Time Goes By Read Online Free Page B

Did you know that, Aunty Win, that they’re called joeys?’
    ‘Yes, I believe so,’ replied Winifred, relieved that the subject had been changed. ‘Come along now; let’s have our breakfast. Bacon and egg this morning because it’s Sunday. I’ll keep your dad’s warm for him and fry him an egg when he comes down. He likes a bit of a lie-in on a Sunday, when he can.’
    Albert was usually up with the lark, summerand winter alike. During the summer months, of course, there were the visitors’ breakfasts to prepare for eight-thirty. And in the winter, too, he reckoned nothing to lying in bed when there were jobs to be done. On Sunday mornings, however – but only when there were no visitors in – he liked to take his ease for half an hour or so. Winifred took up the
Sunday Express
, if the newspaper boy had delivered it in time, and a cup of tea so that he could enjoy a little lie-in. It was something that the brother and sister had never been allowed to do as children, or even later when they had reached adulthood, and Winifred still did not think of ever allowing herself this little luxury.
    Albert came downstairs just as Winifred and Kathy were finishing their breakfasts. He was washed and dressed – neither had they been encouraged to lounge around in dressing gowns – but not yet shaved, as far as Winifred could tell. She jumped up from the table to make some fresh tea and fry an egg, whilst Albert helped himself to cornflakes.
    ‘I had a lovely surprise this morning, Albert,’ she said, after she had placed his cooked breakfast in front of him. ‘Look what Kathy has given me.’ She showed him the chocolates. ‘And a lovely card too, see.’
    ‘Very nice,’ he replied. ‘So what is this in aid of? I haven’t gone and forgotten your birthday, have I?’
    ‘Of course not; don’t be silly,’ said Winifred. ‘You know very well it’s not till next month.’
    ‘No, Daddy; it’s Mother’s Day,’ said Kathy. ‘Look, it says so on the card. We made them at school, and because I haven’t got a mum, Miss Roberts said I should make one for Aunty Win.’
    Albert’s face took on a morose look. He nodded soberly. ‘Oh, well then … Yes, I see. But it’s no more than you deserve, our Winnie.’ Then, suddenly, he smiled at his little daughter and his face looked altogether different. His blue eyes, still as bright as they had been when he was a lad, glowed with a warmth that wasn’t often to be seen there. Really, he was quite a good-looking fellow when he smiled, Winifred thought to herself. It was a pity he didn’t do it more often.
    ‘That was a very nice thought, Kathy love,’ he said. ‘Yes, your Aunty Win has been very good to you, and you must never forget it.’
    ‘I won’t, Daddy,’ replied the little girl.
    ‘Now, when you’ve finished, Kathy, you’d better go and get ready,’ her aunt told her.
    ‘Why? Are you two off somewhere, then?’ asked Albert.
    ‘To church,’ Winifred told him, although he must have known very well where they were going. ‘It’s a special service today, with it being Mothering Sunday.’
    ‘Oh, I see,’ he replied, looking morose again.
    ‘I’ll wash up before we go,’ Winifred told him, ‘and I’ll put the meat in the oven – I’ve got a shoulder of lamb for today – so you can see to it for me, if you will, please?’
    ‘Don’t I always?’ he replied a little gruffly. ‘I’ll do the veg an’ all, and knock up a pudding, no trouble. You go off and enjoy yourselves.’
    There was a hint of sarcasm in his words, as Winifred knew very well. Albert didn’t go to church anymore, so she knew it was no use asking him, not even for special occasions now. He had never entered a church since he had lost Barbara. He didn’t understand, he said, how God could have been so cruel to him; in fact, he professed not to believe in him anymore.
    Albert and Winifred had been brought up to go to Sunday school and church, as was the norm in those early