The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3083 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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Despite my lack of sleep I got the children up and nominally supervised them getting showered and dressed—actually they do themselves except the little ones and Danielle is so good with them, unlike the average boy would be. I consoled myself that maybe things had worked out for her after all. Now if I could only find and strangle her birth mother, I could rest—until the next crisis. Life really is like that and although we deny it, we spend much of our time doing crisis management.

I dropped them off at school and reminded the headmistress that we had problems again. “That puir child, will they never leave you or yours alone?”

I shrugged, it certainly didn’t look that way and as long as there were tabloid journalists employed by the gutter press, it didn’t seem very likely. I got to my office and after a cuppa dealt with the immediate correspondence. Diane found me asleep at my desk and insisted I have a snooze on the sofa. I drank my tea, the second cup, and followed her bidding. I zonked for at least an hour. During this time Tom phoned to tell Diane I would be late in. Ever protective of me, she told him I was already here, had been since nine or earlier and was busy at my desk. When he asked to speak to me, she said I was in a meeting and had left word not to be interrupted.

I called him back after she’d briefed me and hearing me yawning told me to go home and sleep. I told him I had work to do at which point he invited me out to lunch. I was just going to have a sandwich and snooze some more instead I went with him to his favourite restaurant and ate a tuna jacket potato while he had his chicken curry. I wondered if all academics were people of such predictability.

During lunch I challenged him about the purpose of a university. He told me they were business which sold education and carried on research. I however disagreed on the fundamentals of the business element. To my mind we were institutions of academic excellence and research, teaching, educating and changing the way our students thought to being more critical and analytical in their thinking and about the way they accepted data.

“We shud change places, hen. Ye’re describing whit universities were like thirty or forty years ago, idealistic and reaching five tae ten percent o’ the population. It wis mainly funded by government wi’ students getting fees paid plus grants for their upkeep. It wis guid while it lasted. Noo we’ve trebled or quadrupled thae number o’ students and they pay us f’ thae privilege. We’re a business whether ye like it or no.”

“If the core of the business is taking money from students then we need to be selling a quality product.”

“Why d’ye think I put ye in charge o’ science.”

“As a stop gap until you could find a better candidate?”

He buried his face in his hands and groaned. “Aye mebbe ye’re richt,” he said and groaned again.

“What d’you mean I may be right?”

He shook his head, “I agree wi’ whit ye said jest noo.”

“What about a better candidate?”

“No, aboot selling a quality product. That’s why ye’re where ye are.”

I repeated what he said and blushed, “Oh.”

He shook his head, “Cathy, ye’re a guid teacher, ye may even mak a guid lecturer one day.”

“So I was right about keeping the seat warm then?”

He buried his face and groaned again. “Ye’re a brilliant professor. Okay, I’ve said it noo, dinnae ask me tae repeat it, we’ll nivver get yer heid through thae door.”

I sat there feeling like I was in a dream. It had to be, I’ll never be a brilliant professor if I live to be a thousand, not to my eyes anyway and I don’t think my standards are much higher than anyone else’s—are they? He obviously didn’t wish to discuss it and was shell shocked. I wondered if you could develop PTSD from receiving good news. It would be just my luck to be the first recorded case.

He asked me why I wasn’t sleeping and I explained about the worries with Danielle and her birth mother. I was astonished he didn’t know but he doesn’t always eat with us and has been very busy in his study when he was home. He’d heard bits and pieces but assumed it was something to do with her soccer. We talked for a good twenty minutes about it and he told me to send her to stay with her other grandparents in London.

“We discussed that and Henry did offer, but it’s just running away, Daddy, sooner or later the problem returns and if your answer is to run away you’ll eventually get caught. If you stand and fight it, there will be some flak but you might be lucky enough to pick your battle ground or use the element of surprise.”

He agreed that what I said made sense and told me to involve him as much as we needed.

“But you’re even busier with the university than I am,” I said quietly.

“Och that’s jest ma life, Danielle’s ma family.”

I felt a tear form in my eye and my throat tightened around the frog in it. For an old man he had amazing energy.

We were just having a coffee at the end of our meal and my Black Berry peeped. It was a text from James. ‘Found the lady in question. Gonna C her tonight. J.’ I read it and looked up at Daddy.

“Whit is it, lassie?”

“James thinks he’s found the lady we’ve been looking for.”

“Oh an’ whit’s he planning on daeing?”

“Possibly asking her why she’s now looking for Danni given her neglect and hiding the abuse.”

“Are ye no gang wi’ him?”

“I haven’t been invited.”

“But ye pay him?”

“He’s good at what he does if he thought I should be there he’d have said so.”

“Ye ken him better than I dae.”

“Yes I do, Daddy; c’mon, I’ve a meeting in half an hour.”

“Aye, like this morn?” he smiled at me.

“I have meetings all the time, you of all people should know that having done my job.”

“Aye, I ken weel enough.” There was that smile again.

“Look, even if you haven’t anything to do, I have.” I stood up and pulled on my jacket he followed me out to the car still with this knowing grin on his face. I don’t know what he thought I was doing but I really did have a meeting with my heads of departments. I had to try and wrap it up in two hours to get away to collect the girls.

It was only when he saw three of my departmental heads follow me into the office that his expression changed. He had just realised I wasn’t joking I really was working.