Free Sadie Was A Lady by Joan Jonker Page A

her! Unless you need yer eyes testing, you see her as well.’
    The newspaper rustled and Jack’s gruff voice came from behind it. ‘I hope you two don’t come to blows. I refuse to referee a fight on me day off.’
    Florrie wagged her head. ‘It’s him, he’s trying to be funny.’
    ‘I thought you were the one being funny, Mam, not me. I mean, what does it matter if I see the girl and speak to her? She lives next door, for heaven’s sake! And she’s a nice kid – yer can’t blame her for the rest of the family.’
    ‘She’s one of them and that’s enough for me. Any decent feller wouldn’t touch her with a bargepole. I’d be ashamed to hold me head up in the street if one of mine got involved with scum like them. So you keep well away from her, d’yer hear?’
    Harry leaned his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his clenched fists. ‘Did yer say you’d been to church this morning, Mam? If yer have then yer’ve been under false pretences because there’s nothing Christian in what yer saying. I thought yer were supposed to help those not as well off as yerself, not condemn them.’
    ‘No one could help the Wilsons, they’re past redemption.’ Florrie was getting her temper up. ‘There is no need for them to live in filth like they do. He works full-time and there’s the girl’s wages goin’ in. Many a folk get far less but manage to live a decent life because they don’t go out pubbing it every night.’
    ‘I agree with yer, Mam, on that score. But Sadie … the one you call the girl … is only fifteen years of age – what can she do about it? D’yer think she likes living the way she does?’
    ‘Yer can talk till yer blue in the face, Harry, but yer won’t change me views on the Wilsons. They’re a bad lot and there’s no gettin’ away from it. If I see her trying to get pally with you, I’ll have something to say to her, believe me.’
    Jack shot forward in his chair. ‘No, love, you mustn’t take off on the girl, that wouldn’t be fair. As Harry said, she’s only a kid and it can’t be much of a life for her with the mother and father she’s got. After all, she didn’t ask to be born into this world.’
    Florrie bit on her lip. She wasn’t expecting so much opposition. ‘Harry, just answer me one question. Are yer goin’ out with her?’
    ‘No, Mam, I’m not going out with her. But I will see her and I’ll speak to her whenever I feel like it. She’s a human being and I’ll treat her as one. So go back and tell that to the nosy parker who started all this off. Tell her I said it’s a pity she’s got nothing better to do.’ He pushed his chair back. ‘Give us a couple of pages of the paper, Dad, and I’ll lie on me bed and read it.’

Chapter Five
    ‘Are yer wearin’ that dress to go out in tonight?’ Brenda asked, a dozen pairs of sheets in her outstretched arms ready to be laid with care in the packing crate. ‘Alec saw yer in it when we went out for our chips, so if I were you I’d put something else on.’
    ‘Brenda, I don’t need you to tell me what I should do.’ Sadie was trying hard to be patient, but her friend had talked about nothing else all week and it was grating on her nerves. ‘If it makes yer feel any better, I’ll be getting changed.’
    ‘It doesn’t make me feel any better.’ Brenda’s lips were pursed as she packed the sheets. ‘I don’t know why we couldn’t have gone out in a foursome, like we did last week.’
    ‘Some hope you’ve got after the way yer treated Bobby. I felt really ashamed of yer. The poor lad probably left himself skint all week after forkin’ out for yer, and yer never spoke one word to him! He won’t be wanting to take you out again in a hurry.’
    ‘He would if you asked him.’
    ‘Not on your life! I wouldn’t put the poor lad through that again, not for all the tea in China.’ Sadie decided now was the time to get it all off her chest. ‘Anyway, this first-house lark is ridiculous. Young