Emmie 11

Emmie never thought of herself as a nervous person. She prided herself on not giving herself to worry. Nevertheless, as she turned her key in the lock she had to confess to a slight feeling of apprehensive curiosity. 
She need not have worried, all was calm and peaceful.  Yasmin was sitting in the garden reading her book. There was a cooking aroma gently drifting from the kitchen. Emmie stood in the kitchen door and called, "Smells good! "
Yasmin jumped slightly at the shock of the voice coming down the garden.   "I couldn't sit here all day doing nothing so I made a curry sauce with that jar of Pataks in the cupboard." Yasmin smiled a quizzical smile, "I hope that's ok ? "
 " That's fine. There is some rice in there too."
" I noticed."
It was decided to use some mince which had been bought at the weekend. So that was taken out of the fridge and tea prepared.

The phone rang. It was Margaret Evans. She arrived at seven thirty. Emmie put them both in the front room while she started to clear away and do the washing up. She took in a cup of tea some twenty minutes later and by that time the plans were made. It was results day on Thursday and when they had come through further decisions would have to be made.

 It seemed that Yasmin's father had contacted the school but, knowing the situation, and Yasmin having left, there was no reason to offer any information. It was most unusual that none of the other Asian girls knew anything about it, except for some vague rumours. Mrs Evans said that Jenny would know more when she came over on Wednesday.

Emmie said that she thought that a visit to the hairdressers was in order, as  a shorter style would cut down the opportunity for recognition in town, so to speak. She said she would phone for an appointment on Wednesday morning. Mrs Evans said she would deal the results and administration on Thursday, making sure that  a copy of the results would be sent to the family. It was thought, that they would not know the difference between the copy and the original. However, she was worried that the secret could not be kept indefinitely and she did not know how social services would react. However, she would be as discrete as possible and would only disclose any information if absolutely necessary.

In fact social services arrived on Wednesday morning unannounced. She displayed her identity and was duly admitted. She seemed to Emmie to be treating Yasmin as a naughty girl who was running away from home. Emmie thought this was possibly a dangerous attitude. She might inform the parents with all the trouble that could cause. It was made clear by Yasmin that she was not a naughty girl  and she explained what had happened to her elder sister. She was, after all, eighteen and old enough to make her own decisions.  The SS was reassured by the knowledge that the teacher and head knew of the situation and said she would not open a file as long as the authorities were kept informed.

Yasmin said that Mrs Evans had said she would inform the police if there was any evidence of intimidation or stalking from her end. She was far enough  away and had promised to act to protect the location of the place of safety. Also Yasmin's family lived outside the local area of this social services office and the officer had no intention of opening another case file which would, probably, entail another mound of paperwork.

She left just as the sound of Jenny's scooter came echoing up Chapel Walk. Her bright pink helmet completely covered her identity. She bustled in while removing the helmet and and was obviously anxious to unload the news. The story was out and friends had been on their phones. The news was that Yasmin had run away with a boyfriend and had gone away right down south so that they could not be found in the big city. Jenny had done nothing to spoil the story as she thought it would provide a good cover. Jenny also said that she would go with Yasmin out of the area when they had got their results the following day. Jenny's aunt had a caravan in Filey they could use for a little while and just have Emmie  as a contact point. They just had to wait for Thursday morning. The girls discussed all the possibilities and Jenny left just as it was getting dark.

Emmie decided to wait and see what Thursday would bring and then make her suggestions. She was not too sure about two eighteen year old girls alone  on a caravan park in Filey

JL August 25 17:44