at boiling point. She was in the process of setting the table. Slamming down the cutlery, hands on hips, she flew at him. ‘I’ll teach you to blatantly ignore my instructions to come straight home, George Greenwood. You’ll stay home for a week. And then you’ll stay for another week on top, for not doing as I asked which was coming home straight from school to see if Gran needed anything or if I’d left any instructions for jobs I needed you to do. And then you’ll stay home for another week for bribing your little sister to do your chores for you while you were off enjoying yourself with your mate. That’s three weeks altogether.’ She noticed Betty hovering behind her brother and snapped at her, ‘And the same goes for you, young lady.’
From her makeshift bed on the sofa, Bertha opened her mouth, preparing to speak up for the children, to request Aidy be a little more lenient with them as, after all, they had not long since lost their mother. But then, Aidy was their mother now, to all intents and purposes, and it wouldn’t be right for Bertha to interfere with the way she decided to discipline them.
Both children’s faces had paled and they were looking extremely worried.
George blurted out, ‘Oh, please, don’t keep me in, our Aidy, ’cos if you do I’ll lose …’ He suddenly stopped speaking, it being very obvious he’d been about to divulge something he’d sooner Aidy not know.
She eyed him suspiciously. ‘You’ll lose what?’ she demanded.
He shuffled uncomfortably on his feet, averting his eyes from hers. ‘Er … me friends.’
‘Yeah, and me too, so please don’t punish me either,’ pleaded Betty.
Aidy eyed them both suspiciously. Her instincts told her they were both up to something … especially George. He had a guilty look about him. Had the Board man not made a mistake after all? If he hadn’t been to school for the last week then where had he been? She looked at him closely. At the end of the day George always looked like he’d been playing in a muck heap, but his appearance did look even more dishevelled than normal. And he did seem fit to drop. Whatever he was up to it was wearing him out.
Matter-of-factly she announced, ‘Gran had a visit from the Board man today, wanting to know why you haven’t been at school. ’Cause you’ve been at school, haven’t you, George? Where else would you be, eh?’
His face was ashen now. ‘The Board man’s bin round?’ he uttered, horrified. Then he said defiantly, ‘Well, he’s got me mixed up with another kid ’cos I have been at school, ain’t I, Betty?’
She gulped, eyes darting everywhere but in her sister’s direction, and uttered, ‘Yes, he has, our Aidy. Honest he has.’
‘And I know when lies are being told! You’re both lying.’ She wagged a finger at George. ‘Shame on you, getting your sister to lie for you. Did you think I wouldn’t find out you’d been truanting from school? Did you think your teacher wouldn’t ask me where you were when I never sent a note in, saying why you were absent? So what have you been up to when you should have been in school? Larking around with your delinquent mates? Plaguing shopkeepers? Robbing old ladies? What, George?’ she bellowed furiously. ‘Now I’ll give you one chance to tell me what you’ve been up to or else you’re in bigger trouble than you already are, if that’s even possible.’
Betty started to cry. ‘Oh, please don’t be cross with him, our Aidy,’ she blubbered. ‘He only did it to help you. I was only trying to help too. That’s why I never came home straight after school, like you told me to.’
Aidy glared at her incredulously. ‘How can you think that playing truant is helping me, you stupid girl?’ she barked. ‘I’m in trouble now with the Board man, for not making sure George was at school.’ Then something Betty had said registered with her. ‘What do you mean, you were only trying to help too and that’s why you never came straight home from school?’ She looked at them both suspiciously. ‘Just what is it that you two have been up to?’ They were both looking everywhere but at her so she bellowed, ‘For God’s sake, will you just tell me?’
Betty gave her brother a hefty nudge in his ribs. ‘You do it ’cos you’re the eldest, George.’