The Alone Alternative

by Linda MacDonald

  ‘Come to Scilly for a few days. You’d be useful if we need extra help.’

  ‘Something to consider,’ says James, ‘but a more pressing concern is sorting out where we’re going to live.’

  ‘Here of course, until you find somewhere.’ Edward mentally installs James in his former bedroom along with Kate and hopes that by then, any visit from Marianne will not have need of the guest room. If so, there is still Christopher’s room though it is small and still covered with football-related posters. ‘If that’s all you’re concerned about, it’s no problem.’

  ‘It’s not quite all. We have a proposition, but we don’t know how it can be realised. We know you are thinking of moving from the Deer Orchard.’

  Again Edward gives Harriet a stern look.

  ‘Don’t glare at me. You asked Rick to reinstate lawns with that in mind.’

  ‘And then I asked him to forget about it.’

  ‘For the time being,’ says Harriet.

  ‘Anyway,’ continues James, ‘you may not be going immediately, but you probably will in the future. Especially if something happens between you and Marianne. And we – Kate and I – were wondering if there’s a way that we could take it over, buy you out, but in stages. Kate wants to do what Mum did. Not the restaurant, but she wants to produce and sell organic food – probably on a larger scale than mum; a broader range of animals: geese, pigs possibly, in addition to sheep, goats and chickens. And we’re thinking of starting a family.’

  ‘This is a lot to take in,’ says Edward, shocked by the extent of the news.

  James continues, ‘We don’t want to lose the Deer Orchard when you and Harriet leave. It’s perfect for what we want. Kate’s mum said she would help with some money, but we don’t have the funds for a complete buy-out, although we should be able to get a fairly decent mortgage. And I know there’s Yetti and Rachel and Chris to be taken into consideration.’

  ‘Too right,’ says Harriet, reverting to her awkward little-sister role. ‘And will you stop calling me Yetti.’

  ‘And I’m not dead yet,’ says Edward.

  ‘And you, of course. But if you sell up and move somewhere small, how are we all going to get together for family reunions? If we’re here, then Christmas is sorted for the foreseeable.’

  Edward has to admit that this is an attractive proposal. One of the reasons for his sluggishness in moving is because he can’t bear to lose all that has been gained. ‘It’s worth thinking about, but your mother is still officially joint-owner. She said I could have it when she went to Italy; said she would take her share in the form of the proceeds from the Retreat and the rest of her inheritance. But we have nothing in writing. Not that she has reason to grumble because it was a fair split if you take into account the value of our respective pensions. Now the wind turbine is starting to generate income, I suppose she could argue she should have a share of that, but it’s a separate issue from the house.’

  ‘But do you like the idea?’ says James. ‘In principle.’

  ‘If you give me some figures about the capital you can raise, I will consult Tim Chassey about contractual possibilities.’ Tim is one of the lawyers who does work for the Killerton Estate and with whom Edward has had dealings on several occasions over the years. Indeed, it was Tim who dealt with Felicity’s purchase and subsequent sale of the Retreat. ‘And if Tim says it’s workable, I’ll get in touch with your mother.’

  After lunch, Kate – who never drinks alcohol – drives them back home where they discover Jessica peering through the kitchen window. A few expletives run through Edward’s mind.

  She comes over to the car, carrying a tin in her arms. ‘I saw you had family visiting and thought you might like a cake. It’s a Victoria sponge, nothing too fancy.’

  Edward wonders again what part of their previous conversations she has failed to understand.

  ‘I did ask you not to give me any more food, Jessica,’ he says, closing the car door and walking over to the house. ‘I meant it. I don’t feel it is fair in view of our misunderstanding.’ If he was expecting her to retreat quietly, he was mistaken. She totters after him.

  James, Kate and Harriet loiter tactfully by the car.

  ‘I wanted to make it for you. Surely you wouldn’t refuse a gift?’

  Edward realises he has a problem which, if not addressed now, will continue. ‘I don’t wish to accept it, Jessica. It may seem ungracious, but I need you to understand that I don’t want our acquaintance to be misconstrued. We have no pending relationship and continued acceptance of food would not be appropriate.’ He turns away. ‘If you’ll excuse me.’

  Jessica rushes at him, flinging the tin at him. ‘Take it; take it!’ Her eyes bulge wildly.

  Edward pushes it away and as Jessica releases it, the tin falls to the ground.

  Harriet intervenes. She runs forward, picks up the tin and thrusts it back at Jessica. ‘Take your bloody cake and leave my dad alone. Get it into your stupid head he’s involved with someone else and he doesn’t want you.’

  Edward pulls Harriet away.

  Jessica shouts, ‘You little cow!’ and lunges towards her, unsteady on her heels, the cake tin dropping for the second time.

  ‘Hey, hey!’ says James, striding over and jumping between them. ‘Steady on!’

  ‘Harriet is only saying what I should have said,’ says Edward. ‘Please leave us alone.’

  ‘Don’t think you can pick me up and put me down just because of some London tart.’ Jessica tosses her hair and steps back.

  ‘I didn’t “pick you up” or promise you anything at all,’ says Edward, carefully. ‘We had one meeting about wind turbines which you initiated. I was merely trying to help you out.’

  ‘You took me for a meal!’ she shouts, shaking off James.

  ‘You coerced him into going,’ says Harriet.

  Edward says, ‘I paid for the meal that you booked; as a thank-you for the food, not for any other reason.’ He is rapidly realising that Harriet is correct. The woman is unhinged.

  ‘Bastard,’ mutters Jessica. ‘You men are all the same.’ Then she turns, picks up the cake tin and makes her way carefully down the gravel path.

  ‘Interesting,’ says James. ‘Does having an added stalker mean we can negotiate more generous terms on the property?’

  29

  Stalking

  Stalk: pursue persistently and sometimes attack

  (a person with whom one is obsessed).

  Collins Dictionary

  Nineteen sixth-formers sit in twelve double desks, arranged in a horseshoe around the psychology room in an upper floor of North Kent College on the edge of Beckenham. Not a full complement: one off sick, one probably bunking off, one disappeared to the loo – or as Marianne suspiciously thinks, consulting her text messages without the threat of censure. They are a lower sixth group, an ethnically diverse mix, reluctantly returned to college after their AS exams and forced to begin the upper sixth specification when they would rather escape the dismal summer and be sunning themselves on a Spanish island beach or visiting relatives in Ghana or Nigeria, Latvia or Poland. Anything but more work; particularly work that is more challenging than the previous year.

  ‘Why do we have to be here, Miss?’ wails a disgruntled student with a hangdog face. The plea echoes round the room. Several haven’t brought pens or folders.

  ‘Because all around the country other students are beginning their courses and we wouldn’t want you to be disadvantaged. Because beginning your A2s will help to inform you which one to drop next year.’

  ‘I already know I’m going to drop psychology, Miss. Do I still have to come?’

  ‘If you don’t come and if for any reason your results are not as you would wish; if you change your mind, we will not have you back if you have not completed this introduction.’

  They want to watch films and go on trips. The psychology department intends to familiarise them with the rigours of A2 so that the weak or undecided have sufficient evidenc
e about whether they are capable of continuing the subject in September. The only concession is starting with a topic that should be of particular interest from the Relationships section of the specification.

  Stalking.

  Eventually the class settles.

  ‘What is stalking behaviour?’ Marianne asks. ‘Discuss with the person sitting next to you. You have one minute.’ She clicks the clock feature on the interactive whiteboard and watches as it begins counting down the seconds. Something about the time pressure seems to focus the students’ attention and they immediately begin to argue among themselves and scribble down their thoughts.

  Marianne overhears the word EastEnders.

  When the minute is up, she asks each pair in turn for a comment. Their efforts are unsophisticated and centred around obsessive following behaviour. She gives them a dictionary definition and the students begin to make notes.

  Marianne continues, ‘Cupach and Spitzberg (2004) say there are eight categories of stalking.’ She writes hyper-intimacy on the board. ‘This is another way of saying “excessive courtship”, like giving loads of presents or very extravagant gifts to someone with whom one hasn’t a particularly significant relationship.’

  ‘My mum does that,’ says Alicia. ‘She’s always giving stuff to her boyfriends. It was an iPad last time.’

  ‘Oh my days!’ says Eric, from the other side of the class. ‘What’s her number?’ There is a ripple of laughter.

  Marianne generally tries not to make judgemental comments when her charges reveal personal information about their families. She moves swiftly on to the next listed item. ‘What does surveillance mean?’

  ‘Spying, keeping watch,’ says Mary.

  ‘Exactly. And interactional contacts would be simply trying to bring about communication opportunities.’

  ‘So, Miss, if I, yeah, plan to bump into someone I like so I can say hello, and I knows they do RE at the same time as I do psychology, is that stalking?’ asks Ryan.

  ‘Yeah, I seen you,’ says Eric. ‘It’s that Gloria, innit? You stalker, man!’

  There is more laughter and Marianne remembers the times she conspired to meet Johnny when he was a sixth-former at Derwentbridge Grammar School and she was about fifteen, engineering meetings on the main staircase every Friday because she knew after the first lesson, he would be coming down from English when she was going up. If she scampered across the playground from her chemistry lesson, she usually timed it right and he always smiled at her, even though she was just a teenage kid in the fourth form and he was one of the coolest guys in the school. She takes a deep breath, the memories a powerful reminder of her loss. ‘We’ve all done that. But if there’s no sinister purpose, and no harm done, it’s not really stalking.’

  There is a pause while there are murmurings of other personal experiences.

  ‘Harassment, intimidation, coercion and threat are self-explanatory and more serious. Coercion means forcing,’ she adds. ‘Aggression is worse still and is more likely after the ending of an intimate relationship. The more intimate the relationship with someone, the greater the threat of actual harm, ranging from over fifty percent for ex-partners and suchlike to less than ten percent for strangers. Perhaps surprisingly, mentally sick stalkers are no more likely to be violent than other types.’

  Debra says, ‘I knows someone who had to move, yeah, because her ex used to spy on her to see who she was seeing. Then he get mad, shouting, making threats to her, saying she was a whore.’

  ‘Lastly, cyber-stalking, involving unwelcome contacts via email or the net. This is a growing problem on social networking sites. Why do you think that might be?’

  ‘So easy to find people and contact details,’ says Alicia.

  ‘Easy to send messages,’ says Kobi. ‘People can hide their identity.’

  ‘Especially on Twitter, says Eric. ‘And even if you don’t follow someone, you can see the tweets they send.’

  Marianne says, ‘But does reading someone’s tweets constitute stalking? People send tweets knowing this may happen. Reading doesn’t mean intention to harm. However, if you repeatedly send hostile tweets to a person, or regularly mention a particular person in a defamatory way, that might constitute stalking. Some recent high-profile cases have led to police involvement. And you are traceable, whatever identity you assume.’

  There are one or two worried looks among the students; some whispering in the back corner.

  ‘Now I’d like you to make two columns and list who might be a stalker and who might be stalked. You’ve already mention celebrities, but who else?’

  ‘Miss, I’m being stalked by someone in my history class,’ says Jermaine. ‘She keeps emailing and texting. She got my number from a friend. She try to talk to me in class and keep saying, “Hi” in the corridors. I don’t want to know her; like she’s weird. She don’t take the hint. She even wait for me, yeah, to leave college so she can follow me.’

  Marianne says, ‘I think in a school or college situation we have to be careful to distinguish between normal behaviour that is harmless and that which becomes a nuisance or a threat. If you are worried, then you might discuss it with your tutor.’

  ‘No, seriously?’

  ‘Oh my days.’

  While the class discuss, Marianne thinks again about Jessica; about her persistence despite Edward’s apparent discouragement. She ticks a lot of the stalking boxes both in her behaviour towards Edward and – from what he says – in her loss profile of significant others: parents and two husbands. And the last husband looks to have been unfaithful, so in some ways she lost him twice. Then there’s the nuisance phone calls. She wonders whether to be more forceful in highlighting her suspicions to Edward, or to wait and see if anything further happens.

  She draws two columns on the whiteboard and asks the class to feed back their potential stalkers and stalkees. Most students have listed celebrities and exes as the main type of person to be stalked, but a few suggest that anyone can become the victim of an obsession, particularly those who are popular.

  ‘High status individuals: alpha men and women,’ says Marianne. ‘Key characters in school, university or the workplace. And this gives a clue as to what type of person tends to stalk someone where there has been no previous relationship.’

  ‘Losers,’ says Eric.

  Some of the students laugh.

  ‘Perhaps Eric is on the right track,’ says Marianne. ‘Evidence suggests such stalking might be due to disturbed attachment in childhood because insecure attachment links with high fear of rejection and emotional instability. Research shows that many stalkers have had both attachment disruptions in childhood and lost someone in the months leading up to the stalking behaviour – either through marriage break-up or even losing a child in a custody dispute. This might cause preoccupied attachment: idealising another person and needing their acceptance for their own well-being. So what are the advantages to an insecurely attached person in forming an attachment to a celebrity or other unattainable figure?’

  ‘It’s not real, Miss, innit. It’s never gonna happen, right. They can’t ever dump you,’ says Ryan.

  Marianne says, ‘This theory is particularly relevant for celebrity stalking, but what about exes and other random people? Why do people stalk them?’

  ‘They’re obsessed, innit,’ says Eric.

  ‘Yes, but why do they become obsessed? It’s a little trickier to fathom,’ says Marianne, sitting on the table at the front of the class. ‘The Relational Goal Pursuit theory is one plausible explanation for these cases. We all have goals and these are structured in a hierarchy so that lower-order goals are necessary in order to achieve higher-order goals.’ She moves her hands through an imaginary hierarchy by way of illustration. ‘If a person links the lower-order goal of having a particular relationship, with a higher-order goal of happiness, then McIntosh (1976) believes this may begin the stalking process.’

  Jermaine says, ‘Does this mean my history class stalker thinks if sh
e get me in a relationship, she will be happy?’

  ‘Perhaps,’ says Marianne. ‘But this might be the case even if she wasn’t a stalker and was just interested in you. The theory suggests that stalking happens when the goal is blocked and the person dwells on the distress of not achieving their goal. Intense negative feelings may occur, such as jealousy or anger. This is known as emotional flooding and because such feelings are unpleasant, the person is motivated to try to reduce this by trying even harder to attain their goal. This leads to excessive pursuit behaviour – chasing – and a tendency to misinterpret any rejection as encouraging. We all want what we can’t have.’

  Marianne sets a task in which the students have to find studies to support the theories discussed. After they collect text books off the shelves and settle into searching for information, she walks around answering questions, all the while a grain of fear germinating and taking root that Jessica Hennessy is not only her nuisance caller, but also stalking Edward. She decides to say nothing until there is more evidence. She doesn’t want to alarm him unnecessarily.

  30

  Daughters

  During the week after the cake incident, Edward keeps careful watch for any signs of Jessica picking her way up the gravel path with food offerings. James had wanted to go and visit her with view to reiterating Harriet’s words about leaving Edward alone.

  ‘I don’t want any more unpleasantness if it can be helped,’ said Edward, mildly irritated that his son thought him incapable of deterring her from pursuit. ‘She is a neighbour after all.’

  ‘Are you sure you didn’t lead her on?’ said James.

  ‘Only if accepting the odd pie or stew can be interpreted in such a way. And I never should have gone to the restaurant. My rejection of her advances wasn’t well handled. I was too ambiguous. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.’

  He is quietly pleased that James and Kate will be moving back to Broadclyst. Their plans for the Deer Orchard will make it much easier for him to leave, to downsize, to contemplate a fresh start. By the middle of the week he has spoken to his solicitor Tim Chassey and it seems there are several available options, all of which first require an untangling of Felicity’s joint ownership agreement. Despite what he said to James, he has not been able to bring himself to contact her. There is no immediate rush and with his own situation being fluid, it might be better to wait until there is more certainty about his future before the inevitable confrontation. The knowledge that the idea is workable, is sufficient for James and Kate to make plans.