Free The Beast of Seabourne by Rhys A. Jones Page B

blue.” Ellie rolled her eyes.
    â€œIf she goes in at eighteen, it’s a year and a half, and she’ll be Army, I know she will.”
    Oz nodded. They both knew people who had left school and gone straight in to do their “script”—conscription, or compulsory military service. They knew, too, that it was probably the best way to get yourself killed in some desert or the Japanese-Chinese border or Patagonia.
    â€œMum told me there was no script when she went to Uni. And all the fees were paid for and you could get a grant for accommodations.”
    â€œMaybe they’ll stop the script. They’re always talking about it.”
    â€œMaybe,” Oz said, but somehow he doubted it. There were too many wars in too many countries.
    â€œAnyway, next week, Macy’s going on a week’s course with a group of year twelves. Means I get the bedroom all to myself for once.” She grinned, looking very pleased.
    Ellie was the middle one of five and was always telling Oz how much she wished she had a room of her own, as he and Ruff each did.
    â€œWhat about you, you still fancy going to Uni, then?”
    Oz asked.
    â€œTotally. I quite like the thought of geography. My dad says it’s one of those things you can do anything with.” She shook her head. “But the way things are going, I don’t see it happening. I just don’t fancy having a huge loan to pay off, and my mum and dad will definitely not be able to afford it.”
    There didn’t seem much to say after that. Oz didn’t dare think about how he and his mother would manage if he ever went to university, so he decided to steer the conversation back to what had triggered it in the first place. “Macy’ll be okay whatever she does, though. She’s really…popular.”
    â€œWith boys, yeah.”
    â€œI didn’t mean…”
    Ellie put on a quirky smile, batted her eyelashes, and said, “Hello, gorgeous,” in a pretty good Macy imitation.
    Oz, though he laughed, felt his cheeks start to burn.
    â€œSee what I mean?” Ellie said, shaking her head. She turned and threaded her way through the random arrangement of crowded seating to their usual corner table. Oz followed, flopped into a comfortable armchair, and looked around. The place teemed with shoppers. Something catchy but subdued was playing on the sound system. There was a wonderful smell of baked pastry and chocolate and coffee in the air, and it was warm and cosy and just right.
    â€œWhere’s Ruff?” Ellie asked.
    â€œHe texted me to say he’d be a bit late. Said he had to help his dad with gardening stuff.”
    â€œSeems to be doing that a lot lately,” Ellie observed. “Mum says things have been a bit tight for lots of people since Brocket’s closed down.”
    Oz nodded. Ruff ’s dad had been a maintenance engineer at the car parts factory.
    â€œBit tough on Ruff, though,” Oz said, smiling selfconsciously at the rhyme.
    Ellie shaped a fleeting, long-suffering grin before asking, “And Ruff ’s mum doesn’t go out to work, does she?”
    Oz shook his head. “She has a full-time job looking after Ruff and his brother.”
    â€œPay is lousy but you get your reward in heaven. Yeah, my mum keeps telling me that, too. So, there’s probably not much spare cash about at the Adams’ house.”
    â€œSo what’s new? None of us are exactly rolling in it, are we?”
    â€œNo,” Ellie mused. “Mum’s always on at me about the paper round she had when she was a kid.” Her voice became a shrill echo of her mother’s. “ I used to get up at six every morning .”
    â€œSo does she want you to have a paper round, too?”
    â€œThat’s just it,” Ellie said in a voice loaded with exasperation. “Soon as I suggested I get one, she went completely bananas.”
    â€œWhy?’
    â€œOh, the usual.