Amber by Heather Burnside (great novels of all time .TXT) 📗

door, dodging one of the men who was carrying a box full of kitchen utensils. ‘We’re going to our new house today.’

Maisie smiled. ‘I know. My mummy told me. She said we can come to see you off.’

‘Barney’s coming too. He’s really happy.’ Amy held up her teddy bear and addressed him. ‘Aren’t you, Barney?’ She moved his head to indicate a nod.

‘What other toys are you taking?’ asked Maisie and for a few minutes they chatted animatedly until Amy’s mother, Loretta, drew their attention. ‘Come on, Amy. It’s time to go.’

‘Aw, Mummy,’ complained Amy. ‘Can I stay for a bit longer? Can Maisie come and play in the garden for a bit? The slide and climbing frame are still there.’

‘No, Amy,’ said her mother. ‘The men are finished now. We need to go.’

Loretta was showing the strain of the day in her clenched facial muscles, which altered her normally pleasant features. But she was adopting a calm façade in front of her children, five-year-old Amy and her brother, Nathan, who was two years younger. Holding Nathan’s hand, she walked over to where Amy was standing with her friend Maisie and Maisie’s mother. Amy turned to say goodbye to her friend but the tears that had threatened earlier now fully erupted and were accompanied by a loud wailing sound.

Loretta put her arm around Amy. ‘Now come on, love. Didn’t you promise you’d be a brave girl?’

Amy tried her best to stop crying but the thought of leaving her friends, her lovely home and her garden toys was too much. Three-year-old Nathan, picking up on Amy’s upset, began to bawl loudly too without realising why he was doing it.

Loretta turned to Maisie’s mum. ‘I’m afraid we’ll have to get going before these two get any worse. The removal company are charging by the hour, so I need to dash. But don’t forget, you and Maisie are welcome to visit anytime.’

‘That’s great. Thank you,’ said Maisie’s mum who gave Loretta and both of the children a hug before saying goodbye.

Amy looked at her mother, who seemed sad. She’d thought her mother was going to cry too when Maisie’s mum had hugged her, but she hadn’t. Instead she turned to her and Nathan, smiled and said, ‘OK, kids. Let’s go and start our new adventure.’

Amy was confused. Her mother had looked like she was going to cry so why was she smiling? Taking her cue from her mother, Amy dried her tears on her sleeve and tried to be brave as they got inside her car and set off down the road, following the removal van to their new home on a housing estate in Withington.

*

April 1993

It was later that evening and Loretta had finally managed to put the kids to bed. It hadn’t been easy as they were both overexcited for the first few hours after arriving at the new house. Then the enthusiasm wore off and Amy seemed to realise that this new house wasn’t such an adventure after all.

As day turned into evening the children became tired and all the upheaval of the move finally caught up with them. They had been reluctant to go to bed, Amy because she was scared of the strange new house, and Nathan because he didn’t like his bedroom.

It had been one of the most trying days of Loretta’s life and one that she had been putting off for the last three years. After her husband Greg had died when Amy was only two and Loretta was pregnant with Nathan, she had fought to keep the house on, not wishing to deny her children or herself the lifestyle that they had become accustomed to.

Unfortunately, Greg had died leaving no life insurance. He was only thirty-five when he had an unexpected and fatal heart attack, leaving Loretta heartbroken, out of work and struggling to manage the finances. Because she hadn’t worked since before having the children, the only work she was able to find was poorly paid and, once she’d paid for childcare, she would have been worse off.

Loretta had therefore managed as best she could, trying to live frugally and borrowing from friends and relatives. In the end, the debts had become too much and, with relatives no longer willing to bail Loretta out, she’d had no choice but to sell up, clear the debts and move.

She considered the place they had moved to. It was on a housing estate in Withington, which was noisy and run-down. Outside she could hear shouting in the street, dogs barking and a child screaming. The neighbours had seemed friendly enough when they were moving in but then she had noticed two women whispering to each other as they eyed the high-end furniture that the removal men were carrying inside the house.

She looked at it as she entered the living room. Her quality items seemed so out of place in the shabby surroundings, even though they were now several years old. The whole place looked as though it could do with a damn good clean, and the smell was just as bad, a sure sign that the previous occupants had neglected their pets when it came to hygiene. Aside from that, the rooms were poky, the kitchen was dilapidated, and the bathroom needed updating.

Despite how she felt about the new house, she had done her best to put on a brave face for the children, emphasising the house’s few good points and encouraging them to look forward to this new adventure. But she sensed that she had fallen short. Amy was five now. It was an age when memories were formed and Loretta feared that one of her daughter’s earliest recollections would be the day that they had had to leave their beloved home and all their friends behind to come and live on a vulgar housing estate.

Loretta had been holding back her own tears all day but now, as she thought about her reduced circumstances and how she still missed Greg every day, the tears gushed.