The Iron Woman Read Online Free Page B

father had just had another rise in wages.
    At the same time, she thought of the million screams of all the water creatures, and even that human baby, inside the Iron Woman’s body. No wonder she was roaring and writhing in that awful dance. All the creatures were screaming inside her, and the sound came out ofher mouth as this terrible roar. Everybody within miles must be hearing it. And maybe the Iron Woman truly was going mad in front of her eyes, with the torments of all those burning, twisting, screaming water creatures inside her.
    Then Lucy swayed on her feet, the darkness came rushing in from all sides, and she dropped in a faint. And she lay there unconscious, as the earth beneath her jolted and quivered.

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    When Lucy came round, the Iron Woman had vanished . But the deep giant footprints were there. And when she reached home, there was the hosepipe, still squirting over the drive-way. As she turned it off, she saw the foxglove. She picked up the foxglove.
    Stealthily opening the front door, she could hear her father and mother in the kitchen. She managed to slip up to her attic unseen. Her light was on and her window still open. And there were the snowdrops.
    First, she put the snowdrops in a little cup, with water. Next, she put the foxglove in a tall, thin, glass jar, with water. Then she sat on her bed.
    What ought she to do? Was this Iron Woman anything like the Iron Man? Lucy had saved a page from a newspaper, with a picture of Hogarth, the boy who wasthe Iron Man’s friend. It told the name of the farm he lived in and the name of the town nearby. She wrote him a letter. In this letter she described everything about the Iron Woman. Three pages. She began it: ‘You are the Iron Man expert and I need your help.’ And she ended it: ‘Please come quickly or the Iron Woman will smash up the factory where my dad works and kill all the people.’
    She sellotaped one of the snowdrops to the letter, just beside her signature, and drew a ring round it, with an arrow pointing to the word proof. Then she added: ‘PS You can camp in our orchard. People do. Say you want to birdwatch in the marsh like lots of people.’
    After posting this letter, she started searching for the Iron Woman. Maybe if she knows my father works at the Waste Factory, she thought, she will think again. Or maybe she’ll smash it up only after he’s come home. After all, I’m her friend. She came to me to be washed. I showed her the river. She showed me the creatures crying . But though Lucy searched for most of that day, she found no trace of the Iron Woman.
    She went back again to the river, to look again at those footprints. Their size and depth frightened her more than ever. She thought they might lead somewhere , but they didn’t. The Iron Woman must have gone up or down the river, wading in the water, when she left Lucy. Upriver, she would come to the WasteFactory. But she might have gone downriver, back into the marsh or the sea.
    That evening, Lucy was relieved when her father got home. Ought she to tell him everything? Then maybe he could warn the factory somehow. By the time she went to bed she had a splitting headache. But still she hadn’t mentioned the Iron Woman. She knew she should, but somehow she couldn’t. Her mother and father would never believe her. She just knew they wouldn’t. They would ask her endless questions. They would think something was wrong with her. They might even want to take her to the doctor.
    She hardly slept. She knew she was waiting. She lay there, listening, hearing every slightest sound. She had left her window slightly open, so she would hear better. She kept remembering the creatures and their cry, and that dreadful dance. Gradually, as she thought about it all, she became more and more frightened. Perhaps the Iron Woman really was insane. What did she mean, ‘Destroy’? The night hours passed slowly.
    The lark began to sing, climbing up through the darkness. As soon as it’s light, thought