Read Online Two Penn'orth of Sky by Katie Flynn - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Katie Flynn
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she need no longer feel guilty when she visited at No. 4.
Satisfied on this score, she climbed out of the bath, reached for a towel and was very soon in bed.
Chapter Four
Diana was on the back lawn, picking daisies, when the doorbell rang. For a moment, she stopped in her task, wondering who could be calling in the middle of the morning – and coming to the front door, furthermore. If Mammy had ordered something from a shop, then the tradesman would come whistling round the side of the house, basket on arm, to deliver at the back door, and have a chat with Lucy at the same time.
This was obviously not a tradesman and morning callers held no interest for Diana. None of the neighbours had children her age, and though her mammy sometimes took her to the local park where she met other children, they were not in the habit of coming to the house – probably did not even know where she lived.
She wished that the caller could have been Charlie, or even Becky, but she knew it would be neither. Charlie and Becky would not undertake the long journey from Nightingale Court to Lancaster Avenue just to see her, for she knew, without bitterness, that her affection for Charlie was one-sided indeed. He had told her the other day that girls were a bloomin’ nuisance. ‘But you saved me life, Charlie, so I’ve got to love you,’ she had wailed, dismayed by the thought of her affection’s being spurned. But Charlie had only snorted and repeated his assertion that girls were a bloomin’ nuisance,adding that she was not to foller him around or else she’d get a thick ear.
Diana did not know what a thick ear was but she gathered that it was a sign of disapproval and resigned herself to worshipping Charlie from afar. Becky, of course, was a very different kettle of fish; being younger than Diana it was she who tended to follow the other girl around when the two families were together. Diana approved of Becky and would have been delighted had she come round to play, but she knew Becky was too young to leave the court, and anyway, why should she? There were dozens of children there; Becky would never lack a playfellow in the way that Diana did. Oh, there were no lovely gardens, no daisy-starred lawns, no trips to the park to feed the ducks, but there was companionship in plenty.
Having settled in her own mind that the caller could be of no possible interest to her, Diana sat back, spread out the skirt of her yellow cotton dress, and regarded her daisy harvest. She meant to make the longest daisy chain in the world so that when Daddy came home he would be able to admire it. She knew that daisy chains, if put in the cool of the big scullery, could last for as long as three days, so there was no fear that this one would fade and die before Daddy’s arrival. Frowning with concentration, Diana began her task.
A few moments later, whilst she was still working, she heard a most peculiar noise emanating from the house. It sounded a bit as though someone had shut a dog’s tail in the door. Diana distinctly remembered the long, pained wail which Bones had given when Aunty Beryl had slammed the back door on his nether regions by mistake. She stopped what shewas doing and half rose to her feet, but then she realised that if she stood up, the daisies would go everywhere, and sat down again. Since they didn’t have a dog, she supposed that poor Lucy must have cut herself, or shut her finger in the door. I could go and see what’s happened, only Mammy is there and she’s much better than me over cut fingers, she told herself, picking up the next daisy and beginning to thread it through the slit she had already made in the previous stalk. I wish we had a dog, her thoughts continued, as her fingers sorted and selected daisies from the mound in her lap. If we had a dog, it could chase a ball, or just sit beside me on the grass and be company. Daddy would like a dog but Mammy’s afraid of big dirty paw marks all over her shiny floors and carpets,
Satisfied on this score, she climbed out of the bath, reached for a towel and was very soon in bed.
Chapter Four
Diana was on the back lawn, picking daisies, when the doorbell rang. For a moment, she stopped in her task, wondering who could be calling in the middle of the morning – and coming to the front door, furthermore. If Mammy had ordered something from a shop, then the tradesman would come whistling round the side of the house, basket on arm, to deliver at the back door, and have a chat with Lucy at the same time.
This was obviously not a tradesman and morning callers held no interest for Diana. None of the neighbours had children her age, and though her mammy sometimes took her to the local park where she met other children, they were not in the habit of coming to the house – probably did not even know where she lived.
She wished that the caller could have been Charlie, or even Becky, but she knew it would be neither. Charlie and Becky would not undertake the long journey from Nightingale Court to Lancaster Avenue just to see her, for she knew, without bitterness, that her affection for Charlie was one-sided indeed. He had told her the other day that girls were a bloomin’ nuisance. ‘But you saved me life, Charlie, so I’ve got to love you,’ she had wailed, dismayed by the thought of her affection’s being spurned. But Charlie had only snorted and repeated his assertion that girls were a bloomin’ nuisance,adding that she was not to foller him around or else she’d get a thick ear.
Diana did not know what a thick ear was but she gathered that it was a sign of disapproval and resigned herself to worshipping Charlie from afar. Becky, of course, was a very different kettle of fish; being younger than Diana it was she who tended to follow the other girl around when the two families were together. Diana approved of Becky and would have been delighted had she come round to play, but she knew Becky was too young to leave the court, and anyway, why should she? There were dozens of children there; Becky would never lack a playfellow in the way that Diana did. Oh, there were no lovely gardens, no daisy-starred lawns, no trips to the park to feed the ducks, but there was companionship in plenty.
Having settled in her own mind that the caller could be of no possible interest to her, Diana sat back, spread out the skirt of her yellow cotton dress, and regarded her daisy harvest. She meant to make the longest daisy chain in the world so that when Daddy came home he would be able to admire it. She knew that daisy chains, if put in the cool of the big scullery, could last for as long as three days, so there was no fear that this one would fade and die before Daddy’s arrival. Frowning with concentration, Diana began her task.
A few moments later, whilst she was still working, she heard a most peculiar noise emanating from the house. It sounded a bit as though someone had shut a dog’s tail in the door. Diana distinctly remembered the long, pained wail which Bones had given when Aunty Beryl had slammed the back door on his nether regions by mistake. She stopped what shewas doing and half rose to her feet, but then she realised that if she stood up, the daisies would go everywhere, and sat down again. Since they didn’t have a dog, she supposed that poor Lucy must have cut herself, or shut her finger in the door. I could go and see what’s happened, only Mammy is there and she’s much better than me over cut fingers, she told herself, picking up the next daisy and beginning to thread it through the slit she had already made in the previous stalk. I wish we had a dog, her thoughts continued, as her fingers sorted and selected daisies from the mound in her lap. If we had a dog, it could chase a ball, or just sit beside me on the grass and be company. Daddy would like a dog but Mammy’s afraid of big dirty paw marks all over her shiny floors and carpets,
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