The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3257 by Angharad Copyright© 2020 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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I nearly decided not to wear any makeup, but I knew we'd be going to Tom's favourite restaurant and thought I'd better look a bit nicer for him. I quickly applied some mascara and eyeliner, using the mascara first because it made getting the eyeliner even easier. A bit of eyebrow pencil on my blonde brows and then some pink-red lipstick called, 'Radiant Fuschia' or some such thing. I wonder who thinks up these names, some looney spaced out on cannabis while drifting about in a flotation tank. The thought of this made me snigger and I almost ended up with lipstick up my nose. I checked my hair and gave a squirt of Coco to my throat and misted some over my head.

I'd just finished and was glancing at mail when Daddy arrived, we hugged and he kissed me on the cheek. "If only I'd been a bit younger, young Simon widnie ha'e been in wi' a chance."

"Daddy, please, let's not discuss this any more, I love both of you and you are the best father any girl could wish for."

"Aye alricht, let's gang an' get some lunch." I grabbed my handbag, an expensive present from Henry when he'd been somewhere on the continent. He got one for Monica and Stella as well. They were all different and mine, by pure coincidence, matched the boots I was wearing. Not the old red ones that Stella gave me, these were chocolate brown Ecco ones, with a three-inch heel - so they don't only make sensible footwear.

I followed Tom out to my car and the doors unlocked as I approached close enough for the key to send a signal to the receiver in the car. The wing mirrors also swing out ready to use for driving.

We chatted about nothing much for a few minutes until I pulled up in the car park of the restaurant and we exited the car, Tom again leading the way but stopping to hold the door open for me. An old bit of oldfashioned politeness which I appreciated, unlike the youth who held open the shop door for me only to let it shut in my face, "You want equality - you got it," he called and disappeared. I didn't consider it just a courtesy to women because I hold doors open for men if I'm ahead of them and expect them to do the same to others; it's just good manners. Today we seem to have chucked out the baby with the bathwater, we got rid of deference and manners seemed to have gone with it. But then don't get me started on that topic...

The waiter brought over our drinks, daddy's Guinness and my cranberry juice, which we no longer needed to order, they just asked, 'The usual?' and we nod or Daddy says yes. We go to the same table, which has a reserved sign on it, and we oder the same meals, his a chicken curry and mine a tuna jacket with salad and coleslaw.

Before he could get started on why he wanted us to meet, I jumped in with my recent encounter with Dawes. I told him how it had gone and that Dawes had left wondering in the unthinkable was not only possible but probable. "Sae he kent Charlie?"

I nodded, "I made slides for him, he was too stupid to do his own."

"Or a certain young woman wis tae stupid tae mak him dae his ain."

I hadn't thought of it that way, and I told him that my lecturer in microscopy thought I was a girl anyway and always addressed me as Miss Watts. "Aye, weel he wis mair observant than some o' them were, including yer friend."

"He was no friend of mine, Daddy, arrogant toerag is more like it."

"Yet, ye made his slides? Why?"

I shrugged, "It was a way of earning some extra cash, I charged a fiver a slide depending on how difficult they were to make. He still owes me for two."

"Och, sae he owes ye ten poonds?"

I nodded and just then our food arrived so we stopped talking for a while and ate instead. "Cathy, I canna understand how ye could mak' slides fa' someone ye didnae like?"

"It was just a thing I did, cottage industry if you like, and paid for few meals or books."

"Aye, ye've always had a good number o' books."

"I have, can't help it, I'd skip a meal to buy a book I needed."

"I'm sure ye've done sae in thae past."

I blushed and said nothing, the erythema spreading about my face was reply enough.

"Sae how did he escape paying ye?"

"I can't remember now, I think he may have been away or sick or something."

"They weren't fa' an exam, were they?"

"No, we didn't have an exam on producing slides but they contributed to the coursework mark which I suppose affected the end of year mark."

"Sae, ye were corrupting thae system?"

"I suppose I was except the lecturer who marked the stuff knew which was mine."

"Aye, because they were much better?"

"Better than some--okay, they were better than most but I labelled the slides and he recognised the handwriting."

"And whit did ye say tae that?"

I was blushing like a beacon, "We told him I did the labels because my writing was smaller than the others. The lecturer just smiled and looked me in the eye and told me, of course, it was, Miss Watts."

"Aye, ye said he always called ye Miss."

Goodness it was getting warm, my blushes were if anything getting worse, perhaps I'm menopausal - yeah, right.

"Sae whit did thae others think?"

"I'm not sure some of them thought much at all about anything, and me even less so."

"But if ye were being addressed as Miss Watts, shouldnae Dawes hae thocht ye were a lass?"

"I don't know, I was dressed in scruffy, loose-fitting stuff, some of which was unisex, it was my way of getting my own back on my father, and besides men's clothes were too big in the waist and too tight over my backside."

He shook his head and smiled at me, looking at his watch he announced, "I've a meetin' in ten minutes."

I took the hint and we got back to the university without further ado and in just under ten minutes, the traffic was kind to us. "Dinna fa'get thon meetin' in thae morn." His parting shot reminded me I had to present some of the bids we were making to the finance committee, it was a laugh a minute stuff, not, but very important to making sure my departments stayed solvent and thus in existence. I hated letting people go - though could make an exception for Dr Dawes - nah, that makes me sound petty and I'd fight for any and every one of my staff. As for 'letting go' why don't we just say fired or sacked, because that's what it is, terminating their employment, and at my level, I get all the fun of being the discharging officer now, my departmental heads make the case for dismissal, for financial or whatever reason, but I sign the letter or in the case of misconduct, actually dismiss the member of staff. I loathe doing it, not that I expect the person concerned enjoys it exactly either.

I spent the next two hours trying to sort out the bid that we were submitting to the university council for our budget for next year, it was nearly a hundred million pounds, about half the total budget of the university. Mine was the biggest department and part of me yearned for the simple days when I was a junior lecturer uninvolved with any of this administrative business, just trying to expand young minds to encompass what I believed were the miracles of nature from the microscopic to the huge, not forgetting our part as the two-legged rat who has overrun everything and everywhere destroying everything as we go all for money. Humans are so intelligent but also very blind to the obvious at times, I sighed and wished I was out looking for dormice than playing with columns of figures. No wonder Simon is a bit strange...

At three I packed up and took a caseful of work home with me, it was going to be a long evening, thank goodness we had David to cook our dinner because tonight I'd be sending for pizza or some other take away. David had collected the girls today as I had some shopping to do on the way home. When I got there, I told the girls I had important work to do for tomorrow. That always results in them playing up and tonight I wasn't disappointed, almost before the words were out of my mouth, Trish and Livvie were at it, with Hannah joining in as well, then Cate and Lizzie started and I felt like running away. Instead, I read the riot act and sent them all to their rooms while I made myself a cuppa and went to my study.

I was doing some calculations with a machine and Danni knocked and entered. I looked up and saw she was blushing, so was it because she had disturbed me or did she have something embarrassing she wanted to talk about.

I looked at this gorgeous young woman with a pretty face and a figure to die for, she was sixteen and I wondered if this was relationship stuff or what?

She mumbled and muttered then finally, blushing just as much as I had been at lunch she asked, "Mummy, you've done a BJ haven't you?"

"If I knew what a BJ was, I might be able to answer you," I replied.

She rolled her eyes in disbelief, "Perhaps you haven't then, but I'm sure Trish said you had."

"Had what?" this was getting more circular by the moment.

"Done a blow job..."