A Christmas Gift for the East End Library Girls by Patricia McBride

Author:Patricia McBride [McBride, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

20

Hours later, the train limped into the next stop.

‘All out!’ the stationmaster shouted again and again, waving a red flag.

‘All out?’ Aunty repeated. ‘But we’re nowhere near my station.’

They all hesitated, as if this was some type of trick. Then the stationmaster knocked on their window, making them all jump. ‘All out! Now!’ he repeated, then strode off to the next carriage.

They gathered their belongings and stepped down on to the platform.

The rain had stopped but the air felt laden with water just waiting to fall again. Cordelia shivered; glad she’d put on several layers of clothes in readiness for the temperature in the north of Scotland.

‘What is it? What’s happening?’ she asked the stationmaster as he returned their way.

‘Track’s subsided because of the rain,’ he said. ‘Should be fixed by the morning.’

Skinny took his fag out of his mouth. ‘You gotta be kidding. Where are we supposed to sleep tonight then? Don’t say a hotel ’cos I ain’t got no readies.’

By now there was a small crowd around the stationmaster all wondering the same thing. He looked at them as if they were a nuisance.

‘You can sleep in the waiting room,’ he said, indicating behind him. ‘It’ll be a bit of a squeeze, though. But if you go into the village you’ll find somewhere.’

The two soldiers looked at each other. ‘Come on then, let’s make it to the waiting room.’

With that, they were off with a cheery goodbye.

Aunty stood clutching her quilted bag, looking lost. ‘Oh, deary, deary me. I don’t think my arthritis will stand a night in the cold on a hard floor.’ She looked down at her feet. ‘I can’t afford a hotel neither.’

Cordelia linked her arm through the elderly woman’s. ‘Tell you what. Let’s go and find a room somewhere. We’ll get a twin room. I’ll pay. How does that sound? You can buy me a drink.’

Aunty looked at her as if she were a fairy waving a magic wand.

‘Are you sure, dear? That’ll cost a fair bit, a hotel room.’

Cordelia hitched her bag over her shoulder. ‘Lucky I’m made of money then,’ she said with a laugh. ‘Are you able to walk if we need to find somewhere?’

Aunty nodded. ‘As long as it’s not too far and not uphill.’ She looked around. ‘This looks okay, not too steep.’

The Yorkshire village was quaint, with cobbled streets and stone cottages. Small front gardens showed the remains of summer blooms, now cut back for the winter. There weren’t many people around and it wasn’t long until blackout time.

‘Let’s try the Black Bull pub over there,’ Cordelia said.

Mrs Smith hesitated. ‘I don’t know what my Fred would say, me staying in a pub. I’ve hardly ever even been in one.’

Cordelia tugged at her arm. ‘Your Fred wouldn’t want you sleeping on the streets like a tramp, would he? Let’s hope they’ve still got a room free.’

The pub smelled of beer and cigarettes and was dimly lit with oil lamps, their light reflected on the polished if battered wooden tables.

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