The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

Author:Nancy Tucker [Tucker, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chrissie

The police came back to my door the next day. They rang the bell early in the morning, when I was still in my nightie. I had got back late the night before, because I had spent so long lying by the handstand wall waiting for Mam to come and find me. She hadn’t come, but she had wedged the front door open so I wouldn’t have to climb through the kitchen window, which was actually almost better, if you thought about it.

The policeman was the same one who had spoken to Da, but this time he had a friend with him, a shorter one with shinier shoes. My belly danced when I opened the door and saw their silver buttons. I felt like I had been standing in the middle of a dark stage and someone had just turned on the spotlight. They asked whether Mam was home and I told them she was asleep upstairs, which might have been true or not true. They asked if I could wake her and I said I couldn’t because she was sick, which was definitely not true. The taller policeman sighed and started to leave. I wanted them to stay. I wanted the same sherbet feeling I had had in the library corner. My days were hanging long and loose, and I had nothing better to do.

“You’re looking for who killed Steven, aren’t you?” I said, leaning against the doorframe. The taller policeman turned back around. “I saw him,” I said. “The day he died. I just remembered. I saw him with Donna. They were going toward the alleys.”

The policemen looked at each other and the shorter one got out his notebook, flicked through, and showed the taller one something written on a page. I thought it might be the notes PC Woods had made when they had talked to me at school, but then I remembered that those notes had gone in the bin. These policemen didn’t know anyone had ever spoken to me before. People kept forgetting me. It wasn’t good enough.

“Donna Nevison?” the tall one asked.

“Yes. She’s in my class,” I said. “She lives on Conway Road. She’s got a green front door.”

“Where did you see them?” he asked.

“Walking up Steven’s road,” I said. “They were near the end. Where it goes to the alleys.”

“You’re sure it was her?” he asked.

“I think it was. It was a girl with yellow hair.” I thought if I said that, they might go after Betty when they found out it wasn’t Donna, because she had yellow hair too and I didn’t much like her either. I wondered whether they might find out that it really was Donna who had killed Steven, and whether they would take her straight to prison, and then I remembered. This time it was a balloon end, pulled taut and then punctured, so the air hissed out in a sigh. For the first time ever I sort of wished it was Donna who had killed him and not me at all.

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