'Okay, girls! Ready in five!'
There had always been traditions in the Collier household. One that seemed to have established itself since it had become an all-female one was the need to summon the daughters for Sunday lunch. Catherine had hoped that a change to the menu might have prompted some offers of help with preparing vegetables and setting the table, or at least had them ready and waiting rather than requiring constant prompting. There was, as ever, 'homework' to compete with. How much was real and how much a convenient cover for Snapchat, Instagram, or whatever this month's craze was, she couldn't be sure. In Kirsten's case, she suspected most was no such thing.
Despite a series of setbacks, from her lack of success in interview to the girls' continuing unwillingness to lend a hand, Catherine was feeling brighter and more upbeat this week than she had last. She had, it appeared, won a concession from her landlord. On the bus, on her way home on Friday, Catherine had come up with an idea. She had already passed the estate agency owned by Mr Stevens, her landlord, when the idea came to her, but it was not too long a walk back.
'Can I help you?' asked the receptionist, a pleasant woman Catherine thought was called Fiona.
'I wondered if Mr Stevens was in.'
'Can I say who's calling?'
Catherine waited while Fiona went to check on her boss's availability.
'He'll be with you in a moment.'
After somewhat longer than that, Mr Stevens emerged from his office. Catherine expected to be invited into it, since he must know she had come about the letter. Instead, he seemed determined to speak to her across the counter, in Fiona's hearing, as he asked her what he could do for her.
'I imagine it's about the termination of your tenancy,' he added.
'Of course.' Catherine came straight to the point. 'I hoped we might be able to negotiate a later date. My elder daughter has her GCSE's this summer and it's going to be very disruptive for her to move so close to that time. There's every possibility I'll be in reasonably well-paid work by then, but in case not, I would be more than happy to have the DWP pay my rent direct.'
Stevens shrugged. 'I don't mean to be cruel, but after the trouble I've had with late payment, non-payments, short payments and irregular payments off every one of my tenants whose gone anywhere near this Universal Credit, I'm simply getting out of letting to claimants. There are enough professionals looking to rent without me having to scrape the barrel - no offence - and take in DSS. You've all had notice for the end of the financial year, except those I can get out sooner.'
'I'm only asking for three extra months, for the sake of my daughter's education. After the summer, when she's due to start college, it might make sense to move anyway.'
That was a negotiating tactic. Catherine herself didn't want to move house. She was sure Kirsty would hate the idea - she had a close circle of friends living nearby. What Alex wanted to do after her exams would largely depend on her results, which were forecast to be good but not outstanding.
'If I make an exception for you, they'll all expect it,' Stevens replied gruffly.
'Who will? I don't even know any of your other tenants, let alone their financial circumstances.' She forced herself to stay calm and smile at him. 'I cleared my arrears, didn't I? As I say, there's every chance I'll be off benefits soon. I'm looking for work, I've had interviews.' She smiled again. 'In fact, if you needed any help here - I used to be in housing management, you know?'
Stevens seemed briefly disarmed by that revelation. 'I'll consider it,' he conceded. 'As long as you don't get behind again.'
'Thank you.;
'In fact, I'll do better than that. If you can get ahead a whole month, and stay that way up to the deadline, I'll sign a new agreement for the whole of next year.' He looked towards Fiona. 'You heard that, didn't you?'
She nodded.
'I just need to keep my rent account in credit?' said Catherine.
'A whole month in credit - like normal people, who aren't on benefits do. You've paid this month, you've caught up your arrears, so you'll owe eight-hundred on the first of the month, every month, after that. You can do a direct debit, you can pay cash but it's due on the first. I don't care when you get paid; that's when I get paid.'
'That's fine. Thank you.'
It was far from fine but it was, perhaps, just doable. Her Widowed Parent's Allowance was paid four-weekly, not calendar monthly, and was next due on the twenty-seventh. She would have two more payments of Child Benefit. If she could keep back two hundred and fifty pounds of last week's Universal Credit, she would have enough. They would struggle for a fortnight after that, of course, probably with just the Child Benefit for emergencies, but the next UC payment and her WPA were both due before Christmas and, in all likelihood, would be paid slightly early. In January, she would get two payments of WPA. She would also, she was quite determined, get a wage.
Having negotiated a deal, she would need to brace the girls for a low-budget Christmas, their second in a row. Sunday lunch seemed as good a time as any to explain.
'You didn't invite Ralph, then?' said Alex, as Catherine poured each of them a small glass of wine.
'No, I didn't.'
'Good.'
'Why?'
'He's boring.'
'What did you expect?' Catherine looked quizzically at her elder daughter. 'Conjuring tricks? Stand-up comedy? Juggling with flaming torches? He is a local government officer.'
'You're not dating him?'
'No. I invited him to dinner on Tuesday because he gave us the squashes and gave me a lift to the station, and he knew how to cook them. They were nice, weren't they?'
'In a boring way,' said Kirsty.
'Like Ralph!' Alex sniggered.
Catherine ignored that. 'I thought we might have more vegetarian meals in the run-up to Christmas,' she said.
'He hasn't given you more of those weird things?'
'No, he hasn't. It's just that it's easy to over-indulge at Christmas and I thought it would do us good to have a really healthy diet beforehand.'
'We could join a gym,' said Kirsty.
'There isn't one close enough,' Catherine said.
'We could get a car and then join a gym.'
'When I get a new job.'
Neither girl responded to that.
'I'm going to a new employment agency on Monday afternoon,' Catherine explained. 'Now I've done my course, I might get a job in a nursing home.'
'Looking after old people?' said Kirsty. 'Gross!'
'Don't be horrible!' Alex told her. 'Some of them are nice. Nanny was.'
'I don't really remember her,' said Kirsty. 'Or Dad's parents.'
'They didn't like us,' said Alex. 'That's why we never get presents from them.'
'They do live a long way away,' said Catherine, unsure why she felt the need to defend her in-laws.
'There's like, Amazon, though...' Alex answered.
'I suppose so.' Having failed to sell the idea of veggie December, Catherine decided to tell the girls the truth about her planned economies. 'I'm afraid there might not be much in the way of presents from me either, this year, except one big one.'
'God! You're not pregnant, are you?' cried Alex.
'No, of course I'm not!' Catherine laughed.
'What is it, then?' asked Alex.
'It won't be a surprise if she tells us,' said Kirsty.
'It isn't something I can surprise you with because we've all got to work together to make it happen,' said Catherine. 'We're going to save our home.'
'You're buying the house from Mr Stevens?' Kirsty looked delighted.
'We can't buy it, girls. That would cost too much.'
The girls looked confused.
'What do you mean about saving it?' asked Alex. 'If you aren't buying it, what are you saving it from?'
'Our lease runs out next spring,' Catherine explained. 'It happens every year but, this year, Mr Stevens said he wanted us to move out. Not just us - all of his tenants who need help to pay their rent from the Government. He sent me a letter during the week, telling me we would have to leave in March. But I've been to see him and he's willing to let us stay for at least another year, if we can make sure we always pay a month in advance, starting this month.'
'Why don't we?' asked Kirsty.
'We used to; when we had Dad's wages, when we had some savings, when I had my short-term job. But my benefits pay our rent at the end of the month it's due, not at the beginning. He isn't happy with that. He wants it in advance, or he won't renew our tenancy, but if we're really careful this month, I think we can catch up enough to get ahead and, if I can get a job soon, we can stay ahead. There won't be much money for Christmas, but I thought this would be more important.'
'I don't want to have to move,' said Kirsty.
'Nor me, love. I'm glad you understand.' She squeezed her younger daughter's hand, and looked towards the elder. 'And with your exams coming up, Alex...'
'This isn't my fault!' the older girl shouted.
'I didn't say it was.' Catherine was surprised at her reaction but thought she understood. 'It's just that, of all of us, you're the one who I though would welcome the security the most.'
'But why haven't you got a job?' The girl's tone was quite accusatory now.
'I've explained this before. Because I wasn't working for a long time before Dad's accident, although I'm well-qualified, I'm not up to date with some things housing professionals need to know now. That's why I did that temporary job and it's why I've been volunteering. But, because I might not get a good housing job for a while still, I'm going to this agency to see if I can get different work, so I have a wage and so we can always pay Mr Stevens on time.'
'You'll have a job next week?' Alex's tear-stained face brightened. 'And you'll get paid?'
'Maybe not that soon but, hopefully, by Christmas.'
Alex stared at her empty plate. 'Why did you buy beef and wine if we can't afford the rent?'
'I bought them before I got Mr Stevens' letter, because they were reduced and because I thought we could all do with a change from chicken,; Catherine explained. 'And, as I've failed to win you round to vegetarianism, because there's enough for two more main meals this week. You enjoyed it, didn't you?'
'I wouldn't have done, if I'd known the truth.'
Catherine let the drama go. It was all part of being fifteen plus.
'You know how you can't get a job because you've been out of work?' asked Kirsty. 'Why didn't you working when we were younger, so you could get another job easier now? All my friends' mums work.'
'Your father...we... thought it would be nicer for you to have a mum at home, when you came home from school and during the holidays.'
'F'kin alright for some...'
'What was that. Alex?'
'I said, it's alright for some, at home all day with nothing to do. If you won't get a job, I will!'
She scraped her chair back, stood up and ran up the stairs.
'Alex!'
Catherine followed her daughter to the foot of the stairs. She heard her bedroom door bang shut. She came back to the table where Kirsty was sitting in sullen silence.
'As soon as I'm working, we'll have brilliant Christmases together,' Catherine promised.
'I miss daddy.'
'I know.' Catherine started collecting up the plates.
'I don't want you to go out with someone else.'
'I'm not going to, love. Not for a long time, anyway.'
'Not ever.'
'Not ever is a very long time away to make promises about.' Catherine sat down opposite Kirsty. 'Is that what's upset Alex? Does she think I'm going to get together with Ralph or someone, just so we have some money coming in? Because I'm not.'
Kirsty shook her head.
'Is it something else? Something at school.'
'She'll kill me if I say.'
'She's got a boyfriend, hasn't she? Have they argued, because she can't go on the skiing trip?'
Kirsty seemed on the verge of spilling the beans.
'Can I have a new tablet for Christmas?' she asked, slyly.
'I don't expect so, sweetheart. Even if I get a new job, I won't get paid straight away...'
'I need one.'
'The one you've got is less than a year old.'
'Alex keeps borrowing it.'
'Why? She's got one of her own.' Catherine stood up again. Gathering up the plates, she turned towards the door. She was used to Kirsty's silly games, the way she tried to get his sister into trouble.
'No she hasn't. She sold it. She sold it to get the ski trip money.'
'She did what?'
'When you wouldn't give her the deposit money, she got Leo Finn to sell it for her.'
'Who the hell is Leo Finn?'
'A boy. He got her the deposit money, so she's paid for the trip and she's got to go. So if she's going on a skiing trip, It's only fair for me to have a new tablet, then I don't mind her keeping my old one.'
'Great God Almighty!' Catherine dropped the plates onto the kitchen worktop and strode back into the hall. 'Alex! Alexandra! Come down here! Right now!'
There was no reply.
'Alex!'
Catherine went upstairs, trying to keep her anger under control. If she had been Alex, if she had been looking forward to this trip with her friends, if someone had offered what looked like a way to help her, if she had believed everything would turn out fine because her mother would get a job,,,
'Alex?'
She tapped gently on her daughter's door.
'Go away!'
'I'm not going to do that. We need to talk.'
'There's nothing to talk about!'
Catherine waited. She saw Kirsty skulking at the foot of the stairs, obviously listening.
'Clean the plates off and load the dishwasher!' she ordered.
Kirsty vanished. Alex's door opened.
'I'm sorry, mum!'
Catherine drew her sobbing daughter into a hug and closed the door behind them.
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