Chloe Pargeter's mother reckons her daughter's intellect and aspirations are seriously underestimated

Life As We Know It No.94: Not only is she a 'great reader', but her interest in politics is 'astonishing' for one so young

Illustration by Silje Eirin Aure

Even if no one would publicly admit the fact, it is always tacitly conceded that Chloe, born six years after the youngest of her three elder sisters, is Mrs Pargeter's favourite child. Much was made of her when she was an infant, and a great deal more once she reached the tantalising plateau of her early teens. Mrs P used to take her to pop concerts in London – the family hails from West Sussex – meet her out of school and ride home with her on the bus, somewhat to the amusement of her less maternally inclined classmates.

Aged seventeen-and-a-half now, and temporarily becalmed after her recent dismissal from sixth-form college (an episode Mrs Pargeter is still "very cross about", on the grounds that, "Really, you know, she was only looking after the cannabis for her friend Zak"), Chloe is now even more inseparable from her mother. They go to the gym together, where Chloe lounges in the sunroom while her mother plods away on the treadmill, to the cinema to watch romantic comedies, and on shopping excursions to the Brighton malls. "Just like having a younger sister," Mrs P tells her friends.

There is, of course, only one topic of conversation on these jaunts, and that is the question of Chloe's future. Mrs Pargeter, as she frequently explains to third parties, "has faith in Chloe" and reckons her intellect and aspirations are seriously underestimated. Not only is she a "great reader", but her interest in politics is "astonishing" for one so young, and her involvement in the Green Party's Brighton campaign during the most recent election did her the greatest credit. A place at one of our leading universities surely beckons if she can only find a "sympathetic environment" in which to continue her studies.

As to what these studies might comprise, no one has ever come up with a satisfactory answer, least of all Chloe. She is a plump, sallow-skinned and somewhat passive girl who can rarely be got to leave the house, save in her mother's company, whose "reading" consists of vampire romances and whose interest in politics extends to a single appearance at one of Caroline Lucas's rallies.

Still, to imagine that your geese are swans is one of the great privileges of motherhood and Mrs Pargeter, fondly regarding her daughter as she tries on dresses in the White Stuff boutique, is entitled to hope for the best.