Different by Tony Butler Page B

surprised by the cleanliness of the place. After ordering a large mug of tea and a butter toasted tea cake, she found a vacant table in a corner and sat down. Karen had told her it was where she usually ate because the food was cheap. Janine had finished eating and was beginning to think that either Karen had already been and gone, or she'd changed her mind and wasn't coming.
    Then the door of the cafe opened and Karen came in. At least Janine thought she must be Karen, she was wearing the kind of anorak that she'd described on the phone, and Janine didn't think there could be that many young attractive blonde pregnant middle-class girls coming in a place like that.
    Janine quickly drained her mug of tea and carried it to the counter for a refill. There was someone else standing between her and Karen. Karen hadn't seen Janine and she stood with a mug of tea in one hand and a plate, on which was a bacon sandwich, in the other. She was looking for a seat.
    "Karen!” Janine called and the girl looked at her. “I'm Janine, from the Foundation. That's our table in the corner over there.” The girl relaxed, smiled and nodded and made her way to the table and Janine breathed a sigh of relief.
    "Have they decided?” Karen asked when Janine returned to her seat. She spoke in the kind of voice pupils used to address their teachers. “Will the Foundation take me in?"
    "That's why I arranged to meet you. How's your hotel?"
    "It's all right I suppose, but you have to be out by ten unless it's raining, they let you stay in the lounge then."
    "Have you thought any more about putting the baby up for adoption Karen?” Janine asked as she lifted the steaming mug of tea to her lips. She'd arranged to meet Karen in the cafe because it was always crowded, and no one would remember them.
    "Not really, I mean half of me wants to keep it, but I don't know if I could cope with bringing up a baby on my own."
    "It won't be easy but it has to be your decision. Anyway, there's no need to worry about that now, lets go and speak to a friend of mine. She runs a special unit especially for young girls like you who're pregnant, and some of the girls there are your age. You could have a chat with those who've decided that they're going to keep their babies. Perhaps we could get you booked into a room there."
    "Yes, all right!” Karen said animated with excitement. “When can we go?"
    "Why not now? I've got the day off and I fancy a drive in the country."
    Karen chatted for a while during the drive to Catherstone, but slowly the drug that Russell had given to Janine to slip into the girl's coke, started to work, slowly her eyes closed and she fell asleep.
    Russell was waiting at the rear of the house as she parked the car, he walked over and opening the passenger door he took a long look at the sleeping girl. “Not bad,” he said. “Now let's get her into the basement room before she wakes up. Are you sure no one knows she's with you?"
    "Yes, we met in a transport café, no one there will remember us and she doesn't know anyone at the hotel."
    She helped Russell get the girl out of the car and between them, they half carried her into the house and down the stone steps that led to the basement. The room installed by Matherson's Chemicals was almost a self-contained suite, where you would have expected to find windows, framed scenic pictures hung on the walls.
    The door was steel and the lock was on the outside, she wondered what the previous tenants had used it for. They lay Karen on the bed and left the room, locking the door behind them. Janine suspected the girl would sleep for at least another two hours.
* * * *
    Karen was awake and sitting on the bed when they returned, she looked frightened as they shut the door behind them.
    "What's happening?” she asked. “Where am I?"
    Janine let Russell deal with her; after all it was his house.
    "You've been brought here to have your baby and you'll be staying in a hut on the land behind this house.