Protecting Miss Dawes - a job like any other

Chapter 10: Charles

"Princess time is over", she joked.

I was not so sure about that.

"Now you'll have to tell me the story about that t-shirt."

She looked down, like she had not thought about what she put on.

"The Dawes family are all West Ham supporters. Well, my dad is, and he wouldn't let anyone under his roof cheer for any other team."

"What are they like, your family?" I had been curious for long and hoped I was not over-stepping by asking, but she did not seem to mind. She had opened her bags and started dipping chips in ketchup, simultaneously unboxing some chili cheese and now talked between chews.

"Poor. When I grew up we were really poor, and too many. Too many to make ends meet, too many for our small house. Mum, dad, Nan and the youngest ones still live in the same house but it's far better now because some of us have moved out so it's not so crowded and because I give them money, so they can have a decent life."

"You didn't when you grew up then? Have a decent life?"

"Barely. But you know, we were in good company, so I didn't think much of it until I changed school sometime during secondary school. Most of my friends had dads who were unemployed, drank too much, or both – if there was a dad present at all. Most of them had mums who had their first kid when they were almost kids still themselves. It was the Newham normal. It was rough, but we knew how to get by, if only just."

"What happened then, how did you end up here? It's quite a journey... and I'm not thinking geographically."

She had now attacked her burger and I had to laugh at her.

"You really weren't kidding when you said you were hungry, or that you like junk-food."

"Oi, you cheeky bastard! It's been ages since I had a proper burger and I so deserve it after starving through an entire party and having Rob drooling over me on top of that."

She laughed too and for a second I could picture her in a Newham street, talking back to someone there instead of me.

"Sorry for interrupting you, you were about to tell me how you ended up here."

"Well, I was good in school and I had a teacher who encouraged me, helped me to get a scholarship and to get my parents to accept it. Christ, they didn't get the point of studying at all, so that was a big leap for them, to let me go off to a private school in another part of the city. I think they felt that they lost me."

"And did they?"

"Partly, I think they did. It opened my eyes to another world, made me realise that I didn't have to settle for that life, that I could achieve more with mine – and in the end, that I might make a difference for others. That maybe I could make life better for other Newham kids and their likes."

"And now? Do you see your family?"

"I do, but not as often as I'd like to. My relationship with dad has always been complicated because he was an alcoholic, but it's better now. But mum, my sister and I have always been close. They come visit me, but they're never comfortable here. I'm not allowed to go there for security reasons."

She looked down when she said this and when she looked up again her eyes were damp.

"You miss them."

"I do! Sometimes I don't know if it's the right choice to be here, to have this job, to live in this flat, not be able to go home to mum when I want to. I have had to change so much – part of it I wanted, but part of it just came with the career... I'm talking too much, I shouldn't bother you with my personal issues", she interrupted herself.