Short extracts from books

Scott was sitting at the table and she handed him a very white envelope with familiar handwriting. In some ways Linda couldn’t wait for Pat to reach sixteen, just because these letters wouldn’t have such an effect on him.      
       “I ’ll get you a coffee.” she said and went into the kitchen.  When she came out Scott said,
       “Why now? She wants to come and visit the girls in three weeks time, on their way north. Their sister isn’t coming, just them. If she sees the state we’re in, she’ll probably start some sort of legal proceedings over inadequate housing. She’d do anything to get the girls back.”
       “We’ve got three weeks.” said Linda. “Perhaps next week Ben will turn up and we can make him an offer. If we’re buying the house and we’re about to change the bedrooms, surely that’s all right? We aren’t officially anywhere near overcrowded, anyway and the girls are happy.” 
       “You would think so, wouldn’t you?” said Scott.
     They left it for a week, but nothing happened. It was the only area in Scott’s life where he became irrational and insecure. The girls had asked to live with him, and he would do anything to keep them.  He always felt that his wife would find some legal loophole  to get them back, although, logically, he knew that there wasn’t one.
     Scott knew that the main thing in life was not to worry, however, in this situation he found it hard.  Linda found it very easy not to worry. It wasn’t part of her lifestyle and it was something she found difficult to understand.
       “I used to get angry with Peter for not visiting Kim often enough. ” she said. “But now, I’m coming to appreciate his laid back approach.” She thought for a minute. Although she didn’t believe in running away from things, she said,
       “Why don’t we take the children away for that weekend? We can fix another date soon and stick to it, for them to see her.  We’ve got the French holiday fund still to dip into, and we could go somewhere interesting.” 
       “I’m on call that weekend.” Scott said miserably.

A few weeks later:-

  “Are you O.K.?  It ’ll be all right. Just keep the kids out of town for the next hour or so.”
     Scott stared out of the window.
       “Am I a bit late? ”
       “Three minutes. ”
       “Well, they probably won ’t see each other.”
       “I know. I really appreciate Paul and Roger staying there. We owe your family so much. ”
       “Rubbish…See you later. ”    
  
        “There’s nothing I can do.” Scott thought to himself. He sat down on the floor and thought about the last problem he had to solve at work, as hard as he could. It seemed like an eternity before he heard the front door open and Alison’s voice. He kept having visions of their mother seeing them, and wondering what he would have to say in court to keep them.

         A bit about Kim...
        
       His mum always sang when she was cooking and working in the kitchen or going around the house and he loved to hear her as he lay in bed at  night time, before he drifted off to sleep or if he woke up after a bad dream. If he was honest, he still felt somewhat isolated within the new family, but hearing his mum sing made him feel that everything was all right. It gave him a strong feeling of continuity and he was comforted by it. 

Copyright J.R.Birch2004     from "Where The Fox Goes"  pdf ebook  £1.00 with  optional free amateur audio book from www.insideoutsider.co.uk     Inside Outsider Publications