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Joe
slammed the cup onto the counter and flicked the switch on the
side of the kettle.
“So
how come you’ve got to do it? He asked, “why not just leave it
to the police?”
“I’m
doing this for us Joe, for our daughter. She’s thirteen years
old. That man could have killed her.”
Joe
laughed dryly. “Don’t you think you’re over-exadurating?
Some kid asks her to meet him and you jump to the conclusion
he’s Jack the ripper on the prowl, or something.”
“You
don’t know who he was. You get all sorts of people in chat rooms
pretending to be something they’re not.”
“Like
middle-aged mothers pretending to be teenagers.”
“Joe
these chat rooms can be dangerous places for kids.”
“All
the more reason to let the police see to it.”
Jessie
sighed. It was the same-old same-old argument they’d had nearly
every day for the past two months.
“They
don’t have the time,” she told him.
“Neither
do you. You’re on that damn computer all day. Alex never sees
you. I never see you. You have a family here, you know, if you
even raised your head up from that screen long enough to
notice.”
“It’s
something I have to do Joe. I could do with a little understanding
here.”
“Understanding!”
He raised a hand and motioned a circle around the room. “I’ve
been understanding. Look at the state of this place. It’s a pig
sty. I come home from a hard days work and have to start cleaning
and cooking, because you’ve been on the damn computer all
day.”
“Joe,
listen…”
“Forget
it.” He tossed the cup towards the sink and it clattered amongst
the pile of unwashed dishes.
“Where
are you going? Joe…”
“Out.”
The door slammed behind him.
**
Jessie
loaded the site and logged in. Teen café. She watched the
messages scroll up for a while, seeing the familiar names flicker
up the screen. She opened the small ring-bound notebook and took a
pen from the dish beside the monitor. Cherub was in fine form,
reeling off countless blonde jokes that he was noted for. She
grinned at some of the corny punchlines. CrazyHazy was in, firing
abuse all round, cussing and profaning. Jessie suspected there was
a lot of hurt under those angry posts.
Her
stomach turned as she saw his name appear in the ‘online’ box
- madmoomark. He began posting.
Madmoomark
: Hi room
Jellyroll:
Hi Mad
Shazza:
Madxxxxxxxxxx
Sexysharri:
Madxxxxxxx
Madmoomark:
Jellyxxxxxx
Madmoomark:
Hi Shazza
Madmoomark:
Sexi, hi ASL
Sexisharri:
14/F/NY
Madmoomark:
Wanna IM Sexy
He
disappeared from the rolling conversation. So did Sexisharri.
“Damn.”
Jessie cursed.
Three
hours later, Jessie wiped her tired eyes and stood up, rubbing the
stiff ache at the bottom of her back. She walked through to the
kitchen and poured some cold orange juice from the fridge. The
front door banged shut and Alex walked into the kitchen, throwing
her school bag onto the table, scraping back the legs of the chair
on the wood floor, sitting herself down with a loud thud. Jessie
felt the tension, saw the indignant look on her daughter’s
pretty face, the scowl she wore so often just lately.
“Something
wrong?”
Alex
gave a ‘huh’ and pulled a couple of text books out, opening
the first and flattening the pages with a slap that echoed around
the room.
“As
if you didn’t know.”
“Would
this be anything to do with ‘Teen café’ by any chance?”
Jessie asked quietly.
“It’s
to do with you treating me like a child,” she snapped,
“everyone’s laughing at me at school, because I’m banned
from the site. They were all on it last night, all of them and I
felt like an idiot because they’d arranged to go out to Pepe’s
for lunch today and I knew nothing about it. I went down to the
park, where we usually go, and no one was there. When I went back
to school, Gina told me they were all down Pepe’s, celebrating
Annie’s birthday. They’d arranged it on ‘Teen café’ last
night.”
“You
know why I don’t like you going on the chat sites,” Jessie
told her.
“You
don’t trust me.” Alex tugged the lid from the metal groovy
chic pencil case and pens scatted themselves across the table. She
picked them up one by one and slammed them noisily back into the
tin.
“Is
it any wonder!” Jessie exclaimed. “You gave a strange man your
mobile phone number. The guy sent you dirty text messages.”
“It
was just a bit of fun.”
“And
was it fun when he called the house and tried to get you to meet
him. I dread to think what would have happened if I hadn’t
picked up the extension and heard you two talking.”
“Invading
my privacy, you mean.”
“I
didn’t know you were on the other end when I picked it up. It
made my skin crawl. He was a grown man, not just some teenage
boy.”
“All
the kids do it. It was only a phone call. I wouldn’t really have
met him.”
“It
was stupid.” Jessie yelled.
“It
was just a dare.” Alex shouted back.
The
two stood glaring at each other for, what seemed to Jessie, an
eternity.
**
Jessie
watched the scrolling messages, taking notes, writing down names.
Madmoomark hadn’t been in for a couple of days. She wondered if
he was using the phone instead, spreading his lewd suggestions,
sweet-talking Sexysharri. What was her mother doing? Where was
she?
Downstairs,
Jessie heard the front door click shut. She glanced at the clock,
9.35pm. She walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside.
Alex was getting into the passenger side of the car, throwing her
packed holdhall onto the back seat alongside Joe’s. She watched
the car pull away from the house and walked slowly back to the
computer. The messages were still scrolling. She blinked away a
tear and sat down.
Madmoomark:
Hi roomxxxxxx
Jellyroll:
Madxxxxxxxxxxxx
Honey:
Hi Mad
Madmoomark:
Wanna IM Jellyroll?
Jessie
laid her hands on the keyboard and began to type
Jellyroll:
Sure madxxxxxxxx
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