Y - YOUNGER

They phoned at two in the morning. The daughter was in custody at Penrith Police Station and they needed the father there for the interview, because she was under age.

The father had been drinking heavily the night before so the woman had to drive. The M4 was empty though heavily cloaked in fog, and they were quickly there. The father was taken through a door while the woman sat on a bench in reception and waited. The mother was also there, and the boy, they had arrived first. There was no conversation. The mother was crying angry tears while the boy looked gleeful. It was very cold.

After some time the father emerged through the door with the daughter and a tired-looking officer. The father shook the officer’s hand and taking the daughter’s arm said, ‘come on, let’s go, you’re coming with us.’

The mother and father exchanged some quiet terse words while the daughter and the woman stood nearby. Without another word to the daughter the mother grabbed the boy’s shoulder and they exited.

On the drive back to town, the father, in a very cold voice, told the woman what had happened. The daughter and some other kids, teenagers, had broken into a house and trashed the place while taking drugs and having sex. The oldest boy, the daughter’s special friend, was of age and had been charged. The others had been released into their parent’s care.

The daughter said nothing. The small car smelt strongly of sex and drugs, or at least the woman thought the smell was drugs. The smell was sickening in that enclosed space. The father criticised the driving. The woman inwardly seethed, she wanted to stop the car and throw them out.

When she was younger the woman never broke into a house to take drugs and have sex. When the woman was 15 years old she had not had her first kiss.