“It’s awful, just awful, I mean it’s bad enough for an adult, but for kids to be going through all of this, christ,” Sue said.
Barbara reached over and patted Claire’s knee as she spoke. “You’ve to think of yourselves now, your health.”
Claire nodded and smiled as Fred brought the tea tray in.
“Alright for some,” Harry said, as he came back into the bungalow.
“I’ve made you a cup, don’t worry.” Fred smiled at his son.
“Just as well because I don’t think I can make it through to the bedroom,” Harry joked, although it was certainly true, now that everyone was in the lounge there wasn’t room to carry any boxes through to the van. “Did you tell them about the old bloke, five doors down?” Harry asked.
“No, not yet, poor sod,” Fred answered; he took a sip of tea and then cradled his mug in his hands as he spoke.
“It’s the same old story, a bloke with chronic heart problems and COPD, but he was declared fit for work by TOST. And it wasn’t the first time, he’d already been through two appeals. So when he got the letter his wife said he was so distraught, he said, sod it, if they’ve declared me fit for work again, then it must be true. I’m sure you know how it ends, he went out, started tidying up after the rioters, had a massive heart attack and died.”
“Oh my god,” Sue said.
“They do say that since the introduction of TOST, over three thousand people have died who were previously declared fit for work by them,” John added.
“Obscene, isn’t it?” Fred declared.
“But there must be something that could be done to highlight these cases, I mean, I wonder if you could sue TOST or the Government for contributing to these people’s deaths,” Sue said.
“I don’t know, but it’s about time the People’s Party were hammering these cases home, in parliament, to the Unitary party,” Fred stated.
“They’ll not do that, they don’t want to be associated with the likes of us, not anymore,” John replied.
“What was the man’s name, the one who died?” Sue asked, because she had the start of an idea and she wanted to see how far it would go.
“Err, George I think, wasn’t it Fred?” Claire asked.
“Yes, I think so. We didn’t actually know them when it happened, just after, when we saw the hearse,” Fred replied.
“Yes, Margaret, his wife, said they weren’t going to come to the house at first, didn’t want to enter the estate,” Claire added.
“That’s awful,” Barbara said.
“I know, everyone on the road was out, clearing a way for it to get to the house. Ha, I suppose Andrew Proust has his big society by default,” Fred said.
“Do you think she would talk to me, about what happened?” Sue asked.
“I don’t know, as I say we didn’t really know them that well, but why do you want to?” Claire replied.
“I just wondered if we could mount some legal challenge against the government, over the way we’re being treated, the unfairness of the TOST tests.”
Silence as everyone looked at everyone else.
“Do you think that could be possible?” Barbra asked.
“I have no idea,” Sue replied. “But there is no reason why we shouldn’t try and find out.”
“But how could we take on the government? That’s a huge thing to do,” Claire asked.
“Do you even know where we’d start?” John added.
“I don’t, I suppose we seek legal advice as to whether it’s possible and take it from there,” Sue replied. “At least we’d be trying to do something.”
“Sue’s right and if we did manage to mount some sort of legal challenge, it could help end this violence,” Barbara commented.
Sue smiled as everyone looked at each other once more, there was a light of fire and purpose there which hadn’t been present in any of them for a very long time.
Harry shifted uncomfortably on the chair arm. “Are you sure you should be getting involved mum, dad?”
“Now hey, I hope it’s not a case of while you’re living under my roof…” laughter blurred the rest of Fred’s retort.
They didn’t stay long, Claire, Fred and Harry had a busy day ahead of them after all, and they needed to be off the estate by night fall.
As they walked to the car Sue turned to Claire, “What are those big marquees for?”
“Oh, those, it’s a bit of a sore point actually,” Claire replied. “The smaller one is basically a soup kitchen, Unite has people who volunteer to put boxes of food together, from produce donated by local supermarkets. It’s desperately needed, if you saw some of the kids on the estate Barbara, give them a biscuit and it’s almost down in one; I’ve never seen such hunger before. But, what with the riots and that, shops aren’t donating like they used to and some days I see young mothers, kids in tow, coming out with nothing but a few tins. As for the other tent, I’m just grateful we’re leaving before the druggies and alcoholics start moving in.”
What do you mean?” Barbara asked.
“It’s this new bill they’ve introduced, giving us all our benefits on a monthly basis. It’s okay for us but anyone with half a brain could see that if you give an addict his money in one go it’ll be gone within days and it won’t be spent on paying off their debts. Homeless charities, those working with young offenders have told the government this, but they never listen, hence the tents which are full of beds, ready for when they are evicted for not paying their rent. I mean, I know they need somewhere to go, and no-one wants them sleeping rough, but at least before they were contained within the far perimeter of the estate, now they’re going to be spread out on all the green areas provided for the kids.”
“Christ, I wouldn’t be letting my kids out to play once the tents start filling up and besides they’ll freeze, camping outside at this time of year,” Sue said.
“They’d be outside anyway if they were sleeping rough,” Fred added, joining in the conversation. “You’re right though, it’s the kids who’ll suffer and god knows there’s little joy in living here as it is.”
“Never mind the kids, I wouldn’t be leaving the house with that lot on my door step,” Claire stated
Harry put his arm around his mam’s shoulders. “Well, you don’t need to worry about that now.”
“Still,” Sue said, slightly ashamed at her earlier outburst, “they need help the same as all of us. We don’t know the lives they’ve had that have led them to this point.”
Murmured grunts of acknowledgement echoed back her embarrassment.
Turning away from the scene Sue couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of Claire and Fred left in all this…despair. But then what of the rest, who had no other alternative; her head started to pound and she realised her teeth were clamped shut, something had to be done, it just had to.
*****
“I don’t think she’ll be much longer, it’s just coming up to quarter past ten now,” Sue said.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Barbara replied. “I’ve been keep meaning to ask, are you still wanting to retrain to become a bookkeeper?”
“Well, despite the DWP, and governments, best efforts to stop me, yes. Although I’ve come to realise the only way to do it is by saving up to pay for the course myself.”
“Is it expensive?” Barbara asked.
“Around three hundred and fifty, to four hundred pounds; I’m aiming to save ten pounds a month. So, three and a half years from now, if nothing unforeseen happens, I’ll be able to do it.”
“That’s a long time to have to save for,” Barbara remarked.
“I know, but the way I look at it, if I don’t I could end up stuck on benefits for ever. At least this way I could have a possible career again.”
“Very true, good for you,”
Sue saw a familiar car turn the corner. “I think I spot Claire.”
Moments later their friend alighted. “No Fred?” Barbra asked.
“I wouldn’t let him
come, he’ll just get worked up,” Claire replied. “Where are we meeting John and Jenny?”
“Just around the corner, outside the law firm,” Sue answered. “The road is much busier there, I thought it would be easier for Harry to pull in here and get your wheelchair out.”
“There you go mum,” Harry said, greetings were exchanged before he drove off.
“I’ll drop you back home Claire,” Barbra offered. “It’ll save your Harry.”
“Well, that’ll be great if you don’t mind, he had to offer to work through his lunch hour in order to get the time to pop out and pick me up.”
“You should have said, I could have come for you too.”
“I didn’t like to,” Claire replied.
“There are John and Jenny, waiting out the front,” Sue commented. She hadn’t slept much the night before, even her drugs had not been enough to stop her going over and over the things she needed to say. She was worried she’d miss something out, or just cock the whole thing up and she must not do that, the issue at stake was far too important. The group had met up several times in the past week, deciding upon strategy, in the end they had elected Sue to be the one to present their case. She had felt a bit awkward at first, frightened John or Fred would have felt the role should be theirs, but they’d both acknowledged it to be her baby.
Looking around Sue could see she hadn’t been the only one to have a rough night, just making the effort to meet and plan had been physically hard for them all. Dull, boring pain drilled into Sue’s back, every movement seemed to send spams down her legs, which felt heavy and unresponsive and the tiredness, it was beyond anything she’d felt before; she was well aware that this trip out would mean a good few weeks recovery time. Her life now and then were incomparable. It was frustrating, wanting, needing the energy to force through change only to have your body like a ball and chain around your legs, dragging you back.
The group hadn’t been able to take part in any demonstrations against the welfare reform and TOST, their particular disabilities too much of a hindrance, so this action would be their protest and they had to make it quick, the violence seemed to get worse each night and sympathy for their situation had long since run out. The news the previous evening had flashed around the EU and America, to show protesters raising banners depicting two hands clasped in a handshake, they had united, country to country against the bankers and governments. The reporter had tried to grab a comment from the PM but had gained little more than an acknowledgement that as a development it was extremely worrying.
It had been easy to spot John and Jenny as they’d rounded the corner, they seemed to be the only two people standing still in a stream of movement. They went through the complicated ritual of everyone greeting and hugging everyone else before Sue asked if they were okay, she was concerned they may have stood for too long waiting for the three of them.
“We’re fine, we’ve just arrived ourselves. There’s a large multi storey running below the office blocks and we managed to get in there,” John assured her.
“That’s good,” Claire said and then they all turned as one seeming to only just notice the edifice of glass and steel that loomed over them all. Sue wasn’t sure whether it was meant to impress or intimidate, at the moment it was managing to do both.
“Shall we go in?” she asked, her voice reduced to a whisper, as she acknowledged, if only to herself that she was afraid this grand idea of theirs could have them dismissed as time wasters with nothing better to do.
“Right, come on,” John stated, he took two steps and opened the door, ushering the others in before them. There was a revolving door, but what with their collection of sticks and crutches, and Claire’s chair, Sue doubted they’d get out of the other end safely.
In comparison to the momentous structure above it, the entrance hall was relatively compact although immaculately presented with cream walls, marble floor tiles and brass accessories; a corner desk was fitted into the far right, behind which sat a suitably smart young man. Sue decided his face held a mix of curiosity and alarm, even while his lips tried to curl up in a welcoming smile.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yes, we have an appointment at ten thirty with Miss Purser. I’m Sue Bailey,” Sue replied.
“Okay, let me just check that…ah yes, Miss Bailey and …err…colleagues. Johnson, Dunn, Purser and Associates are on the twelfth floor, if you’d like to use the elevator, someone will be waiting for you.”
They all murmured their thanks, turned and stood in front of impossibly shiny lift doors, a split second passed before Barbara lent forward and pressed a button. Once inside the lift it was Claire who broke the silence first. “It’s very posh isn’t it?”
“Certainly is,” John replied, puffing out his cheeks.
“What made you pick this place?” Jenny asked.
“Well, first and foremost because the initial consultation is free and secondly because Ruby Purser made a very outspoken attack upon the government and their new restrictions upon legal aid, plus she just happens to be the sister of Nigel Purser, the Svengali behind the PM,” Sue explained.
“I knew I recognised that name,” Barbra commented.
“That bloke makes my skin crawl, there’s something about him that makes you just want to slap his face,” Claire stated.
“I heard-”
Whatever Jenny had heard lay unspoken, as the lift doors swished open, and a man stepped forward to greet them.
“Hello, my name is Jamie. Miss Purser will be with you in a moment, if you’d like to take a seat in the waiting area. Can I get anyone a cup of tea or coffee?”
“No thank you,” everyone murmured.
Sue’s mouth felt dry, but she didn’t think she’d be able to swallow. She could feel herself getting hotter, the bravado of the righteous being replaced with a nerve inducing reality. Still, she reasoned, it would be alright once she got started, for now she tried to distract herself by taking in the soothing tones of the waiting area; calming green complimented by abstract blocks of colour. Jamie looked up, met her gaze and gave a friendly smile before turning his attention back to the monitor in front of him. His work station was directly opposite to the waiting area, the lift doors were outlined on their left and on the right was a glass partition, a door in the centre. Sue gazed through it to a line of polished wood, interspaced with entranceways to the offices beyond. She was just trying to read the name on each brass plate that hung upon them when the nearest one opened and a woman stepped out. She smiled at Sue, opened the connecting doorway and said, “Miss Bailey?”
“Yes,” Sue replied, as she and her friends crossed over into the office beyond.
It took your breath away, it was spacious, spartanly furnished and behind the large desk was a wall of glass with a fabulous view over the city.
“That’s an amazing outlook you have,” John was first to speak.
“Yes, it is rather marvellous. Please everyone, have a seat,” Miss Purser said.
“My name is Ruby Purser.”
“Hi, this is Claire, Barbra, John and Jenny and I’m Sue…obviously.”
“Nice to meet you all, have you been offered refreshments?”
“Yes thank you,” everyone replied.
“So,” she looked sideways to her monitor, while her fingers moved quickly across the keys. “It says here that you would like some advice with regard to mounting a legal challenge against the government, specifically in terms of its welfare reform and TOST testing. Is that correct?”
“Yes.” Sue nodded; it seemed all the more momentous now someone other than themselves had spoken their intention out loud.
“And you are aware that welfare is no longer an area covered by legal aid?” Miss Purser raised her right eyebrow as she spoke, her hands having come to rest on the desk top.
“Yes,” Sue replied, what she didn’t add was that they did not have the funds to pay a lawyer to act on their behalf and that they were hoping they would be able to
persuade Ruby Purser to represent them for free. Having taken in the auspicious surroundings from the moment they arrived, Sue now realised how ridiculously naive that thought was. Their whole reasoning had been that as a human rights lawyer, they could appeal to Miss Purser’s sense of moral outrage, and she would immediately jump on board.
“Perhaps you could explain exactly what you were thinking of?”
Sue took a deep breath, starting was the hardest part and she’d practised that.
“You may have seen a recent documentary that spoke of in excess of three thousand people having died since being declared fit for work by TOST, and of several suicides naming the stress of TOST testing as a reason for their actions, and of reports of people being so outraged by their treatment by the system they’ve gone on to have heart attacks and died. What we want to know is if TOST, and by extension, the government can be sued and held responsible for those deaths.”
“I see, it would be hard to comment upon individual cases without knowing the exact circumstances.”
Sue looked along her line of friends and gave Claire a nod.
“I have a statement here made by a neighbour of mine Miss Purser,” Claire said. She took two sheets of paper out of an A4 white envelope; she smoothed them straight and pulled on her reading glasses
“Please, call me Ruby and, if I may, it’s probably easier for me to read it myself.”
“Oh, okay,” Claire said and handed the papers over.
They all knew what it said, Claire had spoken to her neighbour Margaret the night before and explained what they were going to try and do; while she didn’t feel up to accompanying them, she’d been happy to write a statement, which Claire had then typed up and emailed to everyone else in the group.
Sue stared at Ruby’s face as she began to read, tried to guess at which point in the letter she was at, tried to read how sympathetic or not she felt. Had she passed the part at which Margaret described her, and her husbands, retirement plans, their thirty-five years of marriage, her husband’s feelings of worthlessness having gone through one medical after another, his anger, his disgust, his shame? A glance at her friends revealed they were all doing the same, she could feel them all, almost as one, leaning further and further forward as they willed the lawyer to give them something positive out of the heartbreak of Margaret and her family.
An Ordinary Working Man Page 43
