Free The Long Walk Home by Valerie Wood Page B

muttered. 'Don't see why not.'
    'Tell you what,' the younger woman said. 'You can stop wi' us tonight.'
    He gazed at them warily. His mother's warnings came into his mind. 'Erm, I can't pay you. I've got no money.'
    They both grinned. 'We hear that all 'time; but we believe you. Go on,' the older woman said. 'Go to Leadenhall Square. Second house on 'right. You can't miss it. It's got a broken front door and a cracked upstairs window.'
    'H-how will I get in?' he stammered. 'Can I have a key?'
    'No.' She laughed. Her teeth were blackened and worn down to short uneven stubs. 'Door's always open. If you see Milly or any of 'other lasses there, tell 'em that Peg and Sissy sent you and that you're stopping 'night.'
    He clambered to his feet, hanging on to Mrs Turner's blanket. 'Thanks,' he said. 'If you're sure it's all right?'
    They both nodded and waved him away and he knew that they wanted him to leave so they could have their pitch back.
    There were no street lights in Leadenhall Square, but most of the houses had lamplight in the windows. At first he thought that the second house on the right was derelict. The door was broken, as Peg had said, but she hadn't said that it was hanging on by one hinge. The upstairs window was cracked, but so was the one downstairs, and both were covered over with cardboard. A young woman was sitting on the steps.
    'What do you want?' she shouted at him as he approached. 'This your first time?'
    'Peg and Sissy told me to come,' he said nervously. 'They said I could stop here for tonight.'
    She got to her feet. 'You what?' She sounded incredulous. 'For free?'
    'Yeh. I haven't got any money and nowhere to stop. My ma's just died.' He couldn't help the tremor in his voice and the woman— only a girl, really, though older than him— gazed at him curiously.
    'Just for tonight, do you mean? Where will you go then?'
    'I don't know. I was in their place— Peg and Sissy's. It was 'second time and they wanted me to move on.'
    She sighed. 'So they sent you here! I don't know where you'll sleep. There're no beds; you'll just have to find a corner somewhere. Better'n being outside, I suppose. Not comfortable on 'street, is it? I should know.'
    She led him inside, into a narrow hall and through to a kitchen. 'You can kip in here if you like. There's onny us comes in here to mek a cuppa tea or summat. What's your name?'
    The floor was bare, but under a rickety table covered in crockery, bottles and bits of mouldy food was a thin rug. It might be flea-ridden, he reckoned, but more comfortable than lying on the cold ground he'd just vacated.
    'Mikey,' he answered. 'Can I sleep under 'table?'
    'If you like,' she said. 'But don't wake 'bairn.' She nodded over to the corner of the room. A drawer was placed on two chairs and in the drawer was a bundle. 'He'll sleep all night if he's not disturbed.'
    'Whose bairn is it?' he asked curiously.
    'Mine,' she said belligerently. 'That's why I'm here and not out on 'streets. I look after him and 'house and mek sure nobody else comes in.'
    'I see,' he muttered, though he didn't really. The girl looked too young to be the mother of a child. But what do I know? It's all a mystery to me. He thought back to Bridget crawling under his blanket, and the touch of her flesh. He'd been excited by and yet ashamed of the sensation that had come over him. Suppose, just suppose that he'd been undressed and not still in his clothes. He broke into a sweat. Might Bridget have become pregnant?
    He was an innocent. His mother had made sure that he was. Don't be thinking unclean thoughts, Mikey, she had said often enough. And keep away from girls. They'll only get you into trouble.
    'What's your name?' he asked the girl. 'Are you Milly?'
    She nodded. 'Yeh. I came here when I was expecting. Peg and Sissy looked after me.'
    'Where's your babby's da? Does he live here?' He was bothered that some man might come in and want to know why there was a strange lad asleep under the table.
    Milly laughed.