Leaving Shades by Gloria Cook

Author:Gloria Cook
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788636506
Publisher: Canelo Digital Publishing Ltd
Published: 2019-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

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The gang of four, led by Joe and Chaplin, with Lily in the middle and Richard at the rear, crept out of the willows, but not before Lily’s willing face and hands were daubed with dirt and her long plaits pushed out of the way down the back of her dress. Hunched over and ready to flee if necessary, they reached Gabby Magor’s hard, dusty, nettle-infested ground, and crept over endless rolled-up fag ends and spent matches. They skirted round miscellaneous rubbish, hunks of rusting metal, bits of animal bones and a dead squashed rat. Keeping as diligent as the boys, Lily didn’t utter a breath of disgust, but when a short bendy wire washing line came into view at the side of the cottage, she halted to gape amazed at a pair of flannel bloomers, the size of which would make an ensemble of clothes for her.

Richard bumped into her. ‘Move!’ He pushed her along roughly.

Lily nearly staggered into Joe, but she wasn’t cross about the push. She shouldn’t have taken her mind off the quest.

Joe made straight for a sort of shed made of rough wooden slats. A quick look through the cracks and he was sure there were no unfortunate animals left to languish inside. There was no point in checking through the filthy cottage windows. Gabby Magor was too rotten to let a creature have the dubious comfort of being inside her manky home. He next went to a privy-sized, stone-walled, slate-roofed outhouse, sheltered under the shade of a hawthorn tree. There was no window and the fortress-strong padlock meant it could only be Gabby’s wine store. ‘Keep lookout,’ he ordered the pair. Tight-lipped and eagle-eyed, Richard and Lily stationed themselves at the corners of the buildings and peered all about the dismal surroundings. Chaplin paced about near Joe, on guard.

Lily was gleeful. If she performed her part well the boys might let her join them on other adventures. She glanced furtively at Joe, who had propped his staff against the wall. What was he going to do? He pulled a screwdriver out of the tool belt. He was going to break into the building, and not by trying to saw through the heavy padlock.

Joe launched himself into the battle of undoing the four rusted screws in the door plate and the fierce effort required soon made sweat break out on his brow and neck. His shoulders ached and he clenched his jaw and panted from the difficulty of getting a firm grip on the screw heads. The screwdriver kept slipping and his knuckles got skinned but he doggedly persevered, grunting, silently swearing to encourage himself. A tiny bit at a time he released each of the four screws slightly then began the easier task of getting each screw out. He didn’t ease up for a second, trusting Richard and Chaplin to give an urgent signal if they all suddenly needed to flee.

It seemed a beastly amount of time before he had the door plate and the padlock in his hands.

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