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“Unlucky for some, number thirteen.”
    She found Meg in her corner and
watched her older friend’s face collapse in a smile at the sight of
Sibyl. The smile stayed where it was as Sibyl recounted Flower,
Katie and their friends’ antics in the Hall.
    The minibus came shortly after
and took the Bingo Club home. After they were all safely away,
Sibyl wandered the Hall and Centre, getting prepared to put it to
bed until Kyle, the Centre’s volunteer caretaker and resident
handyman (not to mention Jemma’s father), opened it up that evening
after supper for the recovering Gamblers.
    Jemma met her in the Day
Centre. They were going to lock up together, as they usually did on
a Tuesday night. They were about to leave when Jemma stopped and
cocked her head, listening with mother’s ears, then rushed to the
restrooms at the back of the Centre.
    Annie, another member of the
Pensioner’s Club, was locked in one of the stalls. She’d been stuck
there for hours and missed the minibus ride back to her home. For
some bizarre reason, Annie didn’t pull the emergency cord in the
bathroom and couldn’t explain to Sibyl or Jemma why she’d not done
so. This was likely because Annie, at the best of times, was a tad
bit confused.
    Thanking all the goddesses that
Jemma had heard Annie (and cursing the minibus driver to perdition
for not checking his load, which he was supposed to do), rather
than leaving her locked in the bathroom for the night, Jem and
Sibyl located the keys to the door and released the old lady. Then
Sibyl drove her home. As Annie was blind, Sibyl helped her into her
council house. Once she opened the door to Annie’s house, though,
she was struck by a rancid smell and immobilised with shock when
she saw the utterly hideous state the old woman’s home was in.
    “Oh Annie,” she whispered under
her breath for once happy that Annie was not only blind but mostly
deaf as well.
    The house smelled terrible and
was absolutely filthy.
    “ My children take care of
me,” Annie said defensively, obviously cottoning on to what Sibyl
was seeing (and smelling ) and telling the lie
she’d been mouthing at the Day Centre for what appeared to be
months.
    “I know, Annie, but it’s been a
bit since they’ve been around. Let me just tidy up. It won’t take a
minute.”
    It had taken over an
hour and Sibyl had to call Jem.
    Jemma had turned up on
Annie’s doorstep with her two children, her twelve year old boy,
Shazzie and fourteen year old girl, Zara. Jemma’s big, kind,
chocolate-brown eyes had rounded at the sight of the squalor that
was Annie’s abode and that was after Sibyl had already carried
three bags of rubbish out to the bins.
    In Annie’s foul kitchen while
the children were watching television with the old woman, shouting
at her to tell her what was happening on a screen she could not
see, Jemma stared into the refrigerator.
    “She hasn’t a bite of food in
here,” Jemma pulled out a carton of milk and gave it a cautious
sniff before yanking her head back in horror. “Oh my Lord.”
    “ Give it to me,” Sibyl
told her friend and poured (or, more to the point, shook ) the
offending milk in the food-encrusted sink. Sibyl watched as Jemma
twisted her long, dark brown hair and fastened it more firmly in
her ever-present, huge hair clip, ready to engage in war against
the vile kitchen. “We’ve got to keep a closer eye on Annie. Do you
know if she even has children?” Sibyl asked.
    Jemma was pulling on yellow,
plastic gloves. “No idea, I’ll call Dad.”
    Jemma’s Dad and Mum knew
everything about everyone on the council estate. Both of Jemma’s
parents worked at the Community Centre with Sibyl. Jemma, her
parents and her brothers and sisters all lived on or around the
council estate where the Community Centre was located. Jemma’s
parents were both young but Kyle had arthritis and her Mum, Tina,
endured terrible troubles with her feet, thus they couldn’t work
“normal” jobs so they