The Country Child
Page 24
Carrie looked round, bewildered, and saw Albert Sandwich. She whispered, ‘What’s happening?’ and he said, ‘A kind of cattle auction, it seems.’
He sounded calmly disgusted. He gave Carrie her suitcase, then marched to the end of the hall, sat down on his own, and took a book out of his pocket.
Carrie wished she could do that. Sit down and read as if nothing else mattered. But she had already begun to feel ill with shame at the fear that no one would choose her, the way she always felt when they picked teams at school. Suppose she was left to the last! She dragged Nick into the line of waiting children and stood, eyes on the ground, hardly daring to breathe. When someone called out, ‘A nice little girl for Mrs Davies, now,’ she felt she would suffocate. She looked up but unfocused her eyes so that passing faces blurred and swam in front of her.
Nick’s hand tightened in hers. She looked at his white face and the traces of sick round his mouth and wanted to shake him. No one would take home a boy who looked like that, so pale and delicate. They would think he was bound to get ill and be a trouble to them. She said in a low, fierce voice, ‘Why don’t you smile and look nice,’ and he blinked with surprise, looking so small and so sweet that she softened. She said, ‘Oh, it’s all right, I’m not cross. I won’t leave you.’
Minutes passed, feeling like hours. Children left the line and were taken away. Only unwanted ones left, Carrie thought. She and Nick, and a few tough-looking boys, and an ugly girl with a squint who had two little sisters. And Albert Sandwich who was still sitting quietly on his suitcase, reading his book and taking no notice. He didn’t care! Carrie tossed her head and hummed under her breath to show she didn’t either.
Someone had stopped in front of her. Someone said, ‘Surely you can take two, Miss Evans?’
‘Two girls, perhaps. Not a boy and a girl, I’m afraid. I’ve only the one room, see, and my brother’s particular.’
Particular about what, Carrie wondered. But Miss Evans looked nice; a little like a red squirrel Carrie had once seen, peering round a tree in a park. Reddish brown hair and bright, button eyes, and a shy, quivering look.
Carrie said, ‘Nick sleeps in my room at home because he has bad dreams sometimes. I always look after him and he’s no trouble at all.’
Miss Evans looked doubtful. ‘Well, I don’t know what my brother will say. Perhaps I can chance it.’ She smiled at Carrie. ‘There’s pretty eyes you have, girl! Like green glass!’
Carrie smiled back. People didn’t often notice her when Nick was around. His eyes were dark blue, like their mother’s. She said, ‘Oh, Nick’s the pretty one, really.’
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First published by Faber & Faber 1931
Published in Jane Nissen Books 2000
Reissued in this edition 2016
Text copyright © Alison Uttley Literary Property Trust, 1931
Illustrations copyright © C. F. Tunnicliffe, 1931
Cover illustration by Dawn Cooper
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted
ISBN: 978–0–141–36196–3
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