Alley Urchin by Cox Josephine

Author:Cox, Josephine [Cox, Josephine]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2012-01-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

‘Well I’m buggered, Molly lass,’ cackled Sal Tanner as she watched the girl strip-wash over the bucket of canal water, ‘yer nobbut comin’ up twelve year old . . . an’ already ye’ve got pointed little tets!’ When Molly looked at her in disgust, with a deep uncomfortable blush spreading over her lovely face, Sal rocked with laughter. ‘Don’t be embarrassed, gal,’ she told her, ‘at lest, not ’till yer get ter my age, an yer tets ’ang down ter yer knees like withered balloons!’ She roared again, when Molly hurriedly finished her wash, quickly replacing her panties and misshapen grey dress, which came down to the top of her boots in a ragged, uneven hem. The boots she pulled on had also seen better days, the laces being too short to do up the top eyelets, and the toe of one boot having come slightly apart.

Taking her wooden bone-toothed comb, Molly raked it through her short black hair until it shone blue as a raven’s wing. ‘I ain’t taking no notice of you, Sal Tanner,’ she said with a toss of her head, ‘you’re just trying to rile me, and it won’t work!’

Sal had been making a determined effort to chew the small slice of apple which she had just pared with her penknife. Fast losing patience at her inability to enjoy the juicy apple, because it was difficult to chew with your gums when all your teeth had fallen out, she spat it out through the hut window and threw the remainder of the apple after it. ‘Sod an’ bugger it!’ she yelled. ‘As fer you, Molly lass . . . yer gerring too bloody big fer yer boots. Aye! Too cheeky, an’ too ’igh an’ mighty by ’arf.’

Molly paid no heed. She knew that Sal had to take her frustrations out on somebody, and as she was the only other one here, then it might as well be her. ‘I shan’t wash in the hut anymore,’ she told Sal Tanner, at the same time picking up the handle of the bucket and lifting its considerable weight off the floor. ‘If you’re gonna make fun of me, I’ll wash by the canal.’

‘Oh aye? That’ll be a grand idea, won’t it, eh? Gi’ the passin’ barges a right old treat . . . show them yer little pointed tets, why don’t yer?’ Her humour having returned in the face of Molly’s innocent remarks, Sal Tanner threw her two arms up in the air and began rocking back and forth in a fit of helpless laughter, her toothless mouth wide open and her legs the same. Molly patiently shook her head, gave out a little laugh at the merry sight, then went down to the canal and emptied the bucket into it.

When she returned to the hut, she found Sal in a worse state, filled with panic and trying desperately to cough up a chunk of apple which appeared to have lodged itself in her gullet. It took a

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