Free A Song for Joey by Elizabeth Audrey Mills Page A

mentally. Her eldest son eventually took her to stay at his home in
Yorkshire, where she remained for nearly six months.
    Mr Randal also asked me what had happened at the Graingers'; he said that Edith had
told him the little that she knew. At first, I didn't want to remember any of it, but he
explained that it was important that other children were protected from men like Grainger,
so I eventually managed to recount everything. I didn't hear any more about it, but Edith
told me sometime later that the Graingers had moved away. I felt sorry for Phylis; she had
seemed nice, and I thought she deserved better.
-♪-♫-♪
    When the news arrived, six months later, that Gran would be coming home, I suddenly
had mixed feelings. I was overjoyed at the thought of seeing her again, of course, but had
grown to love Edith and Jacob, who had cared for me as though I was their own daughter.
I could also see that they were saddened at the thought of my departure.
    The following morning, Edith helped me to pack my things, then she and Jacob drove
me to Trafalgar Road to wait for Uncle Ernie to bring Gran from the railway station. We
arrived early at The Nest , to find that all external traces of the flood were gone; it had
been cleaned and repainted, and the little front garden had been replanted with summer
flowers. We sat together on the low wall, and waited.
-♪-♫-♪
    But one thing I have learned is that once things change, they can never return to how
they were. Gran was not the same person I had known before the flood. When the taxi
pulled up and she stepped onto the pavement, blinking in the sunlight, squinting at the
guest-house as though it was the first time she had seen it, I could tell that she was
different.
    I ran to greet her, arms outstretched. "Hello Gran," I called happily as I ran, but she did
not respond, just looked at me, blankly.
"Gran, it's me."
Realisation was dawning that she had forgotten me, I felt my voice catch. She continued
to stare at my face, uncomprehending. I blundered on, my earlier joy gone, a kind of panic
rising in my chest, my words falling out, making me sound like a Red Indian in a bad
movie: "Me, Belinda."
"Belinda?" She spoke slowly, pronouncing the word as though she had never said it
before.
"Yes, you remember, Belinda, your granddaughter."
She just shook her head, confused, and my uncle cut in. "Don't bother her now, she's
been through a rough time thanks to you," he hissed. "Carry her bags in." He turned away
from me and led Gran through the gate and up to the front door; I noticed that he had the
keys in his jacket pocket, and that he cast a critical eye over the new paint as he unlocked
the door.
Stunned, not knowing why he was so aggressive, I picked up the two bags, but Jacob
took them from me, with a little turn of his head that said: "Don't let him get to you." We
followed Gran and Ernie up the familiar red steps, through the hallway and on into the
lounge.
"Where do you want these cases?" Jacob asked. "I can take them upstairs if you like."
"Who are you?" Ernie demanded, glaring at Edith and Jacob.
"Edith and Jacob Macintosh," replied Jacob, evenly, putting one case on the floor and
extending his right hand to offer a handshake. "We have been looking after your niece
since that awful night."
"Well," spat Ernie, ignoring the offered hand, "it's a shame she wasn't put into an
orphanage. Been a burden on my mother ever since my feckless sister dropped her. Leave
the bags there, the girl can make herself useful for once and take them up to mother's
room."
"I really don't think she's strong enough for that, she's only seven years ... " began Jacob.
"I didn't ask for your opinion," Ernie interrupted, "and I don't appreciate your
interference. If you are not keeping the little brat, I would like you to leave." He glowered
at the pair of them.
Jacob looked down to me. "What do you want to do, pet?" he asked, softly. "You can
come to live with us if you would like to." I saw