Ghosts in the Morning - By Will Thurmann Page 0,21

were that it would be more relaxed, more informal, to have it here. He said it would make a nice change, and he’s fed up of eating out.’

‘Well he would be fed up if he’s eating out.’ I giggled.

‘Eh? Have you had too much wine again, Andrea? Anyway, he’s having some work done at his place – a new kitchen – hence he’s been eating at restaurants for the last two weeks. And also therefore can’t host it at his place. Look, I don’t fancy the idea myself, to be honest, but I’ve been put in a bit of a spot. Piers didn’t really give me the opportunity to say no. You know what’s he like.’

‘Yes, I do. He’s a rude, arrogant twat.’

‘Steady on, Andrea, he’s not that bad, and he is my boss, after all.’

‘Well, he can hardly hear me now, can he? Anyway, so, how many are coming? What am I supposed to cook?’

‘Um, there’ll be eight of us in total. That’s including me and you. The aforementioned head honchos are bringing their other halves – apparently they want to do a bit of sightseeing in Jersey - and Piers will bring Lindy obviously...and as for what to cook...well, why don’t you do steak? A piece of Chateaubriand. Maybe a few salmon fillets in case any of the women are vegetarians. You’ll work it out, I’m sure.’

Graham looked at me and wrinkled his nose. It used to be cute when he did that, like an inquisitive squirrel. I used to find it endearing. Now, he just looked like a snob who’d stood in something nasty. He sounded like one too, with his mock-posh voice saying things like ‘the aforementioned head honchos.’

‘And Andrea, please try not to drink too much. These are very senior partners from London.’

He turned and headed out of the lounge, his fat nose titled towards the ceiling. I stuck my middle finger up at his retreating back.

Chapter 6

Uncle Peter wasn’t the only man to rape me. It happened once more, at the care home.

I was fifteen. The care home had changed dramatically in the previous twelve months. Sandra and Elizabeth were still there but Anita had left. She was older and ready to be kicked out into the big, wide world. She got a job in the local Woolworths and moved out into a little bedsit in the town. I used to go in to the shop and see her on Saturdays; she would give me the nod when it was safe to stick a bag of sweets or a bar of chocolate under my jacket, but she got a boyfriend so we lost touch for a while.

Francesca had been moved to another care home - something to do with being closer to grandparents, but the details were vague. Susie had bewilderingly gone back to her parents, the authorities obviously oblivious to the further physical and psychological damage that she would suffer. The system didn’t really care, it was just one less mouth to be fed and cared for from a tight budget, and there were a limited number of spaces in the care home. Clare – Clay – had been moved to a different kind of institution – there were initially some rumours of a mutilated cat being found in the grounds, but these dissipated when somebody mentioned that Clay had been found in the showers with blood pouring from her wrists. We weren’t sure if it was true, but we knew Clay had gone.

But by far the biggest change was to the home itself. It was no longer the Garter Home for Girls. A decision had been taken to allow boys into the home, making it a mixed care home. Like most decisions taken for purely monetary reasons, it was a disaster. It was like putting the proverbial cats amongst the pigeons. Mean cats, too. The Home was re-branded as Elmtree Way – the powers-that-be dropping Felicity Garter’s name like a soiled nappy, in their eagerness to modernise. And like most rebranding exercises, the cosmetic changes were merely paper over the widening cracks that were happening beneath.

The equilibrium in the Home changed. Obviously the Home had had its fair share of bullying and nastiness before the boys came, but there had always been an unwritten rule, a sort of honour among the ‘naughty’ girls. Things had never gone too far. But the appearance of boys in the care home changed all of this. The boys were bigger, more aggressive and pumped full of