Jenny's War by Margaret Dickinson Read Free Book Online Page B

mouth and began to scream. ‘I ain’t ’aving a barf.’ Then she picked up the unfinished bowl of cereal and threw it on the floor. The bowl smashed, the cereal and milk spilling on to the tiles.
    Len poked his head round the kitchen door. ‘They’re here. Can’t you stop her making that awful noise?’ He glanced at the mess on the floor, then at the child. Above the noise he shouted. ‘You mentioned a bath, I suppose?’
    Mabel nodded helplessly and, as Len disappeared to answer the knock at the front door, Jenny shot after him. As he opened the door, she pushed past him and between the two people standing there. She ran out of the gate and into the road. She paused briefly to shout over her shoulder. ‘I ain’t stayin’ here no longer. I’m going ’ome. I’d sooner face old ’Itler’s bombs than stay here anuvver minute.’
    Jenny ran a short distance and then slowed to a walking pace, realizing she wasn’t sure that she was going in the right direction for the station. She heard footsteps and glanced behind her to see that the man who’d come to fetch her was following her. He was tall and broad shouldered and his long strides were catching her up easily. As he neared her, she could see that he was very smartly dressed, but not in a flashy way like Arthur. He was wearing a grey suit with a waistcoat. He looked a right toff, yet he was bothering to chase after her . His dark brown hair, flecked with grey, was brushed back smoothly from his face. To the young girl, he looked old, but a little voice inside her whispered: He does look nice. Nevertheless, he’d more than likely want her to take a bath, so she made herself scowl and set her little mouth in a grim, determined line.
    Jenny had reached a corner in the road and didn’t know which way to go. She stopped and waited for him to approach her. He stood for a moment, about a yard away, looking down at her and smiling. ‘Hello, there.’ His voice was deep and gentle. ‘You’re Jenny, aren’t you?’
    He squatted down on his haunches, so that his face was level – perhaps even a little lower – than hers. It made her feel safer, as if he was really trying not to frighten her by looming over her. But Jenny had met men like him before amongst the ‘uncles’. All sweetness and light one minute and bringing presents and the next giving her a cuff round the ear if she was in the way. She didn’t trust any of their smarmy ways.
    Beyond him, she saw the woman who’d come with him walking towards them. With a sudden movement, Jenny turned away and stepped into the road but the man caught hold of her arm and even though she screamed loudly and kicked out at his shins, he refused to let go.
    ‘You’ll get run over, love. Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. But you must look where you’re going.’
    Now the woman had reached them. She was smiling, yet the girl could see the worry in her eyes. Dark, violet eyes. Jenny had never seen anyone with eyes that colour. They were beautiful and her shining black hair was drawn back into a chignon at the back of her head and yet a profusion of curls and waves surrounded her face. Her clothes, too, were perhaps not fashionable – not like the ones Dot wore – but they were well cut and looked expensive. She’d been right; these folks were toffs.
    ‘Jenny, if you’re going back to London,’ the woman was saying in a soft voice, ‘haven’t you forgotten a couple of things?’
    Jenny stopped struggling and stared up at her. ‘What?’
    ‘For one thing, you must take your gas mask and for another – what about Teddy? You surely weren’t going to leave him, were you?’
    Jenny stood very still. Bert. How could she have forgotten Bert? And her clothes. Her mum’d tan the hide off her if she arrived back home with none of her belongings and besides, they didn’t want her there. They wouldn’t be pleased to see her back. Not like Aunty Elsie if Bobby and Sammy went back home . . .
    The man’s voice