Authors: Rachel Anderson
Dot didn't know what an asylum was. She thought it was a kind of prison. So had he done something wrong?
“Nervous collapse, they called it. He was a mental, couldn't even speak a threepenny bit.”
Dot thought of Loopy Lil. She was a mental. She was also a safe and kind person to be with. If her father got like that, then it might be all right.
“Loopy Lil's different,” said Gloria. “She were born that way. Your old man started out okay. When he got called up, he was good as the best of them. First time I see him in his uniform, he looked that lovely I could've eaten him alive. It was thinking too much, about the fighting, what did for him, got him all confused. It was a kind of illness, in the head.”
Dot remembered what it was like when she had felt so ill and confused.
“He didn't like none of it, so he sort of copped out, gave up eating one fine day, till he couldn't stand up no more, couldn't do what he was told on the airfield. Last war, men who did what he done, they called them deserters. Used to take them out and shoot them in the head. That cured their problems darn quick.”
“I'm glad they don't do that no more,” Dot said. She wondered, did Gloria still love him?
“What kind of funny question is that?”
“Was it like when I was ill and couldn't eat? Maybe he needs to get a breath of fresh air. Maybe you should take him down to Mrs. Hollidaye's. Get some roses in his cheeks. I got better, didn't I?”
“Can't do that, ducks. He's been discharged. He ought to start looking for work now.”
He wasn't really sleeping. He heard them whispering by the door. He rolled over and opened his eyes, though he didn't look at Dot any more than she looked at him. He looked over at Gloria.
“It's her what should go away and stay,” he said. “It's not right her having to be cooped up in here with me. She don't like me. She's scared.”
“Am not!” Dot wanted to explain it was more that she just didn't know him yet, and she was sorry about him being ill.
“That woman who's been good to you, would she have her if you asked?”
Gloria nodded.
He took a ten-shilling note from his trouser pocket and gave it to Gloria.
“She'd be all right on the train?”
“Oh, yes,” said Gloria. “She's a sensible kid, aren't you, ducky? And she likes it down there.”
He took four pennies from his other pocket.
“She know how to use the phone?” he asked.
“Course I do,” Dot said.
“She got the lady's number?”
“Yes.”
Gloria said, “All right then, love. You do as your dad says. Hop on over to the end of the road and give her a tinkle. Ask if you can come down for a day or two. I can tell school you been took poorly again.”
Dot walked down the road slowly to give herself time to think what to say. She wanted so much to go to Mrs. Hollidaye's, for a long time. Yet she sensed that it might be like telling things the way you wanted them to be rather than the way they really were. It would be like running away from him back at the basement. Dot decided she wouldn't invite herself to stay but would wait till Mrs. Hollidaye asked her.
She dialed the number carefully and heard the distant ringing tone. She could imagine it clanging across the hall, up the stairway, along the drafty corridors, around the drawing room, and out through the open windows. She wanted to go and yet didn't want to go both at once.
She heard Mrs. Hollidaye's voice answer and she pressed button A to let the pennies clatter through, and they were connected.
“Hello there, Mrs. H. It's me, Dorothy here. How's yourself, then?”
Mrs. Hollidaye sounded pleased. She asked Dot about whether the sun was shining in London, about the school, and about Gloria.
Dot said they were all A-one and tip-top.
Then Mrs. Hollidaye told Dot about Loopy Lil, about the dogs and the hens, and about her son, whose ship was due home from the Pacific any day now.
Dot kept expecting Mrs. Hollidaye to ask her to come down and stay. Why didn't she?
Dot said, “We didn't get the flat we was after. So Gloria's put in for one of them new prefabs.”
Mrs. Hollidaye said she had read about them. “Prefabricated temporary emergency housing. How perfectly champion.”
“If we get one, we'll have two bedrooms, so I'll have me own window to look out of. I've always wanted me own window. But they don't build them,” Dot explained. “The walls come on this lorry, already made, in pieces with the windows stuck in. Ours ain't arrived yet.”
Still Mrs. Hollidaye didn't mention Dot going to stay. So Dot said, “And Derek's back, too.”
“Your father? Why, this is excellent news too, my dear.”
“But he don't look too hot. It's because he's been ill-like, in the head.”
“Another casualty of the conflict. But he'll win through.”
“I feel like he's the child, and I've got to be the adult.”
“I know you and your mother will be doing your very best for him. A loving family is the best medicine till he's on his feet again.”
“I'm going to buy him some flower seeds,” said Dot. “For him to plant. See, when we get the prefab, we get this little titchy bit of space round the edge, so I was thinking of us having a garden.”
“Why, that really is simply splendid news, my dear. Nasturtiums would be good if you want something quick. Or sweet peas. They don't take up much space. You must let me know as soon as you know when you're moving, won't you? And we've quite a few bits and bobs of furnishing that your mother might find useful. And of course, I'll send you up some cuttings. How exciting. I do like to hear about a new garden in the planning. Hostas do well, in sun or shade, spring bulbs of course, maybe a few montbretia? Any soil, and they multiply so easily. Gardening's a wonderful medicine, too.”
Dot started to say “I hope I can bring my dad down to visit you someday.” But the money ran out, so she was cut off in mid-sentence. She wasn't sure if Mrs. Hollidaye had heard. She hoped she hadn't heard any of it. Like the dancing man said, she had to get back to her mum and dad. They had to stick together and be a family.
Dot unrolled her piece of twine and began to skip slowly along the pavement over the coal-hole covers toward the basement. She was glad she wasn't going away again just now. This was the world where she belonged.
“We have to live where we live,” Dot said out loud to the dusty street. Then she began to think about which would be best, nasturtiums or sweet peas.
Glossary
all clear:
signalâoften a sirenâthat danger is over
antenatal:
clinic for the purpose of treating and giving advice to pregnant women
A.R.P.:
Air Raid Precautions
barmy in the army:
slang expression for “shell shock,” a nervous condition resulting from prolonged exposure to battle conditions
bath chair:
wheel chair
bloke:
man, fellow
brougham:
one-horse carriage with the driver's seat open
bunting:
flags and similar festive decorations
chock:
block or wedge placed in front of the wheels of a vehicle to keep it from moving
cloche:
portable, translucent cover for protecting outdoor plants
cloth-ears:
deaf because of inattention
coal tit:
small, grayish bird with a dark head
demobbed:
discharged from military service
demob suit:
uniform of a discharged soldier (“demob” comes from “demobilization”)
Dick Barton, Special Agent:
character in a radio series
dosh:
money
dripping:
fat melted from roasted meat
eiderdown:
down-filled quilt
fifth columnist:
member of a group working for the enemy within a country at war; traitor
five bob:
five shillings, equal to about thirty-six cents today
flat:
apartment
flypast:
ceremonial flight, usually to celebrate victory
fortnight:
two-week period
frock:
dress
gas geyser:
gas-powered apparatus for heating water
gas mantle:
gauze covering enclosing a gas jet, which becomes incandescent when heated
grizzle:
to cry fretfully
Harry flatters:
exhausted or fast asleep
hatch:
opening in a wall, usually for serving food
hoarding:
temporary fence of light boards around a building, often covered with advertisements and flyers called bills
hooter:
horn or siren
hopping the twig:
dying; “kicking the bucket”
hot stone bottle:
ceramic bottle filled with hot water; hot-water bottle
hoyden:
girl who behaves boisterously
jumper:
sweater
just having you on:
just kidding
kip:
sleep
kit bag:
large, usually cylindrical bag for a soldier's equipment and clothing
lift:
elevator
lino:
linoleum
lorry:
truck
meat safe:
cabinet for storing meat
mews:
stables, usually with living quarters, built around a court
milk float:
vehicle for transporting milk bottles
NAAFI:
Navy Army and Air Force Institutes
nappies:
diapers
not by a long chalk:
not likely; “not by a long shot”
OHMS:
On His Majesty's Service
paper carrier:
paper bag with handles
peaky:
sickly, pale, unwell
pensione:
inn or boardinghouse
petrol:
petroleum gas; fuel
pip:
small seed of an apple, orange, grape, etc.
plane tree:
tall, spreading tree with broad leaves
pram:
baby carriage
privies:
bathrooms
queue:
line of persons awaiting their turn; also a verb meaning to wait in line
R.A.F.:
Royal Air Force
recce:
colloquial term from the word “reconnaissance,” meaning a preliminary survey of an area
roller towel:
towel with the ends joined, hung on a roller
runner bean:
a long, thin green bean
scullery:
back kitchen where dishes, etc., are washed
Shank's pony:
slang expression for walking: using one's own “shanks,” or legs, to get around
smut:
small flake of soot
spillikins:
game, also known as pickup sticks
sticking plaster:
adhesive bandage for wounds
stone:
large seed, or pit, of a plum, peach, etc.
swede:
rutabaga
ta:
slang for “thank you”
telephone box:
telephone booth
threepenny bit:
an English coin, worth very little (about two cents)
titchy:
very small
tits:
small birds
trestle table:
makeshift table, composed of a board laid across two supports
trough up:
eat heartily
trug basket:
shallow, oblong basket made of wood strips, often used by gardeners
tucking in:
another expression for eating heartily
tussock:
clump of grass
Underground:
London's underground train system, or subway
Union Jack:
national flag of the United Kingdom
Up Jenkins:
game involving manual dexterity, in which one player hides a small coin between his fingers
Very light:
flare shot from a pistol for signaling, or for temporarily illuminating part of a battlefield
vest and knickers:
undershirt and underpants
water butt:
water barrel
wireless:
radio
Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
Publishers since 1866
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Henry Holt is a registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
Copyright © 1991 by Rachel Anderson
All rights reserved.
First published in the United States in 1993 by Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
Published in Canada by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd.,
195 Allstate Parkway, Markham, Ontario L3R 4T8.
Originally published in Great Britain in 1991 by Oxford University Press.
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
ISBN 0-8050-2527-8
First American Editionâ1993
eISBN 9781466878778
First eBook edition: July 2014