The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3001 by Angharad Copyright© 2016 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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“And don’t forget to clean your teeth,” I called to the giggling gaggle of girls as they went up to bed.

“We don’t need to floss no more,” replied Trish I suspect deliberately using poor English.

“What?” I asked ascending the stairs when what i really wanted was a cuppa and chat with Danielle regarding her love life.

“Said in the paper that flossing is a waste of time,” said the genius.

“Did it?”

“Mighta been the internet.”

“I wasn’t asking you to floss anyway, flossie.”

She stuck out her tongue at me.

“How very grown up,” I dismissed her.

“You do it,” she snapped back.

“Look, miss smartarse, don’t do as I do, do as I tell you.”

She poked her tongue out again and ran off giggling. I decided they could sort themselves out and would only get involved if they got too noisy or I heard them in and out of bed. At least they knew and complied with my policy that no phones, laptops or tablets are allowed in the bedroom at bedtime. Research has shown that the screens tend to stimulate our eyes and thus our brains and we don’t sleep well afterwards. Dunno, I’ve fallen asleep plenty of times over a laptop.

I retreated down to the kitchen where Si and Danni were chatting about the match to her elder siblings. “So you like won the match?” asked Julie almost in awe.

“She did and she won man of the match,” bragged Simon.

“But she isn’t a man, is she?” Julie came back sharply and Danielle blushed. I suppose it is still relatively early days.

“Okay, woman of the match—it’s just an expression but they get a prize.”

“What d’ya get?” Julie asked her sibling.

“A shield, wanna see it?” She dug about in her bag and produced the small shield, it could go with the other trophies she’d won on the shelf in her bedroom. I’d already had her cap mounted in a frame for her to hang on the wall out of direct sunlight.

“She scored two goals to equalise against the Germans and...”

“You’re on the news, kiddo,” called Jacquie from the lounge, at which we all rushed into the room just in time to hear the commentator.

‘Probably a suitable competitor for goal of the year competition from the England Germany women’s international this afternoon, when fourteen year old Danielle Cameron from Portsmouth scored this amazing goal.’

We all watched it in astonishment, even though Simon and I had seen it before. As they showed it in slow motion Julie muttered, “Flipping ‘eck, ’ow the ’ell did you do that?”

‘This is one of the hardest manoeuvres in football and most of the time the player either misses or the ball goes almost anywhere, very few players ever pull it off and even fewer score a goal with it, but this young lady, and she is quite young to be a full international, but you can see why with this sort of skill and confidence. One of the best goals I’ve ever seen,” said the soccer pundit, some past it Premiership player, I expect.

“Cor, see who that is?” squealed Danni.

“No idea,” responded Julie for our collective ignorance.

“It’s only Brian Smith.”

“Who?” we said together.

“He played for Spurs and Arsenal before he went to Barca.”

“What’s Barca, a play for them when they become barking?” asked Julie.

“No, Barcelona, one of the best clubs in the world.”

“Wossat, Spain innit?” Julie really sounded a true intellectual at times.

Danni just rolled her eyes in pretend disgust and they all sniggered and snorted.

“You watch, there’ll be photos of that in the papers tomorrow, especially as the England men are so useless,” was Simon’s opinion and I hoped he was wrong.

“Cor, can we buy the papers to look?” asked an excited Danielle.

“I hope not, the last thing we need is publicity.” I threw a wet blanket on the proceedings.

“Oh yeah, didn’t think of that, maybe I won’t do it again.” She looked really downcast.

I turned her to face me and put my hands on her shoulders, “You were quite right to do it and deserve the recognition for your skill and agility. If you’re chosen to play for your country, you should give one hundred per cent or not bother turning up. Whatever the outcome, I’m really proud of you, girl,” and I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek as the others said, “Absolutely.” I felt her sniff and sob in my arms.

“They’re never going to let us be, are they? We’re always gonna be freaks.”

Simon interrupted. “I don’t care what anyone else says, but none of you are freaks. You’re all decent and very lovely young women and if necessary, I shall stand up and say so out loud as often as I need to make people understand. You are just ordinary—well okay, in your case, Danni—extraordinary young women making the best of a difficult path which nature has determined you have to tread. So no more of this woe is me, I’m a victim. You’re not and you have as much right as anyone else to represent your nation at sport, especially if you’re as good as you are, young lady.”

I was pleased he said all that and I know he means it one hundred per cent and if necessary would say it in public. However, I hope no one puts two and two together and makes four because the publicity will cause her so much embarrassment and anguish for months. If it was anything but a public sporting event, the press wouldn’t be allowed to name her because she’s still a juvenile however, because it happened in public, it seems they have carte blanche to say what they like because she’s a ‘public’ figure. It strikes me as double standards but life is full of them, just look at politics—Donald Trump, is the apotheosis of double standards who when he’s accused of lying or false accusations just goes on to make his next accusation about the democrats doing something wrong. Sadly, masses of brain dead Americans will swallow his nonsense because they have an axe to grind with the establishment. It’s similar to the Brexit vote here where British universities are being left out of the loop by their European counterparts or in danger of losing research grants because of the referendum result. I know it’s happening to my department but I’m now seeing evidence it’s country wide. Manufacturing is also down.

Trump has no policies or plans just hate filled rhetoric. While Hillary may have a somewhat chequered career, she certainly has to be the lesser of the two evils, especially as Putin will run rings round Trump and spread his anti-western influences even farther. He’s already funding all sorts of nastiness in Europe and probably helped the Brexit lobby because the UK leaving the EU weakens the union militarily quite significantly and now he’s trying to upset NATO. Both he and Trump are monsters, the difference between them being, Putin is a clever one the other is a egotistical moron.