The Cobbler's Kids by Rosie Harris Read Free Book Online Page B

left over. It sounded smashing to him.
    He knew his mam was going to be pleased when he told her. He’d been on the verge of doing so for days now, but he’d kept quiet because he hadn’t been sure if Mr Clark would let him finish school at the end of the summer term.
    Vee already knew all about it, of course, because she’d been the one who’d told him that Sunbury’s were looking for someone.
    ‘I don’t know anything about baking,’ he’d told her.
    ‘That’s the whole point,’ she’d said. ‘You’ll learn everything there is to know. It’ll be much better than working for a chandler’s where all you’ve learned is how to wheel an overloaded delivery bike up and down Scotland Road.’
    ‘Yeah, but look at these,’ he’d flexed his muscles. ‘I’ve built them up from pushing that bike, haven’t I!’
    ‘Learning a proper trade is the first step on the ladder to a better life,’ she told him gravely. ‘Remember, if you don’t get a proper job then the minute you leave school Dad will expect you to work full time in the shop with him and you wouldn’t like that, would you!’
    ‘You know I’d hate it! It would be hell! I’d never do anything right, and he’d order me about from morning till night, and cuff me over the head every time I made a mistake.’
    ‘Well, make sure you don’t make any mistakes when you start at Sunbury’s then or someone there might clip you round the ear.’ She grinned.
    Now that he had actually got the job, and knew when he would be starting work, he’d ask Vee not to say a word to their mam until he’d got his first week’s pay.
    He could see it now, handing his wage packet over to Mam unopened, watching her eyes widen in surprise when she saw how much there was inside it. From now on they’d all have enough to eat, every day of their lives. There’d be sausages, bacon, eggs, chops, even roast meat. Benny would grow up big and strong, not undersized like he was.
    His mam would have to give him back some pocket money out of his wages, but he knew she’d play fair. He’d ask her if she could spare a few pennies each week for Vee as well.
    When Vee had taken over his task of delivering boots and shoes Eddy had warned her about making sure she hid any tips that the customers gave her before she got back to the shop. He’d even shown her his secret hiding hole behind a brick in the wall in the back jigger. He’d told her that she could use it as well if she liked, but she’d never done so. For some reason their dad never bothered to ask her if she’d been given anything.
    Whether that was because he’d fooled him for so long into thinking that customers never gave any tips, or whether it was because his dad liked Vee more than him, Eddy wasn’t sure. It didn’t really matter one way or the other, he told himself, but he couldn’t help feeling puzzled about it.
    Vee never told him if she did pick up any tips. If she did, he had no idea what she spent the money on, and he never asked. He suspected it mostly went on treats for young Benny. She really seemed to adore their little brother. She was always the one who got up in the middle of the night when he started crying, or calling out. Usually, she took him back into bed with her.
    ‘It’s easier than hearing Dad having a nark with Mam about the noise Benny makes when he whinges,’ she’d told him when he’d commented on it. ‘It only makes Benny howl even louder when Dad starts shouting. It terrifies me when he does, so I know it must frighten the wits out of poor little Benny.’
    Young Benny looked frightened most of the time, Eddy thought grimly. He had such big, sorrowful blue eyes and he seemed to toddle round in a wide-eyed daze, usually with a dummy, or his thumb, stuck in his mouth. He never seemed to have the energy to play, not even with the big coloured ball that Vee had bought for him.
    Eddy found his first week at Sunbury’s a bewildering experience. When he’d been working at the