i f6c06dd9cf3fe221 by Unknown (100 books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📗

and opened the little parcel Rodney had given her for Annie. It was a silver bangle, hung with tiny charms. Then she opened her own. She lifted out the gold wristlet watch. The face was small and exquisite, the strap of flat plaited gold. She put it on her wrist and held up her hand, but she could barely see it for the swimming of her eyes. How beautiful! how beautiful 1 But when could she wear it? In a few hours, Christmas Eve or no Christmas Eve, shed be sitting on the tip.

Tears began to choke her. Rodney! Rodney! Why must life be like this? She lay across the bed, sobbing, pressing the patched quilt against her mouth to still the sound. Oh, Rodney, Rodney, come back THE FIELD CARD

Annie and Rosie stood one on each side of the clothes- basket as Kate put the things in: first, the sheets and pillow cases and towels, then the tablecloths, then the shirts and pants, the petticoats and pinafores, and, lastly, three silk blouses. She covered the whole with a doth.

"Be careful how you carry them," she said.

"How much have I got to say they are?" asked Annie.

"Three shillings."

Rosie looked from one to the other. She wished Kate would smile or laugh like she used to, then Annie would be different. But whatever Kate did Annie seemed to do. Perhaps Kate'd stopped laughing because she had to take in washing, 'cos old Tim wouldn't work. Her da said old Tim was a lazy swine who should be hung, drawn and quartered.

Sometimes he said that he wanted kicking from here to Hell and back again, for that was too good a place tor him to stay. Oh, by heck, he was glad old Tim wasn't her gran da

"Hurry back," said Kate to Annie; T want you to stay with grandma, I've got to go into Shields. "

Annie and Rosie picked up the basket and went out. The ground was hard with frozen snow and they walked warily, the basket swinging between them.

"Where's this lot going?" Rosie asked.

"To Mrs. Beckett's at Simonside." "Cool She's the one that gives you cake and sometimes a ha' penny isn't she?"

"Yes, sometimes," said Annie.

"By, it's a long way though 1 Let's count our steps from here to Simonside bank, eh? It'll make the time go' " I can manage the basket myself if you don't want to come. "

"Lord, what's up with you ?." demanded Rosie, her small eyes snapping.

"Who said I didn't want to come? What's the matter with you, anyway?

You've got a face like the back of a tram smash. "

Annie did not answer.

"Aw ... w! Come on, Annie," Rosie coaxed.

"Let's have a singsong, eh.

Let's sing "Sam! Sam! " Come on. "

Breaking into a surprisingly strong, contralto voice she sang:

"Sam! Sam! The dirty man, Washed himself in the frying-pan, Combed his hair with a donkey's tail, Scratched his belly with his big toenail."

"Look," she encouraged the still silent Annie, "I'll sing " Sam! Sam!

"

and you sing "the dirty man" Then I'll sing, "Washed himself in the frying-pan," eh? "

"I don't want to," said Annie. She had no liking for "Sam! Sam!" at any time, but today he was revolting. Not wishing to hurt Rosie's feelings, however, she added, "But you sing, I like to hear you. Sing

" Venite ado remus or the "0 Salutaria."

Oh, all right:

"Venite ado remus venite ado remus Venite adore ... emus..."

Her voice rang out into the frosty air with power, causing passersby to smile at her. She smiled back, still singing.

As Rosie sang, Annie thought. If only the letters would come again; then Kate would be different. But they wouldn't come again, not now.

For weeks there had been no letters. They had stopped when her pretty postcards, with the roses and mandolins worked in silk on them, had stopped. The cards had come from the doctor . the letters too had come from the doctor. She didn't know how she knew this, but she did.

The doctor had been missing a long time . weeks. People said that when you were missing you were as good as dead. Kate didn't laugh any more, she hardly spoke. She said, "Do this," or, "Don't do that." But Annie thought Kate wouldn't have cared if she hadn't done this . or did do that.

The only thing she wouldn't let her do was to go on the tip. But they bought less coal than ever now, because her gran da sat with his leg on the chair most of the time. And, when he did go to work, he nearly always came home drunk. She had noticed, too, that he had taken to standing near Kate. Not to hit her, but just standing near looking at her, with his hand moving up and down his trouser leg. To see him thus had filled her with a nameless horror. Last night he had said, "Go to the shop and get me half an ounce of baccy," and Kate had come out of the house with her and stood at the back-door until she came back.

But if only the letter would come again everything would be all right, she felt sure. Because there had always been her gran da and Kate had been taking in washing for a long time, but she had always seemed happy. But now she got tired when she was doing the washing, and sometimes stood, leaning her head against the wall. And also she seemed openly afraid of her gran da not that he'd hit her, but . well Annie shook her head in perplexity, the term "Bad