Down Daisy Street by Katie Flynn Read Free Book Online Page B

nudged her friend. ‘Ain’t you polite, though? It’s manners like them makes me mam say I oughter follow your example. I reckon as Mr Raison sold you that pork cheaper because you’re always so polite.’
    ‘He sold it to me cheap because he’s nice, and because he’s sorry about me dad,’ Kathy said at once. ‘Besides, we’ve been good customers in the past an’ I reckon we will be again, once we’ve settled to – to a different way of life. I don’t think I’ve told you but Mam’s thinking about taking a lodger. We’ve got three bedrooms, same as you, and we really only need two of them. Because of Mam’s job, she might not be able to provide an evening meal, but she thought if she got a lady lodger then she could cook for herself, evenings. The trouble is, most of the folk wanting lodgings is fellers and Mam wouldn’t want a feller let loose in her kitchen.
    ‘A lodger!’ Jane said, stopping the pram so abruptly that several people cannoned into them. ‘I dunno as I’d like a stranger livin’ in my house. How do you feel, Kathy?’
    ‘Well, I’d rather not, if the truth be known,’ Kathy admitted. ‘Especially as Mam’s warned me that I’ll be up and down the stairs carting hot water and that first thing in the morning, and I’ll have to make a proper breakfast for the woman – if we get a woman, that is. Still, I suppose it’s needs must, and anyway, it may never happen. Mam’s new job pays better than we’d thought because of tips, you know, and so a lodger would be a last resort. Mam says we’ll see how we go for a year and then make a decision. Oh, look, that stallholder’s marking down her veggies; shall we go over, see if there’s anything we want?’
    It took the girls the best part of an hour to get all their messages but by the time they wheeled the pram triumphantly out on to Elliot Street, it was heavily laden to the extent that the three children had had to draw up their legs in order to make room. Kathy and Jane were now sharing the task of pushing the pram and this caused much hilarity when they reached Lime Street since one would push forward, looking to the right and the other, looking to the left, would pull back.
    ‘We’ll have to get our act together,’ Jane panted, quite weak from giggling. ‘When it’s clear your way, you shout OK, and when it’s clear mine, I’ll do the same. That way, we may actually get to cross the road without tipping the pram over or wrenching our arms out of their sockets.’
    Kathy would have complied, but at that moment a large policeman saw their dilemma. He stepped into the road and with an imperative gesture held up the traffic in both directions. As they passed him he said cheerily: ‘That’s a lorra messages you’ve got there, kids. I can see you’re going to have a rare grand Christmas.’ When they reached the further pavement he strolled along beside them, then touched his helmet, bade them the compliments of the season and went on his way.
    ‘Fancy a scuffer holding up the traffic for us,’ Jane marvelled. ‘It were nice of him, though, and saved us a deal of worrying. I dare say we’d ha’ been another ten minutes crossin’ the road if he hadn’t done that.’
    ‘It’s this here Christmas spirit everyone’s so full of,’ Kathy said wisely. ‘Why can’t people be like it always, Jane? Even horrible Marcia said she hoped we’d have a nice Christmas, and she wouldn’t give me nothin’, norreven a cold in me ’ead.’
    ‘She must be a really nasty girl,’ Jane observed, not for the first time. ‘If I ever meet her, I’ll give her a piece of me mind. Still an’ all, I don’t suppose—’
    She was interrupted. A hand descended on the pram, heaving it to a halt, and a familiar voice said: ‘Wharrever are you two doin’ out so late? Ain’t it time these littl’uns were tucked up in their beds?’ It was Jimmy McCabe, flushed in the face and carrying a huge canvas bag so full of food that it was in