Amelia's story by D. G Torrens Read Free Book Online Page A

grew up. For a while things at home were quite calm , and M other ’ s te mper did not surface very often. S he had her moments , but they had lessened . Uncle Steven seemed to have a calming effect on her, which was for now , at least, transforming our lives— a calmer life for us all.

Uncle Steven ’s next visit was a month later. W e were all dressed in our Sunday best and extremely happy and excited as he had promised presents for us all! I watched for his car at my bedroom window , which overlooked th e road at the back of the house. I dreamt of him being our new father as we all thought he was perfec t. Ja ke and I talked at length when M other was not around about how lovely it would be to live a normal life and to have a proper family; our mother would be hap py and so we would all be happy. O h how we prayed this would be. I squealed with delight when I saw his green Cortina speeding up the road . A s far as Jake and I were concerned th is was like a Rolls Royce to us.
    I ran downstairs , shouting , “ H e’s here , everyone , he’s here !” Mother was excited too. S he smiled, asking us all to calm down and to give him time to get through the door before we all jumped on him! It seemed like forever since we had last seen him.

As soon as the door opened (M other had supplied him with a key of his own), we jumped all over him. H e looked so smart in his uniform and hat and we were all so proud. Mother told us all to go and sit down while she took him into the kitchen for a chat . S he always ensured this was the first thing she did when he arrived. A ll the red-letter bills were displayed in a line on the kitchen counter in order of importance of which he would go through and write out checks for each and every one. Once that was out of the way, M other unleashed us on him , and we would all sit down listen ing to his stories while M other cooked a roast dinner.

I had noticed a significant shift in the ir relationship . T hings were definitely getting more serious. Jake and I were taking bets on how long it would be before he was a permanent member of the family. Oh how we prayed, hoped , and talked at length about it. Were we lucky enough to have such a wonderful thing happen to us? W ould he propose to our mother? Oh how we hoped with all our heart. We imagined a life with happy parents, and holidays to Uncle Steve n’ s cottage in Oxford. Were we really lucky enough to be granted with such a wish? We prayed hard and often that we would be.

Uncle Steven felt like our last chance at a happy life. Jake and I had pinned all our hopes on this happening. We , of course , played our part when he stayed with us; we would take his coat, pass him his slippers, fetch him water, and we ensure d that both M other and Uncle Steven had a ll the private time they needed while Jake and I would take care of Jenny and Susie. It was almost like our mother had had a personality transplant ; for the most part we hardly recognized her as she was so nice to us when he was around.
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Broughton Estate
    It was not long before M other announced we were being re-housed to a four-bedroom house on another rough estate some three miles away. At first Jake and I were saddened at the news , as it seemed t o us we were always on the move. W e never stayed in one place for very long . As soon as we had made new friends and became used to our new schools, we were uprooted yet again. Eventually we came round to the idea, knowin g it was going to happen anyway and soon mustered up enough positive energy to embrace the move.
For several days M oth er seemed in good spirits while we were all busy packing up r eady to move into our new home. H er jolly mood was infectious. Along with the regular visits from Uncle Steven , life was definitely on the up. The day of the big move the moving men packed all the boxes and furniture into the lorry; M other made sure she had unscrewed all the light bulbs and took down all