Jasmine squirms in her seat, uncomfortable with the praise. She is only doing what is right. It shouldn’t be such a remarkable thing.
They sit in silence for a few moments and Jasmine’s stress ratchets up. The clock is ticking. The Leader is due. And Jasmine out of options for keeping the little family safe. Natasha stands and crosses the room to where Lou is playing pat-a-cake with the little boy. She sits down and pulls her son onto her lap.
“Would you like to go to see some moo cows and baa-baa sheep and some woof-woof dogs?” she asks. The little boy looks up at his mother and nods enthusiastically. She looks at Jasmine. “Then yes, please. We will go.”
“Okay!” Sean claps his hands. “Let’s do it!”
Sean leads the way. Lou holds the baby, Natasha carries the toddler and Jasmine brings up the rear. As they exit the building, Agnes gets out of her car, carrying two car seats. She is pulled up behind Sean, both of them ignoring the police cones preventing parking in front of the campaign headquarters.
“I need them back tomorrow,” she tells Sean as she helps him strap them in. The children are loaded, Sean takes his place behind the driving wheel and Natasha is riding shotgun. With a cheery wave of his hand, he pulls out into the traffic and then they are gone, swallowed up by the morning rush hour.
Jasmine feels exultant. Mission accomplished. She stands at the roadside, Lou beside her, and takes a moment to wish the family well.
“What lovely little boys!” Lou says. She casts a glance at the office behind them. “I wouldn’t mind a couple just like them myself someday.”
Her words send a thrill of fear through Jasmine. She had been too busy to pay attention to Lou and her love life. She had thought Ben too heavily scheduled lately to leave him free to continue to conduct his love affair. But obviously Lou is far fonder of Ben than Jasmine realised, if she is contemplating children. The elation she just felt evaporates.
“No time to stand around dreaming of the future,” she says with a joviality she does not feel. “We’ve got a Leader to host.”
No sooner does she say those words than she spots a blue flashing light in the distance. She might feel like she has already done a day’s work this morning but in truth, the chaos has only just begun. She opens the door to alert Ben to the imminent arrival of the Party Leader.
A Realisation
With only a few days left until election day, there is no let up and no time to relax or recover from the frantic pace of the Leader’s visit. They have momentum now and they have to keep building on it.
Jasmine is infinitely grateful to Sean, who seems to have rediscovered some love for politics. He has taken a week off work and dragooned his aunt into having his mother to stay for a week. Ostensibly, the visit is to prevent his mother suffering the trauma of seeing her husband replaced but it gives Sean a much needed break too.
Together with Ben and Lou, she and Sean are using some of his inside knowledge of Hayburn in working out where are the most valuable areas to deploy their teams of canvassers in the last push. Ben is convinced getting the traditional Labour vote out is key, while Sean is favouring a more aggressive approach and targeting slightly more affluent areas who are feeling the pinch of mortgage rates. Lou is silent, waiting for a decision and Jasmine thinks it is even money which comes first, a decision or fisticuffs.
Jasmine would have welcomed Pamela’s input who is Hayburn born and bred, like Sean. She has a wealth of experience absorbed from working with Richard Exmore from the very start. But Pamela had an un-reschedulable medical appointment this morning. As if thinking of Pamela summons her, Jasmine’s phone vibrates with a text. Pamela. She opens the screen to see the whole message.
Sorry I won’t be in today. I know this is the worst possible time but I’ve just been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The shock of the message drains the blood from Jasmine’s face. She stares at the phone in her hand.
“Jasmine?” Ben asks. “Are you okay? You’ve gone as white as a sheet.”
“Uh, yes. I’m fine.” Jasmine’s normally acute mind has gone adrift. “It’s Pamela. She won’t be in. She’s got breast cancer. I’m guessing she’ll be out for the rest of the campaign.”
“Oh my God!” squeals Lou. “That’s terrible! But I was only talking to her yesterday. She was right as rain.” She lets out a sigh of breath, akin to a sob, evidently quite shaken.
Ben leans across his desk, his hand on her lower arm. “Don’t worry, Lou. I’m sure she’ll be fine. Pamela’s a fighter.”
His words set fire to Jasmine. “Really, Ben?” Jasmine’s challenge rings out. “And those who don’t survive, what are they?” Ben and Lou turn to her, their mouths agape. “Are they losers? Do they deserve their deaths because they just didn’t fight hard enough?”
Her voice wobbles. She stands. “Lou,” she addresses the young woman. “Pamela will probably be fine because there is a ninety per cent remission rate for breast cancer. But until she tells us otherwise, I don’t think we should mention it outside of this room. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to phone my friend.” She turns and stalks out.
***
For a second, no one dares to speak. Then Ben says, “What the hell?”
“Seriously?” Sean is incredulous. “Do youreallynot understand? Have you really forgotten?”
At Ben’s blank look, Sean offers, “Petey, you prick!” He’s about to follow Jasmine but Ben’s hand stops him.
“What about Petey?”
Sean rolls his eyes. “Well, he died, didn’t he?”
