Free The Tulip Girl by Margaret Dickinson Page A

one.
    ‘They sound like real guns,’ Maddie said when they came back.
    ‘They are,’ Michael said. ‘With real live ammunition.’ He smiled. ‘So don’t go standing near the end of those tubes – just in case!’
    The man was coming towards them with the two cardboard targets in his hand. ‘The one on the left . . .’ He glanced from Michael to Nick, who said, ‘That’s
mine.’
    ‘Well, young feller. Bull’s eyes every time.’ He grinned, showing worn, brown-stained teeth. ‘I’ll have to give you a prize.’
    ‘What about me?’ Michael asked.
    The man slapped the target playfully against Michael’s chest. ‘You, son, will have to go away and practise harder. Way off the bull, you were. Every time.’
    ‘Let the lady choose what she wants,’ Nick said and Maddie followed the man to his wagon.
    Sitting on top of a box, resplendent in a blue silk gown edged with lace, was the prettiest doll Maddie had ever seen. Her eyes widened when she saw it and she didn’t even need to speak
for the man to reach up for it and then place it in her arms.
    ‘Oh, isn’t it beautiful?’ Jenny breathed when Maddie returned to them.
    ‘Sorry, Jen, I’ll . . .’ Michael began, but at that moment they heard Frank’s voice behind them.
    ‘There you are. We’ve been looking all over for you. Come along now, we’d better go and get that lunch else there’ll be none left.’
    In the dim interior of the White Hart, Frank said, ‘Now, you young ones sit at that table together and we’ll sit over here in this quiet corner. All right,
Harriet?’
    As Maddie slid into the bench seat, she noticed the look of concern on Frank’s face as he held out a spindle-backed chair for his housekeeper. Harriet looked pale and her eyes darted
nervously about her. She kept the brim of her felt hat pulled low over her forehead and sat with her back to the other diners.
    Maddie shrugged and turned her attention to Jenny, who slid onto the seat beside her, her wide eyes drinking in all the sights around her.
    Jenny reached out and squeezed her friend’s hand. ‘This is fun, isn’t it?’
    Maddie nodded as she sat the doll between them and watched as Jenny touched the frilled skirt gently, almost reverently, with her small fingers. ‘Isn’t she lovely?’ Maddie
heard her murmur, more to herself than to anyone else.
    Then she looked up and smiled around her, nodding across to where Frank and Harriet sat. ‘Isn’t Mr Brackenbury kind?’
    Michael squeezed himself into the seat opposite Maddie and Nick perched beside him. He seemed almost as ill-at-ease as his mother and kept glancing furtively over his shoulder towards her.
    ‘What about me?’ Michael teased, hearing Jenny’s remark. ‘Aren’t I kind too?’
    Jenny blushed. ‘Oh yes, you’re all very kind. But I mean, him offering for me to join you for dinner. He doesn’t even know me.’
    ‘If you’re a friend of our Maddie’s, then that’s good enough for us,’ Michael said and winked at Maddie. She felt a warm glow suffuse her and felt sure now that
Michael was only being friendly towards Jenny for her sake. He was not pushing her out in favour of a new and prettier little face.
    She glanced at her friend. In the short time since Maddie had left the Home, Jenny seemed to have grown and filled out a little. Today, no doubt in honour of the interview with a prospective
employer, she had on her Sunday best navy dress and a short blue jacket. Her hair, though clean, lacked the shine that Maddie’s now had. How Maddie longed to give her friend some of the
precious shampoo that Michael had bought for her. Then Jenny’s, too, would be a shining golden halo. And hers would be curly, whereas Maddie’s was straight.
    As if reading her thoughts, Jenny turned to her and said, ‘Your hair’s ever so pretty, Maddie. I like it cut short around your face. And it shines so now.’
    Maddie glanced across the table at Michael. ‘That’s because I can now wash it in some