As the Crow Flies Read Online Free Page A

that anyone
will pay their debts.”
    “Good,”
said Mr. Salmon. “You learn fast. So how much you need to clear rent and see
yourself past next month?”
    “What
are you getting at?” asked Charlie.
    “How
much?” repeated Mr. Salmon.
    “Five
quid,” said Charlie, lowering his head.
    On
Friday night after he had pulled down the blind Dan Salmon handed over five
sovereigns to Charlie along with several wafers of matzos. “Pay back when
possible, boychik, and don’t ever tell the misses or we both end up in big
trouble.”
    Charlie
paid back his loan at a rate of five shillings a week and twenty weeks later he
had resumed the full amount. He would always remember handing over the final
payment, because it was on the same day as the first big airplane raid over
London and he spent most of that night hiding under his father’s bed, with both
Sal and Kitty clinging to him for dear life.
    The
following morning Charlie read an account of the bombing in the Daily Chronicle
and reamed that over a hundred Londoners had been killed and some four hundred
injured in the raid.
    He
dug his teeth into a morning apple before he dropped off Mrs. Smelley’s weekly
order and resumed to his pitch in the Whitechapel Road. Monday was always busy
with everybody stocking up after the weekend and by the time he arrived back
home at Number 112 for his afternoon tea he was exhausted. Charlie was sticking
a fork into his third of a pork pie when he heard a knock on the door.
    “Who
can that be?” said Kitty, as Sal served Charlie a second potato.
    “There’s
only one way we’re going to find out, my girl,” said Charlie, not budging an
inch.
    Kitty
reluctantly left the table only to return a moment later with her nose held
high in the air. “It’s that Becky Salmon. Says she ‘desires to have a word with
you.’”
    “Does
she now? Then you had better show Miss Salmon into the parlor,” said Charlie
with a gun.
    Kitty
slouched off again while Charlie got up from the kitchen table carrying the
remainder of the pie in his fingers. He strolled into the only other room that
wasn’t a bedroom. He lowered himself into an old leather chair and continued to
chew while he waited. A moment later Posh Porky marched into the middle of the
room and stood right in front of him. She didn’t speak. He was slightly taken
aback by the sheer size of the girl. Although she was two or three inches shorter
than Charlie, she must have weighed at least a stone more than he did, a
genuine heavyweight. She so obviously hadn’t given up stuffing herself with
Salmon’s cream buns. Charlie stared at her gleaming white blouse and dark blue
pleated skirt. Her smart blue blazer sported a golden eagle surrounded by words
he had never seen before. A red ribbon sat uneasily in her short dark hair and
Charlie noticed that her little black shoes and white socks were as spotless as
ever.
    He
would have asked her to sit down but as he was occupying the only chair in the
room, he couldn’t. He ordered Kitty to leave them alone. For a moment she
stared defiantly at Charlie, but then left without another word.
    “So
what do you want?” asked Charlie once he heard the door close.
    Rebecca
Salmon began to tremble as she tried to get the words out. “I’ve come to see
you because of what has happened to my parents.” She enunciated each word
slowly and carefully and, to Charlie’s disgust, without any trace of an East
End accent.
    “So
what ‘as ‘appened to your parents?” asked Charlie gruffly, hoping she wouldn’t
realize that his voice had only recently broken. Becky burst into tears.
Charlie’s only reaction was to stare out of the window because he wasn’t quite
sure what else to do.
    Becky
continued shaking as she began to speak again. “Tata was killed in the raid
last night and Mummy has been taken to the London Hospital.” She stopped
abruptly, adding no further explanation.
    Charlie
jumped out of his chair. “No one told me,” he said, as he