Free Born Bad by Josephine Cox

into the garden where the evening shadows had begun to movein.
    For what seemed an age he stood by the door, his gaze sweeping that pretty, tiny garden he had known so well as a boy.
    Few things had changed. The apple tree was still there, its far-reaching branches touching the bedroom windows as always. The wooden gate that led onto the back lane was still wonky, and the bolt that secured it was still hanging by a thread.
    The garden path was new though;where before it had been hardcore and broken concrete, it was now paved with pretty square blocks. The vegetable patch was obviously still in use, because the fork was standing up in the soil. And the patch of grass under the window was forever worn where Kathleen walked when cleaning the windows.
    Walking to the far end of the garden on this, the last day of summer, he sat on the same iron benchthat he had sat on as a teenager; though it was succumbing to rust in places. As he looked about at all the familiar things, he felt a great sense of homecoming.
    He closed his eyes and he could see Judy, the girl who had awakened him to beauty and love, and whose image he had never really lost.
    In that split second, steeped in memories, he could not see his beloved Sara. That was when the tearsbroke loose and he could not stop them. Instead he leaned forward, head in hands, and sobbed at the cruelty of it all. ‘Sara.’ He said her name over and over. He had never wanted anything more in his life than to see her right there, where he could stretch out his arms and hold her so tight she would never leave him again.
    From the kitchen window Kathleen saw, and her heart ached for him. ‘Oh,dear boy,’ she murmured. ‘Stay strong. The pain will surely ease, but maybe not the loneliness … ever.’ She knew all about that, since the loss of her own dear Michael.
    Not wanting to intrude on Harry’s private grief, she waited a while. She had the pot of tea all ready on the tray, and a plate of biscuits for dunking. Now though, she poured the tea down the sink and slipped the biscuits backinto the box.
    Going to the sitting room she took out a bottle of the finest brandy from the bottom cupboard, collected two glasses from her best cabinet and, armed with her cure for all ills, she made her way to the kitchen window. Harry, she could see, had come through a very bad time, and was only now appearing to be more in control of his emotions.
    ‘Ah! There y’are, Harry Boy,’ she slowedher step, wisely allowing him time to recover. ‘When I couldn’t find you in the house, I thought you might be in the garden.’
    ‘Sorry, Kathleen, I should have told you where I’d be.’ Thankful for her timely intervention, he suspected she had seen him, and was grateful that she made no mention of it.
    Falling heavily onto the bench, she gave out a cry. ‘Jaysus, Mary and Joseph! It strikes coldto the nether regions, an’ no mistake!’
    Harry grinned. ‘Here – swap places. I’ve warmed my seat up.’ He spied the bottle of brandy and the glasses. ‘So, what’s all this then?’
    ‘A party in a bottle,’ she laughed. ‘It’s September tomorrow, me laddie. The night air is a bit thin an’ we don’t want to end up with raging pneumonia, now do we, eh?’ She brandished the bottle. ‘This little beauty willchase away the cold, while we sit and talk.’
    Placing both glasses in his fist, she told him, ‘Hold the little divils still while I open this ’ere bottle.’
    She twisted with all her might until suddenly the top was out and the brandy breathing. ‘Nothing better than a drop o’ the good stuff to warm the cockles,’ she promised, pouring out two good measures.
    That done, she replaced the top and stoodthe bottle on the ground beside her. ‘Bottoms up, Harry me boy!’ Raising her glass, she toasted, ‘Here’s to you and that darlin’ boy of yours – and brighter days ahead for us all.’
    Harry drank to that. ‘To all of us! And you’re right,’ he recalled her