‘Does it matter as long as she’s happy?’
Polly didn’t answer, because he’d hit the nail on the head, as usual.
They carried tea through to the living room.
The woman who had hated babies held two in her lap. Softly, she hummed as the pair drifted off to sleep. Linda was swallowing emotion, Cal sat with his eyes closed, Richard, Christine and Norma smiled, while Hattie clung to Ida and Frank stared at the floor.
Chris looked at Polly. ‘See?’ he whispered. ‘God sent an answer after all.’
Lament of a Twelve-Year-Old
I lived here till last Wednesday
With Mam and Dad and Auntie May
Cos Uncle Tommy died at sea
So she slept in my bed with me.
Nancy Byrne at number four’s
Shut in, has bolted both her doors.
She’s old and doesn’t understand
That houses here have all been damned.
(That’s a bad word. I don’t care.)
Miles I walked to come back home.
And on my step I write this poem.
All Kennedys and Shaws are gone
And Mrs Byrne’s the only one
Who shouted GO AWAY, I’M STOPPING
I’ve come to see if she needs shopping.
Far away is where we are
To get to work you’d need a car.
They’re not too bothered about us
We haven’t even got a bus.
From my bedroom I can see
The dockers coming home for tea.
Like ants they crawl until they grow
And I see faces that I know.
We have a garden, path and gate
But my dad always comes home late.
And we don’t want to live out there
Cos Dad’s too tired and sad to care
About three bedrooms, lovely house,
He’s different, quiet as a mouse.
I want my dad back, want him here
Where town and docks are all so near.
I want my school and my best friend.
A new beginning? NO. An end.
Ruth Hamilton
About the Author
Ruth Hamilton is the bestselling author of numerous novels, including Mulligan’s Yard, The Reading Room, Mersey View, That Liverpool Girl, Lights of Liverpool and A Liverpool Song. She has become one of the north-west of England’s most popular writers. She was born in Bolton, which is the setting for many of her novels, and has spent most of her life in Lancashire. She now lives in Liverpool.
By Ruth Hamilton
A Whisper to the Living
With Love From Ma Maguire
Nest of Sorrows
Billy London’s Girls
Spinning Jenny
The September Starlings
A Crooked Mile
Paradise Lane
The Bells of Scotland Road
The Dream Sellers
The Corner House
Miss Honoria West
Mulligan’s Yard
Saturday’s Child
Matthew & Son
Chandlers Green
The Bell House
Dorothy’s War
A Parallel Life
Sugar and Spice
The Judge’s Daughter
The Reading Room
Mersey View
That Liverpool Girl
Lights of Liverpool
A Liverpool Song
A Mersey Mile
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Wayne Brookes, Louise Buckley and Camilla Elworthy of Macmillan Publishers.
Thanks to all who remember Scotland Road before its cruel destruction.
Avril Cain for research.
Geoff Allen, tech support, without whose help I’d still be dipping a quill in black ink.
Readers, I am forever grateful.
First published 2014 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2014 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-4942-9
Copyright © Ruth Hamilton 2014
The right of Ruth Hamilton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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