BooksBarbecue
Back The Nursery Save as PDF
Chapters (45)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. Part One
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Part Two
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Part Three
  17. Chapter Ten
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Part Four
  25. Chapter Seventeen
  26. Chapter Eighteen
  27. Chapter Nineteen
  28. Chapter Twenty
  29. Chapter Twenty-One
  30. Chapter Twenty-Two
  31. Part Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Three
  33. Chapter Twenty-Four
  34. Chapter Twenty-Five
  35. Chapter Twenty-Six
  36. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  37. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  38. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  39. Chapter Thirty
  40. Chapter Thirty-One
  41. Chapter Thirty-Two
  42. Part Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Three
  44. Acknowledgements
  45. About the Author

I opened my large tote bag. Inside were five conkers, a half-drunk smoothie, a Tupperware box of biscuits, a pack of babywipes, a small pair of purple woollen tights, a pair of Tinkerbell pants and a naked doll. At the bottom was a piece of chocolate cake still wrapped up in a Paw Patrol paper napkin and remnants of crushed Pom-Bear crisps. I tried to remember when the last birthday party was and whether that cake would still be edible.

Pixie wrinkled her nose. ‘Are those pants clean?’

‘Of course,’ I said with a confidence I didn’t really feel.

*

As I was getting on the tube to South Kensington my phone buzzed. I looked down. Several messages had arrived into my personal WhatsApp group: ‘Group Therapy’. Although at first glance seeing messages such as: ‘There’s just so much blood. An unstoppable flow that soaks through everything’ might seem more related to work, it was actually a discussion on the pros and cons of the copper coil. The members of the group were my real-life friends Tamara, Shona and Frankie, and the Group Therapy moniker created by Frankie was a nod to how it was a safe place to discuss parenting fails and generally feel better about ourselves. It made me think how the ‘We are Family’ initiative, despite its dishonourable intentions, had its heart in the right place.

We all needed a support system. Considering one of the ‘We are Family’ spouses or employer was a traitorous Snake unlikely to live past the week, it was good they would have friends that they could lean on when the inevitable happened.

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

‘I’D LIKE TO START by thanking our parent volunteers.’ Ms Yvonne was standing on the steps of the Natural History Museum, addressing our rabble of teachers and parents. The adults all sported name badges with smiley faces, the children bright yellow safety vests.

‘Trips like this are only possible with your help. And a particularly special thank you goes to Frederick Easton for organising today’s visit to see the Prehistoric Pete Puppet Show.’

Although sucking up to his daughter’s headteacher was an added benefit for Frederick, this nursery visit was a cover.

Frederick had learned from his informant, Y at the Embassy, that Peng would always have with her a security card with an inbuilt GPS tracker. It was a security protocol for whenever a minister was abroad. Tomorrow evening the Natural History Museum was presenting Peng with an ancient Chinese scroll to return with her to China. This exclusive event would be happening in the library and Robin would be doing security at the door – his handheld scanning wand would pick up the tracking device signature and relay it back to a control box. The perfect location for this box would be the Marine Invertebrates room, directly opposite the library, and the location of the Prehistoric Pete Puppet Show.