Sadie was a Lady

by Joan Jonker

Genres: Family Life; Siblings; Friendship; World War II; Sagas

Synopsis

A young girl escapes her cruel family home, but discovers that sometimes you can't leave the past entirely behind... Sadie Was a Lady is a touching, funny, heart-warming saga from one of Liverpool's favourite writers, Joan Jonker. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Nadine Dorries. 'As usual our Joan has come up with an easy-read story, full of laughter and smiles' - Liverpool Echo Beautiful, blonde-haired Sadie Wilson suffers abuse from her slovenly mother and lecherous father in order to protect her younger siblings from a similar fate. The neighbours avoid her parents like the plague and Sadie has no friends to turn to for help. But when Harry, the kind-hearted boy next door, sees Sadie crying because her father has lost all their money, he offers to pay her sixpence for a kiss. With coins in her pocket, Sadie goes to Paddy's market to buy underclothes she so desperately needs and it is there that she meets Mary Ann and a lively bunch of Liverpudlian stallholders who are to be her salvation. Even though she is rescued by Mary Ann's friends and starts a new life, Sadie's thoughts still return to her brothers and sisters back at home. And no matter how many admirers she has, there's a place in her heart for just one lad whose kisses she can't seem to forget... What readers are saying about Sadie Was a Lady : 'Could not put this book down. It was heart-warming and charming. Enjoyed all the characters and kept me entertained throughout the book' 'This was the first of Joan Jonker's books I read, and I could not put it down. The atmosphere of Liverpool of yesteryear simply came alive, with hard working people who though poor in life, were rich at heart and gave all they had... my heart has never left this story, and I simply cannot forget the characters'

Release date: February 2, 2012

Publisher: Headline

Print pages: 484

Sample

Brenda Fielding linked her arm through her workmate’s as they turned out of the factory gates. ‘Ooh, it’s good to get out in the fresh air after swelterin’ in that place all day. Me flamin’ clothes are stickin’ to me.’

‘Mine too! If I had tuppence I’d go to the public baths an’ wash this smelly sweat off.’ As Sadie Wilson turned to her friend, her long curly hair swung about her shoulders. She was an attractive girl, was Sadie, with her mass of blonde hair, vivid blue eyes and a peaches and cream complexion. And at fifteen and a half years of age, her figure was beginning to blossom. ‘The sun’s been shining all week, but I bet when we’re off tomorrow afternoon and Sunday, it’ll be teeming down.’

‘Let’s make the most of it while we can, then.’ Brenda was a pretty girl with black hair and melting brown eyes, but her looks were put in the shade by her friend. ‘Come down to ours tonight and we’ll go for a walk in the park. Yer never know, we might just get a click.’

‘I haven’t got the money for the tram, Brenda – I’m broke. I think yer forget it costs tuppence there an’ back.’

‘Well, I’d come to yours, but you won’t let me!’

‘I won’t invite anyone to my home, Brenda, ’cos it’s like a flippin’ pigsty.’

Brenda tossed her head. ‘I wouldn’t know, would I, seein’ as yer won’t even tell me where yer live … except it’s near the factory.’

‘Take my word for it, yer not missing anything. Anyway, I don’t want a click. I’m not interested in boys – me dad’s put me off them for life.’

‘Go on, yer daft thing, yer can’t tell me yer never going to have a boyfriend.’ Brenda squinted sideways. ‘With your looks, yer could have any feller yer wanted.’

‘Oh, I’ll have boyfriends when I’m good and ready, but it’ll only be for what I can get out of them. I’m going to be a gold-digger, Bren, out for all I can get.’

‘Oh dear, I hope yer don’t start bein’ a gold-digger before tomorrow night,’ Brenda giggled. ‘Yer still comin’ to the pictures with us, aren’t yer?’

They’d reached the tram stop where Brenda would catch a tram to Walton, where she lived. ‘You are comin’ to the Broadway with me, I hope?’

‘Yeah, it’s pay-day tomorrow and I’ll get me shillin’ pocket money.’ Sadie saw a tram trundling towards them. She waited until her friend hopped on board, then waved. ‘Ta-ra, Bren, see yer in work in the morning.’

Sadie was thoughtful as she walked the short distance to her home. Brenda was the only friend she had; they’d started work on the same day and had been drawn to each other. She’d visited Brenda’s house several times and was always struck by the cleanliness, warmth and good humour of the family. It was in stark contrast to Sadie’s own home, and she was too ashamed to allow her friend to see the conditions in which she lived.

The front door was open and Sadie grimaced when she heard the racket coming from the living room of the small two-up two-down terraced house in Pickwick Street, Toxteth. Her sisters, Dot and Ellen, aged fourteen and thirteen, were trading blows with their brothers, Jimmy and Les, aged twelve and nine. And above the noise they were making came the loud wailing of the baby of the family – eighteen-month-old Sally.

‘Hey, knock it off!’ Sadie stood between the squabbling youngsters. ‘Yer’ll have the neighbours complaining.’

Red in the face, and glaring at his sisters, Jimmy said, ‘Mrs Young’s been bangin’ on the wall for us to shut up, the miserable old cow.’

Sadie sighed as she looked around with disgust. The table in the middle of the room, its covering a piece of torn, stained oilcloth, was full to overflowing. Swarms of flies were swooping down on the dirty plates still there from breakfast, feasting from an open tin of conny-onny, a jam jar and a topless bottle of tomato sauce, while the blue-bottles concentrated their attention on the baby’s bottle and dummy, and scraps of stale bread. The sight was enough to make Sadie feel sick.

‘Where’s me mam?’

There was a sly smirk on Dot’s face. She was fourteen in years but thirty in the head. ‘She’s in bed with me dad.’

Sadie closed her eyes. ‘Has me dad had his tea?’

The smirk was back on her sister’s face. ‘No, he came straight in and pulled me mam upstairs.’

Anger was building up in Sadie. Fancy coming home to this after working all day! But it wasn’t only that, it was the fact that her parents had no shame, no thought for their children who had been deprived of their innocence. They all knew what was going on above their heads because there had been times when her father wouldn’t bother going upstairs to satisfy his craving, he’d just close the kitchen door. Sadie had never forgotten the day she’d come home from work and used the back door. There was her father with his trousers around his ankles and her mother with her skirt riding high. And neither of them had been embarrassed. Her dad had just nodded for her to go through to the living room without even a pause in his grunting and groaning.

The memory of that incident fuelled Sadie’s anger. She walked to the bottom of the stairs and yelled at the top of her voice: ‘There are six children down here waitin’ for somethin’ to eat. Will you come down and feed them!’

‘You’ll get it off me mam, our Sadie,’ Dot said. ‘She’ll give yer a belt around the ears.’

‘An’ I’ll give you one if yer don’t see to the baby,’ Sadie told her. ‘You’re the eldest at home, yer should help to keep this place tidy. It looks like a muck midden.’ She eyed the table, the clutter of clothes and shoes covering the sideboard and floor, then shook her head. ‘I’m not doing it, I’ve been workin’ all day.’

Lily Wilson pushed the door open with her foot while patting her hair into place. ‘Who the bleedin’ hell d’yer think you are, shoutin’ like that? The neighbours are nosy enough without you goin’ filling their mouths.’

Sadie tried to keep her emotions in check. ‘Mam, I’ve been workin’ all day in a hot, stuffy factory. And this,’ she waved her hand around the room, ‘is what I come home to. Not only that, but there’s no sign of any dinner.’

‘I haven’t been feeling well today, so stop yer moaning.’

Dot stood beside her mother, a falsely innocent look on her face. ‘Are yer havin’ another baby, Mam?’

The slap across her face was hard and loud. ‘Any more lip out of you, yer little faggot, and yer’ll get another one. Now get upstairs an’ ask yer dad for a tanner. Then run to the chippy an’ get a tanner’s worth of chips and scallops.’

Dot didn’t wait to be told twice, she hot-footed it out of the room holding the side of her face.

Sadie gazed at her mother. Lily Wilson had been a fine-looking girl, but she’d let herself go, too lazy to keep up appearances. She looked far older than her thirty-three years, with her blonde hair uncombed for days on end, teeth that were rotting through lack of cleaning and a sickly complexion due to too little exercise and fresh air. After six children her waist had disappeared and her breasts sagged.

‘Yer said yer weren’t feeling well today,’ Sadie said. ‘What was wrong with yer this time?’

‘I don’t have to explain to you,’ Lily flared. ‘Now get off yer backside and clear this table.’

Sadie shook her head. ‘No, Mam, I’ve been workin’ all day, I’m not coming home to start work again. Not when you’ve had all day to do it in.’

George Wilson heard what was said as he came through the door. ‘Yer’ll do as yer mam says or yer’ll feel me belt on yer backside.’

Sadie weighed up her father with sadness in her heart. She could remember when she was little how she’d adored him. He’d been such a handsome man then, with a mane of black hair and flashing brown eyes. Now, at thirty-seven, he had a beer belly hanging over his trousers and a bloated face. His heavy drinking was taking its toll. But it wasn’t his changed appearance that had killed Sadie’s love. At thirty-seven he was still a young man, but for years she’d thought of him as a dirty old man. She would never forget the Friday nights she’d trembled with fear when he would offer to bath her in the zinc bath in front of the fire. He’d always make an excuse to get her mother out of the house – send her to the corner shop for ciggies or the Echo. And while she was gone he would pretend to be playful, splashing water over his daughter and laughing into her face. But all the time he was touching her in what she called her private parts. At the age of six she was frightened of him; at the age of ten she hated him.

‘No, Dad, I won’t do as me mam tells me! When I was younger than our Dot and Ellen, I was made to help in the house, so why can’t they? In fact, why can’t me mam do the work herself? She’s got all day to do it in, the kids are all at school except for the baby. I’ve been workin’ all day, like yerself, and I don’t see why I should come home to all this. If you feel sorry for me mam, then you start tidying up because I’m not.’

Sadie was staring him out and George was flummoxed. The belt was no threat to her now, he could see that. He could also see something else in her eyes, something he thought she’d long since forgotten. Better tread carefully with her or she’d cause trouble. But he had to exercise his authority so he turned on the other children who’d been watching and listening intently. ‘Ellen, Jimmy, get that table cleared and start washing the dishes. Les, you amuse the baby an’ stop her from makin’ that bleedin’ racket.’

‘The baby doesn’t want amusing,’ Sadie said calmly, crossing her shapely legs. ‘She wants something to eat – she’s starving.’

George turned to his wife. ‘Make the baby’s feed for God’s sake, and shut her up.’

‘Are yer goin’ to let this cheeky madam get away with it? Sittin’ there like Lady Muck, tellin’ us what she will do an’ what she won’t do? What she needs is a smacked backside.’

‘Oh, yer can forget that, Mam!’ Sadie said with bitterness. ‘The days of me dad touchin’ my backside are long gone.’

George was beginning to get agitated. If this carried on there’d be a lot of things coming out that were best left forgotten. ‘Look, Lily, just see to the baby, for Christ’s sake. I’ll be glad to get down to the pub for a bit of peace and quiet.’

Sadie gazed down at her scruffy shoes, bought second-hand from the market. They were the only pair she possessed and the soles were coming apart on both of them. Her stockings were full of ladders, and the dress she was wearing had to do her for work and for going out. Yet her father could go to the pub every night, and most nights her mother went with him. They didn’t seem to notice the mess the house was in, or that their children didn’t have a decent stitch on their backs. And as for getting a good meal – well, they wouldn’t know what that was. It was so long since they’d had a proper dinner, her mother had probably forgotten how to cook one.

Sadie sighed. As soon as she was old enough, and earning enough money, she’d be away from here like a shot. There had to be a better life than this.

On Saturday afternoon Sadie handed over her wage-packet and waited expectantly for her mother to open it and take out her pocket money. But Lily pushed her aside, saying curtly, ‘Yer’ll have to wait until yer dad comes in. I don’t know where he’s got to – he’s usually well in before this. I haven’t got a thing in the house for the weekend, so I’ll have to use your money until he comes home.’

‘Mam, I want me pocket money. I’m meeting me friend at a quarter to six at the Broadway. I can’t let her down.’

‘Don’t start moaning, yer’ll get yer money as soon as yer dad gets in. I need all this,’ she waved the buff-coloured packet, ‘to pay me ways. I’ve had tick from the corner shop an’ if I don’t get down there with it I’ll have her feller comin’ to the house banging the door down. Beside that, I’ve got to get the rest of me shoppin’ in.’

A lump was forming in Sadie’s throat. It just wasn’t fair! She’d worked all week, she was entitled to the measly shilling. ‘What happens if me dad’s not in by the time I’ve got to leave?’

But Lily wasn’t listening. She’d ripped the packet open and emptied the seven and sixpence into her hand. ‘Dot, take this five bob up to the corner shop, then come back an’ I’ll have a list ready of what I want from the Maypole and the greengrocers.’

Sadie tried again. ‘Mam, are yer sure me dad will be home in time for me to go and meet me friend? I can’t leave her standin’ outside the Broadway on her own.’

‘He’ll be in any minute, so stop yer frettin’.’

But it was four o’clock before George put in an appearance, half-drunk and looking very sheepish.

Lily rounded on him. ‘Where the bloody hell d’yer think you’ve been? Hand yer money over quick, before the ruddy shops close.’

When George fell backwards into a chair, the springs creaked in protest. With the stupid grin of a drunken man on his face, and his words slurred, he said, ‘I had a flutter on the gee-gees an’ I lost.’

Sadie’s heart sank. ‘How much did yer lose, Dad?’

‘All me bleedin’ wages.’ He hiccupped several times. ‘But I’ll win it back next week, don’t worry.’

Lily stood over him, her hands on her hips. ‘What d’yer mean, yer’ve lost all yer money on the bloody horses? How much have yer lost?’

‘Well, yer see, love – hic – this horse was supposed to be a dead cert – hic – an’ me an’ me mates put our shirts on it.’ He made a grab for her. ‘Come an’ sit on me knee an’ give me a kiss.’

‘Yer’ll get more than a kiss, George Wilson, it’s a ruddy big black eye yer’ll be gettin’. Now, stop actin’ daft and give me a shillin’ for our Sadie. I borrowed one off her.’

‘I haven’t got – hic – a shillin’, I’ve told yer. I haven’t got a penny to me name.’

Sadie had the urge to run to him and punch him in his stupid-looking face. Instead she could feel the tears starting and ran from the room. Down the yard she fled, and into the back entry. There she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She’d never felt so miserable in her life. And how was she going to explain to Brenda? She couldn’t tell her the truth, she’d be too ashamed.

The tears were running unchecked down her cheeks but she didn’t care. She just felt like curling up and dying. Her head was so full, she didn’t hear the bike being ridden down the cobbled entry.

‘What’s up, Sadie?’

Sadie opened her eyes and saw the boy from next door through a blur. She shook her head. ‘Nothing, I’m all right.’

Harry Young leaned his bike against the wall. ‘Come on now, Sadie, yer don’t cry for nothing. Yer dad hasn’t been hittin’ yer, has he?’

Sadie rubbed the heel of her hands across her eyes. Harry was looking at her anxiously. At eighteen, he was a handsome lad with dark curly hair, strong white teeth and dimples in his cheeks. He was always pleasant with her, even though his mother barely acknowledged the whole Wilson family, whose house was an eyesore with a dirty front step and filthy curtains hanging behind windows that were seldom cleaned. It spoilt the appearance of the Youngs’ house, which was always spotlessly clean.

‘No, me dad hasn’t been hittin’ me. I wouldn’t let him.’

‘Well, why the tears? A pretty girl like you shouldn’t have anything to cry over.’

The sympathy in his voice was all Sadie needed to make her pour her heart out. ‘And me mate will be standing waiting for me … I feel terrible.’

‘You mean your father has gambled all his wages?’ Harry was shaking his head. ‘It’s a mugs’ game, bettin’ on the horses.’

‘I was going to say me dad is a mug, but then I’m a bigger mug than he is! Fancy working all week and not having sixpence to go to the pictures.’

Harry had long ago decided that Sadie didn’t belong to the Wilson family. She was the prettiest girl in the neighbourhood, but her clothes were always shabby and she didn’t make the most of her looks. Any other parents would have been proud of her natural beauty and helped her make the best of it, because when she smiled, it was as though the sun had suddenly begun to shine. And she was beginning to curve in all the right places. Another year or so and she’d be a stunner.

‘I’ll give you sixpence, Sadie.’

‘Oh no, Harry, I couldn’t take yer money off yer. I’ll be all right, don’t worry about me.’

‘Sell me something for sixpence then, and you won’t be in my debt.’

Sadie’s smile was weak. ‘I’ve got nothing to sell, Harry.’

‘You could sell me a kiss. I think it would be well worth the money.’

‘A tanner for a kiss? I’m not Jean Harlow, yer know!’

‘I still think it would be worth it, and it’s my tanner.’

Sadie’s mind was working overtime. Harry looked as though he meant it and it would be no heartache to kiss him ’cos he was nice and clean and he had no pimples like some of the lads in work. And his offer meant she wouldn’t have to let Brenda down. ‘Are yer sure?’

Harry nodded. ‘Very sure.’

‘Now?’

‘I don’t think this is the right place, do you?’ Harry grinned so she wouldn’t take offence at his words. ‘After all, a sixpenny kiss is a smacker, not just a peck. What time will yer be coming home from the pictures?’

‘We go to first house ’cos Brenda’s mam won’t let her stay out late. I’ll be getting off the tram about half-past eight.’

‘I’ll be waiting at the tram stop for yer – is that okay?’ When she nodded, Harry smiled. ‘I’ll find a nice shop doorway.’ He put his hand in his trouser pocket and Sadie could hear coins jingling before he pulled out a sixpenny piece. ‘Enjoy the picture, Sadie.’

Sadie gazed at the small silver coin nestling in her palm then turned those vivid blue eyes on him. ‘Are you sure about this, Harry? It doesn’t seem right to me. Your mam would go mad if she knew.’

‘Unless you tell her, she will never know. Not that I care – I wouldn’t care who knows. You’re a very pretty girl, Sadie, and if I want to kiss you it’s got nothing to do with anyone.’

‘It’ll be me first kiss.’ Sadie lowered her head. ‘I won’t be very good at it.’

‘I’m not exactly Rudolph Valentino meself.’ Harry began to chuckle. ‘All you have to do is pucker your lips an’ I’ll pucker mine.’

When Sadie stepped off the tram and saw Harry emerge from the shadow of a shop doorway, she was a bundle of nerves. She’d never be able to kiss like Moira Shearer had in the picture tonight, with her eyes all gooey and a soppy smile on her face. Still, she’d made a bargain and she’d keep to it. ‘Have yer been waiting long?’

‘Only five minutes,’ Harry lied. It must have been at least half an hour, if not more. ‘Did yer enjoy the picture?’

‘Yeah, it was all right but I’d rather have a comedy. It’s me mate that likes romances … she cried all the way through it.’ Sadie felt conspicuous standing by the tram stop and she looked around. ‘Can we go somewhere else? I feel daft standin’ here.’

‘There’s plenty of shop doorways, Sadie, but it’s so light everyone would see us.’ Harry cupped her elbow. ‘It’s only five minutes’ walk to the park. Shall we go there?’

‘If yer like, but I don’t want to be too late getting home. Not that anyone would worry. Me mam and dad are probably knockin’ the ale back in the pub.’ Sadie had to skip to keep up with Harry’s long strides. ‘Me dad must take me for a sucker. There’s no way he’d leave himself without his beer money.’

‘He wouldn’t do that to yer, surely?’

‘Don’t kid yerself, Harry, my mam and dad are dead mean with their children. They see to themselves first and if there’s anythin’ over then the kids might get a look in.’ Sadie glanced sideways, thinking how smart he looked. She wished she had some decent clothes to wear, she felt a right frump in the washed-out cotton dress.

They reached the park gates before Sadie pulled him to a halt. ‘I feel terrible, takin’ a tanner off yer for a kiss. Why don’t yer let me pay yer back out of next week’s pocket money?’

‘I don’t want me tanner back, Sadie, I want a kiss. And yer don’t have to be frightened – I won’t eat yer.’

Sadie allowed herself to be propelled forwards. ‘I’m not frightened, I just think yer want yer bumps feelin’, paying for a kiss off me when yer’ve probably got lots of girlfriends.’

Harry didn’t answer as he led her to a deserted spot behind some trees and bushes. He stood in front of her, put a finger under her chin and raised her face. ‘Sadie, if yer really don’t fancy kissing me, just say so and we’ll go home and forget all about it.’

‘It’s not that, Harry. I’m just frightened I’ll make a mess of it and yer’ll be disappointed.’

‘Sadie, close your eyes and pucker yer lips.’ Harry didn’t intend to make a meal of the kiss, the kid was only fifteen, after all. But the second their lips met he felt as though he’d been struck by lightning. His arms went around her and he held her tight as the kiss lingered. When he finally broke away it was to gaze into a pair of beautiful vivid blue eyes.

‘Was I all right, Harry?’

He coughed, feeling embarrassed at the effect she’d had on him. He’d had plenty of girls, but never before had a kiss set off fireworks in his head. ‘Sadie, it was better than a tanner’s worth of chips any day.’

Sadie smiled. ‘Yer not just pullin’ me leg?’

‘Scout’s honour, it was a real hum-dinger.’

Sadie wrapped her arms across her tummy and hugged herself. ‘Me very first kiss. I feel all grown-up now.’

‘Did you enjoy it?’

She was silent for a while, then decided she’d go over it again in bed tonight and make up her mind whether she’d enjoyed it or not. But for now she wanted to please Harry. She didn’t want him thinking that he’d parted with a tanner for nothing. ‘Yeah! Yeah, I did!’

‘Then next time yer father does the dirty on yer, come to me. I’ve always got a spare tanner, especially for a kiss from a pretty girl like you.’

Sadie narrowed her eyes. ‘Yer very trusting, Harry. I mean, I could tell yer a lie, just to get a tanner off yer.’

Harry let his head fall back and he roared with laughter. ‘Fancy thinkin’ of that! Yer sound like a proper little gold-digger.’

‘That’s what I’m goin’ to be when I’m older, a gold-digger.’ There was no smile on Sadie’s face. ‘I’m determined not to end up like me mam, with a gang of kids and a lousy husband.’

Harry took her elbow and led her towards the park gates. ‘Yer’ll feel different when yer meet someone yer like. Not all men are like yer dad, yer know.’

‘Me dad probably wasn’t like he is now before he was married. Once they get a ring on yer finger, that’s when they change. Well, they’ve taught me that married life isn’t all sweetness and light, so I’ll stay clear of it. As I said, I’ll be a gold-digger and take everything I can lay me hands on, without givin’ anything back.’

Sadie lay on her back staring up at the ceiling. She had to share a bedroom with her two sisters and brothers, while the baby slept in her cot in the front room. There was no privacy; her small camp bed was set against the end of the double bed where the boys and girls slept, top to tail … girls at the top, boys at the bottom. Apart from a rickety old wooden chair and the beds, there wasn’t another item of furniture in the cramped room. Even if I had any decent clothes, I wouldn’t have anywhere to hang them, Sadie thought as she turned on her side and tried to make herself comfortable so she could go over the events of the day in her mind.

She could picture her dad, sitting in the chair, half-drunk, saying he’d lost all his money. She’d really hated him at that moment. And her mam was no better; neither of them cared that she’d worked all week for nothing. They weren’t worried that Brenda would be left standing outside the picture house like one of Lewis’ dummies. The only ones they cared about were themselves, and they made damn sure they never went short. They’d proved tonight just how selfish they were. When she’d got in about nine o’clock it had been to find Dot minding the children while her parents were up in the pub. They didn’t have her pocket money, but they had money enough for their beer. It was no wonder the children were wild and out of control; they’d been left to fend for themselves ever since she started work. Up till then she’d been mother to them and skivvy to her parents. Now the role had been handed over to Dot, who was ill-fitted for it. She was more likely to give the younger ones a clout than a hug.

Sadie plumped the pillow with her fist. Why couldn’t her parents be like Brenda’s, or Harry’s? Brenda was happy and contented because she came from a loving home where there was constant laughter. And the Youngs next door were always laughing – she could hear them through the walls. A long sigh came from deep within Sadie. There was no contentment in this house, no love and no laughter. She felt sorry for her sisters and brothers; it wasn’t their fault they were cheeky and ignorant. They’d had to be tough to survive in a home that resembled a pigsty, where their tummies were always rumbling with hunger and the clothes were falling off their backs.

Full of anger, hurt and resentment, Sadie vowed to make a new life for herself as soon as she was old enough. She’d get a little place of her own and she’d keep it spotlessly clean and cheerful. And she’d never get married and have children because the man might turn out to be like her dad. She wouldn’t put any defenceless young child through the fear and shame she’d experienced because of him. Not all men were the same, as Harry had rightly said, but she didn’t intend taking a chance.

A picture of Harry’s face flashed through her mind, bringing back the memory of her first kiss. Had she enjoyed it? She knew Harry had, because she’d opened her eyes when his lips were on hers and she could tell by the look on his face and his low groan of pleasure. Herself, she didn’t think it was anything to get excited about, but she’d do it again for the money. In fact, she’d be more than willing to do it every night if she got sixpence each time. She’d be able to buy herself some decent clothes and shoes, and wouldn’t have to be ashamed of wearing the same dress day in and day out, or walk around with the soles hanging off her only pair of shoes. And she’d be able to go out on a Sunday instead of being stuck in the house wearing one of her mother’s old dresses while she washed hers ready for work the next morning.

Sadie’s eyes began to close and she drifted into sleep seeing herself walking down a street with her head held high, wearing a pretty dress and a pair of stylish high-heeled shoes. And a smile came to her face as, in her dream, she stopped halfway up the street in front of a little house where the step was pure white, the windowsill red-raddled and polished, and crisp curtains showed behind the gleaming glass panes. And Sadie saw herself putting the key in the lock and opening the door of a place of her very own.

On the Sunday morning, in the cold light of day, Sadie bitterly regretted taking the money off Harry. She didn’t think she could ever look him in the face again, remembering how she’d cheapened herself. So for the next three weeks she avoided him, ducking down entries whenever she saw him before he caught sight of her. But on this Thursday night, on her way home from work, she’d just turned the corner of the street when he came whizzing around on his bike. He braked sharply, cocked his leg backwards over the saddle and fell into step beside her, wheeling the bike in the gutter.

‘Hello, stranger! Have you been avoiding me?’

Sadie’s hair bounced as she shook her head. ‘No, of course not.’ She gazed at him out of the corner of her eye. Even though he was coming home from work too, he looked smart in a crisp white shirt with his hair neatly combed back, and she was conscious of her own appearance. Her washed-out dress was coming apart at the seams and was far too tight on her now her breasts were growing. She really should be wearing a brassière like her friend Brenda, because her nipples could be clearly seen through the flimsy material. ‘Why should I want to avoid yer?’

‘Search me! But it just seemed funny that we live next door to each other and usually come into contact every day or so, but since a certain night, when a pretty girl got her first kiss, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of yer.’

‘There’s nothing funny about it, it’s just coincidence.’

‘Was my kiss that bad it put yer off selling me another?’

Sadie could feel herself blushing. ‘I should never have sold yer one in the first place. It was a dead mean trick I pulled on yer.’

‘You’ve got it all wrong, Sadie. It was me who pulled the trick – not you. You would never have thought of it in a million years, would yer?’

‘No, I suppose not, but it still wasn’t right.’ They were nearing Harry’s house and Sadie slowed down. ‘You go on, Harry. If yer mam sees you w