HYPOTHETICALS 3 What Should Lucy Do?

Lucy is now 40

She is a single mum and has two children Adam (10) and Rachel (6)

Her mum Sarah is now 65 and lives in the neighbouring village - 10 miles away.

Lucy speaks to her mum on the phone first thing every morning, drops her children at the local primary school and then drives to work 25 minutes away.

Sarah loves her role as ‘grandma’ and really values the time she spends with Adam and Rachel. She picks them up from school each day at 3.15pm and looks after them until Lucy collects them on the way home from work.

One morning Lucy phones her mum as usual, but there is no reply. She tries a number of times over the next hour, but without success.

What should Lucy do? Response 1

Lucy drops the children at school and phones work to tell them that she will be late. She drives to her mum’s house where she finds her hanging the washing out. It appears that she had not put the phone back into its charger correctly.

6 weeks later Lucy gets a phone call from school at 4p.m. They say that Adam and Rachel are still at school because they have not been collected.

What should Lucy do? Response 2

Lucy apologises for having to miss an afternoon meeting and one of her colleagues fills in for her. She drives to her mum’s to find that she is not there and her car is not in the drive. She drives to school to pick up Adam and Rachel and apologises to the staff there that have been looking after them.

What should Lucy do? Response 3

Lucy goes home worried. Once she gets in she phones her mum’s number every 10 minutes. After about an hour her mum answers. Lucy asks her mum where she has been. She says she has been into town to look for a new coat. When Lucy reminds her that she was supposed to collect Adam and Rachel and school she become very upset and apologetic. She says she had completely forgotten about it.

Saturday afternoon, a few weeks later Lucy pops in to see her mum after she and the children have been shopping. She arrives to find a flooded front garden with water running into the road down the path.

Lucy discovers that the hose has been left on in the garden. She goes around the back of the house to find her mum working on her paintings. Sarah is shocked and surprised when Lucy tells her about the hose. She said she used it this morning and must have forgotten to turn it off. She is quite upset about the incident.

What should Lucy do? Response 4

Lucy is worried about her mum becoming increasingly forgetful, but decides to do nothing.

Friday night is pizza night. Lucy arranges to go out with a friend for their birthday. She arranges for Sarah to look after Adam and Rachel and gives her the money for her to order their usual take away pizza.

She arrives back from her night out and goes upstairs to kiss the children good night. She finds out that they have been crying. They tell her that they have just had a sandwich for diner as granny said that pizza was far too expensive and she didn’t have enough cash.

What should Lucy do? Response 5

Lucy talks to her mum about the evening. She reminds her that she gave her the money for the pizza, but Sarah says she can’t remember this. Lucy shows her the take away leaflet pinned to the noticeboard with a £20 note. They argue about what happened and Sarah says that she doesn’t want her grand children living on takeaways.

What should Lucy do? Response 6

Mother and daughter remain upset about what happened, but over the next few days things return to normal.

A few weeks later Lucy has tickets for a show on Friday night. She has nearly always used her Mum as her babysitter in the past, but she knows that a friend’s daughter regularly baby sits for other families in the village.

What should Lucy do? Response 7

Lucy talks to her mum about Sophie needing to earn some money for uni next year and is it ok if she looks after Adam and Rachel next Friday. Sarah says it’s a good idea as she won’t have to remember everything.

A few days later Lucy is woken early in the morning by a call from the Police. Overnight there has been a fire at her mum’s house. She will be ok but has gone to hospital to be checked out. It appears she forgot that she had left some food cooking under the grill which started a fire in the kitchen. The damage is quite extensive as her smoke alarm was not working. The Police tell Lucy that her mum has had a lucky escape.

What should Lucy do? Response 8

What issues face Lucy and Sarah over the coming months and years? Why are these difficult -For Sarah? -For Lucy?