The Casual Vacancy полностью

‘Well, he’s not failing to thrive,’ said Parminder, withdrawing a slim sheaf of photocopied notes from her handbag. ‘I checked him quite thoroughly, because — well, I know the family history. He’s a good weight, although I doubt his diet’s anything to write home about. No lice or nits or anything of that description. His bottom was a bit sore, and I remember his sister said that he still wets himself sometimes.’

‘They keep putting him back in nappies,’ said Kay.

‘But you wouldn’t,’ asked the woman who had first questioned Parminder, ‘have any major concerns health-wise?’

‘There was no sign of abuse,’ said Parminder. ‘I remember, I took off his vest to check, and there were no bruises or other injuries.’

‘There’s no man in the house,’ interjected Kay.

‘And this ear infection?’ her supervisor prompted Parminder.

‘You said it was the sister who brought him in, not the mother? Are you Terri’s doctor, too?’

‘I don’t think we’ve seen Terri for five years,’ said Parminder, and the supervisor turned to Nina instead.

‘How’s she doing on methadone?’

(Until I died, she was in love with me…

Parminder thought, Perhaps it’s Shirley, or Maureen, who’s the ghost, not Howard — they would be much more likely to watch her when she was with Barry, hoping to see something with their dirty old-womanish minds… )

‘…longest she’s lasted on the programme so far,’ said Nina. ‘She’s mentioned the case review quite a lot. I get the feeling she knows that this is it, that she’s running out of chances. She doesn’t want to lose Robbie. She’s said that a few times. I’d have to say you’ve got through to her, Kay. I really do see her taking some responsibility for the situation, for the first time since I’ve known her.’

‘Thank you, but I’m not going to get over-excited. The situation’s still pretty precarious.’ Kay’s dampening words were at odds with her tiny irrepressible smile of satisfaction. ‘How are things going at nursery, Louise?’

‘Well, he’s back again,’ said the fourth social worker. ‘He’s been in full attendance for the past three weeks, which is a dramatic change. The teenage sister brings him. His clothes are too small and usually dirty, but he talks about bath and meal times at home.’

‘And behaviourally?’

‘He’s developmentally delayed. His language skills are very poor. He doesn’t like men coming into the nursery. When fathers turn up, he won’t go near them; he hangs around the nursery workers and becomes very anxious. And once or twice,’ she said, turning a page in her notes, ‘he’s mimicked what are clearly sexual acts on or near little girls.’

‘I don’t think, whatever we decide, there can be any question of taking him off the at-risk register,’ said Kay, to a murmur of agreement.

‘It sounds like everything hinges on Terri staying on your programme,’ said the supervisor to Nina, ‘and staying off the game.’

‘That’s key, certainly,’ Kay agreed, ‘but I’m concerned that even when she’s heroin-free, she doesn’t provide much mothering to Robbie. Krystal seems to be raising him, and she’s sixteen and got plenty of her own issues…’

(Parminder remembered what she had said to Sukhvinder a couple of nights previously.

Krystal Weedon! That stupid girl! Is that what being in a team with Krystal Weedon taught you — to sink to her level?

Barry had liked Krystal. He had seen things in her that were invisible to other people’s eyes.

Once, long ago, Parminder had told Barry the story of Bhai Kanhaiya, the Sikh hero who had administered to the needs of those wounded in combat, whether friend or foe. When asked why he gave aid indiscriminately, Bhai Kanhaiya had replied that the light of God shone from every soul, and that he had been unable to distinguish between them.

The light of God shone from every soul.

She had called Krystal Weedon stupid and implied that she was low.

Barry would never have said it.

She was ashamed.)

‘…when there was a great-grandmother who seemed to provide some back-up in care, but—’

‘She died,’ said Parminder, rushing to say it before anyone else could. ‘Emphysema and stroke.’

‘Yeah,’ said Kay, still looking at her notes. ‘So we go back to Terri. She came out of care herself. Has she ever attended parenting classes?’

‘We offer them, but she’s never been in a fit state to attend,’ said the woman from the nursery.

‘If she agreed to take them and actually turned up, it would be a massive step forward,’ said Kay.

‘If they close us down,’ sighed Nina from Bellchapel, addressing Parminder, ‘I suppose she’ll have to come to you for her methadone.’

‘I’m concerned that she wouldn’t,’ said Kay, before Parminder could answer.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Parminder angrily.