One Foot Onto the Ice

by Kiki Archer

  Sylvie looked up. “Bonjour, Susan.” She beckoned her over. “I’ve put fromage in zee girls’ sandwiches today. Zee sausage did not go down too well yesterday, I think.”

  Susan joined her at the table and smiled at the elderly French host. “Most of them bought chips at lunchtime so don’t take it too personally.” She looked at the wonderful continental breakfast on display. “This really is ideal, Sylvie, thank you for all of your effort.”

  Sylvie folded her arms and sucked on her deep-lined lips. “You want zee truth, Susan?” She carried on before Susan had a chance to respond. “It’s Jenna who is ideal.”

  Susan looked up quickly. “Pardon?”

  “Ah oui, you ‘eard me.”

  Susan reached for a patterned china plate and loaded it with whatever was at hand. She tried to speak with nonchalance. “She’s a good ski guide and she’s great with the girls.”

  Sylvie looked at the mound of pastries piled onto Susan’s plate. “Love gives you an appetite.”

  Susan glanced down, realising that she couldn’t actually stomach a thing. “We’re just old school friends. We have a connection from that.”

  Sylvie shook her head fiercely. “Non, non, non, non, she needs zee love of a good woman. She sees that in you.” Sylvie narrowed her wrinkled eyes. “I see it.”

  Susan put the plate down and smiled warmly. “This is only our third day, Sylvie.” She laughed at the elderly French hostess. “You’re such a tease.”

  Sylvie shrugged. “She would be very good for you too. Am I not right?” She started to shuffle away before pausing and shuffling right back up to Susan’s toes. She signalled for her to drop her head.

  Susan bent down lower and brought her ear to Sylvie’s mouth, noticing the slight garlic aroma. Susan whispered first. “Please don’t tease me anymore. I’m not sure I can take it.”

  Sylvie, in her attempt to be discreet, actually looked incredibly conspiratorial and her French accent became even stronger. “That little girl’s been sat down ‘ere for over an hour.” She nodded her head backwards. “I couldn’t even get ‘er talking over a pain au chocolat.”

  Susan looked up and noticed Daisy Button sitting at a table in the corner. “Thanks, Sylvie, I’ll have a word.” She bent back down to Sylvie’s ear. “And just so you know, I don’t really think I’m Jenna’s type.”

  Sylvie reached out and squeezed both of Susan’s cheeks with force. “Oui, oui, oui, oui, oui. You’re exactly ‘er type.” She let go and waved Susan in closer. “I’ve spent many an evening in this bar drinking and chatting. I know what she needs. She won’t admit it, but that lady is lost. That’s why she flits from woman to woman to woman to woman. She needs someone like you to find ‘er. You understand? Oui?”

  Susan looked at the animated old lady. “But I’m straight, Sylvie.”

  Sylvie slapped Susan around the thigh and laughed loudly. “You’re no straighter than that croissant!” She pointed at the curved pastry on the top of Susan’s pile and laughed once more before shuffling off to the kitchen, continuing her chuckle in French.

  Susan looked at her plate of pastries and sighed. Surely she’d know if she were gay? Surely there’d have been signs. She closed her eyes for a moment and instantly re-lived the earth-shattering sensation of Jenna’s kiss. Susan threw her eyes open and spoke to herself firmly. Enjoying something doesn’t automatically make you become that thing. She sighed and looked down at her bent croissant … Does it?

  “Are you okay, Madam?” Daisy Button was looking up with big eyes.

  Susan jumped out of her daydream and immediately crouched down. “Oh, Daisy, I’m fine. How are you? Are we okay to sit down? I need to talk to you about last night.” She tilted her plate of pastries. “Can you help me eat these?”

  Daisy shrugged. “I can try.”

  Susan put a hand on the little girl’s shoulder and guided her back to the table in the corner. She looked at the mobile phone sitting next to Daisy’s bowl. “Is that Professor Ramsbottom’s?”

  Daisy nodded.

  “Why didn’t you return it?”

  Daisy sat down and pulled herself tightly into the table. “I didn’t want to see his dangly thing again.”

  Susan lowered her voice. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  “I didn’t mean to see it. I’m not going to tell anyone. Am I going to get in trouble, Madam? I’m really, really sorry.”

  “Stop, Daisy, you’re fine. Of course you’re not going to get into trouble. Just talk me through what happened.”

  Daisy bit on her bottom lip and tried to hold back the tears. “I just wanted to call my mum.”

  “Oh, Daisy, come here,” Susan reached out and rubbed the little girl’s back. “I know this is your first school trip, but is this your first time away from home?”

  “It’s the first time I’ve been away since Justin’s been there.”

  Susan tried to ignore Champagne noisily entering the dining room. “And Justin’s your mum’s boyfriend?”

  Daisy nodded and wiped away a tear.

  “Is there anything you want to tell me about Justin?”

  Daisy shook her head. “No, I’m not allowed to say anything. I just need to call my mum every day and check she’s okay.”

  Susan decided to go with it. “And is she okay?”

  Daisy nodded. “She keeps telling me to stop ringing, but I have to. I’m worried.”

  Susan moved in closer. “What are you worried about, Daisy?”

  Daisy dropped her head. “Nothing.”

  “Can you tell me what happened last night?”

  Daisy looked back up, more at ease with this conversation. “I knocked on Professor Ramsbottom’s door, he told me to come in and I saw him with no clothes on.” She shrugged. “He let me borrow his phone though.”

  “Did he ask who was at the door?”

  “No.”

  “Did you say who was at the door?”

  “No.”

  Susan looked kindly at the little girl. “Daisy, I’ll have to tell your mum about this.”

  Daisy looked up with wide eyes. “No, please, I’m in enough trouble. She’ll be cross at me.”

  “Why?”

  Daisy was talking quickly. “Because I told on Justin and now she’ll think I’m telling on Professor Ramsbottom and you shouldn’t tell on people, not on people who help you. We need Justin to help pay for the house because all of Mummy’s money goes on my school fees and we don’t have enough for anything else. She had to take a lower job at work because of the cuts and I had to give my phone back because we couldn’t afford the contract, but Justin says I can have it back if I’m a good girl.”

  Susan tried hard to remember her child protection training. “What do good girls do?”

  Daisy wiped away another tear. “They don’t tell.”

  Susan whispered. “What happens if you do tell?”

  Daisy was struggling to find the words. “Justin hurts Mummy again.”

  Susan’s brain was in overdrive. She remembered that you shouldn’t put words into a child’s mouth, but she was confused, desperately hoping it wasn’t little Daisy Button who was being mistreated. “Does he ever hurt you?”

  Daisy shook her head. “No.”

  “Does he ever do anything to you that he doesn’t want you to talk about?”

  Daisy pushed her glasses back up her nose and looked up. “No, just to Mummy.”

  “Okay, don’t worry, Daisy,” she reached for the phone, “I do need to let her know what happened last night though.”

  Daisy reached out and grabbed her teacher’s arm. “No, she’ll be cross. I told on Justin when I saw him kissing Auntie Shell. Mummy got cross at him and he hurt her. He said if I told anyone else he’d hurt her again.”

  “Daisy, I’ll be calling about what happened last night. Nothing else.” She nodded. “This was an accident. Professor Ramsbottom thought it was someone else at the door.”

  Daisy thought for a moment before breaking
into a smile for the first time that morning. “Did he think it was you, Madam?”

  “No!”

  “Champagne then?”

  Susan gasped. “No, Daisy, stop.” She paused for a moment. “He thought it was the doctor.”

  “The doctor?”

  Susan nodded her head. “Yes. The doctor needed to look at his bruises after his fall yesterday. That’s why he didn’t have any clothes on. He’s a bit embarrassed so it’s probably best not to talk about it.”

  Daisy looked back down at the table. “Adults are always telling me not to talk about things.”

  Susan felt a pang of regret and bent her head back towards the little girl. “Sorry, right, no, it wasn’t the doctor.” She lowered her voice. “He thought it was me.”

  Daisy’s eyes lit up. “Is he your boyfriend?”

  “No.”

  “Does he want to be your boyfriend?”

  Susan coughed, uneasy at the conversation’s swerve in direction. “Quite possibly.”

  “Good morning, ladies,” cheered Jenna, joining them at the table and leaning down to kiss Susan on the cheek.

  Daisy smiled. “I think you should be Jenna’s girlfriend instead. The older girls said she’s looking for one.”

  Susan felt a rush of blood to her cheeks; Jenna hadn’t greeted her that way yesterday. “Good morning,” she said. “You’re cheery.”

  Jenna pulled a chair next to Susan and sat down. “I have lots to smile about.”

  Daisy piped up again. “I think you should be Jenna’s girlfriend, instead. Not Professor Ramsbottom’s.”

  Susan rolled her eyes. “I heard you, Daisy. I was ignoring you.”

  Jenna nudged the little girl’s arm. “That’s a bit rude to ignore us, isn’t it?” She smiled and whispered to Daisy. “I think Madam Quinn should be my girlfriend too.”

  Susan ignored the banter and lifted the mobile phone off the table. “I need to get this back to its owner and I need to make that call to your mum.”

  Daisy instantly lost her good mood. “No, Madam, please.”

  “It’ll be fine. I’ll just explain what happened. I won’t talk about anything else.”

  “Can I come with you?” asked Daisy.

  “I don’t see why not.” She stood up and nodded towards the door, pleased to see another group of girls arriving down for breakfast on time. “Let’s go into the lounge area.”

  Jenna stood up as well. “I’ll come too.” She lifted Susan’s untouched plate of pastries. “Just so everything’s on record.”

  “Fine.” Susan led the group out of the dining room, past the staircase and through the guesthouse reception area, quickly turning left into the small lounge. She stood to the side as everyone came in and shut the door firmly, signalling for Jenna and Daisy to take a seat on the plump velvet couch. She tapped Marcus’s mobile into life and pulled her own from her fleece pocket. She retyped the last dialled number from his screen onto hers and placed Marcus’s down on the stained coffee table. She lifted her own phone to her ear and gave Daisy a reassuring smile.

  “Please don’t tell her what I told you about Justin,” whispered Daisy, clinging onto her own knees.

  Jenna frowned at Susan, wondering what she’d missed, but Susan just shook her head and mouthed: “It’s fine.”

  Susan listened to the international dial tone and felt a prick of apprehension as the call was connected.

  The voice on the other end of the line sounded relieved. “Daisy, I’ve got some good news.”

  Susan coughed lightly. “Hello. Mrs Button? Sorry this isn’t Daisy, it’s Susan Quinn from St Wilfred’s.”

  “Oh. Oh right. Is everything okay? I assumed it was Daisy using someone else’s mobile again. It’s six thirty in the morning. No one else calls me at six thirty in the morning. Is she okay? I do hope she’s not pestering people for their phones all the time. Is that what you’re ringing for? I really should have got her a cheap pay as you go one, but things have been a bit—”

  Susan cut in. “Mrs Button, it’s fine. She’s fine. I’m just ringing to cover our own backs really. There was an incident last night that you need to be aware of.”

  “An incident? What incident? Is she okay?”

  Susan continued to pace. “Daisy popped into Professor Ramsbottom’s room last night to borrow his phone and unfortunately he’d just stepped out of the shower and she caught a glimpse of him naked.” Susan stayed silent, waiting for a reaction. Nothing came so she filled the lull. “It was momentary and she says she hasn’t been affected by what she saw, but I just wanted to make you aware.”

  “What’s she doing waltzing into a teacher’s room like that?”

  Susan nodded reassuringly into the phone. “It was just a misunderstanding.”

  “What sort of misunderstanding? Is Daisy there? Can I speak to her?”

  Susan waved Daisy over and bent down next to the coffee table. “Yes she is. I’ll put you on loud speaker if that’s okay, Mrs Button?” She pressed the tab and placed the phone down.

  “Daisy, can you hear me?”

  Daisy knelt down and leaned over the phone. “Yes, are you okay, Mummy?”

  Mrs Button lowered her voice. “I’m fine. Tell me about this misunderstanding. What’s been going on?”

  “Nothing, Professor Ramsbottom thought it was Madam Quinn, that’s why he had no clothes on. He wants to be her boyfriend.”

  The voice on the line was aghast. “Daisy! Don’t talk about your teachers like that.”

  “He didn’t know it was me, Mummy, and I just wanted to use his phone because I needed to see how you were. It was late, and I shouldn’t have been knocking anyway. It was my fault.”

  The voice puzzled. “He told you to come in even though he had no clothes on?”

  “I’ve told you, Mummy, he thought it was Madam Quinn.”

  The voice was louder. “Madam Quinn, can you hear me?”

  Susan sheepishly lowered her head to the phone. “I can, Mrs Button.”

  “I’m not quite sure what’s going on over there, but I’ve paid good money, money that I can barely afford, to send my daughter skiing. I haven’t paid for Daisy to get tangled up in the love affairs of her teachers.”

  “I can assure you, I’m not having a love affair with Professor Ramsbottom.”

  “Well that makes this worse. What was it then? Casual room hopping?”

  Daisy chirped up. “I think Madam Quinn should have a love affair with our ski guide instead. The older girls said Jenna likes—”

  “Daisy, stop.” Susan was shaking her head. “Mrs Button, Daisy’s fine, Professor Ramsbottom’s fine, it was all a silly misunderstanding that you needed to be aware of.”

  “I’m aware!”

  Daisy spoke softly. “Don’t be cross, Mummy.”

  The voice sighed. “Oh, Daisy, I’m not cross. You know how things are.” She paused, suddenly conscious of the audience. “Can you pick up the phone a minute, love?”

  Daisy lifted the mobile and checked with her teacher before tapping the loudspeaker button off. She drew the phone into her ear. “I’m here.”

  Susan looked to Jenna for guidance, but Jenna just smiled and rubbed the sofa seat next to her instead. Susan ignored the request and tried to decipher the quiet conversation on the other end of the line.

  Daisy Button started to jig up and down on her knees. “Really? Really, Mummy? You’re sure?”

  Susan watched as the little girl’s face burst into a huge smile. “Okay?” she mouthed.

  Daisy nodded and gave a thumbs up with her left hand, quickly turning her attention back to the conversation. “Never again? He’ll be gone? You’re sure?”

  Susan closed her eyes and tried to decipher the voice on the other end of the line.

  Daisy’s excitement grew. “A better job? We don’t need him? Mummy, I’m so happy! I can enjoy myself now! I think I’m going to be quite good at skiing.” She paused for a second. “Can I still call you every day, just to make sure?
”

  Susan spoke up. “We can call your mum every morning in here before breakfast if you like?”

  Daisy talked quickly. “Did you hear that, Mummy? We’re going to call you every morning.” She laughed at the teasing voice on the other end of the line. “6.30 a.m. isn’t too early!” Daisy smiled into the phone. “Thank you, Mummy. I’ll be able to enjoy my ski trip now.”

  Susan felt a pang of emotion. Daisy Button looked much younger than her eleven years of age. She was underweight, under-height and naturally pale, with thin shoulder length white hair. Her thick prescription glasses, which were held together with Jenna’s bright pink tape, looked terrible, and her clothes were unbranded and slightly too small.

  “All done?” asked Susan, taking back the outstretched phone.

  Daisy was beaming from ear to ear. “She’s got a new job. They phoned her last night. She’s asking Justin to leave. She said she’s sorry for putting me in that position.”

  Jenna pulled herself forwards on the sofa. “Who’s Justin?”

  “Oh just my mum’s new boyfriend. Well he’s going to be her old boyfriend soon. She’s telling him to leave when he gets back from his night shift.” Daisy lifted herself up from the floor. “She says he’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

  Jenna held out the plate of pastries. “You didn’t like him?”

  Daisy took one and bit hungrily into the flaky croissant. She wiped her mouth and shook her head. “No, I saw him kissing Auntie Shell last week and I told Mummy and Mummy got cross at him and he…” She stopped herself.

  “Men!” said Jenna. “You’re better off without them.”

  Daisy dropped her head. “We needed him to help with the money. It costs so much for me to be at St Wilfred’s. I told Mummy I’d go to the local comprehensive instead. I just wanted him to leave so he couldn’t hurt her again, but she said I’d be bullied for being an albino.”