Read The Bad Mother's Handbook for Free Online

in it?’ I was
sitting up with the duvet wrapped round me. I hadn’t felt
properly warm since I’d come home. ‘Well, it’s the middle
of bloody winter, in’t it?’ had been Paul’s response when
I told him.
    ‘Ghosts in cloth caps? Sounds like one of the Tetley
Tea folk. Get a grip, Charlie.’
    I giggled in spite of myself. ‘I didn’t believe her up till
then. But she went sort of creepy after that. You’d have
been rattled. You would . Stop laughing.’
    ‘And how much did you pay this old hag?’
    ‘Sod off. I only told you because I thought you’d be
interested.’
    ‘I am. Take off your bra.’
    I unhooked resignedly. ‘I know it was all just a load of
rubbish . . .’
    ‘So stop worrying.’ He was kissing my neck and
shoulders and his body heat was wonderful.
    ‘Anyway, you’re in the clear.’
    ‘Mmm?’
    ‘She told me a dark-haired boy would hurt me “more
than I’d ever been hurt before”. It was in the cards. So
you’re all right.’
    ‘How do you mean? Because I’m blond?’ He took his
mouth away from my skin reluctantly.
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Smashing. Do you want to stop talking now?’ he said.

    There wasn’t the usual mad scramble afterwards
because Mum had taken Nan for a hospital appointment
and the Metro had died so they’d gone by bus. The journey
to hell and back, I’d have thought.
    ‘Did you get that picture sorted?’ Paul asked, his eyes
roving round the room. We were getting better at the
post-coital business. ‘The one you broke that time.’
    ‘The one you broke, you mean? While we were scaling
the heights of passion? No. Although I did get as far
as buying a new frame. I couldn’t get the old one off so I
gave up.’
    ‘Bloody feeble girly. Do you want me to have a go?
Give it here.’
    I fished about in the bedside cabinet under the magazines
and brought it out.
    ‘Couldn’t get it off? What is it, super-glued or
summat?’
    ‘Just you have a look.’
    He turned the frame over in his hands and examined
the back. ‘Jesus. I see what you mean.’
    Wires criss-crossed the thick cardboard; they had
been stapled into the frame at irregular intervals. Blobs of ancient brown glue bulged from the corners. ‘I took
off another layer of card and Sellotape to get to that.
I thought I’d damage the picture if I went any further.
Does it need a screwdriver or something to lever the
staples out? We have got one but I don’t know where.’
    ‘Nah, a penknife should do it. Pass us my jeans.’
    He set to work, absorbed. I watched him and thought
about my little ghost.
    Finally the sections eased apart. ‘There you go. Just
needed the masculine touch.’ I took the pieces in my
hands and laid them on the covers. ‘If you bung us the
new frame I’ll put that on for you an’ all.’
    ‘Hang on a minute.’ I was taking off the layers of card.
‘There’s something in here. My God, look at that, it’s a
letter.’ I unfolded two sheets of thin yellowing paper. ‘It
looks like . . . Shit, listen to this.’ And I started to read.

    Dear Miss Robinson,

    Re Sharon Pilkington.

    Thank you for your letter informing me that the Adoption
Committee have accepted this little girl for a direct
placing adoption. I am as certain as it is possible to be in
these cases that the mother is quite definite about the
adoption. She will not change her mind.

    Yours sincerely,

    P Davis

    ‘Sharon Pilkington? Who’s she when she’s at home?
Somebody’s cut the top off so you can’t see the address or
date.’ I turned the paper over but it was blank. ‘Let’s have
a see what’s on the other.’

    Notes for the Information of the Case Committee

    Name of child: Sharon Anne Pilkington
Weight at birth: 7lbs 2oz
Date of birth: 13.4.63
Present weight: 9lbs (at 3 weeks)
Child of: Miss Jessie Pilkington
Occupation of Mother: mill worker
Aged: 16 years
The Natural Father is:
Aged:
    Whose occupation is:
Recommended by: Mrs P Davis
The Child is