FIRE 

By Tessa Harvey

    This morning Colleen was doing the tapping on the half-open hospital room door. She stepped inside. There were two beds, one occupied by a very elderly lady, asleep. The other bed, disarranged, the occupant sitting nearby, looking very anxious, rubbing her hands together.
    "Oh! Miss Bird," exclaimed Leanne with a smile, then she asked "is anything wrong?"
    "I hear your husband wanted Ellie to sleep with him while you are away to ostensibly look after baby Joe." She saw an angry flush spread over the other woman's face and neck and held up her hand. "I also heard from Sean that Joe sleeps through the night now and when I visited the family I noticed there are no locks on the bathroom door - nor the toilet door for that matter."
    Leanne was sullen and angry. "Well, they are his children." "Yes," Colleen was aware she was not being very diplomatic, " but they are not his or your property. You cannot take away a child's hope and future!"

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