Lily of Love Lane by Carol Rivers Read Free Book Online Page A

another. She would have to move to a bigger house altogether. Was that what she wanted?
    Lily’s imagination was working overtime as usual. It was as though she had a cinema in her head, showing all the films, with her family and herself taking the leading roles. She could put
the characters anywhere she wanted, give them anything they wanted. Often at market she found herself daydreaming. Sometimes it was a shock to come back to earth and find herself still here.
    ‘Lily?’
    ‘What? Oh, sorry, Mum.’
    ‘You were miles away again. Did you hear what I said?’
    ‘About the pawnshop?’
    Josie shook her head sharply. ‘The winkleman is outside; I heard him calling. I’d like a couple of penneth for tea.’
    ‘I’ll go and get some.’ Lily jumped up, found her coat and bag and just in time stopped the man as he wheeled his barrow to the end of the street. The moist winkle shells
glistened as he turned them over with a spoon and shovelled them onto newspaper.
    As Lily paid him, she imagined she was returning to a large house full of beautiful furniture with a grand and opulent bathroom upstairs. The good feeling inside her was so strong that she could
almost believe she was there. She walked home seeing lines of long Georgian windows and white steps that sparkled in the sunlight.

Chapter Four
    R ain seemed to blight trading all the next week. There was a wind too, which meant that Lily had to place the heavier objects on top of the lighter
ones to keep them from blowing away. All the old magazines and papers became soaked. There were leaks and drips and the customers complained continually. The haberdashery stall which stood outside
of the butchers, had all its cottons and laces blown away. Lily helped Florrie Mills retrieve her stock from the fur of the dead rabbits that hung outside the butchers. The Old Girl’s Stall,
run by Vera Froud, was a pile of wet, soaked garments. Each one had to be taken away and mangled before they could be sold again.
    The stallholders were all disheartened. Colds and coughs abounded. It was at times like this that Lily was tempted to change her job as she stood in the miserable conditions, with no let up to
the rain that soaked through the holes in her boots and distorted the shape of her hat. If she took a factory job she could earn more money and help her mum. She could also have Saturday afternoons
off with Hattie. But as the week wore on, and a bright sky appeared once or twice, the thought of leaving the market dismayed her. Then, at the end of the week, when a sparkle of sunshine dotted
the puddles, a trader from the West End appeared. In one fell swoop he bought all the silver and crockery, two old boxes of cutlery, and the fire fender and companion set. Lily achieved almost full
price and Reube was delighted.
    ‘Good on you, girl,’ said Reube, counting out the pound notes. ‘Tell you what, here’s a five bob bonus.’
    Lily stared at him. ‘Are you sure?’
    Reube grinned. ‘Go on, take it.’
    Lily smiled. ‘Mum will be pleased with that.’
    ‘You should spend it on yourself. Them boots is as old as the hills.’
    Lily glanced down and noticed that the stitching by the soles had come apart. There had been a small hole there before, but now it showed her toe. Her feet had been too wet and numb to
notice.
    ‘I’ll buy some soon.’
    ‘You do that.’ Reube began to put the money in the tin box. Lily dropped her bonus in her bag, her mind doing a quick reckoning. With working tomorrow afternoon, her wage would go up
from the usual fifteen shillings to twenty. Today’s bonus would give her a total of twenty-five shillings altogether. Perhaps her dad wouldn’t have to take the skin job for too
long?
    The following day Lily missed seeing Hattie, but as the rain had stopped completely, the general public came out to celebrate. It was another good business day for the traders.
    ‘What’s all this?’ Josie exclaimed when, that night, Lily turned her purse