Chapter 17 (Revised)   Simon Jones is Eve Jones. But she didn't know.

 
 
Previously:

Eve now suspects who at her school had been stirring up the trouble.

Now the story continues.
 
 
 
Eve Chapter 17
 
 
 

I made it through the rest of the night and was very awake when I arrived in the kitchen shortly after seven. Mum was already there, somehow looking worse than me. I thought it best not to say anything, just in case.

We both grabbed a coffee before working out the first major decision of the day, breakfast.

"That dream I had?"

"Yes, Eve?"

"Do I need to write it down?"

"No. Dr Fox doesn't want to write them down any more, just mention them to her, if you can remember them."

"Right."

We were seeing Dr Fox in two days. I doubted I'd have any memory of it by lunchtime.

By eight thirty we were back in the kitchen, washed, dressed and made up. The doorbell ding-donged.

Mum spoke with the young man who had just rung the bell, he'd been sent by the insurance company to assess the car. He took some photos of the damaged paintwork and confirmed the details briefly with mum.

I asked when she returned to the kitchen, "what's the verdict mum?"

"He'll speak to his office and they could be back this afternoon to collect the car. He's confirmed that my policy covers this damage, they'll try to recover the costs from David Stevens."

"So we can't use the car today? I thought you needed to do some shopping?"

"That was the idea. I'll quickly do an internet order for this afternoon, if there's a delivery slot left."

Mum grabbed her laptop and sat at the kitchen table. She was able to complete the transaction in about ten minutes, that's almost an hour quicker than actually visiting the store.

She then went back to her room and I heard her going through drawers. I retreated to my room to start work on the internet tuition. As it was mostly multiple choice work, it really wasn't too difficult, but it was against the clock. When mum appeared in my doorway I was just finishing one test and had to wave her away to finish within the time allowed.

"Sorry mum, I had to finish that otherwise I lost points."

"Thats alright, I just hoped you weren't upset with me."

"Why would I be?"

"Just checking!"

I logged off the website and closed my PC down. A laptop would be useful.

I joined mum in the kitchen, she had an old biscuit tin open on the table.

"This is where I keep all the important documents. I needed this."

She held up a white card, about the size of a postcard.

"What's that?"

"It's your medical card. It's about the only official document you have that has your full name and address on it."

"Why do I need that?"

"We're going to the bank today. The recent money laundering laws mean that you have to have certain documents if you're going to open an account."

"Let me see it."

Of course the name printed on it was Eve Lynn Simon Jones.

I wanted to ask mum a question but it escaped me.

We left after lunch and caught the bus into town. Mum had left the car keys with Sharon and put a note under a wiper blade.

The bank was in the old marketplace, on the edge of the pedestrian precinct. We walked in and were accosted by a young man. His name badge said he was a customer Advisor.

"Good afternoon ladies. Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like to open an account for my daughter."

He pointed to a vacant service position, away from the tellers.

The next advisor, another man, rose to greet us from behind his desk.

"Good afternoon."

Time to repeat herself, "hello. I'd like to open an account for my daughter."

"A savings account?"

"No, a current account."

"Right, let me get the right form. Do you have some ID?"

Mum produced my statutory declaration, passport and medical card.

"He paid scant regard to the documents except to comment how nice my hair was, compared to my passport photo. He queried the stat dec as it didn't appear to change anything.

"My daughter didn't like the name Simon so removed it."

"Oh, I suppose it should have been Simone."

He said this as a statement not as a question so we let it go. I wondered if he would notice the M on the passport but he completely missed it.

Mum filled in the form and had to countersign it as I was under eighteen. I wasn't allowed an overdraft he said, nor a cheque book yet. He went away to copy the documents and handed them back. I had a question for mum, later.

"Thank you Miss Jones. You can expect a letter from us next week to confirm your bank details. Your debit card will take about ten days." That's ten working days, why don't they just say two weeks?

"Thank you."

We left and walked around the shops, ending up back into Marks and Spencers to look at the lingerie. I'd earlier mentioned to mum about a strapless bra, she agreed and we picked up a couple in white and black. We then looked at the lacy sets and I picked up a set in red, white and black, complete with suspender belts. I wasn't entirely sure what these were for until mum whispered in my ear. That meant we had to pick up some tights and, of course, stockings.

We were getting thirsty when mum remembered the coffee vouchers. We reached the checkout and presented the vouchers.

"This entitles you to a cake or pastry as well."

So back to the cold shelf to look at the delights. Of course, we had to consider our diets, briefly. We'd just finished when the manager we'd met on Saturday approached us.

"Ladies? I'm so pleased we managed to return here after that nasty episode."

"Thank you. We always intended to be back, my daughter needed some more lingerie."

Without showing any embarrassment he said he hoped our coffees were good. We thanked him and were about to leave.

"I heard there was a problem in the car park after you left here on Saturday. I hope it wasn't you?"

"I'm afraid it was."

"I'm sorry Mrs?"

"Jones."

"Mrs Jones. I'm sorry that happened. I'm the current chair of the precinct users group and we had our weekly meeting this morning. We will be applying through the council for an ASBO* against Mr Stevens. Many of the stores have had problems but until now we hadn't a name for him."

"So what happens now?"

"We will eject him from the precinct if he's seen but once the ASBO is granted we'd be able to have him arrested if he came near here, including the car park next door." That was encouraging news, unfortunately many youths treated an ASBO as a badge of honour and for many it was the only 'qualification' they ever received.

We just made a bus and were home fifteen minutes later. Mum's car was gone and there was a receipt in the letterbox. The rest of the afternoon and evening were quiet, although there was no sign of Claire. After dinner we sat in the lounge.

"Mum?"

"Yes dear?"

"I've been thinking."

"Yes?"

"Did Dad really get my name wrong?"

"No."

* Anti Social Behavior Order http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbo