Emerald Oasis 7D/18

"Mum!" It was Maxine in her ill-fitting denim dress. The fairies fled in horror. Maxine had her hand out as she marched over to her. "Come on Mum, let's go home."

Joyce pushed her hands away. "I am home."

"You were watching Vampire's Wallet!" Maxine cried out, jumping on the sofa next to Joyce. "Whitney loves this show."

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here," Joyce hissed, turning the telly off and turning her face towards the window.

"Don't be so rude," Maxine demanded. "I've come all this way just to see you and you act like this."

"What makes you think that I want to talk to you after everything you've done to me."

"What's Cleo been saying to you?"

"Don't you dare bring Cleo into this!" Joyce waved her finger like a pendulum. She clenched her eyes shut, feeling unable to look in her daughter's eyes. "You lied to me about Jay. You never told me he was dead. You didn't even bother telling me about Janine either! No wonder Whitney's always at her dad's. I bet she's fed up with your nonsense."

"See!" Maxine slammed her hands against her knees. "This is why I never told you: you wouldn't accept it."

"Of course I won't accept it," Joyce roared, I'll never accept is that fact you chose to keep me in the dark. I was never invited to the funeral, and he doesn't even get a final resting place. I know his ashes are scattered around the park, but as far as I know, it could be any old park. I wanted closure. Now, this Janine suddenly comes into the picture. Do you have any idea how guilty I feel for not knowing who she is?"

"Jay and Janine are the same person." Maxine burst into tears and buried her head in with her hands. Joyce looked at Maxine for a few moments, then looked away back to the window. It was just one secret after another with Maxine.

"Will you stop making such a baboon of yourself," Joyce demanded, "YOU'RE AN EMBARRASSMENT!"

"Did you not hear what I said?" Maxine said. "Jay and Janine are the same person."

Joyce looked at Maxine again. "What do you mean by that?"

Maxine raised her head with tears in her red eyes. "Jay had a sex change and became Janine. That's why my husband left me."

"Your husband left you?"

Maxine nodded, wiping her tears. "I used Koga's money to pay for her surgery. He found out...£30,000 I stole of him."

"That was an extremely selfish thing to do," Joyce snapped. "And if you think you can come to me and expect some sympathy, then you can think again!"

"Oh Mum, I've been so stupid!"

"Yes, you have! To use your transgendered daughter as a weapon against your ex-husband, that's just low and disgusting."

"But I've learned from that now."

"You haven't learned anything. You still talk to me like a piece of shit."

"I'm trying to talk to you Mum!"

"You start by not wailing like a banshee."

"This is serious."

"Serious?" Joyce struggled to believe in her.

"You can't stay here!"

"Who says I can't stay here?" Joyce screamed. She pushed herself back against the armchair and gripped onto the arms. "This is my home. I'd thought you'd be happy to get rid of me."

"Mum... you've gone mad. First, it's all this fairy talk and now you've turned all evil."

"I get more sense out of the fairies then I do with you."

"There's no such thing as fairies."

"Yes, there is! But they would never show themselves to the likes of you."

Maxine dragged Joyce of the chair by pulling both her arms. "Come on, you're coming with me. This place has possessed you."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Yes, you are!" Maxine smiled and then smothered Joyce's cheeks with her bulky palms. "Come on, you'll get to see Janine and hug the cats."

"I'm a dog woman: I'm allergic to cats."

"Is everything all right?" Gaston Discord strolled down the corridor with Anne Chaser. He frowned at Joyce's pinched arm. "I'd be a bit more careful there, Mrs Decrovid. You'll bruise your mum doing that."

"I can't stand it here much longer," Maxine yelped. "My mum has turned into a psychopath since she's moved here. I ain't paying £900 a week for her to be ranting about fairies."

"Let go of me," Joyce screamed.

Gaston jumped in front of Maxine. "You know £900 a week is actually quite low. Some people here pay £1500 a week to be here."

"It's a rip-off!" Maxine screamed in Gaston's face. "You don't care about people. All you care about is making money out of old people."

"I don't why you're complaining, Maxine." Joyce knew it was Cleo's voice behind her. He sounded a lot like his father when he was mad. "I'm the one that's paying."

"Oh if it isn't goody-two-shoes," Maxine jeered, yanking her mother towards her chest.

"Let her go," Cleo requested. "You're hurting her."

"It's for her own good, you have to be firm with her."

"I don't have to be firm with her – she's our mum."

"She's tired and unwell," Maxine said, squeezing Joyce's hand. "She should go to bed before ten and get up at six like she used to."

"She can go to bed when she wants to," Cleo snapped. "Is your life really that sad that you have to try and control every little aspect of your mother's life. Especially when she hasn't seen you sober in years."

"I don't drink!" Maxine laughed.

Joyce didn't know what was worse: watching her children argue to the death or the burning pain from Maxine's grip.

"Let's settle this as quickly as possible," Anne suggested. She looked at Maxine and smiled at her. "Let your mum go, she doesn't look very comfortable." Maxine unleashed Joyce from her hand. "Very good, now Joyce, my dear, what do you want to do? Would you rather go home with Maxine or stay here and chat with Cleo?"

"I'm staying here."

"That's settled then," Gaston said, walking away. He smiled at Maxine as he left. "Don't worry, somebody will be there to let you out."

Maxine stormed out.

"Can I have a look at your arms?" Anne asked.

"Of course," Joyce said, lifting her arms out.

"They look very red, don't they? You be careful. Do you need any painkillers?"

Joyce shook her head. "No, I'll be okay."

"I'll be in my office, let me know if you need anything."

"Thank you, Anne."

"Maxine's made me very cross," Joyce told Cleo. "She never told me that Jay had a sex change."

"So that's what happened to him? Not even Koga mentioned it."

"What did Koga say?"

"All he said was that Jay and Maxine had greatly betrayed him. He's filed for divorce, but Maxine won't sign the papers."

"I don't blame him," Joyce said. "She stole £30,000 of him. And used Janine as a weapon against him."

"Janine must have been the girl that waved at me in the laundrette."

"She did?"

"Remember me telling you about that girl who waved at me, she looked like Jay especially round the face. That must have been her. I don't think Koga has anything against transgendered people – I think he's just hurt that his wife stole money from him. If they'd have told him, I'm sure he would have happily have given it to him. He always said that he wanted his son to be a doctor."

"Janine is studying medicine at the moment."

"Best of luck to her then," Cleo said. "I hope she doesn't end up stuck on the dole like her mother."

"I told Maxine she should get a job, but she's too stubborn to listen."

"She's never had a working day in her life," Cleo laughed. "She didn't even bother finishing school."

"Sometimes I wonder what I did wrong for her to turn out this way."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Cleo assured her. "Maxine's just evil through and through. Anyway. She can't make you leave. She never has and never will have power over you. Even if go before you, Claire is going to make sure that she never hurts you again."

"I just wish she would stop hiding stuff from me. I mean just because I'm old, doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"Nobody's implying you're stupid," Cleo assured her. "Apart from Maxine. I bet she's after your money. She won't be getting much in a couple of years. Eventually, Koga will be able to divorce her without her consent. When Whitney's 18, she'll lose her benefits – she'll have to work."

"She'll wiggle out of it somehow," Joyce said. "The last time I spoke to her, she said she was on £20,000 a year."

"She's on more money than Claire."

"Doesn't your Claire get any child support?"

Cleo shook his head. "They said she earned too much. She applied for carers allowance when she was looking after her Uncle. They said the same thing. She would be on more money if she didn't work, but she loves her job: it fits around the kids and us perfectly."

"Is she still working at the pub?"

" Yeah, she's still there."

"I don't get why Maxine is moaning?"

"She's just being lazy. She gets her rent and council tax paid for."

"I don't think she'll ever change..." Joyce gazed upon the red marks on her arms. Maxine's fingerprints were still visible. As a source of comfort, she wanted to talk about the fairies that made her feel welcome. She decided not to, she didn't want her son to think she was also a psycho.

Joyce looked over at the clock. "You'll have to pick the kids up soon?"

"I know," Cleo yawned. "Well, I'll better get going. I'll see you again."

"Goodbye..." Joyce said with regret. She didn't want him to go, but she knew that he must. He had his own family to look after, but he would always be his baby. She didn't want to give up on Maxine either, as she was her baby too.