Page 109 of The Little Teashop of Lost and Found
‘Yes there are, and though it seemed mean to say no, there was no way I could do it.’
‘I’m sure you’re right,’ Bel said. ‘I mean, just think what would happen if Zelda got into another relationship with one of those dreadful men she favours and he moved in with her. It could all get a bit messy.’
‘Or you found someone else you wanted to settle down with,’ said Sheila brightly.
‘I can see where she’s coming from, since you’re already friends and business partners, so you’re up and down to London all the time,’ Teddy said.
‘But I’m hoping she’s going to buy me out of the stall so Idon’thaveto go up and down all the time!’
‘Then you could do it, but make it clear she’ll have to go it aloneafterwards,’ Teddy suggested. ‘It does seem mean not to help her at all, when you’re such old friends.’
‘You do it, then,’ snapped Nile.
‘No way!’ exclaimed Geeta.
‘I do make very nice babies,’ Teddy said, rather smugly regarding his offspring, who was messily eating a piece of banana.
‘Wemake nice babies,’ Geeta said emphatically.
‘I think Nile’s right not to do it, don’t you, Alice?’ asked Sheila.
‘Me?’ I said, turning slightly pink. ‘It’s nothing to do with me … But if she does go ahead with AI one way or the other, then one day the child will want to know who his father is, won’t he or she?’
Nile gave me one of his unfathomable looks. ‘I think children of registered sperm donors can find out about their fathers when they turn eighteen now.’
‘Yes, I’m sure I’ve read that somewhere,’ agreed Teddy.
‘It would be lovely to traceeitherof mine,’ I said ruefully, and then Teddy, who is into family history in a big way, told me about the genealogy site he used and that it was possible to take a DNA test through them.
‘Oh, yes – Nile mentioned that once, but I’m not sure what it would show if I did it.’
‘If people related to you have taken one and registered on the database, then you might find some relatives,’ he suggested. ‘But at the very least you’d learn all kinds of interesting information about where your ancestors are from, so it’s worth the outlay.’
‘How do they do it?’ I asked.
‘Oh, it’s a simple saliva test. They send you a kit in the post and you complete it and send it back.’
‘Paul took the test as soon as they started offering it, a few years ago,’ Sheila said. ‘And he did find another branch of the family.’
‘It’s quite expensive and I think the chances of it helping Alice are slim,’ Nile said, and then there was one of those long family debates that seemed set to go on for the rest of the evening.
Partway through it I caught Teddy’s eye and said, ‘Let’s do it!’ And we went into the library, where he signed me up for the DNA testing on the spot, using his account with the website.
‘Everything will come here, but I’ll let you know when it does,’ he said.
I had vague ideas about swabbing the inside of my mouth and sending the cotton bud off in a test tube, or something like that. It had to be easy, if you did it yourself.
‘You are kind,’ I said gratefully, and then the others came in and Teddy got out the Giddings family tree to show me. Paul had started it off and now Teddy was working his way further and further back.
Later, when I was in bed and falling asleep, I decided the DNA test was probably money down the drain, but on the other hand, even tiny amounts of information about my genetic makeup would be more than I knew right now!
Today when I returned from the surgery and went to visit Father, I found him staring blankly at his computer screen, unable to remember the next move in a game of chess.
‘Your memory has been deteriorating of late,’ I said. ‘It would be as well to have your own doctor look at you, for there are interesting advances in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia.’
‘Don’t be foolish – as if I wouldn’t know if I had either of those things!’ he snapped. ‘No, I simply had a small memory lapse, which is quite common at my age.’
He had evidently forgotten all the other lapses, so I could tell that each new one from now on would be, to him, the first, so I said as tactfully as I knew how, ‘Of course – but it wouldn’t hurt to have a check-up, would it?’
