Mavis's Shoe by Sue Reid Sexton

Author:Sue Reid Sexton [Sue Reid Sexton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Waverley Books
Published: 2011-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Rosie and I had to pee in the bushes because the cludgie was in no fit state with so many people. We weren’t the first amongst the bracken and the broom either. Mr Tait gave us the last of his bread and we got dressed in our new, clean dresses with the velvet collars that the lady in the town hall had given us. I tied the trouser belt around my waist so that I could hang Mavis’s shoe from it and made sure Rosie didn’t see. I felt guilty for letting her think she was going to see her mum, but I had to, otherwise she wouldn’t have got ready so quickly.

Miss Weatherbeaten seemed to take ages and when we finally climbed into the bus she was silent for most of the way, as if she wasn’t really with us.

Rosie and I sat in window seats one behind the other, Miss Weatherbeaten beside her and Mr Tait beside me. So I leant over the seat and tickled Rosie’s hair and we watched the green countryside fly past and then the grey streets. There was a church smouldering near the road – the bus had to slow down to get past it. Some boys were throwing stones at the fire. (Stupid boys, like George and Dougie.) Tenements like ours were black with no roofs and only the sky in their place, and packs of dogs were sniffing amongst the rubble. I wondered if we were nearly home.

‘No, Lenny,’ said Mr Tait. ‘This is Glasgow. They got bombed too.’

He told me we had to go into town and change onto a tram to come back out to Clydebank. We would go to the town hall first to find Mavis, passing the hospital on our way, and then come back to the hospital to find my mum. It seemed daft to me but I took his word for it.

On the tram to Clydebank we pressed our noses to the window to see all the fancy shops. Much fancier than Kilbowie Road they were, and more expensive too according to Miss Weatherbeaten. There were cafes with shiny coloured-glass windows, and people I didn’t know walking up and down the street.

‘We’ll be passing the hospital soon,’ said Mr Tait after a bit.

‘Will she see me if I wave?’ I said. ‘I’m going to wave!’

‘I’m going to wave too!’ said Rosie.

‘Why can’t I go and see her?’ I said.

‘She’s probably resting,’ said Mr Tait.

I realised this was most likely true.

‘I’m going to wave anyway,’ I said.

‘So am I,’ said Rosie.

‘Couldn’t I just go and ask at the front door,’ I said. ‘I could go and ask if she’s alright. Surely I could do that, couldn’t I? You could all go to Clydebank, go to work, find Mavis at the town hall and come back here in time for visiting. When did you say it was?’

‘That’s very organised of you, Lenny,’ said Mr Tait, ‘but . . . .’

‘Is that it?’ I said. A huge stout building of red sandstone, like the red tenements at home, had appeared beyond some trees.

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