The Fortune Tellers' Daughters

by Maggie Mason

Genres: Sagas; Family Life

Synopsis

THE BRAND-NEW BOOK IN THE WARTIME SAGA SERIES BY MAGGIE MASON - PERFECT FOR READERS OF VAL WOOD, KITTY NEALE AND ROSIE GOODWIN

'Reading a Maggie Mason book is like having a warm hug' - NB MAGAZINE

1939
The threat of war is looming over Blackpool, but Martha and Trisha are determined not to let it dampen their spirits.

With two young evacuees for Martha to take care of, and Trisha's market garden business growing as Britain digs for victory, the friends have their hands full.

Both are proud to see their daughters making their own way in the world, even in wartime. Sally has become a ballerina and Bonnie is training to become a doctor. The girls' friendship brings them all happiness and hope.

But Martha is troubled by her visions for their daughters' futures. War, tragedy and falling in love will put Sally and Bonnie's lifelong friendship to the test. But can their families pull together and see them through?

The third heart-warming tale in The Fortune Tellers series from Maggie Mason, much-loved author of The Halfpenny Girls.

Release date: April 11, 2024

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Print pages: 80000

Sample

1936

As Trisha and Martha walked across the road to the seafront of Blackpool, they linked arms and held on to their hats with their free hands while they battled against the blustery wind.

Trisha grimaced. ‘Eeh, lass, it’s enough to blow the cobwebs off the tower’s spire.’

Martha laughed her lovely tinkling laugh. Trish could listen to it all day. And to her lovely soft lilt. She blessed the day when Martha had arrived in Blackpool, having escaped the Troubles of Ireland.

‘It is that you should be used to it. I love it when the wind blows across the Irish Sea. It’s for making you feel glad to be alive. And it’s just what I am needing.’

‘Aw, lass, I knaw what you’re going through. It ain’t going to be easy saying goodbye to Bonnie tomorrow. Where did all the years go, eh? One minute we had four little ’uns to care for, and now we’ll be left with just Joe, and he’ll be off soon.’

Martha’s arm squeezed hers. ‘Sure, it’s right that you are. It was for being difficult enough when your Sally left for London and then Johnny joined the navy. But it is that I am so proud of each of them.’

‘Oh, aye, I’m proud of them all, but I wanted them to be with us for ever. I never thought to see me Sally going off to join sommat as posh as the Sadler’s Wells School of Dancing, nor Johnny heading off to Dartmouth to become a naval officer. And now Bonnie off to London an’ all to become a doctor.’

‘We’ve done well, so we have, Trish, love, to have given them this good start in life. It’s not for being long ago that you were the one walking those donkeys up and down the beach and now it is that you own them!’

‘Ha, well, if you call twenty years or more not long ago, I suppose you’re right! But aye, it has flown by. I can see old Daisy now, lazy madam, but lovely with it. She’d not move for love nor money if she didn’t want to. Many a kid sat on her back wailing because they wanted her to give them a donkey ride!’

‘They were for being good days, Trish, even though they were hard times. Just look what it is that we’ve achieved!’

They turned and looked back at the shop that they had built up from scratch, standing not far from Blackpool’s wonderful tower.

In that moment, Trisha felt what she’d felt all those years ago – a feeling of disbelief that she, a girl who’d had nothing and had lived in a two up, two down on Enfield Road, could have been part of building up what was now a thriving business – The Blackpool Layette Shop!

‘A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into that, lass, but I don’t regret any of it.’

‘No, I’m not for having one regret … Oh, Trish, it is that we’ve been through the mill as you Lancashire lasses say, but we came through it. Though is it for ever ending? We’re facing a new life; it is feeling to me that it will be a lonely one at times.’

‘Aye, I’ve felt the same when the house is quiet and Jack’s out on the land. And no Sally singing at the top of her voice or rushing like a tornado through the house as she had this dance class or that singing lesson to get to. And I miss being involved when she was in a production, and we made the costumes and attended rehearsals – the fun and excitement of it all.’

‘Will you listen to us? We should be looking on this as our time – planning what it is we’re going to do next, and how none of it will be having to be put on hold while we are seeing to something one of the young ones has been demanding of us!’

‘Ha, you’re right … But I ain’t made any plans, have you?’

Trisha laughed as Martha shook her head.

‘What are we like, eh? Two women, approaching middle age, moaning about the loss of life as they’ve known it! You’re right, lass. We’ve to look to the future ourselves.’

They were quiet as they turned back to gaze out over the sea. But this didn’t last long as Dickie came up to them leading the donkeys. Trisha loved every one of her donkeys, but Daisy Two was her favourite. Not a bit like her long-passed ma, Daisy Two was lively and always ready and eager to take any sized child on her back. And not only children, as Trisha had ridden her many times.

‘Eeh, lass, I knaw what’ll make us feel better – I’ll race you on the donkeys!’

‘What! Are you for being off your head, Trish?’

‘Naw. I want to do sommat daft. I want to show the world it ain’t done with me yet! Time can change things, but not me. I’m still a woman, I’m loved, I have me own business – three, in fact, with the shop, and me and Jack’s market garden, and me donkeys. And now, lass, we’ve done all we can for the youngsters, so we’ll wave Bonnie off with a smile as we did Sally and Johnny and when the time comes, we will do so for Joe an’ all.’

Trisha grabbed Martha’s hand. ‘Come on, I’ll race you to the slope and onto the beach!’

Their laughter rang out as they ran full tilt towards the sand.

When they came to a halt near to the donkeys, Dickie, who’d worked for Trisha since he’d been a lad of fourteen and was now a young man with a family of his own, laughed out loud. ‘You’re crazy, Trisha, lass. You’re not seriously going to have a race against Martha, are you?’

‘I am, but I’ll give her a head start and she can have Daisy Two, who’ll romp home for her.’

‘Trish, is it that you are meaning this then?’

‘Naw more talk, Martha … Dickie, help Martha to sit on Daisy Two and I’ll have Billy. He’s not as frisky as his namesake used to be, but he can shift when he knaws there’s a race to be won!’

Amidst giggles and the murmur of the small crowd that had gathered, they were on the starter line that Dickie had drawn in the sand.

‘After my count of three, ladies, I’ll give the donkeys a slap on the backside, and you head for the flag that marks the end of our pitch!’

And then they were off. The wind now was a magical thing as it blew off their hats and loosened their hair and carried on it the shouts of encouragement from the people watching. Never had Trisha felt so exhilarated as she did at this moment. She was racing towards her new life that she hadn’t yet grasped since Sally had left. No more moping around or going into Sally’s bedroom just to sit among her things. Life was going to begin again just a few years before she was forty! Aye, and she’d jolly Martha along with her too.

This made her laugh as that was what she was doing at this moment – jollying Martha along!

‘Gee up, Billy! You ain’t going to let Daisy Two beat you, are you?’

Letting her exhilaration take over, she shouted, ‘Eeh, life’s just beginning, Martha, lass!’

Martha shouted back, ‘Well, it is that it ain’t going to be lived on a donkey! I’ve never been for feeling so daft in all me days!’

When they reached the flag, neck and neck, they flopped forward. They were laughing so much that Trisha could hardly breathe.

Applause broke out, making her feel like a real champion of both the day and of her life.

A smiling Arturo approached carrying two huge ices in cones. ‘For you, ladies. Arturo brings you his best Italian ice creama as a reward.’

‘Oh, Arturo, you never change. You used to give us ice cream when we were young women and starting off in the shop.’

‘Always it is well deserved. I am proud to be your friend.’

Sweating, and panting for breath, they dismounted and took the ice cream, kissing Arturo’s cheek as a thank you. Somehow, though greying at the temples, Arturo looked the same as he had done when they’d eaten the first of his ice creams all those years ago.

Trisha reflected that time may go by, but it doesn’t change who you are. And things that happen to you, good or bad, only shape you or make you stronger. For all she went through at the hands of Bobby, her first husband with his violent ways, and with Walter using her to his own ends, neither had broken her.

For now, she was a woman in love, and she was loved by her Jack, a one-time sailor and uncle to Johnny and Joe. Her Jack was her life.

Looking over at Martha, she giggled. Martha’s glorious red hair had come loose and hung in a mound of curls around her rosy cheeks. To Trisha, she was just as she was when she’d moved into the house next door in Enfield Road, a lass turning up in Blackpool from Ireland with her granny. That was a good day in Trisha’s life. She’d been through a lot too, having Bonnie out of wedlock, but Josh had come into her life and his love had saved Martha.

Trisha turned and looked down the beach and remembered Martha’s tent being pitched there. She could almost see the vivid colours Martha and her granny wore to carry out their day’s work as fortune tellers. Something Martha was glad to give up as she hated ‘the gift’ that she had for seeing the destiny of others.

Martha turned and looked at her then. ‘It is that we have a lot more to face in the future, Trisha, and it will be for rocking our friendship.’

Trisha shuddered. She didn’t want to hear these things – she had never wanted to know what lay ahead for her, and Martha had always respected her wishes. So to hear Martha say this gave her fear. ‘Eeh, lass, nowt’ll ever do that.’

But knowing of Martha’s powers, in her heart Trisha wasn’t dismissive, but begged of God not to let anything ever happen to her Sally, or Jack, or any of the youngsters, or Josh. She and Martha? Well, they would never not be friends and could cope with most things, but not with anything happening to any of their family – not ever that.

Sally

‘You’re almost dancing, Sal!’

Sally grinned up at Callum. They’d been friends since they’d both entered the Sadler’s Wells School of Dancing two years ago.

Never before that day had Sally met anyone like Callum – flamboyant, and calling everyone ‘darling’. But then, when she’d first arrived in London from Blackpool, her home town, she had been introduced to a different world full of characters from all over the globe. She’d loved the almost bohemian life and how anything seemed to go. In Callum’s world that meant him having a boyfriend, another member of the troupe of ballet dancers – not that she hadn’t heard of this before.

Her mind went to the lovely Walter, who she’d looked on as a father. He hadn’t been able to live his life as Callum did; he’d been tied by the conventions of being a surgeon and living in a small town. He’d never known what it was like to be accepted as Callum was, and as quite a few others were too, among the theatricals.

She missed Walter and always had, though still felt cross at how he’d broken her ma’s heart and humiliated her, entering into a sham marriage with her just to hide how he had a boyfriend.

Putting this out of her mind, Sally answered Callum.

‘I’m just so excited to be seeing Bonnie again. I cannot believe she’s entering medical school! I’m so proud of her.’

‘I can’t wait to meet this Madonna of all things academic that you seem to adore. Are you sure you’re not in love with her, darling girl?’

‘No, silly, she’s like my sister.’

‘Oh? So, you have two half-brothers and a sister then?’

‘Ha, Callum, I know it is confusing, but the four of us were brought up together. Johnny, who is studying on the HMS Dartmouth to be a naval officer, and Joe, his younger brother, share a father with Bonnie. I’m not related to any of them, but Bonnie’s mother and mine are such good friends that they shared our upbringing after Johnny and Joe’s mother died. This means we are all like one family … Oh, I forgot, there’s another link that binds us. Jack, my ma’s husband, is blood related to the boys too – he’s their uncle!’

‘My, you northerners, darling, you seem to be at it like rabbits!’

Sally put her head back and laughed out loud.

A dainty young woman of nineteen years of age, Sally was just a few months older than Bonnie, and though she thought of Bonnie as her sister, they looked less like sisters than anyone possibly could – herself with the dark hair and blue eyes she’d inherited from her real father, who she had never known, and Bonnie with glorious red hair that she’d inherited from her Irish mother and her lovely dark eyes.

‘We’re nowt like you southerners, as my ma would say.’

‘Nowt?’

Sally giggled. She couldn’t think how Callum would fare in Lancashire. ‘It means “nothing” but it’s part of my ma’s dialect – a lovely sounding way of talking that really expresses itself.’

‘You must take me home with you one of these days. Does Bonnie speak like that?’

‘No. Bonnie and I went to a private school.’

‘So, you actually have rich people up there?’

‘Stop it, Callum. I know we are different from you, but we are human.’

‘Sorry, duckie, that was rude of me.’ Callum pouted. ‘Am I forgiven?’

‘You are, but only because you are you and I know you to be unthinking rather than unkind. Now behave yourself or I’ll be sorry I asked you to come with me to meet Bonnie off the train.’

They had reached Euston station, and as it always did, it filled Sally with a longing just to get on the next train north and go home. But she couldn’t do that for a while as she was the lead in Swan Lake and performing three times a week, alongside Callum’s Prince Siegfried.

‘Oh, my darling, I am so in need of a rest. You know you shouldn’t have made us walk; it is bad for our feet. Mine are aching and we have a performance to get through tonight.’

‘I’m sorry, we’re here now and I promise we will get a cab back to our digs … Ooh, Bonnie’ll be here soon too, Callum.’

With the extra excitement this gave Sally, she did dance right there on the station, ignoring the staring, disapproving folk around her. Not on her tiptoes as she would spend most of her time on stage tonight, but doing the wild gypsy dance that Bonnie’s mother, her Aunty Martha, had taught her, igniting in Sally a love of dancing that had consumed her, more than her love of singing had.

Aunty Martha had taught them all, even the boys, the Spanish-type dance her gypsy ancestors had passed down to her, and that the gypsies living in Blackpool still did. And the Irish dancing Aunty Martha had been taught as a young girl too. But of all her aunt’s talents, it was her ‘gift’, as she called her ability to see into the future, that fascinated Sally the most. She never used it with family even though she knew their future too – though she would come out with the odd statement now and again.

Sally had often thought that to have this power to know the bad things that would happen must be torture at times, but it must also be wonderful at others to know when good was coming to them all.

As she spotted Bonnie getting off the train, all these thoughts left Sally and an involuntary scream of joy came from her.

Within seconds they were in each other’s arms hugging as though they’d never let go.

A cough from Callum broke them apart.

‘Sorry, Callum … Bonnie, this is Callum who I am always telling you about in my letters.’

Bonnie smiled her lovely smile and Sally saw the tension leave Callum as he accepted Bonnie’s hug.

‘Oh, Sal, I can’t believe I am here. And it’s so lovely to meet you, Callum. The tales this one tells in her letters of what you and she get up to! I’m thinking that I will be giggling all through the performance tonight. But, oh, I can’t wait to see it.’

‘Something to eat while you tell me all the news, then back to mine for a rest first, love.’

Sally linked arms with Bonnie. ‘Where’s all your stuff?’

‘Oh, I just brought this small case for these initial two weeks. Only I wasn’t sure how big your bedsit is and how much of me and my things it will take. But once I’ve been to look around the medical college and met my tutors, I’ll know what I need to buy for my studies and what I can keep at the college and what I’ll need to keep at yours.’

‘I have quite a lot of space, but you’ll see, anyway, and I’ve some good news. I have a week off when you return to Blackpool, so I’ll be going home with you!’

‘But that’s wonderful as Johnny will come home on leave just after we arrive and that will mean that all four of us will be together again! You’ll get a surprise when you see Joe, though. For a fifteen-year-old, he’s as tall as a man. And at times he thinks he is one!’

Sally felt herself welling up. It was as if Bonnie had brought home with her. And to think she’d be with them all so soon, especially Johnny, would be a dream.

But as always when her mind and heart took her thoughts this way, she pulled herself up. Johnny was like a brother to her; she had to quell the longing she’d had for so long for him to love her as she loved him.

She could do that. She’d coped well in London even though she’d suffered homesickness for her family and her beloved Blackpool, and had pined for Johnny.

She looked at Bonnie and smiled a watery smile.

‘Don’t, Sal, you’ll have me blabbing and this day is the start of my dreams.’

‘Sorry, it’s overwhelming you being here.’ Sally dabbed her eyes. ‘And you’ve shocked us all, Bonnie, love. We all thought with how you’d mastered French and German and how clever you are that you’d go into teaching. You always said you would when we were youngsters.’

Before Bonnie could answer, Callum jumped in. ‘Oh, please, darlings, no more chatter for now. I need a drink. I have a thirst like someone stranded in the desert and my tummy is rumbling.’

Bonnie looked bemused.

‘Oh, don’t mind Callum, he’s always dramatic. But the best leading man ever, and I love him.’

Again, Bonnie’s expression showed her feelings as she lifted her eyebrows.

‘Ha! I’m in a different world, Bonnie. Everyone loves everyone in theatrical circles.’

Bonnie giggled and Sally thought, like herself, Bonnie was going to find many things different down here to how they were in Blackpool.

And this was highlighted further as they walked towards the exit, jostled by what seemed like hundreds of other travellers, all appearing to have one purpose – to get to their destination in a hurry. So different to the ambling pace of the holidaymakers and life in general in Blackpool, Sally thought, as she had a million times over since arriving here.

She swallowed hard. Even thinking the name of the town made her long to be there … and to be with Johnny. But she didn’t say this, she just steered Bonnie through the crowd.

When they finally got out of the station, she said, ‘There’s a café over the road. We’ll make for that.’

Bonnie stood stock-still and stared, just as Sal had done when she’d first arrived. She remembered it was the noise, and the dozens of cars peppered with horse-driven vehicles that had shocked her – not to mention the stench as horse dung mingled with the fumes of the motor-driven vehicles. She remembered, too, how stuffy it felt with no lovely sea air to fill your lungs.

‘You’ll get used to it, love. Let’s get to Luigi’s before Callum faints.’

When they sat down with their chilled lemon and lime drinks having ordered pasta bolognese, leaving Bonnie looking puzzled once more, but saying she was looking forward to trying something different, Sally asked, ‘How did you come to want to be a doctor, Bonnie?’

‘It’s been in my head for a long time. Do you remember how ill Johnny and Joe’s mother, Jenny, was? You know, just before she died and asked my mammy to take the boys in?’

‘Yes. Their father – your father … well, he was in an asylum, wasn’t he?’

‘He was. They told us how he’d been traumatised by what he saw and had dealt with in the Great War and that he had memory losses, which led him to wander off and get himself lost, leaving Mammy pregnant with me … Anyway, I used to hate that Jenny was so poorly and said my prayers for her every night. And I used to wish that I was a doctor and could make her better. That stuck with me, then left me for a while, but when we started in the last year of school one of the subjects was biology and I became fascinated. You remember, I started to find out what I could. And then took subjects I would need at university in Manchester – a tiring time as you know with all the travelling. But I wasn’t ready to leave home.’

‘Yes. You would fall asleep while I showed you the new dance moves that I had learned!’

‘Anyway, when I applied nearer home to take medical studies, one thing I did find out is that there is a great deal of prejudice against women doctors, leaving many not wanting to try for the profession, and this seemed to spur me on.’

‘It would! You’ve always had to prove yourself able to tackle anything! Look at that time when Johnny jumped in the pool of water in the sand left by the receding tide. You had to do it too, but landed in the middle of it and got a real good telling-off from your mammy!’

When they calmed from giggling at this, Callum asked, ‘Mammy? Why, Mammy? I’ve only just got used to this one calling her mother “Ma”!’

‘My mammy is from Ireland and it’s the only term she likes. But Ma is the general term for mothers where we live … Ha, you’d be like you’re in a foreign land in Blackpool, lad!’

Callum’s expression at Bonnie calling him lad – a term she didn’t use normally – set them off giggling again. As did Bonnie’s attempts to eat her pasta, until Sally showed her how it was done.

‘It’s delicious. I had heard of it, but never tried it.’

‘Oh, you’ll taste a host of things down here, Bonnie, love, but stay away from the jellied eels, they’re awful!’

‘You northerners, you don’t know you’re born! Jellied eels are a delicacy not to be missed.’

Sally pulled a face. ‘Oh, and talk about accents, you should hear the cockneys, Bonnie. “’Ere, ’ave yer jellied eels from ’ere, dackie!”’

As they went into another fit of giggles at this, Sally thought how much she’d missed Bonnie. They’d been inseparable since being born. Growing up and following different paths in life had spoiled that, but for now, and for the next three years, she would have her very best friend back with her.

After they said goodbye to Callum and made their way to her bedsit, Sally hoped with all her heart that Bonnie would like her home.

She was used to it now after two years of living there, but it was such a change from their homes in Blackpool, where Bonnie lived in a large house on St Anne’s Road, and she lived in a lovely cottage with her ma and Jack, her stepfather. Both houses were like a castle in size compared to what she had.

But even so, she loved her wide and very long room with four long windows, giving it a spacious feel. And she felt she had arranged it all so that it didn’t feel cramped, or as if you were in just one room.

At one end, to the right of the entrance door, was the kitchen area, with a sink, a cooker and a cupboard for her food and crockery, which had a tray on top of it for her cutlery. Under the sink, she had a shiny steel bucket, which she kept filled with cold water to keep her milk cool. A table with two chairs provided a sort of divide between her kitchen and living area.

Here, her huge sofa and small occasional table divided off the area behind it where her large bed was. One wall of her bedroom, as she looked upon this space, had two beautiful walnut wardrobes and a chest of drawers. These caught the light streaming in from the window on the other side.

Sally had brightened the whole room by swathing curtains around the bed, held in place by a rail she’d had fitted, and draping the windows in the same two-tone pink and very pale green silk. This gave a wistful, romantic feel to the room. Her sofa she’d covered with the cream blanket that her clever ma had crocheted for her – her most treasured possession.

As soon as Bonnie entered, she gasped. ‘Oh, Sal, you have it looking wonderful. I love it!’ This lifted Sally as she did love her home and had so wanted Bonnie to. It was her haven from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.

Linking arms with Bonnie, she drew her fully inside. ‘You can sleep on the settee, or share my bed, or we can throw out my bed and get two single beds, it’s your choice.’

‘I’ll share yours, unless it’s summer and we get too hot, as it seems very warm in here, then I’ll sleep on the settee.’

‘Oh, and we share a bathroom with three other bedsits, I’m afraid, but at least it is a proper one with hot running water! And all the tenants are theatrical, so there’s never any conflict. We have a rota for having a bath and everyone is allowed twenty minutes for a proper soak. And there’s two outside lavs as well, so it isn’t often you have to cross your legs or do a jig!’

This made them giggle once more.

When they calmed, Sally said, ‘Anyway, we can share my twenty minutes, the bath is big enough and as we may pass each other coming in and out, that’ll be our time to chat and catch up.’

Bonnie agreed with this, which Sally knew she would. They’d shared many a bath if they’d been staying over with each other as they’d been growing up.

‘And so … we’ll get the money side of things out of the way. We’ll go halves on everything. All the bedsitters pay towards the wood and coal to stoke the boiler up which keeps us going with hot water, and we have an oil stove for the winter months. And we don’t buy a lot of food but eat out quite a bit. They have this delicious meal you seem to be able to get everywhere – pie and mash with liquor, or parsley sauce as we know it.’

‘Mmm, sounds good, though I’ve only ever had parsley sauce with fish! But then, I loved that pasta and I’d never had that before! It was a strange taste at first – well, the texture of it really – but once I got used to it, it was delicious. And I agree with the arrangements for paying everything between us, love.’

‘Well, that’s the business side of living together out of the way. Now, we can enjoy being with each other again. I’ve so missed you, Bonnie, love.’

They hugged as Bonnie said, ‘And me you, Sal, so much … But now I think we should both rest. That was a long journey for me, and you have a long night ahead of you.’

‘Ha, I love you bossing me about, feels like home!’

To know Bonnie was in the audience seemed to give an extra edge to Sally’s performance. She danced as if it was her first time performing the beautiful but sometimes sad Swan Lake. She felt like a swan and knew her body was emulating that elegant bird. And the beautiful Odette seemed to possess her as she interpreted the mood of the curse laid on her.

The applause after the deathly silence was deafening. Everyone rose to their feet.

As the curtain fell, Callum hugged her. ‘You were magnificent, darling. Oh, listen, they want another bow.’

As Sally bowed, she went on her tiptoes and gracefully bent forward till her head was almost touching her ankles. This brought an uproar of ‘Bravo’ and then, something she’d never seen previously, flowers were thrown on stage – a stunning bouquet which she knew had come from Bonnie who would have passed the flower lady, as they called the old lady on the corner of the street.

At home a couple of hours later, Sally still buzzing after having hungrily eaten her pie and mash on the way home, which Bonnie had loved, they’d sat for a while drinking mugs of cocoa and chatting with just a candle to light the room and throw magical shadows around them.

At last, when they climbed into bed, both tired out and just happy to be together, Sally closed her eyes and imagined that she could hear the sea lapping on the sandy beach, see the shadow of Blackpool’s magnificent tower, and hear her ma’s donkeys braying away as they gave rides to the kids on holiday. Their bells tinkling and happy in their work as they were led up and down by Dickie. Like her ma, Sally loved those donkeys.

Drifting off to sleep, Sally was sure she’d spoken allowed when she’d said, ‘See you soon, Daisy Two.’ But even if she had, it hadn’t disturbed Bonnie as she gently snored next to her.

Bonnie

Timing herself the next day as she left Gough Street where Sally’s bedsit was, Bonnie made her way to the medical college in Hunter Street, pleasantly surprised to find it only took her eleven minutes. But it was eleven minutes of nothing but buildings to look at and this gave her the feeling of being hemmed in, and instead of seeing the sky, a haze of sm. . .