{"id":938,"date":"2021-09-03T10:31:35","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T10:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=938"},"modified":"2021-09-03T10:44:15","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T10:44:15","slug":"rikki-dont-lose-that-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/rikki-dont-lose-that-number\/938\/","title":{"rendered":"Rikki don\u2019t lose that number"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Rock<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

London: 1976.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you get some sleep, Ma.\u201d Ricky rearranged an errant silver lock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cYou need sleep too, Richard. Why keep touring instead of settling down and having children?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do it for you, mum,\u201d he said, \u201cI want you to be proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen dad died, you held it together. I couldn\u2019t be prouder of my boy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoys, mum,\u201d Ricky said, thinking of his late brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went to give her a peck, but she was already asleep. \u201cSee you on Sunday, Ma.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The next day, George, Ricky\u2019s manager, was in his office. \u201cWe got trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot the good kind.\u201d He handed him a bundle with \u201cPaternity Suit,\u201d on it. \u201cSee your brief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His barrister cut straight to the point. \u201cThey have photographic evidence and want a blood test. They\u2019re confident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan I see the photo?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He passed it over. \u201cI recognise you and Jimi. Who\u2019s the other chap?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my late brother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour brother?\u201d He peered at the photograph with interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weeks to the hearing went quickly and Ricky felt a shiver of anticipation as Sheila\u2019s brief got to her feet. \u201cI call Sheila Miles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was in a wheelchair. Alongside her was a girl with curly hair just like Ricky\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMiss Miles, please explain the wheelchair?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheila cleared her throat. \u201cI have bone cancer and only about twelve months left. That\u2019s why I brought this case. Rikki needs a parent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ricky\u2019s brief was next. \u201cMy learned friend produced a photograph of you, my client, and four others. Do you remember the others?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember the girls. Everyone knows Jimi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe other man is my client\u2019s brother. Were you intoxicated?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, we all were. That\u2019s why I asked for a blood test.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbout that,\u201d the barrister said, \u201cas Your Honour is aware, Lord Denning ruled in Bater-vs-Bater<\/em> they are admissible. But ONLY if it doesn\u2019t involve close relatives. Given my client\u2019s similarity to his brother, there MAY be a case of mistaken identity. I move to dismiss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge looked up. \u201cA compelling argument, counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ricky felt a lump in his throat as the girl\u2019s face crumpled. \u201cYour Honour, may I say something?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou may, Mr Styles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI lost my father. Life was hard, and that made me determined not to have kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGo on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy mum\u2019s fondest wish is to have a grandchild. So, I\u2019ve decided, I\u2019ll stop touring and settle down. I guess what I\u2019m trying to say is there is an adage you can\u2019t choose your family. But sometimes I think you can, and I choose to have Rikki as my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVery well, Mr Styles, we can proceed on this understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you, Your Honour. I\u2019ll give them my number to make arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He grabbed a notepad from a table and scribbled his number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t lose it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rikki jumped up and wrapped her arms around him. \u201cDaddy!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ricky looked at her, smiling, as he resolved to never say anything about his vasectomy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London: 1976. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you get some sleep, Ma.\u201d Ricky rearranged an errant silver lock.  \u201cYou need sleep too, Richard. Why keep touring instead of settling down and having children?\u201d \u201cI do it for you, mum,\u201d he said, \u201cI want you to be proud.\u201d \u201cWhen dad died, you held it together. I couldn\u2019t be prouder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[379,530],"tags":[536,534,535,532,533],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-379","category-you-cant-pick-your-family","tag-bloodtest","tag-paternity-suit","tag-photographic-evidence","tag-rikki-dont-lose-that-number","tag-rock-star"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-f8","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":940,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}