Read Online Street Child by Berlie Doherty - Free Book Online Page B

round and tweaks ’em when they ain’t looking.’
    ‘Will you be here tomorrow?’
    Shrimps looked down at Jim. He took a bunch of laces out of his pocket and swirled them round his head. Then he shrugged and ran off.
    That night, as Jim ran home to his shed, his head was busy with new thoughts. There was easily enough room for another small boy to squeeze in. It would be warmer with two of them. Rosie wouldn’t mind, especially if Shrimps got his food in his usual way. ‘Be nice to have a brother,’ he thought as he ran. ‘A brother like Shrimps. Real nice, that would be.’
    It would be a long, long time before he slept so well again. His sleep that night was broken by a stomping of boots and the screech the catch gave as the door was pulled open. It was as if someone had let the river in. A candle was held out towards him and Jim opened his eyes. Two men stood looking down at him, their eyes black holes in the candle-light, their beards froths of fur. Jim recognized one as Rosie’s grandfather. The other man was square with a box-like face and hair that slanted across his eyes like a slipping thatch.
    ‘This boy, d’you mean?’ He gave Jim a kick. Jim sat up in fright, clutching his sack around him.
    ‘I knew I’d seen a lad running in here,’ Rosie’s grandfather wheezed. ‘A little rat, he is, skulking in my shed. I’ll weasel him out, I thought to myself. I’ll winkle him out when the time is right.’
    ‘Please, mister,’ said Jim. ‘I ain’t doin’ no harm.’
    ‘Stand up,’ the square man said. His eyes bulgedabove his fat cheeks as if they were lamps trying to make their way through the thatch.
    Jim struggled to his feet.
    ‘He’s only a twig,’ the square man said. ‘There’s no bones in him, hardly.’
    ‘He’ll grow,’ said the grandfather. ‘I know his type. He’ll grow big and powerful. You can train him up, Nick, when he’s only that big. Won’t give you no trouble, that size. He’s just right. And while he’s training he won’t eat much.’
    Nick grunted. ‘Well, he’s here, and I’m stuck for a boy, so I’ll take him.’
    Grandpa sighed with pleasure. Nick fumbled in his pocket and gave him a coin, which the old man held out to the candle, chuckling.
    ‘Come on, boy,’ Nick said. ‘Bring your bed. You’ll need that.’
    Jim stumbled after him, pulling the sack round his shoulders for warmth, and the door screeched behind him as the old man fastened it to.
    ‘Tell Rosie …’ Jim began, and Grandpa swung round and snarled at him.
    ‘She won’t need no telling. I’ll thank her, shall I, for stealing food from her grandmother’s mouth to stuff in yours? Go on. Go with Grimy Nick. You’ve got a home and a job now. You’ve nothing more to want in life, that’s what.’
    He walked slowly back to his cottage, laughing aloud in his coughing way, spinning the coin that Grimy Nick had given him so it gleamed in the air like a little sun.

13
The Lily
    Jim didn’t dare ask where he was going, or whether he would be coming back, or if he could just run back to the cottage to say goodbye to Rosie. He was quite sure that Grandpa would tell her nothing. He imagined her hurrying out to him in the morning with a mug of tea and a chunk of her solid bread, trying the locked door, calling out to him. He imagined Shrimps swinging his boot-laces over his head, dancing in the streets without him, waiting. He hung back, wanting to dodge into the shadows and run off, but as if he could read his thoughts Grimy Nick swung out his arm and grabbed him by the collar. Jim hurried beside Nick, stealing quick glances up at him. Nick never returned his look, but stumped on, his boots sparking now and then where the cobbles were dry. He took him through the narrow, dark alleys that threaded backwards and forwards between wharves. Rats scuttled away from them. Skinny dogs started up from their sleep and settled down again.
    At last they came to a large warehouse with a row of carts