Street Child by Berlie Doherty

Author:Berlie Doherty [Berlie Doherty ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007397631
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

It would be a long, long time before he slept so well again. His sleep that night was broken by a stomping of boots and the screech the catch gave as the door was pulled open. It was as if someone had let the river in. A candle was held out towards him and Jim opened his eyes. Two men stood looking down at him, their eyes black holes in the candle-light, their beards froths of fur. Jim recognized one as Rosie’s grandfather. The other man was square with a box-like face and hair that slanted across his eyes like a slipping thatch.

‘This boy, d’you mean?’ He gave Jim a kick. Jim sat up in fright, clutching his sack around him.

‘I knew I’d seen a lad running in here,’ Rosie’s grandfather wheezed. ‘A little rat, he is, skulking in my shed. I’ll weasel him out, I thought to myself. I’ll winkle him out when the time is right.’

‘Please, mister,’ said Jim. ‘I ain’t doin’ no harm.’

‘Stand up,’ the square man said. His eyes bulged above his fat cheeks as if they were lamps trying to make their way through the thatch.

Jim struggled to his feet.

‘He’s only a twig,’ the square man said. ‘There’s no bones in him, hardly.’

‘He’ll grow,’ said the grandfather. ‘I know his type. He’ll grow big and powerful. You can train him up, Nick, when he’s only that big. Won’t give you no trouble, that size. He’s just right. And while he’s training he won’t eat much.’

Nick grunted. ‘Well, he’s here, and I’m stuck for a boy, so I’ll take him.’

Grandpa sighed with pleasure. Nick fumbled in his pocket and gave him a coin, which the old man held out to the candle, chuckling.

‘Come on, boy,’ Nick said. ‘Bring your bed. You’ll need that.’

Jim stumbled after him, pulling the sack round his shoulders for warmth, and the door screeched behind him as the old man fastened it to.

‘Tell Rosie …’ Jim began, and Grandpa swung round and snarled at him.

‘She won’t need no telling. I’ll thank her, shall I, for stealing food from her grandmother’s mouth to stuff in yours? Go on. Go with Grimy Nick. You’ve got a home and a job now. You’ve nothing more to want in life, that’s what.’

He walked slowly back to his cottage, laughing aloud in his coughing way, spinning the coin that Grimy Nick had given him so it gleamed in the air like a little sun.

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