Jim knew that glint in his mother's eye, and he knew what came after it too.

'There's always a way' There it was. Next would come the almost audible sound of her brain crunching out an idea for a dodge, a way to bend the rules and get away with it. Again.

Like the time the bank charged her thirty pounds for being two pence overdrawn. She marched in to the nearest branch and refused to leave until the 'daylight robbery' had been put to rights. Jim was dragged with her, for a lesson in life so she said, forced to listen as she trotted out argument after argument.

'I'm a foster carer, I can't afford thirty quid out of nowhere'

'It was two P, I've got two P here! I can pay it now'

'Money's all you care about I'nt'it! You couldn't care less about people'

And two eternal hours later the harassed manager had ordered the harassed clerk to remove the charge from the poor, harassed bank account. Jim heaved a theatrical sigh of relief as she reached her hand towards him.

'Now don't be like that. If people like us don't stand up for ourselves, those rich_____ will take over!' Jim didn't understand the word she used at the time, but from the sound of it he would probably get in trouble if he ever used it. 'We can always stand up for ourselves, there's always a way' His four year old mind dismissed the words and focused fully on sulking at the injustice of being made to sit still for a whole two hours.

Then there was the time they had spent a day at the seaside. The train back was bursting at the seams with people, but his mother had used her diminutive height to her advantage; squeezing through small gaps in the crush, elbowing people in the hips on their way to what must have been the only remaining seat on the train. Jim squeezed onto it next to his big brother and his mother stood at the side like a fierce, wrinkled guardian angel. Other passengers took one look and walked on into the next carriage, but one man clearly did not know danger when he saw it.

'Excuse me' He stood very close and looked down at her. She hated that. 'Could you move please?' Please was evidently pasted onto the end simply because it was supposed to be there.

'Why should I?'

'Look miss' She hated being called 'miss' too. Jim, watching through half closed eyes, wondered how anyone could be so stupid. 'Look miss, I booked a seat on this train and-'

'Is it this seat?'

'I'm sorry?' He would be.

'The seat you booked, is it this one? Does it have your name on it anywhere?'

'Well no, but-'

'Is the number of this seat on your ticket?'

'No, but-'

'Then why do you think you have the right to move my little boys from it?'

'Somebody sat in my-' She interrupted him again, stepping forward and jabbing her finger into his shoulder to emphasise her words

'We are tired (jab), it has been a long (jab), hot (jab), busy (jab) day and my boys do not have the energy (jab) to stand up (jab) any more!' On 'more' she whipped her foot behind his and gave him an especially hard jab. The man flailed his arms for a second before falling backwards, throwing his briefcase along the aisle.

He lay on the ground making a series of inarticulate noises but before he could form any words mother was heaving him up, chunnering away like an old woman

'Oh gawd I am sorry, it's so crowded in here I'm surprised any of us manage to stay upright at all, so many bags and suitcases and people and gosh are you alright? I hope you didn't hurt yourself' The man pulled himself free of her, brushed his suit down and walked away to retrieve his briefcase with his head held high, the image of dignity slightly ruined by the stripe of hot embarrassment across his cheeks.

Mother noticed Jim watching and winked at him. 'There's always a way, son.'


Today it was about that huge dead tree outside the front fence. Jim walked in with his daughter Alice on his shoulders and was confronted with his mother scowling thunder at the wall, the house phone clamped to her ear

'It's your tree, you planted it, you let it die, you can sort it!' Jim set Alice on the floor and she ran into the garden to play with the dog. 'Fine!' His mother slammed the phone down and muttered a few choice words at it. Jim raised an eyebrow

'Trouble?'

'You'd think with all the complaints they get about parking they'd be glad of somebody trying to sort it!' He was, of course, supposed to know what she was talking about.

'But they're not?' She walked into the kitchen and flicked the kettle on, talking over the sound of mugs and tea bag tubs banging on the surfaces

'Well I asked about moving that dead tree so we can make a driveway in front of the house, but apparently if I want it moved, I have to pay for it! They have to get a 'tree team' in' She spat 'tree team' out with such sarcasm, Jim had to smile. This was his mother in her element. Fighting the fight for the little people. 'I mean, it's dead! It's a hazard, could fall over at any moment. What if it falls on a child? They'd be killed! The man said they've checked it and it's secure but I've never seen anyone checking it and how long have we lived here?' She handed him a steaming cup full to the brim with orange tea. Jim set it down carefully, trying not to spill it everywhere.

'So they won't take it away?' Alice came rushing in trailing mud behind her and latched herself onto her Nan's leg. She ruffled the little girl's hair a bit

'Only if it becomes an immediate danger' And there it was, that glint in the eye. 'It could happen you know. There's always a way'

'What way?' Jim did not like the sound of this

'We'll see' Nothing more was said about it and Jim and Alice gave her an especially long hug before they left as the family were going away for a couple of weeks.

'I'll call you when we get there'

'Yes. Yes, you do that' She seemed distracted but Jim had no time to question her, Jill would have dinner ready by now.

--------------------

'Dad! We just passed it!'� Jim braked a little too sharply and backed up to stare at the familiar house with the distinctly unfamiliar driveway.

'I do not believe it'

'So what do you think?' His mother stood at the window, hands wrapped around a mug of tea.

'Go on then, how did you pull this one off?'

'Me? I didn't do anything!' Jim looked at her, 'I didn't!! It became an immediate danger! A land rover hit it.' She sipped her tea. 'Six times'

Jim stared at her incredulous

'Oh come on Daddy.' Alice stood in the doorway, little hands on hips, 'there's always a way!'

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