Time Goes By Read Online Free Page A

picked up the pieces of her life and carried on with her duties in the boarding house. Like thousands of women of her age she had never married, had never even fallen in love again. She had settled down to a life of compromise. But there were compensations to be found: in her local church where she was a keen worker, and in the dramatic society – also attached to the church – where it was discovered that she was, surprisingly, quite a talented actress. And, above all, in her love for her little motherless niece.
    Winifred was now fifty years of age and, by and large, she felt that life had not treated her too badly. She had missed out on marriage, though, and children of her own. And she still wondered, despite her quiet contentment with her life, what it would be like to experience the fulfilment of a happy marriage.

Chapter Three
    ‘T hat’s lovely, dear, really beautiful,’ said Winifred. She felt a tear come into her eye as Kathy proudly presented her, on Sunday morning, with the card she had made. ‘I love the flowers, such pretty colours. And this is your best writing; I can see that you’ve tried very hard.’
    ‘Miss Roberts said it had to be our very best, ’cause it was going home,’ said Kathy. ‘It says “Happy Mother’s Day”, and I know you’re not really my mum, but I couldn’t put “Happy Aunty’s Day”, could I? Because it isn’t. And Miss Roberts said it would be alright … And I’ve got you these as well, Aunty Win.’ She held out the small purple box she had been hiding behind her back.
    ‘Chocolates as well! And Milk Tray – my very favourites!’ exclaimed Winifred. She hugged the little girl and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Well, aren’tI lucky? That’s very kind of you, Kathy.’
    She didn’t say, as she might have done, ‘You shouldn’t go spending your pocket money on me’, because she knew that it must have given the child pleasure to do so. She, Winifred, had always encouraged her to be generous and thoughtful for others; and she knew that Albert, despite his gruff manner, tried to teach her not to be selfish.
    ‘I shall enjoy these tonight while I’m listening to the
Sunday Half Hour
on the wireless,’ said Winifred.
    ‘All the class made a card,’ Kathy told her. ‘But Timothy Fielding made a bit of a mess of his. He licked his bowl too much and it wouldn’t stick on, so I helped him to make another one.’
    Winifred smiled. That boy’s name often cropped up in Katherine’s conversations. She gathered that he could be rather a pest in the classroom, but she suspected that Kathy had a soft spot for him.
    ‘He told me a joke,’ Kathy went on, ‘but I didn’t really understand it, Aunty Win, not all of it, though I told him I’d got it.’ She told her aunt the joke about the kangaroo and the sheep and the wooly jumper, frowning a little as she did so. ‘But a kangaroo and a sheep, they couldn’t have a baby one, could they? I didn’t know what he meant about crossing them, but I laughed because Tim expected me to.’
    Winifred laughed too. ‘It’s just a joke, love,’ she said. ‘Quite a funny one actually.’ Oh dear! she thought, knowing that it would be her job, when the time came, to explain to her niece about the ‘facts of life’. And already, it seemed, she was beginning to question things. ‘No; a kangaroo and a sheep wouldn’t be able to … er … mate, to get together,’ she began. ‘It would have to be two kangaroos, a male and a female, or two sheep, a ram and a ewe, to … er … to make a baby kangaroo or a baby sheep. Just like you need a father and a mother, a man and a lady, to … er … produce a baby,’ she added tentatively.
    But Kathy’s mind was already off onto another tack. ‘Baby sheep are called lambs,’ she said. ‘Everybody knows that. But Miss Roberts told us that baby kangaroos are called joeys. That’s funny, isn’t it? There’s a boy in our class called Joey, and everybody laughed when she said it.