Free A Nice Place to Die by Jane Mcloughlin Page A

my iPod?’ Jess said, and pulled the headphones off Donna.
    Donna didn’t try to stop her. She knew better than to oppose Jess physically. ‘Kylie’ll need changing,’ she said.
    Jess turned away from her. ‘Bug off,’ she said under her breath, and, putting on the headphones, turned up the sound on the iPod.
    But that was too much for Donna. She snatched the headphones from Jess’s head, pulling her wiry purple hair as she did so.
    â€˜Eff off,’ Jess screamed. ‘That hurt. What d’you think you’re doing? Piss off and leave me alone, can’t you?’
    â€˜So sue me,’ Donna said meaninglessly, without thinking.
    â€˜I’d have a witness that you assaulted me,’ Jess said. ‘I know my rights. I could get the law on you.’
    â€˜What witness do you think would support you about anything?’ Donna sneered.
    â€˜The old witch at Number Three,’ Jess shouted. ‘She watches everything we do.’
    Jess was surprised that this silenced Donna. When she looked at her mother, wondering why, she was startled at the expression on Donna’s face. ‘What’s the matter now? Has she put a spell on you?’ Jess said.
    Donna wished that her relationship with Jess didn’t always seem to come down to this sort of sniping. ‘Why don’t you call the bloody cops, then?’ she said. ‘I’ll make a statement supporting anything you say if it means they take you into care and get you the hell out of my house.’
    â€˜Suits me,’ Jess said.
    â€˜What’s stopping you?’ Donna said.
    Jess said, ‘If I get pregnant again I can apply for a council flat even if I haven’t been on the waiting list and I’d get handouts for the baby and everything.’
    â€˜Yeah? Who’s going to get you pregnant now everyone knows you did it with Kevin?’
    Jess pretended not to hear. ‘What’s to eat?’ she said.
    Donna welcomed a change of subject. ‘Since you mention it, where is Kylie?’
    â€˜Who said anything about her?’ Jess said. ‘How should I know? You were looking after her.’
    â€˜You’re home, you do it,’ Donna said.
    â€˜I’ve got homework,’ Jess said. ‘And I’m off out.’
    â€˜Jess, don’t you go and do anything you’ll be sorry for,’ Donna said.
    Jess was startled by the sudden seriousness of her tone. She didn’t know what to say.
    So she fell back on the familiar format of bickering. ‘Leave it out,’ she snapped, ‘as soon as I’m sixteen I can do what I like.’
    â€˜Love isn’t enough,’ Donna said. Suddenly she was fighting to find words to express fears she’d never even thought she had. ‘You don’t know what you’re doing, Jess, I’m afraid for you. I’m scared you’ll wake up suddenly when you’re eighteen and you’ll have two kids and another on the way and no man and that’s it. You may as well be dead. It’s all so far from what you think you want. You won’t even find a lover after that because you’ll be dragged down by the kids and you’ll get pissed one night and screw some drunken yob you’ve never seen before and you’ll never see again and then there’ll be another baby and you won’t even remember what its father looked like. Please, Jess, listen to me. I know what it’s like.’
    Jess turned sulky. ‘What do you know? It won’t be like that for me.’
    She was too used to quarrelling with her mother to take in what she’d said, even when Donna seemed suddenly to have changed tack. Jess dismissed her.
    â€˜It may’ve been like that for you, Mum, but you’re not me,’ she said. ‘Why should I listen to you anyway when you’ve ballsed up your own life? You’re just jealous because you’re past it, that’s all.’
    Donna