Winnie of the Waterfront by Rosie Harris Read Free Book Online Page B

once belonged to Trevor.
    ‘You’re never going out looking like that, are you, Mam?’ Winnie asked uneasily.
    ‘Can’t afford to get all dolled up, not when your old man’s in the army, luv,’ she said with a smirk.
    Winnie frowned. ‘You said dad’s money had come through. You even said that the allotment was more than you’d thought it would be.’
    ‘What I didn’t say was that everything costs more than it used to do. Prices have gone up because there’s a war on.’
    ‘I don’t understand.’
    ‘No, well you wouldn’t, would you. As long as there’s bread and marge in the cupboard and fish and chips to fill your belly when you get home from school at night, you’ve got no worries. You never stop to think where the rent is coming from or the money to pay the tallyman …’
    ‘Or to buy your booze when you go to the pub,’ Winnie said scornfully.
    ‘That’s enough of your lip, my girl. One more word and you’ll feel the back of me hand across your gob!’
    ‘So, where are we going?’
    ‘I told you, St John’s Market. Now, keep your trap shut, you make my head ache with your constant questions.’
    Winnie noticed that Grace seemed to have no problems at all with pushing her in the carriage to the market. When they got there, she picked what seemed to be the busiest spot and parked the carriage there while she fumbled in her canvas shopping bag for something.
    ‘You can’t leave me parked here, Mam, I’m in everyone’s way,’ Winnie told her worriedly.
    ‘Shut your gob!’ Grace replied abruptly. When she’d finished delving in her shopping bag she brought out a piece of card and began to fix it on the carriage behind Winnie’s head.
    ‘What are you doing, Mam?’
    ‘Shurrup!’
    Deftly, Grace flicked the piece of grey blanket that covered Winnie’s deformed legs to one side, so that they were exposed to view.
    As people began to stop and smile down at her and then toss a few coins into her lap, Winnie became more and more confused. She reasoned it must have something to do with her being crippled. She was suspicious, though, that it also had something to do with whatever it was her mam had fixed on to her chair. She tried to look, but couldn’t get her head round far enough to see what it was.
    When she finally did manage to wriggle her body sideways and twist her head, she recoiled in dismay.
    SPARE A COIN FOR A LAME CHILD WHOSE DAD’S BEEN CALLED UP TO SERVE HIS COUNTRY. HER MAM’S TOO ILL TO WORK AND SUPPORT HER.
    ‘Mam! How could you do something like this! What would Dad think?’
    ‘I don’t give a bugger what he’d think! The sod’s not here, is he? He’s gone off into the army and left me saddled with you, my girl, and the pittance he’s sending home each week’s not enough for me to live on, let alone keep you.’
    Winnie felt tears of mortification spilling down her cheeks. ‘This is begging, Mam! We’re not that desperate, surely?’
    Grace ignored her pleas that they should stop and go home. Every few minutes she would scoop up the pennies and threepenny bits that people had dropped onto Winnie’s lap and stow them away safely into her shopping bag. By the time they left St John’s Market the shopping bag was so heavy that it almost made the carriage tilt backwards when Grace stuffed it down behind Winnie’s back.
    Grace was delighted with her cache. When they got home she tipped it out onto the table and divided it up into piles of pennies, halfpennies and threepenny bits. There were even a couple of tanners amongst the pile.
    ‘Three pounds, five shillings and twopence-half-penny,’ she announced proudly.
    ‘That’s begging,’ Winnie said defiantly.
    Grace’s eyes narrowed. ‘So it is, but it’s about all you’re good for so we may as well make the most of it!
    ‘On Friday we’ll go down to the docks,’ she continued. ‘We’ll just make it if we go the minute you get in from school.’
    ‘What for?’
    ‘The dockers all get paid on a