Read Online A Sister's Promise by Anne Bennett - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Anne Bennett
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the side of the bed crying, ‘Stop this, Kevin! Stop this nonsense!’
The next minute he was almost knocked on his back as the doctor pushed past him, and when he saw the child in the grip of terror, he knew that whatever the priest had said or done had brought this on, and so while he prepared a syringe for the child, he said through gritted teeth, to the nurses that had followed him into the room, ‘Get him out of here.’
‘I assure you, I did or said nothing,’ the priest said as he was led away. ‘One minute I was talking to the child and the next he was yelling his head off.’
He was yelling no longer, for the sedative had done its work and Kevin had lapsed again into a drug-induced stupor. The doctor knew that from that point on, the priest would be another on the banned list of visitors.
Almost a week after Kevin’s admittance to hospital, Molly was given the day off from school because it was the Silver Jubilee of King George V. She visited Kevin in the hospital, which was festooned in red, white and blue, and in festival mode.
‘They say we’re having a party and that,’ Kevin told his sister. ‘And a concert.’
‘You going?’
‘Nah. Don’t think so,’ Kevin said. ‘I don’t feel like it.’
Molly understood, for there had been things planned inErdington too. She had met Hilda on the road a few days earlier and she had advised her to go and enjoy herself. ‘Your mom and dad wouldn’t want you like this,’ she’d said assuredly. ‘You mustn’t feel bad about having a bit of fun now and then.’
‘I know that, Hilda,’ Molly had answered. ‘And maybe in time I will be able to do this, but just now I am too full of sadness to think of anything else. I really am poor company for anyone these days and I am best on my own learning to cope with everything. Anyway, if I had been breaking my neck to go, do you think for one moment my grandmother would let me? She has a poor view on anything that might spell enjoyment for me. God, I have to fight tooth and nail to visit Kevin.’
‘What does your grandfather say of all this carry-on?’
‘Very little,’ Molly said. ‘There’s no point because it would do no good and anyway, if he does say anything she is worse to me afterwards.’
‘I feel that sorry for you, bab.’
‘Hilda, I feel sorry for myself and that doesn’t help either,’ Molly said candidly. ‘And I am afraid that the Jubilee celebrations will have to go on without me.’
One Thursday afternoon over a week later, Molly returned home from school to find a social worker in the house, filling in forms with her grandmother. The visitor looked up and smiled as Molly entered the room.
‘Aren’t you the lucky girl then, going to live far from this dusty city?’ she said.
Molly didn’t feel the slightest bit lucky and she had to know whether there was any sort of viable alternative, even if Biddy punished her afterwards. Just lately she had begun to think an orphanage in Birmingham would be preferable to going anywhere with her horrid grandmother. At least then she might be able to see her granddad and Kevin sometimes.
‘But, you see, I like Birmingham,’ she said, ‘Couldn’t I stay in an orphanage here?’
The social worker laughed a little before saying, ‘Well, you are a funny one and no mistake. Most children wouldn’t choose an orphanage if they had any choice in the matter, but you wouldn’t be offered a place anyway.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because our orphanages are already bursting at the seams,’ the social worker said. ‘They are for children who have no one. They have either been abandoned by their parents or the parents are dead and there is no one else to care for them, while you on the other hand—’
‘Have a home waiting for you,’ Biddy said, cutting in. She continued with a malevolent sneer, ‘Get used to it, Molly. I’m stuck with you and your brother and you are stuck with me.’
Molly knew she was right and at first she told
The next minute he was almost knocked on his back as the doctor pushed past him, and when he saw the child in the grip of terror, he knew that whatever the priest had said or done had brought this on, and so while he prepared a syringe for the child, he said through gritted teeth, to the nurses that had followed him into the room, ‘Get him out of here.’
‘I assure you, I did or said nothing,’ the priest said as he was led away. ‘One minute I was talking to the child and the next he was yelling his head off.’
He was yelling no longer, for the sedative had done its work and Kevin had lapsed again into a drug-induced stupor. The doctor knew that from that point on, the priest would be another on the banned list of visitors.
Almost a week after Kevin’s admittance to hospital, Molly was given the day off from school because it was the Silver Jubilee of King George V. She visited Kevin in the hospital, which was festooned in red, white and blue, and in festival mode.
‘They say we’re having a party and that,’ Kevin told his sister. ‘And a concert.’
‘You going?’
‘Nah. Don’t think so,’ Kevin said. ‘I don’t feel like it.’
Molly understood, for there had been things planned inErdington too. She had met Hilda on the road a few days earlier and she had advised her to go and enjoy herself. ‘Your mom and dad wouldn’t want you like this,’ she’d said assuredly. ‘You mustn’t feel bad about having a bit of fun now and then.’
‘I know that, Hilda,’ Molly had answered. ‘And maybe in time I will be able to do this, but just now I am too full of sadness to think of anything else. I really am poor company for anyone these days and I am best on my own learning to cope with everything. Anyway, if I had been breaking my neck to go, do you think for one moment my grandmother would let me? She has a poor view on anything that might spell enjoyment for me. God, I have to fight tooth and nail to visit Kevin.’
‘What does your grandfather say of all this carry-on?’
‘Very little,’ Molly said. ‘There’s no point because it would do no good and anyway, if he does say anything she is worse to me afterwards.’
‘I feel that sorry for you, bab.’
‘Hilda, I feel sorry for myself and that doesn’t help either,’ Molly said candidly. ‘And I am afraid that the Jubilee celebrations will have to go on without me.’
One Thursday afternoon over a week later, Molly returned home from school to find a social worker in the house, filling in forms with her grandmother. The visitor looked up and smiled as Molly entered the room.
‘Aren’t you the lucky girl then, going to live far from this dusty city?’ she said.
Molly didn’t feel the slightest bit lucky and she had to know whether there was any sort of viable alternative, even if Biddy punished her afterwards. Just lately she had begun to think an orphanage in Birmingham would be preferable to going anywhere with her horrid grandmother. At least then she might be able to see her granddad and Kevin sometimes.
‘But, you see, I like Birmingham,’ she said, ‘Couldn’t I stay in an orphanage here?’
The social worker laughed a little before saying, ‘Well, you are a funny one and no mistake. Most children wouldn’t choose an orphanage if they had any choice in the matter, but you wouldn’t be offered a place anyway.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because our orphanages are already bursting at the seams,’ the social worker said. ‘They are for children who have no one. They have either been abandoned by their parents or the parents are dead and there is no one else to care for them, while you on the other hand—’
‘Have a home waiting for you,’ Biddy said, cutting in. She continued with a malevolent sneer, ‘Get used to it, Molly. I’m stuck with you and your brother and you are stuck with me.’
Molly knew she was right and at first she told
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