The Cuckoo Child by Katie Flynn

Author:Katie Flynn [Flynn, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Sagas
ISBN: 9780434012411
Google: RfNUjxFZdkgC
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 2743468
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2005-06-27T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Dot got back home without incident and was glad that the whole house was in darkness. She fished the key on its length of string up through the letter box and unlocked the door, letting herself into the silent house. The parlour door was tightly shut, but when she put her ear to it she could hear her uncle’s tremendous snores and guessed that he was still celebrating the fact that he was about to become father to twins. It was a pity, because for several weeks he had returned to the house, if not sober as a judge, at least no more than a little merry, and neither Aunt Myrtle nor Dot had any objection to this. But if he was sleeping in the parlour – and snoring like a pneumatic drill – it must be because he had drunk a great deal and that was bad news for everyone, since drink cost money and drunks cost Aunt Myrtle her peace of mind. However, she went through to the kitchen without incident and found her sofa bed had been made up which was, she thought, Aunt Myrtle’s way of apologising for the bad temper she had shown when she had told Dot about the twins. The fire had been banked down but the tin of cocoa stood on the table and there was still a cupful of hot water in the kettle, so she made herself a quick drink, then climbed on to the sofa and was soon fast asleep.

She was awoken next morning by the sound of her aunt riddling the fire and got out of bed at once to take the ash pan from her and to say she would empty it into the bin whilst her aunt made a cup of tea. Aunt Myrtle merely nodded, but when Dot returned to the house and slid the ash pan back into place, there were two cups of tea waiting on the table and her aunt smiled at her. ‘You’re norra bad girl, queen,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry I weren’t too pleasant to you when I telled you about the twins, but honest to God, Dot, I don’t know how I’ll manage.’

‘I said I’d help,’ Dot said, rather reproachfully, fetching the oats from the cupboard and starting to make the porridge. She decided it was time that she, too, apologised, because she knew very well she had been so wrapped up in the affair of the necklace that she had not helped Aunt Myrtle nearly as much as she usually did. ‘And I did mean it, honest to God I did. I know I’ve been out an awful lot lately, but you know what it’s like in the summer, Aunt Myrtle. Me and me pals have a game goin’ . . . I can’t explain it exactly – it’s sort of cops ’n’ robbers – but I’ll tell them today that I can’t hang around with them like I’ve been doing.’

Aunt Myrtle, slicing bread, nodded briskly. ‘Right; I’ve gorra list of messages as long as me arm, so you can start by doin’ them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.