The Vent

Chapters iii & iv

III The Family

If you saw them on the Heath, Lionel 34, Miranda 8, wearing size 14 and Joseph 3, you might think; "what the fuck is going on".

Lionel bestraddled with enough gear to mount an expedition.

Thermos of fine espresso for him, Joe a football, raw carrot sticks and humus just in case.

Peanut butter sandwiches, Joe's new favourite.

They'd fight over those.

He carried an emergency Twix just in case.

Hoolah hoop, skipping rope and weather cover.

Once they had all got so wet when they had to vacate the premisses that there mother had gone to Conran and bought a collapsible TeePee.

Now neither of the children would leave for the Heath without it.

The cooking, the getting the children dressed, the getting himself dressed, trying to preserve the vestiges of normal life so they wouldn't be too scarred.

They could be moving to the next village?

Miranda obese, trying to ride her bike, with stabilisers.

Joseph mounted on a new designer trike on a stick desperate to strut his stuff.

Lionel trying to steer this out of control vessel that was his family to a happier place.

Lionel loved his children above all.

They were the possibility of a bright and shining future from the quagmire that was now his life.

If your gonna sacrifice.....do it for the children, there could be salvation in that perhaps.

Self worth eroded by circumstance, he was now a slave to their every whim.

Lionel even loved his children more than sex with his wife; that was a big ask.

In a heartbeat no contest.

They weren't perfect, but....

Well, Joseph was.

Angel decides she's not gonna work, she'll look after the baby uld (Mianda) and Lionel could get a proper job.

Miranda had been left alone with her mothers placatory nature for the first 18 months and developed a penchant for tinned

peaches.

By the time Lionel had commandeered control of Miranda's intake it was too late.

He fed her watercress and still she expanded.

Not any more.

If it wasn't glacé, she wasn't havin it.

Her mother's response, "for God's sake let her have what she wants, won't make any difference".

Angel found the aesthetic to difficult.

For the last five years they've exchanged pleasantries, ok for a 26 year old, marginal if your 3.

Joseph retained the countenance of an angel.

Besides herself and her red Ferrari Dino on a K plate, Joseph was his mothers greatest love.

Tony Curtis drove one in The Persuaders.

IV The Funeral

The first time Lionel/Joshua saw her, Angela was 15, a crowded open sided shed in Portslade cemetery where they paid lip service to the dead Jews of the parish.