Mummy's Come To Collect Me!(Peter Allen) I’m a flirt, I know, but I love it when a man looks at me with lust in his eyes. I may be 37, but I’ve still got it and had it, as anyone can see from my 12 year old daughter. Of course the father’s gone, but then the love in their hearts and their eyes doesn’t last long when the realities, the responsibilities and the costs of parenthood become intrusive. Like a cancer that keeps knocking on your chest. You know it’s there and you should do something about it, but you’re scared of the implications, the pain, and the scars.

I’ve still got good legs and these shoes certainly look good on me. Look at the salesman, just a boy, but the way he’s staring at my legs is giving me butterflies. He’s only about 18, but he’s really handsome.
Still looking at my leg he almost moans.
“Lovely, they bring out the natural curve of your legs, beautiful.”
His eyes slowly move up my legs and as they do I can feel a burning along the path of his stare. My thighs …, hips, waist, breasts …, neck and finally my eyes.

The shoe salesman jerks his head back as he realises that he’s been undressing her with his eyes. Only youngsters can go as red as he went just then.
“Nice… I mean… they suit you. What do you think, do you want them? Shall I wrap them?”
In a dream I mumbled “Yes I’ll have them, don’t bother to put them back in the box, I’ll wear them home. Just put my old shoes in a bag for me please.”
He became all business then, leaned forward and started to take the labels off the new shoes. As I watched him at my feet I felt the shop go icy cold. My eyes only saw his face as he slowly lifted his head and in a low, demonic voice, growled.
“Don’t go running down any stairs in them will you.” The sentence ended with a soft secret chuckle, “he – he – he.”

Snap! Everything flipped back to normal, the sound in my head was like a rubber band snapping, and gradually the voices of other customers and the salesman drifted back into my consciousness. The salesman was asking how I wanted to pay. Fishing into my purse I handed him my debit card and followed him to the checkout, walking as if in a dream. I could see him speaking to me, but the words weren’t sinking in. Like a zombie, I paid, picked up my shoes and walked out. For some ghostly reason my daughter Penny’s face drifted into view, she was smiling that enigmatic smile that almost said “I know things.” I physically shook my head to try to clear the cotton wool from my mind.

“I know what I’ll do today, I’ll collect Penny from school and together we’ll go to a McDonalds on the way home from school.” That decided I felt much happier and the world seemed to slot back into place in my mind. My step became more bouncy and I became more aware of what I was doing. “Back to my old self,” I thought “whatever that meant.”

Penny, a petite, bouncy 12 years old, with curly, blond hair and cheeks that are always rosy red as if she’s permanently blushing, terrible when she’s around boys as they were always making fun of her. “Neetzana, banana” or “Dozie, Rosie”. Course they wouldn’t call her that at school, already parents had been called in to see the head about it. “It has to STOP!” he bellowed in assembly one day. Of course it did stop in school, but continued on the way home. Poor Penny, it lasted for a few weeks before it ‘died a death’ as the bullies tried to rhythm words with Penny. Kids can be really cruel when they gang up.

School was so weird! I can’t stop thinking of my mum today and even weirder, my dead grandmother. I even got in trouble in English class for talking to her without realising it. I was sure she was standing next to me and then she spoke to me “So lovely, all together soon, don’t worry.” I asked her what she meant and she just smiled down at me. That’s when Miss Greaves shouted at me. “Penny, if you keep daydreaming and talking to yourself you can come and sit in the front of the class here on your own. Do you understand?” “Yes Miss. Sorry Miss.” I answered, but I couldn’t shake the idea that I was being watched and for the rest of the day kept looking around to check.

Janet and Mandy, my best friends, live a few doors away from me and we do everything together and usually all meet up to go to school together. My mum calls us the three musketeers, which always make us laugh. We’re crazy about boy bands, especially ‘Boys II Men’ and ‘One Direction’. Janet has these cool shoes with a picture of ‘One Direction’ on the side of them. If I do some more jobs around the house I can earn enough pocket money to get my own pair.

Today is the first day back to school after the summer break and after school we’re all going around Mandy’s house and listen to her music. Janet is going to ask her mum if she can have a sleep over this Friday. I’m so happy here at school and with my friends that I could scream, and sometimes when I’m on my own and I know nobody can hear, I do scream, as loud as I can. Wow! It makes me feel really good and tingly all over.
Gong – - - Gong – - - Gong. Wow! Made me jump, that was the home time gong. Sounds like the huge bells the monks in Thailand bash with their wooden hammers. My mum had a friend from Thailand, her name was Piyawun, which I think means ‘diamond’. She showed us loads of photos and described life out there, sounds really cool. Anyway here come Janet and Mandy now.

Wow! It’s really busy outside school today, cars everywhere. All three of us are holding hands and keeping to the path. This is quite a big school about 800 children and all trying to get out of this small entrance road at the same time, cars and children everywhere. Janet is leading and we make our way to the pedestrian lights to cross the big road, we’re all excited and all talking at once about what we’ll do on our sleep over… if only we’d paid more attention to the road.

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Oh! No! It’s nearly 3:15, I’ll have to hurry now to get to school for Penny at 3:30. If I rush I can just make it, but I must get there before they get out otherwise she’ll walk back with her new friends and I’ll miss her.

The lift is never working these days, I’m glad we only live on the 2nd floor, not too far down the stairs. Only thing is I wish these new shoes were a bit flatter and easier to run in.

SUDDENLY, LIKE AN ELECTRIC SHOCK, A CHILL SHOOTS THROUGH ME FROM MY SCALP ALL THE WAY DOWN TO MY TOES! I have a horrible feeling something bad is going to happen to Penny if I’m late, SOMETHING REALLY BAD! In my head someone’s speaking. “You’d better run if you don’t want to be late!” in a cajoling sort of voice. Then immediately another, urgent, louder voice. “DON’T RUN!”
I hurried to the stairs down to the ground floor, hard, concrete steps. “Mustn’t be late for Penny.”

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“Hi Mum, what are you doing here? Come quickly, let’s cross while the green man’s alight.”
Why are Janet and Mandy looking at me? Staring with their mouths wide open like that?
Mandy groaned and mumbled to Janet. “Penny’s finally cracked, talking to herself now. Come on let’s get over the road while it’s green.”

I tried to follow, but my mum was pulling me back by my shoulders to stop me and she was looking at Janet and Mandy and shouting something, only, no sounds were coming out of her mouth. Janet and Mandy were halfway across the crossing, walking and chatting, unaware that a big truck was squealing along the road towards them. Smoke was coming from the wheels, but it just kept skidding forward until it stopped just past the crossing. Everything went quiet as if all the sound had been switched off. Like an approaching train my ears and head filled with this horrific scream. I tried to block my ears from the noise, but realised that it was coming from me. Time slowed, everything was happening in slow motion. I turned and grabbed at my mum, but she was gone. I staggered back to the fence, leant on it and slowly felt myself slide down and sit on the grass. I couldn’t take my eyes off Mandy’s feet under the truck and the blood just kept running towards the drain, like a stream and it just didn’t stop. I wanted to catch it and give it back to Mandy, I knew it was hers.

Someone picked me up and carried me back into school, where was my mum? If it hadn’t been for her, I would be under the truck too. She just disappeared after my friends were hit. Someone gave me some tea, I don’t even drink tea. It’s like everything is a dream, people are looking into my face and talking, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. All I could hear was myself saying, ‘Mummy, Mummy, Mummy.’ Over and over again, like someone else speaking the words.

It seemed like hours later that my auntie Rose came to school to take me home in her car. Where was my mum? At home and still my mum wasn’t there. Auntie Rose made me some jam sandwiches and gave me a tablet the doctor had given her to give me.

‘Where’s mummy?’ I asked my aunt, tears were running down her face as she tried to talk. ‘I am so lucky mummy came to school to collect me today. Do you know that if mummy hadn’t stopped me from crossing the road with my friends, I would be under the truck with them too?’
Auntie’s face turned white. “Mummy didn’t come to school to collect you today Penny.”
“Yes she did, she came just before I was going to cross the crossing with Janet and Mandy and she stopped me. I was going to walk home with them today and we were going to play music together.”
“Penny, listen carefully’ Auntie Rose sobbed ‘your mummy was leaving home early to meet you from school and as she ran down the stairs here, she slipped in her new shoes and fell down the steps. I’m so sorry, but your mummy couldn’t have met you at school today, she was in heaven when you left school. … Let me get you a nice hot cup of chocolate.”

Penny sat by herself as the temperature in the room plunged. Hugging herself Penny was wishing she could just curl up in her warm bed. Penny watched, fascinated as her warm breath clouded in front of her. The misting thickened and grew. Penny shivered, more in shock than cold, as the form of her grandmother slowly took shape out of the mist.
“Hello Penny. You know your mummy was very naughty to stop you crossing the road today. You really should be here with all of us, things won’t be right until you come. Here, let your mummy tell you herself.”
“Hello Penny,” Her mum said as her form materialised next to Penny’s grandmother.” I’m so sorry, but you must go with your gran now, she’ll help you. Follow your grandmother she’ll show you the way. I love you very much, I’m waiting for you.”

Penny reached across and took her grandmothers hand. As she held it she felt a tremendous feeling of calm and warmth come over her. She could hear Janet and Mandy giggling and calling her name softly in the distance. Her grandmother gently led her past the kitchen door where her aunt was sitting with her back to the door speaking to someone on the telephone. The kitchen and hall smelt of fresh biscuits where her aunt was baking. Penny felt a pang of hunger hit her in the stomach. “Yes she’s in shock at the moment and not making much sense. She said she saw her mum when she left school and that her mum stopped her from crossing the road with those other poor girls that got killed. … Gives me goose bumps just thinking that she may have seen the ghost of her mother. … Yes I know…. I’ve given her a tranquiliser that should make her sleep most of the night. I’m just making her some hot chocolate now; she’s in the living room, what a horrible name for a room, but they could hardly call it ‘The dead room’ could they?”

Penny opened the front door and walked out with the ghost of her grandmother. Together they walked up the stairs to the 10th floor, the top floor. There was a door leading to the roof, but there was a very big padlock firmly locking it. Grandmother just walked right through the door and, as she disappeared, the padlock clicked unlocked and fell to the floor. Penny pushed the door to the roof open and her grandmother led her out to the small fence around the edge. The sky was so bright and colourful it was blinding. Her mother was floating in space just a little off from the edge holding her arms out and calling her gently to come to her. “Everything will be fine, we’re all waiting for you, Janet and Mandy are here too. Come take my hand.”

Everything felt so warm and right somehow. Penny stepped forward and took her mother’s hand. The sky seemed to give a little jolt and Penny threw her arms around her mother. As her mother stroked her hair, Penny looked down and saw people running towards a small body sprawled out on the path below.

“Everything is now as it should be Penny, come and meet the others…”

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