why cant you be more like your brother and sister?”
Dani kept quiet, and endured the smug stares coming from the younger children.
“Go on,” her mother said waspishly, “I’m sick of the sight of you. Go to your room.”
Silently Dani got down from the table, left the kitchen and trudged up the stairs. “And when your antie Rose comes round you make sure you dont have that surly bloody look on your face!” Mum’s voice carried up the stairs.
“Dani never eats her dinner does she mum?” she heard Rebecca saying from the kitchen.
“Shut up Rebecca” the little girl was told.
Mum wasnt her real mum. Dani had known that for as long as she could remember. But she hadnt always been like this. In Dani’s earliest memories, things had been happier. There had been a man of the house, for one thing-the man she called daddy. He had been kind to the children, and to Dani in particular. One day, however, he wasnt there any more. Dani asked where daddy had gone, but she never got a straight answer fron her mum. It was left to Dani to fill in the pieces, half heard conversations between grown-ups not intended for her ears. Conversations about things she didnt really understand.
Dani opened the door of her bedroom. The other two children shared a room, but having a room to herself was intended as a treat for Dani- she knew that well enough. It was because Rebecca would rather share with James then her. Their room was nice and big: Dani’s room was tiny, with room for only a single bed and an old chest of drawers. But she didnt mind. No one ever really disturbed her in here. It was the one place she could go and be sure of being by herself. She sat on the bed, hugged her knees and rested her head against the wall. The wall paper was pink; her dad had put it up for her before he left and now it was looking a bit old and tatty- in one corner it was coming away from the wall. There wasnt any point mentioning it to Mum, of course anymore then mentioning the