Convictions Read Online Free Page A

against an iron bar. She yelped and gulped back sobs.
    “Hush her up, Hildy,” said the woman lying two positions over.
    “Stuff it, Flo. Why should it be me?” Hildy griped.
    “You’re closest.”
    Jennie whimpered again.
    “Give ’er a slap,” said the youngest woman on the outside of the berth. “That’ll stop the bleedin’ ’ysterics!”
    “Give her one yourself, Gladys,” Hildy snapped, as she butted her bony shoulder against Jennie. “Stop the whining or you’ll have the billy clubs down on us.”
    “Shh. Don’t distress yourself, dearie,” Sarah comforted from a berth below. “It’s of no use.”
    “I’m scared too.” Alice’s trembling voice reached Jennie’s ears.
    Jennie felt ashamed of herself. Alice had to be even more terrified than she was. She took in a long quavering breath to steady herself.
    “Don’t mind me, Alice. I’m better now.” Jennie tried to reassure the youngster, though her heart pounded hard against her chest.
    “We’ll get through this together,” Sarah promised, as Alice choked back a sob. “Don’t fret now, Alice. I’m close by.”
    Jennie added hollowly, “We’ll come out right.”
    “Hmmph,” grunted Hildy.
    “Shows how little she knows,” muttered Flo.
    “All we have now is our prayers,” said someone with the high-pitched voice directly below Jennie.
    “Is that you, Iris? Fat lot of good prayers ’ave done,” Gladys scoffed. “Look where they’ve brought us!”
    “Prayers work. You must believe,” Iris said, her voice rising indignantly.
    “Imagine where we’d be if the prayers didn’t work,” Flo scoffed.
    “We’d be swinging from the three-legged mare,” barked an elderly voice.
    “Cheerful ruddy thought that, Dottie!” said Hildy with a sniff.
    “At least we can be thankful that’s not our fate,” said Sarah.
    “It’d be better than living in this stinking hole,” volleyed back one of the tough young women from the bunk next to Jen nie’s head.
    “Come now, Lizzie, we must have Christian fortitude!” Iris’s voice rose an octave.
    “If the bloody Lord is around, why doesn’t he save us from this cruelty?” Gladys demanded.
    The bickering continued between those who felt their religion had failed them and those who clung to a stalwart belief in a merciful God. Jennie listened and her stomach clenched. How could people talk like this? This was heresy. She could hear her mother’s voice: “Don’t ever take the Lord’s name in vain.” The Lord’s Prayer flitted through her mind. Silently she began praying.
    “Stop your waggin’ tongues,” a warder sounding like Scarface shouted close by.
    A weak glow of light wavered by Jennie’s berth.
    Bang!
    Gladys yelped.
    “Keep your body parts out of the aisle,” Scarface warned. He continued in the direction of the surgery, banging his club against the berths as he passed.
    Voices quieted, but the ship’s sounds magnified from different corners in the dark. Jennie quaked with fear. Not only had she entered a terrifying unknown, but she had never questioned her faith before.
    Now she began to wonder about the events of her life. She’d prayed for food, and when she’d found the sack of musty oats in the rubbish bin, she thought it was the answer to that prayer. Would the forgiving God she’d trusted all her life let her and her family suffer and almost starve to death? Was this terrible punishment a retribution or a test of her faith? The more she thought about it, the more agitated she became.
    The warder passed again, heading back toward the gunroom, still banging his club. Laughter erupted from inside the room at the end of the passage as he opened the door. He closed it again, but not before Jennie heard the shuffling of cards and the clanking of coins on a table and the unmistakable voice of Red Bull, saying, “Oi’ll raise you three shillings.” Jennie felt her skin crawl.
    “Already gambling, and we haven’t even made it out of the harbour,” scoffed