Two Penn'orth of Sky by Katie Flynn Read Free Book Online Page A

now, when they were both married women with children, she felt no envy of her friend and understood why Peter did not wish his wife to visit Nightingale Court. One glance at Emmy’s frail beauty and one wanted to protect her, and though the majority of those living in Nightingale Court were simply the victims of poverty, doing their best to rear families and feed themselves on hopelessly inadequate wages, there were others whose fights and physical violence often disturbed the night-time peace.
    Emmy stretched, yawned, and turned towards her friend. The sun had brought the faintest flush of rose to her cheeks and she looked even prettier than usual, Beryl thought affectionately. And of course, she would be getting excited because Peter’s ship, SS Queen of the South , would be docking in a couple of days. But right now, Emmy’s large blue eyes turned towards her friend and she spoke dreamily, as though she really had been almost asleep. ‘Beryl? D’you fancy a cup of tea? It’s a bit early to start on our picnic but there’s a café on the prom where we could watch the kids and get ourselves a drink at the same time. Charlie’s a real good little feller; he’ll keep an eye on the others for twenty minutes or so.’
    Beryl realised that she’d been feeling thirsty for some time and sat up straighter. ‘That’s a bleedin’ good idea, Em,’ she said, beginning to struggle out of her deckchair. ‘I’ll tell Charlie not to let the others mess around while you an’ me have a cuppa. Not that much harm can come to ’em now, not with the tide out.’
    The two women gathered their belongings into a neat pile and pulled the deckchairs close, then went and spoke to the children. The younger ones scarcely looked up, but Charlie said at once that the construction of the castle would keep them occupied whilst his mam and Aunt Emmy were gone. ‘An’ we won’t start a-fillin’ of the moat until you’re back, ’specially as there’s only me can carry a full bucket – an’ there’s only one bucket – so it’ll be a long job,’ he said cheerfully. ‘When we’ve ate our carry-out and drunk the lemonade, we can use the bottles to fetch water as well as the bucket, but until then I’ll keep ’em out o’ the sea, don’t you worrit yourselves.’
    Emmy and Beryl smiled at one another as theymade their way across the golden sand towards the prom. ‘He’s a good lad, our Charlie,’ Beryl said contentedly, as they took their places at a rickety table outside the small café. ‘He’ll keep them out of mischief until we’re back.’
    By mid-afternoon, the tide had come in and the wonderful castle, which had taken them all morning to complete, was disappearing fast beneath the little, white-topped waves. Diana watched it go gleefully. It had been an enormous task just to finish it in time; they had watched the moat fill and had danced a war dance round it, though by then little Bobby had gone to sleep in his mother’s arms, so it had been herself, Charlie, Lenny and Becky who had watched the moat fill, had known that all their efforts had been worthwhile. Becky was a year younger than Diana, and this was fortunate because Diana’s clothes, when outgrown, fitted Becky nicely. At this moment, she was clad in a blue cotton dress patterned with white daisies, and Diana had to keep reminding herself not to say, wistfully, that it had been her very favourite dress, because Mammy said it was rude to remind someone that their dress was second-hand.
    Diana did not see the sense of this and was sure that Becky wouldn’t mind at all if the dress was as old as the hills or just purchased from Lewis’s, so long as it was pretty and comfortable. But Mammy was strict about such things so Diana never said a word about the blue dress, though she had not been able to resist spreading out her pink gingham skirt and remarking that she would probably have outgrown it by the following summer. Her mammy had given her a very sharp