Birdy by Jess Vallance Page B

put off. She was on a roll, and I was sort of fascinated by where she was going.
    ‘So Edna is all alone. She has no family except for the family she’s made for herself amongst the staff and residents of the Meadowrise Residential Care Home, up near the racecourse.’
    She paused again, giving everyone a moment to take in this solemn news.
    ‘Now,’ she said, in a brighter tone. Hopefully she was getting to the point. ‘As part of my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the lovely elderly residents at Meadowrise and I’ve seen first-hand just how much the home means to them. So you can imagine my dismay when I learnt that the home was to be closed down due to cuts in council funding.’
    Another pause. I suppose people were supposed to gasp or something but most people just looked at their feet, probably wondering when someone was going to shut her up.
    ‘I’m sure you’ll all agree that this can’t be allowed to happen.’
    Pippa gave Ana a small nod and Ana quickly replaced the picture of Edna with a slide showing text that said:
    Save Meadowrise!
    Action Group meeting, Saturday 1 p.m.
    We will not be moved!
    ‘Tomorrow, I’ll be leading a protest outside the gates of Meadowrise. We need to show the council that we, the people, care about the elderly, that we won’t be ignored. If you think vulnerable people like Edna have a right to live peacefully in the place they call home then join Ana and I. Meet us outside Meadowrise at ten to one. Bring banners, bring placards, bring enthusiasm!’
    I think this last bit was meant to be rousing, but she was met with an echoey silence and the odd yawn.
    Luckily, Mr Jeffrey stepped in before she had a chance to go on.
    ‘Thank you, Philippa,’ he said. ‘Most … inspirational. I’m afraid we’ve run out of time this week, so any other student notices will have to wait till next week. Off to classes please, everyone.’
    ‘
Me
,’ I said to Bert as soon as we were out in the corridor. ‘Why does she always say “I”? She means
me
.’
    ‘Hmm?’ Bert said, frowning.
    ‘She said, “Join Ana and I.” It’s not
I
in that context, it’s
me
. It should’ve been “Join Ana and me.” She always says I.
Always
. It’s like she thinks it makes her sound more intelligent. Sometimes I just want to tell her, I just want to say, “It’s not always I! Sometimes it’s me!”’
    ‘Oh right, yes,’ Bert said.
    Bert and I had already discussed our shared intolerance of bad grammar so I’d thought this little rant would make her laugh but she barely seemed to be listening at all. She was frowning into the distance. ‘Don’t you think it’s awful, though? About Edna?’
    I shrugged. ‘S’pose.’
    ‘Oh, Birdy, I think it’s dreadful! Don’t you? After what happened to her son, and her husband, and now … being uprooted like this. She won’t have a clue what’s happening to her, poor love.’
    ‘Won’t she?’ I said, looking at Bert out of the corner of my eye. ‘I don’t think Pippa mentioned that she was senile.’
    ‘Well, whatever,’ Bert said. ‘I still think it’s awful. We should go, Birdy. To the protest. We should make a stand!’
    I couldn’t think of anything I’d less like to do at the weekend than stand with Pippa Brookman outside an old people’s home in the freezing cold, waving banners while Pippa would probably want to lead us through a selection of embarrassing chants. The truth was, I wasn’t totally sure I was all that bothered about the old people. Is that terrible? I don’t know. It’s so hard, isn’t it, when for all the excuses you might make about why you can’t do something, the simple truth is you just don’t
want
to do it. I had a feeling Bert would just see that as me being a bit mean. She didn’t know Pippa well enough to see it from my point of view. She didn’t know what she was really like. So that meant excuses were in order if I was going to get out of the