Tim Wong was enjoying living back in his hometown. He’d been separated from his parents during the fog and now his mom had a ton of health problems so he and his brother Matt had moved their families here to help support their Mom and Dad. Tim’s wife Jennifer was a part time secretary at the school which kept her close to their 4 young kids. The kids seemed happy here and so did Jen. Tim was still adjusting to the new social work office but his coworker Lisette was new too and together they were a good team. Now Tim was out on an inspection call and he dreaded these. He did not enjoy making people feel like they were unfit to parent their own children but sometimes the job and the safety of the children required it. His first stop was to see the one of the people who called their office with concerns, Dr. Mary Henry. But they had had three calls about this family yesterday; Mary Henry, Officer Chris Peterson and the police Chief Josh Greene. Then he would make his appointment time with Daisy Dale in her apartment below. Dressed neatly in a white button up shirt, blue patterned tie, dark grey slacks and black dress shoes and a simple brown fall jacket with his ID badge pinned to it, he knocked on Dr. Henry’s door with his small notebook and pen already in hand. Tim was a shorter man, built a bit stocky like his father. He had straight black hair parted to one side with hints of grey and a round kind face with soulful brown eyes framed by a pair of black rimmed glasses.
Mary Henry had made sure to have her schedule clear for this meeting with the social worker. She was in a brown skirt and muted green loose top. Her grey hair already in its bun and, being home, was in her bare feet. She heard the knock and walked to the door, looking out of her peep hole to see the social worker. She unlocked and opened the door. “Hello. You’re Mr Wong? Come in, please. Can I get you some coffee or tea?” she asked him, motioning to her living room. Hers is the top floor apartment; a two bedroom and two bathroom. The living room is very comfortable looking, but full of books, neatly on shelves with a desk in a pigeon hole. It looked like a 50/50 combo of home and office.
Tim stepped in and smiled kindly at her “Dr. Henry. Nice to meet you.” He slipped off his shoes and left them neatly by the door. “No thank you. I’m fine.” He took a seat on her sofa and flipped his notebook open “I’d like to ask you for some clarification on the complaint you called in regarding the Dale family. Would you be willing to share what you’ve seen or heard that gives you cause for concern?”
Mary sat on a chair that matches the couch Tim is on and sighs. “Well, when I first moved in, I had two neighbors with young children. Back then, I didn’t worry too much. They were single mothers and seemed to be helping each other out with babysitting and the like. Now, Noelle, who lived on the second floor, has moved out and on with her life. I see her around and she seems to be thriving. However, the young lady in the studio on the first floor … well, I’ve seen and heard her coming home with a large variety of men. I am relatively sure that her young daughter was not home during these trists, but she had many trists.” she sighs deeply again. “There is a balance between childcare and a healthy sex life so neither is neglected. But I see Daisy without her daughter and with different men more often than I see her out and about with her daughter.” she blows out a breath. “But I called because it seems she has moved a man into her apartment. The last nine days I have been hearing loud action film playing, a child crying, a male voice yelling at the child and Daisy as well as Daisy yelling at the man and her daughter. In addition … I have come home from work to see the little girl playing in the side yard all by herself. I’ve come up the back way, which is past their door and clearly heard the sounds of sex. Now I work quite late with clients and so some nights I do not get home until 8 or 9 o’clock, or even later. This last week that little girl was outside when I got home and, at least once I checked out my window to see her still outside at 10 o’clock. I went down and told her to go home, but she told me the door was locked and her mommy and daddy were having their time. I took her and knocked and the man answered and without a word, snatched the little girl by the arm into the house. Then there was yelling and she started crying and … I called your office the next morning.”
Tim crosses one leg over the other and makes some notes on the notepad using his knee as was his habit. He nods along and looks up often, actively listening and affirming “Yes….Noelle Snow I believe from the file…..” He pauses and frowns as he rolls the pen between his fingers. Then he sighs and makes a few more notes. He nods about the balance, knowing from his own life and his work. He has 4 children after all. He listens a little gravely about the man moving in and the shift in things and then takes really detailed notes. “10 o’clock? And Olivia has just turned 3?” He flips back a page or two and nods as a previous page of notes and then flips back. He finally stops writing and lets out a bigger sigh “Thank you for calling us Dr. Henry. You did the right thing. I will of course be continuing my investigation...downstairs.”
Mary nods and sighs as she stands. “I sincerely hope that I am just being overzealous, Mr Wong.” she tells him as they head for the door. Children aren’t her area of expertise, but adults are. And while she hopes, she suspects she might not have heard the worst of it.
Tim gets up and tucks his notebook under his arm and follows her, stepping back into his shoes. He wore slip ons for visits like this “I really hope so too. Thank you for having me in and explaining all this. We’ll be in touch if we need to be. Have a good day Dr. Henry.” he heads out of her apartment and closes his notebook and walks down the outside stairs. As he gets to Daisy Dale’s door he adjusts his glasses and then his tie and knocks on that door now with quite a bit more dread.
Daisy Dale is half asleep. She’s talked Noelle into ferrying Olivia to daycare again and shoved the kid out the door half in her pajamas with no lunch packed. “Shoot, can you buy her a pizza pop or something on the way?” She had stuffed a fiver in the kid’s overall pocket when Noelle has asked about the lack of lunch. “There ya go sweetie…” and she stumbled back to bed. She and Joey had had a late night. Now some annoying person was knocking at the door and waking her again. After the second round of knocking she stumbled out of bed in Joey’s stained t-shirt with nothing underneath. She has a large visible hickey on the left side of her neck. Daisy opens the door with the chain on just peeking “Who are you?” She barks.
Tim points to his ID badge “Tim Wong, social services. We have an appointment Miss Dale.”
Joey was asleep the first time Daisy got back in bed. He heard her talking to that Noelle bitch and sending Olivia away for the day. Then she came back to bed and he hoped that was the end of it, but it wasn’t. He woke when she got out of bed a second time and he heard the knocking. He tensed until the male voice identified itself as Social Services. “That fucking cunt.” he growls to himself, thinking it was probably Noelle who called Social Services. But he doesn’t get out of bed. Yet.
Now Daisy gasps a bit “Oh shit I forgot…..just gimme a minute.” And she shuts the door again and then scurries off. She had heard something from Joey but it was muffled so she didn’t know if he was awake yet until she got in the room and saw his face “Social worker…” She said tensely as she grabbed a pair of painties and ripped jeans off the floor and yanked them on. She pulled a hoodie on over Joey’s shirt but skipped the bra. Then she headed back to the door and opened it with a fake cheery demeanor “Thank you so much for coming. Can I make you a coffee?”
Tim stepped in warily and shook his head “No thank you Miss Dale.” The apartment was a health hazard from one sweeping glance and it smelled like something was rotting somewhere. “Miss Dale is your...partner in? I was under the impression a man resides here as well. I’d like to speak to you both together…..about Olivia.” Glancing at the dirty floor again, he decides to keep his shoes on.
Joey groans as he hears its the social worker. He’d completely forgotten. Grabbing his jeans, he puts them on without underwear, and doesn’t bother with a shirt. He’s at the bedroom door when he heads the words 'your partner’. He stalks out of the bedroom and into the kitchen/living/dining room. “You can make me one, babe.” he says about the coffee. He moves to the couch and sits, tossing a small colorful blanket to the floor. He don't pretend to be cheery and just stares at this Tim Wong as if willing him to say what he wants and get out.
Daisy is still trying to be cheerful and bustles around “Have a seat Tim. This is Joey, my boyfriend and baby daddy. I’ll just be a moment.” She smiles at Joey like they’re in some kind of sweet sitcom “I’d love to Babe.” and she starts making coffee.
Tim looks taken aback at the shirtless man who Daisy calls Joey her boyfriend and baby daddy “Oh…..so Olivia is YOUR daughter then?” He inhales and then cuts his breath short because the place really does have a smell. Breathing shallow he takes out his notebook and pen “I’m just going to take a bit of a walk around and ...make some observations.” He had watched the blanket hit the floor. It was small, like for a child’s bed….but it might just be their couch throw. “Where does Olivia sleep and keep her things?”
Daisy laughs “Well we’re pretty casual. Sometimes she drifts off on the couch and we don’t move her. I mean the kid needs her sleep. She used to co-sleep with me….it’s legal. I checked. Other people do it. We don’t have a lot of space and she's just 3. She doesn’t have that many clothes…”
Tim looks around. The place has no drawings done by the child or little crafts, a very small number of toys. He walks around one of the chairs and something crunches under his feet. His eyes go wide “You are aware you have broken glass over here?” It was a broken beer bottle and it was all over the floor behind the chair.
Joey looks at the social worker and shrugs when asked if he is Olivia’s father. “That’s what I’m told.” he tosses out casually. He believes he probably is, but so far no one has demanded a paternity test. He lets Daisy answer the questions, except for the last one. He arches his brows when he mentions broken glass. “We are now.” he replies. “Daisy. Get that cleaned up.” he tells her.
Tim glances back a few times at Joey as he speaks and starts writing a lot in his little notebook. He steps away from the glass carefully “You do need to provide your child with her own bedroom.” He states flatly as he walks over to look at her small collection of toys. It’s truly sad. There are some worn out stuffed animals including on that looks like it’s fallen into some sort of sticky food and never been cleaned, a doll with one arm and one leg, a random assortment of small cheap plastic figures from kids movies that look like they may have been McDonald’s toys. Most of them are missing something. There’s a box that claims it contains a puzzle from the outside picture and Tim looks momentarily hopeful as he opens it. But inside are two puzzle pieces, a dried out apple core and a pair of pants for the dismantled doll. He inhales and then stops himself again before it’s full. Joey was maybe the father? He’s clearly not a very nice partner regardless.
Daisy scurries towards the glass “Oh my gosh I had no idea…” She’s in bare feet and tiptoes around it and then goes to get a pair of flip flops on and a broom “Joey…...this is your beer from the other night...and it’s spilled all down the chair.” Daisy blames but then covers with a joke “Oh well he’s cute and clumsy. What can you do. And of course he’s Liv’s father.” She looks at Joey “Who else do you think I was bangin?” Her sitcom facade is crumbling fast. “If we give Liv the room then we don’t get any privacy….how does that work Tim?”
Tim turns sharply “Mr. Wong...if you please.” He didn’t normally insist on formality but Daisy was pushing him a bit “You could sleep out here and set up a little privacy screen. Children do go to bed earlier than adults and they sleep better if they are less disturbed.”
Joey raises his brows in a warning to Daisy when she tells him the obvious about his beer. Then she asks who else he thought she was banging and he holds up his fist. “Vincent D’Antoni, Sam Pillson, Owen and Seamus Reinhardt …. The fucking list goes on.” he looks at the social worker when he suggests they give the bedroom up to a toddler. “Yea, well maybe once we get some more money coming in. We applied but so far nothing. Until then, we can’t even afford a sleeper sofa, Mr Wong. Do we LOOK rich?”
Tim’s eyebrows shoot up at the back and forth between these two and then he sighs “You could rearrange the furniture you currently own and we could see if we can source a toddler or single bed. You’d be amazed what people give away as their children grow out of things.” He doesn’t address the relationship dynamic but he's thinking on how he could word it. Because some of the complaints were about fighting between the adults.
Daisy roughly sweeps the glass into the dustpan and drops her cheery facade “Joey Piccolo are you fucking kidding me? I didn’t bang those guy….well except Seamus AFTER you left us high and dry. Yeah I banged Seamus…..I banged him good and often and he was way better at it then you.” She walks to dump the glass in the garbage, her eyes stinging with tears about being accused...and about Seamus.
Joey looks rather mollified at the idea of not having to buy anything for his kid. “So we can just get rid of the couch and set her up out here? Cause our bed is a queen.” he looks at Daisy as she starts in on him, and how good Seamus Reinhardt is in bed. He tightens his jaw, not daring to get up and smack her in front of this social worker. “OK, then.” he looks at the social worker. “You might not have to worry about me living here much longer, Mr. Wong. Sounds like I need to go find another place to lay my head.” it may or may not sound like it to Tim, but it is a calculated threat to Daisy .. to leave her … alone … again.
Now Daisy turns around to Joey with a quivering lip “I didn’t mean it. I was just mad you said all those things. You know you’re the best I ever had…...Liv and I need you Joey.” She glances at Mr. Wong “We’ll figure out the sleeping thing so it’s ok with social services. Please don’t break up the family. I’ll do whatever I have to Mr. Wong…” but she also looks at Joey, her silent promise to make up for what she said so he won’t leave.
Now Tim has his opening but he waits. Asking a couple how they solve conflict in the middle of what looks like a fight is ludicrous “I’ll make a few more notes while you talk this through…” He heads into the kitchen and is assaulted by the sprawling piles of dishes, some of them have mold and he’s sensing this area is where the smell resides.
Joey looks at Daisy. “Damn right you need me, Daisy.” he looks at her evenly, a warning look on his face. He will be making it up to her a lot … starting as soon as this fucking social worker is gone. They live in a three room apartment so the social worker turning his back to him literally puts him in the kitchen. “Yea yea. She’ll get on those dishes today, Mr Wong. I guarantee it.” he tells the man.
Tim blinks at how Joey speaks to Daisy. Sure she had fired back but this was unnerving. He sighs “Well if EITHER of you could do some dishes, it would improve things.” He now turns and looks away from them “Is Olivia fully potty trained? Does she wear pulls ups, or pull ups for night time?”
Daisy looks a little frightened of Joey now but quietly nods. Then she sighs “Liv’s taking a bit longer. She was trained and then it slipped...she has accidents now. I read that’s normal though.”
Tim makes a note of it “The slipping can be a concern.” He makes a point of not looking at Joey “Was it recent?”
Daisy nods “Oh yeah...bout when Joey came back. She’ll catch on though.”
Tim now braves the arguing question “So since you two have been...cohabitating….how do you resolve conflicts in front of Olivia? What are you modeling to her?” He outright asks.
Joey looks at Daisy, as if to emphasise that SHE will be doing the dishes. Then he brings up Olivia’s potty training and Daisy admits that Olivia slipped when he moved in. “Been a lot of men in and out of here. I’m the only one who stayed. So she’s still getting used to having her father around.” he explains his view on it and looks at the social worker when he asks about their way of resolving conflicts. “Maybe I’m old fashioned, Mr Wong. But we don’t have conflict for long. What I say goes.” he looks at Daisy. “Isn’t that right, baby?” he looks back at Tim. “A male led household isn’t illegal these days, is it?”
Daisy feels her temper spark a little at Joey’s mention of a lot of men in and out of here but now she’s trying to make nice again, both for Mr. Wong and so Joey doesn’t leave her. So she swallows her anger, stuffing it down. She takes on what Joey is saying about what he says goes. She liked a man telling her what to do in some ways but Joey was walking a line. Daisy would however let him think he was the boss “You know best Joey.” She oozed at him “So nice to have a man who knows what he wants.” That hinge that held in all Daisy’s little unpredictable flares was rusting and rusting fast. Joey hadn’t seen that door swing open as much as Seamus and Noelle and Chris. He had no idea everything she tried to contain….or that it was failing.
Tim pressed at the bridge of his nose feeling like he was watching a terrible movie from a different era. He tried a new approach as this was just unbelievable “Ok, let’s talk about your work life balance with parenting. Miss Dale you work for the laundromat…...is it safe to assume it’s a minimum wage job? I’m not being unkind….but I grew up here in Alexandra so I know some of these places.” He casually sends a question Joey’s way “And how about you Mr. Piccolo is it? Are you currently...employed?”
Joey nods in agreement with Daisy. He did know best and he knew exactly what he wanted. The money he could get from having a kid in his household while he laid low. Then the man asks him about work. “Yea. Piccolo.” he tightens his jaw. “I lost my job on the mainland because of Covid and now I can’t get a job because I’m a white male and equal opportunity screws me over every time.”
Tim is standing and making some notes. He’s not feeling like sitting anywhere in this place. When Joey plays the poor white male card he looks over his glasses at him and blinks slowly and then presses his pen to the page without writing “I see….so...unemployed…” He then writes without addressing the issue at all. He suspected anything he might offer would fall on deaf ears. He looks up at Daisy now “It would be better for Olivia If it were a dual income family. I’ve made some notes, and spoken to the person who alerted our office.” He doesn't reveal who that is. “I’ll be in touch after I’ve written up my report. You should be aware we have legal recourse to request dental and medical records for minors in these kinds of ...reviews.”
Daisy had looked almost sympathetic at Joey and then a little scared “Dental records! I’ve never taken Olvia to the dentist. I mean we didn’t have one for so long.”
Tim frowns and blinks rapidly “Yes but now the island has had a practice here since the middle of June as I understand? It’s September Miss Dale. My family moved here a month ago and all 4 of my children have been for check ups. You would have had time to apply for aid even if that was required. When was Olivia’s last medical check up?”
Daisy shrinks a bit and then shrugs “I dunno when she was a baby...she’s been healthy so I wasn’t worried.”
Tim sighs deeply “I understand.” He closes the notebook. “Thank you both for your time.”
Joey is listening but being mostly quiet. But he is curious. “Would it be better for Olivia if her mother and I were married?” he wonders. That should keep Daisy in check for a good long time .. nice long engagement until he could find something better to move on to. And he is also wondering. “Don’t we have the right to know who is calling social services on us?” he demands.
Now Daisy is unexpectedly dazzled by Joey “Joey are you proposing to me….you sly dog?” she beams at him. It could be awful in so many ways but someone wanting to marry her was still a fairytale dream of hers. Then she agrees “Yeah we have rights. Who was it?”
Tim looks skeptical “In some cases it can be helpful. It’s certainly an olive branch towards stability. But in other cases it can take more than that document. And if you’re telling me you’re getting married strategically...I’m going to suggest relationship counselling….so we can all know you’re doing this authentically.” Tim is a little done being polite with these two “And no, you don’t get to know who called us. That’s not how the system works I’m afraid. But consider how you portray yourselves both publicly and in front of your child. That might help more than anything. And perhaps consider the counselling idea.” He heads for the door, not waiting to be ushered to it but stands briefly before reaching for the handle “Good Day Miss Dale. Mr. Piccolo.”
Joey saw the social worker out, then showered and dressed while Daisy cleaned. He then told her that he was going to start actively looking for a job, but instead went to visit an old lover of his, Brooke Martin. In her bed, she told him about meeting with the police the day before, who impounded his van. This upset him. A lot. But he believed that he had covered his tracks well enough. It affected his mood, however and he snapped a lot at both Daisy and Olivia. Moving back to Alexandra had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped. He hadn’t planned to be put under so much scrutiny.
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