Ruby's War Read Online Free Page B

began tacking the pieces of the suit together.
    When they’d arrived, Jenny’s face had been pink and angry. Now, as she sat by the fireside, her wide doughy face looked tired.
    â€˜If I’d known you were bringin’ her home, I’d have aired the bed,’ she said, slowly drawing her needle in and out through the fabric. ‘There’s a brick warming in the bottom of the oven. She can have that. I’d put it in for me, but as you’re home, you can warm my feet.’
    â€˜You don’t worry, Jenny,’ Granddad said, getting up from the table and picking up the small case. ‘I’ll take her up.’ He handed Ruby the brick wrapped in a piece of old sheet. ‘Come on, Ruby, love. Let’s get you to bed.’
    â€˜Is that all she’s been sent with?’ Jenny asked, eyeing the small brown case.
    Ruby didn’t hear the reply and followed him through the kitchen and up the stairs. Granddad put the brick into the bed and set the case down near the door.
    â€˜I’ll leave the landing door open just a bit. You can close it once you’ve got undressed,’ he said. ‘There’s no light in here. I’ll fix one up in the morning.’
    â€˜The other case, Granddad,’ she said sleepily. ‘Is it …’
    â€˜Sleep tight,’ he said, giving her a beery kiss. ‘It’ll be okay, you’ll see. Her bark’s worse than her bite.’
    Ruby was too sleepy to find her nightclothes. Instead, she put her gymslip and school blouse on the cane chair by the bed and crept under the chilly sheets. The brick quickly warmed the top half of the mattress. Then she edged it down until she could curl up with the brick, parcelled in its thick layer of wrapping, a few inches from her feet. Her eyes closed, and telling herself that it was only a holiday, Ruby drifted away from the small, damp room.

C HAPTER T WO
    When she opened her eyes, Ruby remembered Pearl’s suitcase. She sat up, but except for a thin line of light showing under the door, it was dark and she couldn’t see anything. The cold stung her bare arms, and she wriggled down again under the covers. Her toes probed the frayed sheet around the brick, but no warmth came through the wrapping. She stuck out a hand and was groping in the darkness, feeling for her socks among the muddle of clothes she’d left on the cane chair, when she heard angry voices coming from the kitchen. Pulling her hand back inside the safety of the blankets, Ruby listened. She thought it must be Granddad and Jenny, but she couldn’t be sure. Then she heard footsteps; someone walked along the landing and then back again. She slid further into her blanket cocoon and waited. The door opened slowly and a pale-grey light filled the room.
    â€˜You awake?’ Sadie whispered.
    Sadie wore a dark overcoat over her nightdress and carried a white enamel potty. She placed the naked toes of one foot on the lino and in two hops landed beside her on the bed.
    â€˜Blimey, it’s cold in here,’ she said. ‘I’ve brought you this. It’s a bit small, but it will have to do.’
    Ruby sat up and pulled on her school blouse. The chamber pot was worn and dented and had a thin blue line around the rim.
    â€˜I was fifteen in February,’ she said, ‘I don’t …’
    â€˜Well it’s either this or go outside,’ Sadie said.
    â€˜The bathroom …’
    â€˜Bathroom? There’s no bathroom, just the lavvy in the yard,’ she replied, unclipping the blackout curtain and pointing to a small red-brick outhouse with a rough wooden door. ‘It’s down there. You wouldn’t get me out there in the dark. It’s bad enough in the day, with Monty to contend with.’
    â€˜Monty?’
    â€˜Henry’s bloody cockerel.’
    As if he’d heard his name, somewhere in the yard Monty began to crow.
    â€˜That’s him,’ Sadie said.