Trouble at the Little Village School (25 page)

‘Apartment,’ she corrected. ‘It’s an apartment.’

‘Apartment,’ repeated Miss Parsons. ‘As I said, I think it would be very disruptive for him to move at the moment. In a situation like this,’ she said calmly, ‘Danny must come first. His interests are paramount. His welfare, his emotional well-being and his happiness are the most important considerations. Dr Stirling has provided for Danny a very stable home and—’

‘Has he?’ interrupted Mrs Stainthorpe. Her eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

‘Yes, of course he has.’

‘Well, from what I’ve heard it’s not that stable.’

‘And what have you heard?’ asked Dr Stirling, bristling.

‘I believe your own son ran away because he was unhappy,’ said Mrs Stainthorpe levelly.

‘James ran away because he didn’t want to start his new school,’ explained Dr Stirling, his face becoming flushed. ‘Everything’s fine now. It was just a misunderstanding.’

‘Well, he can’t have been that happy if he ran off, could he?’

‘Look Mrs Stainthorpe—’ began Dr Stirling.

‘And from what I’ve heard you’re never at home, what with dealing with all the medical emergencies, and the boys are left unsupervised. That’s not very satisfactory in my book. Perhaps Miss Parsons wasn’t aware of that.’

The senior social worker sighed and shook her head. ‘This is getting us nowhere,’ she said. ‘As I suggested, I think Danny should get to know you, Mrs Stainthorpe, before any decisions are made about his future. Half-term is coming up, and this might be a good time for Danny to spend a few days with you.’

‘I can’t be shuttling over here taking him out for day trips and getting to know him,’ said the woman. ‘For a start I can’t drive, and I’m not forking out on taxi fares every time I want to see him.’

‘Perhaps Dr Stirling might—’

‘I should be happy to bring Danny over for visits,’ said the doctor, forcing himself to stay calm. ‘I do agree with Miss Parsons that it seems sensible for Danny to get to know you, Mrs Stainthorpe.’

‘I am sure Mrs Stainthorpe appreciates that, Dr Stirling,’ said Miss Parsons. ‘I know that she, like you, has the boy’s best interests at heart.’

‘Do you mind not talking about me as if I’m not here!’ snapped Mrs Stainthorpe. ‘Of course I want the best for Daniel. I don’t need you to tell him that. As I said, I think the best place for him is with his grandmother. Having said that, I’m not unreasonable and I’ll agree to a few visits for us to get to know each other if that’s what it takes.’

‘Shall we get Danny in and see what he thinks?’ asked Miss Parsons.

‘There’s nothing you or any trumped-up social worker can do to stop me having my grandson live with me,’ said the woman aggressively when Miss Parsons had left the room.

Dr Stirling listened in helpless anger. He looked out of the window, refusing to meet her eye.

Chapter 12

Danny came into the office accompanied by the two social workers.

‘Now, Danny,’ said Miss Parsons cheerfully, resuming her seat behind her desk. ‘Sit down over here.’ The boy looked confused. ‘I think you know this lady?’

‘Hello, Daniel,’ said the woman.

‘’Ello,’ he mumbled. He sat on the edge of a chair looking lost and bewildered.

‘I wasn’t aware that you knew your grandmother, Danny,’ said Dr Stirling gently.

‘We met in the churchyard the other day,’ said the woman. ‘I went to pay my respects at my husband’s grave. We had a nice little chat, didn’t we, Daniel?’

The boy didn’t answer. His fists were clenched tightly with anxiety, for he knew by the expressions on the faces of Dr Stirling and Miss Parsons that something was clearly wrong.

‘Danny,’ said Miss Parsons, ‘your grandmother would like you to go and stay with her.’

‘Live with me,’ said the woman sharply.

The boy’s head jerked in the direction of Dr Stirling. He looked at the doctor in slow bewilderment, seemingly unable to understand exactly what she was saying.

‘Live wi’ ’er?’ he repeated. He looked dazed, as if he had just woken out of a sleep.

‘That’s right, Danny,’ the doctor replied. ‘Your grandmother would like you to go and live with her.’

Danny sat up straight in his chair and pushed the hair out of his eyes. ‘I don’t want to,’ he said determinedly. He looked Dr Stirling in the eye. ‘You telled me I wouldn’t ’ave’ to move. You telled me.’ He sounded desperate. ‘You said I could stay wi’ you.’

‘I know what I said, Danny,’ replied the doctor, ‘and I thought—’

‘Well, Daniel,’ his grandmother interrupted, ‘what children want isn’t always what they get, and—’

‘Mrs Stainthorpe,’ cut in Miss Parsons, ‘if we could just take this slowly. It is very difficult for Danny to take this in. This has come as a shock to him.’ She turned to the boy and smiled. ‘Now, your grandmother would like you to go and see her and stay with her in Clayton just for a while to get to know her.’

‘Well, I don’t want to,’ said the boy. ‘I’m ’appy weer I am.’ He looked at the social worker. ‘You telled me when Dr Stirling wanted to foster me that ya wanted to mek sure that I’d be ’appy an’ like it weer I was to stay. You said that. You telled me.’ His eyes began to fill up. ‘Why do people say things they don’t mean? I won’t be ’appy if I leave.’

His grandmother made a clucking noise with her tongue. ‘Just like Les. Stubborn,’ she remarked under her breath.

‘Mrs Stainthorpe, please,’ said Miss Parsons. She looked at Danny. ‘Of course we want to make sure that you are happy. I think if you were to give it a try you might like it. Your grandmother has a nice apartment in Clayton overlooking the river—’

‘And the cathedral,’ added the woman.

‘There’s a cinema,’ continued the social worker, ‘a bowling alley, ice rink and swimming pool nearby and there are lots of things for a young man like you to do. You would have your own room and—’

‘Why don’t grown-ups ever listen to what kids say?’ Danny interrupted, rubbing his eyes. ‘I don’t want all that! I want to stay ’ere in t’country with Dr Stirling an’ James an’ stop at t’village school.’ He looked appealingly at Dr Stirling. ‘Please.’

‘You would be able to come back and visit, Danny,’ said the doctor feebly.

‘You as well,’ said Danny in a small voice. ‘Ya want me to go?’

‘Of course I don’t want you to go,’ said the doctor vehemently. ‘I want you to stay. I want to adopt you.’ The sadness and perplexity on the boy’s face matched his own.

‘Then why ’ave I got to go?’ He gripped the arms of the chair. He looked at the social worker. ‘Why can’t I stay weer I am?’

‘Look, Danny,’ said Miss Parsons, ‘it’s not as simple as that. This is your grandmother and—’

‘Can I be allowed to say something—’ began Mrs Stainthorpe in a combative tone of voice.

‘Not at the moment,’ said Miss Parsons sharply, keeping her eyes on Danny. ‘I think it would be a really good idea if you were to go—’

‘No!’ exclaimed the boy.

‘—If you were go and spend a little time with your grandmother and get to know her and see where she lives. You can remain with Dr Stirling at present and we can see how things go.’

‘No!’ interrupted the boy again, his voice wobbling.

‘Just for a few days, to go on outings with your grandmother and spend a couple of weekends with her and see how you get on,’ continued Miss Parsons. ‘You might really like living in Clayton, and if you were to go and live there eventually you would still be able to come back and see your friend.’

‘Well, I don’t want to,’ sniffed Danny. ‘Ya can’t mek me.’ Then he looked at the doctor again. ‘Can they?’

‘I think you should give it a try, Danny,’ he said. ‘I want you to stay. I’d give anything for you to stay, you know that, and so would James, but I agree with what Miss Parsons says.’

‘Yer goin’ to let ’em tek me away?’ he asked quietly. He wiped a glistening tear from his cheek with the back of his hand.

‘You’re not going to prison,’ his grandmother told him bluntly.

‘You will stay with us for the time being and visit your grandmother,’ said the doctor, ‘and get to know her, and we will see how things go.’ He knew what he was saying was unconvincing.

Danny began to cry. They were quick choking sobs.

‘Come along, you’re a big boy, Daniel,’ said his grandmother. ‘I think we can well do without the waterworks.’

‘The boy is upset!’ exclaimed Dr Stirling angrily. ‘It’s come as a shock to him. He’s just got settled and now he has this upheaval.’

‘Excuse me, doctor,’ retorted Mrs Stainthorpe. ‘You’re not talking to one of your patients now. I really can’t see this upheaval what you’re on about. Daniel’s coming to live with his grandmother, which is only right and proper, in a nice new apartment with his own room and everything. Most children would be happy as sandboys with that.’

‘I would remind you, Mrs Stainthorpe,’ replied the doctor, getting heated, ‘that—’

‘Let’s stay calm about this,’ said Miss Parsons quickly, realising that the meeting could well deteriorate into a squabbling match. ‘We are all concerned with Danny’s welfare. Perhaps you might take Danny for a drink, Mrs Talbot.’

When the boy had gone and the door was closed, the social worker clasped her hands together and looked down at the desk. ‘It really doesn’t help getting worked up about this in front of the boy. Dr Stirling has been good enough to look after him and the boy has been happy. He was to be adopted.’

‘Yes, I know all that,’ said Mrs Stainthorpe dismissively. ‘Now, we can talk about this until the cows come home but it doesn’t change those facts. I want Daniel living with me and live with me he will.’

The social worker looked at Dr Stirling. ‘What I suggest is that we arrange a few visits. For the moment we will have to put the adoption on hold.’

‘There’ll be no adoption,’ added Mrs Stainthorpe, narrowing her eyes and pursing her mouth.

‘Very well,’ said Dr Stirling, rising from his chair. ‘I can see that anything else I have to say is of no consequence. I will bring Danny over to you next weekend.’

‘No, I’ll collect him,’ she replied. ‘I can get a bus from Clayton.’ Then she added pointedly, ‘I wouldn’t want to put you out.’

‘Until Saturday, then,’ said Dr Stirling coldly.

‘I could do with a cigarette,’ sighed the woman. ‘I’m gagging.’ She dug in her handbag and produced a gold powder compact, flicked it open, peered into the small mirror and dabbed her nose. ‘I’ll see you next weekend,’ she told Dr Stirling, as if dismissing him from her presence.

Despite the doctor’s efforts to get Danny to talk, the boy was silent all the way back home and stared sadly out of the car window.

‘Where is he, Dr Stirling?’ asked Mrs O’Connor. It was later that day.

‘Danny’s gone up to his room,’ the doctor told her. ‘He said he wanted to be by himself. He wants to think things over.’

‘It’s a crying shame,’ said the housekeeper. ‘That’s what it is, a crying shame. His grandmother has had nothing to do with the lad all these years, never sent him so much as a present on his birthday or a card, and then she comes swanning back into his life like some distant relative at the reading of the will, just as he gets settled, and wants to whisk him away. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen.’

The doctor sighed. ‘Yes, it has upset Danny greatly, but I guess your old Irish grandmother would remark that blood is thicker than water.’

‘My grandmother, bless her sainted soul, would have said that if the wheel’s not broken it doesn’t need mending. Danny’s happy where he is and he should be allowed to stay here.’

‘Yes, Mrs O’Connor,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘he should.’

The doctor stared out of the window. The garden, with its dead flowers and skeletal trees, looked dark and brooding and reflected his mood.

He had tried to talk to Danny when they had arrived home after their visit to the Social Services, but to no avail. The boy’s heart was so full he couldn’t bring himself to speak. He had listened, head down, as the doctor tried to reassure him that he could be happy in his new home.

‘I’m so sorry, Danny, that things have turned out like this,’ said Dr Stirling. He struggled to think of the words to say. ‘It’s been such a pleasure, more than that, having you stay here, and you know James and I really wanted you to become part of our family. I just wish I could change things but I can’t.’

Danny nodded but kept his head lowered.

‘You know that you will always be welcome here,’ said Dr Stirling, ‘to come and visit whenever you want. You know that, Danny, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ he said almost inaudibly.

They sat there in silence, both feeling wretched.

‘Can I go to mi room please?’ Danny asked finally.

‘Of course you can,’ replied the doctor, ‘and we will keep it as your room for when you come to visit.’

‘I don’t think I’ll be allowed,’ the boy said in a small voice as he got to his feet.

‘I mean,’ said the housekeeper that afternoon, ‘does Danny not have a say in all this? Do his wishes count for nothing?’

‘He’s still a minor, Mrs O’Connor,’ the doctor told her. ‘The social worker listened to what he had to say and I could see she sympathised with him, but she has to do what the law demands, and his grandmother, were she to take the matter to court, would undoubtedly win. If I challenged the decision and lost, that would be another terrible disappointment for the boy. He would have his hopes dashed a second time. I was advised not to pursue the matter. The law’s the law.’