The Throwaway Children by Diney Costeloe Page A

woman who sat opposite him, behind the desk. She was fat and she was ugly, her hair like a bird’s nest with two sticks stuck through it. She was the sort of woman that Jimmy instinctively disliked. He wanted to say, ‘Look, you fat cow, find these kids somewhere to stay, and sharpish. That’s your job, ain’t it?’ But he needed to keep on the right side of her, so that things could be settled as quickly as possible, certainly before Mavis came home again and could change her mind.
    He drew a deep breath and after a struggle with his natural belligerence, said in his most reasonable voice, ‘It’s best for the girls to move as soon as possible. It’s not right that they are left on their own. Their mother’s signed the forms you gave her. We need to get this sorted as quick as we can, for their sakes.’
    ‘Well, yes, I rather agree with you,’ said Miss Hopkins. ‘It certainly isn’t desirable for them to be left at home on their own. I will make some enquiries. Are you on the telephone? No? Well, perhaps you could call in again tomorrow and I’ll be able to tell you then what we can do for the poor little creatures.’
    This time when the large and rather frightening man in front of her made to leave the room, she simply bade him goodbye, relieved that the interview was over. Despite his reasonable words, there had been an underlying violence in the way he had said them which Miss Hopkins found quite intimidating.
    Carefully she checked the papers he’d left. Yes, all correct. He had brought the girls’ birth certificates as the forms requested, and the mother’s signature was in the right places.
    She picked up the phone, dialled the number for the EVER-Care home at Laurel House and asked for Miss Vanstone.
    ‘I think I have two more children who need a home with you after all, Miss Vanstone,’ she said when the preliminary courtesies were over. ‘You may remember that I had a woman in a few weeks ago wanting to have her children put into an orphanage, and I suggested to you then that they might come to you?’
    ‘Yes, I remember,’ said Miss Vanstone. ‘What about them?’
    ‘Well, their stepfather has just brought in the forms, completed and signed by the mother. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t come to you straight away if you have room for them.’
    ‘I see,’ Miss Vanstone spoke thoughtfully, while in fact her mind was racing. If all the documentation was completed and signed, that made her the children’s legal guardian… and that would mean…
    ‘Both sets of forms, Miss Hopkins?’ she asked. ‘For guardianship and adoption?’
    ‘Oh yes,’ replied Miss Hopkins happily. ‘Once the EVER-Care name and address are inserted, they’ll be yours.’
    ‘What about the Children’s Committee?’
    ‘Oh, my dear Miss Vanstone,’ cooed Miss Hopkins, ‘you can leave the Committee to me. There’ll be no problem with them, I do assure you.’
    Jimmy Randall had returned to the Children’s Office the next day and was shown straight in to see Miss Hopkins.
    ‘I have good news for you, Mr Randall,’ she told him as soon as he was sitting down. ‘I have managed to place your daughters—’
    ‘Stepdaughters,’ corrected Jimmy.
    ‘Your stepdaughters, in an excellent home. EVER-Care. You’ve heard of it?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Well,’ Miss Hopkins went on, a little disconcerted by his abrupt answer, ‘it is a charitable trust set up by a lady named Miss Emily Vanstone. The children are very well cared for, and taught to look after themselves, to be good—’
    ‘When can they go?’ interrupted Jimmy. Mavis had been told that she could probably come home after the weekend, and he wanted Rita and Rosie gone before she did.
    ‘Once I am certain that it is in the best interests of the children and that their mother isn’t—’
    ‘Their mother’s already signed the forms, hasn’t she?’ snapped Jimmy, trying to keep hold of his temper. What more did this bloody woman