Free Tiger Ragtime by Catrin Collier

shipping companies are laying off seamen?’
    ‘You don’t have to tell me it’s a crazy idea. But there’s no point in trying to talk David out of it. Once he makes up his mind to do something, he does it, no matter what the consequences. He’s going to have to find out how impossible it will be for him to become a sailor the hard way. He doesn’t know anyone in the Bay except you and Edyth and although he’s practically family, he’s not related to Edyth by blood so I don’t think he should move in with you two,’ he said flatly. ‘But I don’t want him wandering around the doss houses on the docks. He’s lived on the farm all his life, he’s not used to people, especially ones who will take advantage of a young boy’s naivety.’
    ‘I understand, Mr Evans. Helga Brown – Pastor Holsten’s sister – takes in lodgers. She lives in the same street as my uncles.’
    ‘That sounds perfect. Do you think she’ll have a room to spare?’
    ‘I don’t know about a room, Mr Evans – they come expensive on the Bay. But she’ll probably have a bed.’
    ‘If she has, reserve it for David, please. He has enough money to keep himself for a few weeks. When it runs out I hope he’ll have enough sense to come home. If Micah’s sister can’t put him up, try and find him respectable lodgings somewhere else. And tell Edyth I’d be grateful if she’d meet the train and see him to Micah’s sister’s house. Ask her to telephone me as soon as she can. Mary’s worried sick about him.’
    ‘I will, Mr Evans, and if Edyth can’t meet the train I will.’
    ‘Thank you, Judy, you’re a gem. I must go and pick up Mary and the others from chapel now. Look after yourself and Edie for me.’
    ‘I will, Mr Evans. Goodbye.’ Judy replaced the receiver and walked back into the kitchen.
    David Ellis was coming to the Bay to live – and, he thought, work. With the situation as it was at the moment an unskilled man would be lucky to get a berth on a coal ship to Ireland in return for his food. Judy only hoped David had enough sense not to advertise the fact that he was carrying sufficient money to pay for a few weeks’ lodging. If he didn’t, he’d soon attract the attention of some of the more desperate seamen in the doss houses.
    She’d have to persuade him to hand over the bulk of his money to Helga Brown in advance to pay for his board and lodgings. She tried not to think what might happen if he chose not to listen to her. She didn’t know David well, but the fact that he’d insisted on coming to the Bay in the face of Harry and Mary’s opposition was testimony to his stubbornness and lack of common sense.
    Her heart beat faster as an image came to mind of Harry Evans, handsome, debonair, well-to-do and respectable, unlike some of the rougher characters who lived on the Bay. And he was devoted to his wife and children. She didn’t love Harry – how could she when he was a married man? – but she hoped that there would be a man a little like him in her future. One who would love and cosset her and take care of her and their children the way Harry did Mary.
    She sighed. It was more likely she’d continue to be surrounded by immature headstrong idiot boys like David Ellis, who needed looking after because they were just as stupid and troublesome as her cousins and their friends. Boys who had about as much romance in their soul as the dull-eyed codfish that lay on Tommy the fishmonger’s cart.
    Irritated by the thought, she threw the dishcloth back into the washing-up water and carried on washing her dishes.

Chapter Four
    ‘It’s an excellent location, Mr James. And, as you see, the building is in good condition.’
    ‘Externally,’ Aled qualified. He stepped back on the pavement and glanced up at the imposing, Victorian-built three-storey building in Bute Street while Geoff Arnold unlocked the front door. He noted that the roof was in good repair, as were all the windows and the three doors