Greta Pusey: A potted biographyGreta will not answer to 'Greeta' nor any so-called funny variations of her surname, some of which have been disgusting. Apart from that she is a perfectly reasonable person, she says. Those who disagree have the good fortune of having some of Greta's favourite karate moves demonstrated to them. She's been having karate lessons since she was seven, and has gradually risen to black belt status. There are some who discovered this to their regret. She was born when her mother, Marilyn was fourteen, and nobody, least of all Marilyn herself, knew who was the father. Marilyn died in the street of a drug overdose at the age of sixteen. Greta's Grandpa had died before that. Her Gran always thought it was a mercy that he was spared seeing how his daughter sank to the dregs. Her Gran sent her to karate lessons when kids at school started giving Greta a bad time about what they'd heard about her mother. This was only one of the many ways in which Greta's life was improved by her Gran, who was fun and her best friend as well as teaching her all the most important things in life. Frank Pusey, Greta's Grandfather, was a Police Sergeant when he died, aged only twenty-six, at Shady Lane Police Station in Watford. So Greta grew up determined to be a Police Officer too. She didn't want to be just a Sergeant, her ambition was to be the first woman Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. Sadly, this was unattainable, mainly because a certain Cressida Dick reached this lofty height while Greta was still a mere Detective Inspector. Naturally, Greta was not able to foresee this dismaying turn of events when she joined the Police Cadets while still at school. From this time her career followed an erratic pattern of amazing errors and lucky successes, interrupted occasionally – but not permanently – by varied associations with men. The luckiest was that her superior officer, Superintendent Moon, and his fecund wife, took a great liking to Greta and came to consider themselves in loco parentis to her. Before she could put her foot in it, Greta discovered in time that this did not mean, as she first thought, as mad parents. Perhaps even the most fond foster-parents might have given up on her if she told them that. The most stable character in Greta's life after the passing of her Gran was Aristotle Anapolis, Greta's best friend and main squeeze. He loved her and constantly proposed marriage, and she loved him but didn't fancy marriage. But he was always there for her, and she panicked when she sometimes thought he might give up on her.
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