The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

Author:Peter Ho Davies
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

ON HER NEXT NIGHT OFF Esther tells Arthur she’s going to the pictures, cycles to the bottom of the lane, then doubles back on foot, up the slope. She tells herself it’s to catch Jim, to make sure he doesn’t get into any more trouble, but she crouches behind a tree when she hears the metallic grind and rattle of the constable’s bike and sees Parry ride into view. Seven o’clock, she thinks; he’ll be off home soon for the tea Blodwyn’s making him. She watches him cycle by slowly, his eyes on the camp. A couple of the Germans give him a wave, but Parry just glares at them.

Before he’s even out of sight down the lane, Esther sees the boys, Pinkie leading them, saunter out of the trees below her. On another of their “recce missions,” as they call them. Jim brings up the rear, swinging from trunk to trunk as he hurries down the steep slope, yodeling like Tarzan.

Most of the men ignore them as before, but she sees a small knot—three or four of the younger Germans—advancing on the fence and finds herself standing, as if to run. Pinkie has his fists up and is bouncing around, throwing out shadow punches. “Wanna fight?” he calls. “You don’t look so tough.” He jabs the air in front of him, his stark white fists shining in the dusk.

Little coward, she thinks. She hears Jim’s thin voice: “Seconds out. Ding ding.” And then one of the Germans, a stocky fellow, marches up to the wire, shrugging off his shirt, and the boys fall back a step. He grins, pops his muscles, warms up with a few swift combinations, bobbing his head and shuffling his feet, then drops into a stance, fists raised. He beckons impatiently, and Pinkie, after a second, takes a tentative swing, but the prisoner just slaps at his cheek like he’s been bitten by a flea, shakes his head.

There’s a burst of laughter from his friends, and she can see Pinkie blushing from here. He starts to windmill his arm, winding up for a haymaker, but the German’s lost interest in him. He walks along the wire, feinting at the boys, making some of them jump, and stops in front of Jim, the smallest, and crooks a finger. The boy looks down the line at the others, some of whom are waving him on, and she sees him throw out a small fist. The German reels, falling back into the arms of his comrades, who hoist him up, push him forward. Esther watches, perplexed by the performance, and then it occurs to her that they’re humoring the boys, playing with them. Jim seems puzzled himself, but throws out a combination to the gut, and the big man doubles over, sags to his knees, amid laughter from both sides of the fence. One of the boys holds Jim’s hand up. The winner.

The light is fading, but the evening is still warm, the slate hillsides radiating the heat they’ve been absorbing all day.

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.