Read Online The Girl Who Couldn't Smile by Shane Dunphy - Free Book Online

of questions, made me show him how to hold the child properly, discussed the various benefits of different brands of nappy. I got the impression he had bought and closely read several mother-and-baby books.’
    ‘They don’t do many father-and-baby ones,’ I said.
    ‘Mmm,’ she said. ‘It’s a turn of phrase, really, isn’t it?’
    ‘An unfortunate one, some might say,’ I said.
    She waved it off. ‘When I visited their home, I was struck by the fact that, though it was very well prepared for a baby, it was, to all intents and purposes, just a shell.’
    ‘I don’t follow,’ I said.
    ‘They had hardly any furniture, there didn’t seem to be any food in the house that wasn’t for the baby, and Kylie – well, I have to say that she wasn’t coping. At all.’
    ‘How so?’
    ‘Dale was doing everything. Now, look, I’m not one of those women who feel that breast-feeding has to be forced on every single mother in some sort of awful guilt-trip. But subtle questioning showed that she had never even tried to makeit work. Dale was bottle-feeding the child using formula. He had proper sterilizing equipment – I had no issue with that. I felt very strongly that Kylie had opted out of any role with the baby.’
    ‘But Dale was doing a good job?’
    ‘Oh, he seemed to dote on Tammy.’
    I scratched my head and looked through the papers I had brought. ‘And how was Tammy?’
    ‘Developmentally, I would say she was, if anything, a little advanced.’
    ‘Physically? Intellectually?’
    ‘She was only three months old, Mr Dunphy. Within the parameters I had to work with I would say she was a little ahead, but not abnormally so.’
    ‘She seemed happy? Healthy?’
    ‘Yes. I would have said so.’
    ‘So why did you recommend extended contact with the family?’
    ‘For Kylie,’ Imelda said. ‘I thought she needed support. I was of the opinion that she was profoundly postnatally depressed, and that Dale, while most certainly caring for the baby, was not really offering her a shoulder to lean on.’
    ‘Did you talk to him about it?’
    ‘He’s a man, Mr Dunphy,’ Imelda said, ‘and therefore unlikely to experience something like post-natal depression.’
    ‘Does masculinity mean a complete lack of empathy?’ I asked.
    ‘Sometimes,’ Imelda said, ‘I think it does.’
     
    Despite any lingering reservations I might have had, Lonnie started at Little Scamps two days later, and our family was complete. Susan and Tush scarcely batted an eyelid when he walked in – they had seen too much strangeness in thechildren to be fazed by a garishly dressed dwarf. Tush, to my surprise and, if I’m honest, pride, pointed out that we now had gender balance within the staff team, which was something I had never even considered.
    The day Lonnie was to start I went into work early and baked some scones. I had scheduled the first of our staff meetings and wanted to make sure everyone was as comfortable and happy as possible. If we were to function as a unit we needed to be very relaxed and open with each other, and that meant meetings had to be seen as occasions of absolute equanimity and free expression. Ben Tyrrell, an old boss, had taught me never to underestimate the value of a few cakes at such affairs.
    When my three associates arrived I had the table in the kitchen laid out, and the whole place smelling warmly of baking.
    When everyone was sitting comfortably, I kicked off the discussion. ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘We’ve got a team in place and we’re ready to start putting up murals. The kids have been as good as gold the last two days, with a few slight hiccups.’
    ‘Sounds to me like we’re winning,’ Susan chimed in. ‘At long last.’
    ‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you?’ I asked. ‘I mean, we have every reason to believe we’ve had a major breakthrough.’
    ‘So why do you sound like you don’t believe it?’ Tush asked warily.
    ‘He thinks they’re biding their time,’ Lonnie said. ‘Waiting to